MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)

I've seen a number of films based (sometimes uncredited) on the writings of Dashiell Hammett, but only MILLER'S CROSSING comes close to what I see in my head when reading one of his wonderful stories.

Set in the United States during the Prohibition-era, two rival gangsters run the unnamed city.  Albert Finney is the older, more established of the two, but the other, Jon Polito, is gaining power.  Theirs is an uneasy relationship, but when Polito requests permission to kill a protected bookie (Turturro), Finney says no...cause he's boinking Turturro's sister, Marsha Gay Harden.  Finney's right hand man, Gabriel Byrne, tries to convince Finney that he should give up Turturro because he knows he's gonna lead to an all out war, but Finney is defiant.  Things happen and Byrne finds himself on the receiving end of Finney's wrath, so he switches his loyalty over to Polito, but this is only a ruse to intensify the war and cause the two gangs to destroy each other.

If you look it up, MILLER'S CROSSING it didn't get shit for awards when it was released and actually bombed at the box office making back less than half of its budget.  Which is a real shame. I guess audiences back in 1990 weren't interested in an intricately written, superbly acted and expertly directed film about the Prohibition filled with awesome violence and murder.

Highly, highly recommended.  If you need me I'll be in my room reading "The Glass Key".

COLLATERAL DAMAGE (2002)

As far as Arnold movies go, this one is pretty boring. In the opening few minutes, his wife and kid are exploded all to fuck by a terrorist bombing.  After the government proves it can't bring the terrorists to justice, Arnold goes to Columbia to kick in some bootieholes. Unfortunately, this isn't a sequel to COMMANDO and Arnold doesn't kick in much bootiehole at all.  In fact, he spends most of the movie grunting, overacting, falling down and making stupid decisions.  The story is constantly moving forward, but it's so weak and lifeless, that I honestly didn't care what happened to anybody.

Unoriginal story, boring action, a lot of people too stupid to live, zero nudity, only one really good Arnold moment (his grunt while going down the elevator shaft), government agents barking shits like "I want that in 10 minutes!", an absolutely horrible looking waterfall scene, John Leguizamo rapping while wearing a post-Cliff Burton Metallica shirt.

Worth watching (I guess) just to check it out for yourself. As for me, I'll probably watch COMMANDO another 50 times before I re-visit this snoozer.