Donnie Brasco is a highly underrated gem from the late 90s. It completely surprised me just how compelling this was on first viewing and having seen it twice now I can safely say that this is one of the best gangster flicks out there. It may not be Goodfellas or The Godfather, both of which have set the bar way too high for the genre, but Donnie Brasco stands completely on its own and is a respectably well-made, if a…

I'd always thought that Donnie Brasco was about the titular character, played by Johnny Depp, befriending/building a case against an aging mob boss played by Al Pacino. That Pacino's character, Lefty, is more of a mid-level wiseguy, perpetually broke and struggling to earn for his bosses, gives his character an added level of pathos and gives Pacino to play a little bit against type. Lefty has more in common with Shelly Levene than Ricky Roma, and Pacino is effectively understated…

I applied this like a salve to my still-smarting wounds from True Romance. Featuring maybe the last legitimately great Pacino performance, Mike Newell's adaptation of real-life FBI agent Joe Pistone's account of his time infiltrating the mob focuses more on the bonds of friendship (and the tedium of low-ranking wiseguys passing time until they're inevitably arrested or put out to pasture by their own associates) than the comparatively glamorous lives led by the gangsters in GoodFellas or Casino. And the…

I remember once my film teacher trying to explain why I didn't like the film adaptation of Walkabout:

"Adam," he said, "the problem is you came in expecting cake. But you got pie instead. And very good pie at that. But the problem is you wanted cake, and as great as the pie is when you want cake pie simply will not do".

This rather odd metaphor has followed me ever since and greatly informs my thoughts about many films.…