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List Price: $14.99 | | Label: Miramax Home Entertainment
Salesrank: 2171
Released: July 1, 2003 |
| Our Price: $4.98 |
| Used Price: $1.06 |
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
This motion picture event from acclaimed director Martin Scorsese earned 10 Academy Award(R) nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor, along with 5 Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Song! Leonardo DiCaprio (TITANIC), Cameron Diaz (CHARLIE'S ANGELS), and Daniel Day-Lewis (THE BOXER) star in this epic tale of vengeance and survival! As waves of immigrants swell the population of New York, lawlessness and corruption thrive in lower Manhattan's Five Points section. After years of incarceration, young Irish immigrant Amsterdam Vallon (DiCaprio) returns seeking revenge against the rival gang leader (Day-Lewis) who killed his father. But Amsterdam's personal vendetta becomes part of the gang warfare that erupts as he and his fellow Irishmen fight to carve a place for themselves in their newly adopted homeland!
Description of Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition):
Gangs of New York may achieve greatness with the passage of time. Mixed reviews were inevitable for a production this grand (and this troubled behind the scenes), but it's as distinguished as any of director Martin Scorsese's more celebrated New York stories. From its astonishing 1846 prologue to the city's infernal draft riots of 1863, the film aspires to erase the decorum of textbooks and chronicle 19th-century New York as a cauldron of street warfare. The hostility is embodied in a tale of primal vengeance between Irish American son Amsterdam Vallon (Leonardo DiCaprio) and his father's ruthless killer and "Nativist" gang leader Bill "the Butcher" Cutting (Daniel Day-Lewis, brutally inspired), so named for his lethal talent with knives. Vallon's vengeance is only marginally compelling; DiCaprio is arguably miscast, and Cameron Diaz (as Vallon's pickpocket lover) is adrift in a film with little use for women. Despite these weaknesses, Scorsese's mastery blossoms in his expert melding of personal and political trajectories; this is American history written in blood, unflinching, authentic, and utterly spectacular. --Jeff Shannon
Gangs of New York (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) Reviews:
Pangs of New York 
2009-09-10 - "Gangs of New York" is one of those periodic films that grabs a lot of Oscar nominations and comes away with no statuettes. "Peyton Place" was the reigning champ in this dubious category but Scorcese's film gave them a run for the money. After watching it the other night, I came to understand why this happened; The movie opens strong and closes nearly as strong while the interminable bulk of the movie meanders in a repetitious drone. If Scorcese had a point, he should have made it. I took time out for supper without a second thought. Leftovers were better than what needn't have been served in the first place.
When I say that the film opened strong I guess I'd better qualify my statement. The build-up to a gang war with no quarter was a bit overdone but at least it gave the viewer a sense that this was going to be one of those action movies that can succeed without the extranvagance of a plot. That's the problem; without the action we are left with a rather ridiculous cast of characters. I understand that this is based on real Gotham history and I was focussed on the subtleties leading up the the New York Draft Riots. However, that singularly important event was forced to play a duet with a lesser talent. The resulting Armaggedon left me wondering if there was anything left in New York City that was worth salvaging. I read complaints about the lack of a "Director's Cut" that would have added an hour or so to this lengthy Leviathan. This was not a case of too much left out but, rather, too much shoved in.
Gangs of New York 
2009-09-03 - This film shows the brutality of New York's Five Points district set in part against the draft riots of 1863. The characters evolve around the political scene established by Boss Tweed and Tammany Hall each recognizing the internal hierarchy of where the streets and politics come together. To make it appealing the director threw in graphic violence and dashes of nudity, but all in all this is a good, entertaining film.
Don't use this movie as a history lesson beyond the scope of the film, it is by no means a documentary. But take it for what it is and you will be entertained. The film also followed the attacks of 9-11 and shows the resiliancy of New York. The city was in flames after the military put down the draft riots, but it rose again. Martin Scorcese wanted to show New Yorkers that they would rise again following the attacks. He even added several still photos of the city at the very end of the film to make this point.
Pleasantly surprised
2009-08-08 - Having owned the standard DVD and from some reviewers comments I wasn't expecting the Blu-Ray to be top notch, well I was pleasantly surprised. The film looked better than I expected, yes edge enhancement is overdone in some scenes, but overall it looked great.
The surround sound was excellent. As to the film, the first two thirds is great, the last seems overloaded and rushed, with too much historical detail, a lot of it could have been made into another film. I enjoyed the film more this time around.
Gangs of New York Two-Disc
2009-04-26 -
Having seen the movie before, I bought this to update my library. My copy does not have the collectors' edition banner on it.
The extras on the movie are great, and I'm sad to see that Amazon seems to no longer post what they are! The special features usually determine which edition of a film I will buy, so this information is very much missed!
That said, here's how the back cover of mine reads:
*Costume Design featurette
*Set Design featurette
*History of the Five Points
*Exploring the Sets...With Multiple Angles Utilizing 360 Degree Shots of the Set
*U2 Music Video
*Discovery Channel Special: Uncovering the Real Gangs of New York
*The Five Points Study Guide
*Feature Commentary with Martin Scorsese
*Trailer
*Teaser
*French Language track
And, of course, it does offer English subtitles. The historical extras are excellent and informative, but the study guide was a little baffling: it's presented in text with no voiceover, and the font was so small I couldn't read it easily about six feet from my 32" tv. As far as documenting the film itself, the specials and trailers doa good job of preserving the movie's history.
The fly in the ointment:
Like the Titanic 3-disc, Gangs cuts halfway through for you to insert the second disc, during the sex scene. Why you wouldn't put the movie on one disc and the extras on another is beyond me, but to cut it there? There are many complaints concerning this also posted on imdb, and no one seems to know why this decision was made. We may have progressed to the age of dvd and blu-ray, but we're still stuck getting up to change the tape.
Great Movie, Bad Transfer
2009-04-19 - For those unfamiliar with the movie, it's a film about gangs in New York during the civil war fighting for control over the Five Points. This review is more of a review for the Blu-Ray, not the movie itself. I'd say based on the movie alone, it's a good 5 star for those interested in some dark history of New York.
For the transfer of this film, it's horrible. The noise is filtered in some scenes enough to make the film seen 'dirty' or blurred. The blacks seem to bleed a bit in dark scenes and for those with LCD screens, expect to notice some motion blur during these scenes. I never notice motion blur on my Samsung, but this movie (and Donnie Darko) are blur in any scene with shadows. I really think this is due to all of the horrible noise filters. At time's, the Butcher's hate (a green color) has movement issues towards the end. You can see details moving around that just doesn't look right. This really only applies to the video quality, as the uncompressed PCM audio is very nice (a little low in areas though).
Overall, anyone looking for this film should probably wait to see if it is going to be re-released. I think current owners should get a free upgrade to a better quality if that's ever released (which I doubt it will happen).
