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 Gotti (2018) 

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Total votes : 3

 Gotti (2018) 
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Keeping it Light
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Post Gotti (2018)
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Gotti is a 2018 American biographical crime drama film directed by Kevin Connolly and written by Lem Dobbs and Leo Rossi. The film is about the life of New York City Gambino crime family mobster John Gotti and his son, and stars John Travolta, Kelly Preston, Stacy Keach, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Spencer Lofranco and Victor Gojcaj.

The film languished in development hell for several years with numerous directors and actors, including Barry Levinson and Al Pacino, attached at various points. Principal photography finally began in July 2016 in Cincinnati, Ohio and concluded in Brooklyn, New York in February 2017.


Mon Jun 18, 2018 2:43 am
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Gotti

I am failing to see what's so awful about this film. It's honestly a fine mafia film. It charts the rise to power of John Gotti, played with a commanding presence by John Travolta. Gotti's son visits him in prison with the revelation that he wants to make a plea to reduce his sentence. An idea to which his father is not in favour of. The film then dedicates large portions to flashbacks of John's rise as they discuss his son's idea. It is a comprehensible mob biopic, and holds its own against any other movies in the genre. Sure, Gotti doesn't have the flair of a Scorsese or the acting prowess of a De Niro or Pacino, but it in no way deserves the critical beating it got served. I much prefer this to The Godfather and its sequels.

B


Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:41 am
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Post Re:
Algren wrote:
Gotti
I much prefer this to The Godfather and its sequels.


Blasphemy!

But I look forward to this, I’ve generally liked Travoltas performances in his recent films, I’ve tried to download it already but the torrent seemed off at the time.


Sun Jul 08, 2018 5:47 am
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Post Re: Gotti (2018)
Gotti, lead by a charismatic Travolta as Gotti, is a reasonably enjoyable narration of his mob-life. It lacks a certain excellence though to be considered a really complete and good film. The story feels like a rushed telling cramped in a not epic run time, and Connolly lacks any identity directing the film. Doesn't mean it's poorly directed, it just appears very by the book and standard in the way scenes are shot and follow one another. The film has a pleasant cast overall, nice small role of Rhys Coiro (strangely enough not credited on IMDB), only the guy playing Gotti's son was a bit off I thought. There's some good parts of mobster folklore and history that was nice to watch and be informed about. The film certainly is not a failure, with a budget of $10m I believe it got the most out of it, but it also feels limited in it's ability to make the story really engaging. There's violence, but it doesn't feel gritty, neither has it a remarkable score, and unless a Travolta fan there isn't anything must-watch to it. Anyway the critics aggregate makes no sense to me, it's just more of a serviceable and easy watch.

C+


Sat Jul 21, 2018 1:35 pm
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Post Re: Gotti (2018)
Yeah, that's a fair assessment, and Gotti's son is certainly the weaker link of the main cast.


Sun Jul 22, 2018 11:11 am
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Post Re: Gotti (2018)
What’s okay: For the most part Travolta, and when she’s there, Preston. This movie and lot more movies could use more Kelly Preston. Then again, this was directed by E from Entourage and there’s no time for women in this movie. John Gotti Jr.’s wife has five lines? They meet and 30 minutes later without so much as a scene of them on a date, they’re married.

What’s bad: Everything else. The script is absolute nonsense and makes the fatal mistake of turning Gotti into a hero. It makes sense since Gotti’s children were apparently on set every day. The movie is even dedicated to the Gotti kid who got hit by the car that’s depicted in the movie. Instead of being interested in what made Gotti Gotti or anything that goes beyond the surface, E is only interested in jerking the Gotti’s off. He’s one of those Jersey kids from the real-life footage towards the end of the movie. He doesn’t have an ounce of self-awareness.

The music: The music supervisor should’ve been fired (though I’m guessing the blame falls on E). Why is the theme from Shaft in this movie which features no black actors? Why was Pitbull hired as a composer? Why did they keep him on after they heard his score, straight out of a soap opera from 1982? Why did Pitbull insert one of his songs into a party scene that takes place in 1984? Every song choice is awful.

Spencer Lofranco: He is 26 years old. This movie takes place from 1973 to 2009. I can buy him as an 18 year old. But in the later years, what do they do to make him look older? They slap some glasses on him and take the gel out of his hair. That’s it. They don’t even bother to age him up. I guess their makeup budget ran out on Travolta? What also doesn’t help is that he’s just a piss poor actor. Those scenes in the prison used as the framing device for the film, are just atrocious. Some of the blame falls on the script. The rest falls on him, and an already fucked movie is fucked over even more because these scenes don’t work.

Scorsese, Coppola, they were smart enough to recognize these guys aren’t glamorous. Sure, some parts of the life are, but ultimately you’ll die alone slumped over in a chair or you’ll have to live a good portion of your life in the witness protection program because you’re a rat. E on the other hand should just stick to acting.

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Sun Dec 23, 2018 9:16 pm
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Post Re: Gotti (2018)
You can take another hiatus now. Thank you. Bye! :P


Sun Dec 23, 2018 10:26 pm
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