L.A. Confidential (1997)

Wonderfully offbeat film!

Beautiful, moving film.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

I really wanted to see this, a detective/mystery stories featuring three police officers solving a heinous crime in a local coffee shop. I was not disappointed. First of all, the set is so exquisite. The setting really looks genuine 1950s. The story is well-paced, you won't notice it's been 2 hours because it's riveting.The cast of course is fantastic, but I think Russell Crowe's character shines. I like his manliness, his bravery and fearlessness. His acting is proved magnificent, especially when he cried in front of Kim Basinger's character. Women are really men's weaknesses, they say, and even the manliest man can have his heart crushed.

As a fan of mysteries and thrillers and who likes a lot of the cast (such a great one on paper), expectations were high for 'LA Confidential'. And 'LA Confidential' didn't disappoint at all, it is an outstanding film on all levels and should have won the Best Picture Oscar of 1997 and won more.Visually, 'LA Confidential' looks great. The photography is both audacious and stylish, suitably the story and genre superlatively. A good music score also helps and there is an appropriately haunting one courtesy of one of the greatest film composers ever. Curtis Hansen directs superbly, it has a lot of style and how it balances everything is so cleverly done, he hasn't made a better film and to me it's the best directing of his entire career.'LA Confidental' richly deserved its Best Screenplay Oscar. No other film that year came close to the film's rich character development, complexity and its refusal to fall into cliché territory. All the characters are compelling in their realism and none of them feel stereotypical or one-sided, actually breaking the mould of good cops and bad villains. The story is gripping in its intensity and thrills, with plenty of unexpected twists and turns, and very rare a dull moment.The acting is exceptionally full-blooded and there isn't a single weak link. How Russell Crowe, Guy Pearce and Kevin Spacey weren't nominated for Oscars is unfathomable. Spacey in particular is brilliant, though Crowe is appropriately hard-nosed and Pearce has rarely been better.James Cromwell and Danny De Vito also shine. Cromwell is chillingly insidious and De Vito has never been slimier. Whether Kim Basinger deserved her Oscar win is up for debate, to me it was a very worthy win where she gives her role hard edge and charm.In conclusion, superb film-making and an outstanding film on all levels. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Critics love this film and it won major awards, so I was expecting it to be very entertaining. I was very disappointed at how slow and dull it is. It's far too long for the small amount of actual material in it. The characters are dull and there are a lot of scenes that are just boring conversations.Kim Basinger plays a call girl, so she should certainly have at least one good sex scene. However, we don't even see her nude - let alone having sex.We don't see the murder that's at the centre of the plot - we only see the corpses afterwards and people talking about it. That means that we don't know exactly what happened.

L.A. Confidential is great, an absolute must-watch! The movie contains a superb cast with names such as Russel Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce and the beautiful Kim Basinger. The last one winning an Oscar and a Golden Globe for her role as Lynn Bracken.The story is set in 1950 L.A., and corruption in the police force is on the rise. Three police detectives investigate a number of murders in order to uncover the truth.Each has his signature way of serving justice, but as the story goes on, they each have to face their own convictions. How far are they prepared to go?Bud white (played by Russel Crowe) doesn't always follow the rules by the book and has a though time keeping of controlling his more violent nature.Then there is his counterpart Ed Exley (played by Guy Pearce). An ambitious man who wants to get ahead without breaking the rules. A challenge which he finds becomes harder and harder on his way to the top.Last but not least, we have Jack Vincennes (played by Kevin Spacey). An extravagant figure who is always looking to make an extra buck out of his crime fighting career.Together they must join forces in order to uncover the dark secret within the L.A. police force.