Letterboxd Review: Serpico

Letterboxd Review: Serpico - 1973

Story - An honest New York cop named Frank Serpico blows the whistle on rampant corruption in the force only to have his comrades turn against him.
Cast - Al Pacino, John Randolph, Jack Kehoe, Biff McGuire, Barbara Eda-Young
Crew - Sidney Lumet (Director), Waldo Salt (Writer), Normal Wexler (Writer)
Runtime - 130 minutes

Besides Serpico, I’ve only seen two Lumet movies, one great and the other stinks. This movie though, it’s very good.
It really shows how difficult is to change the system and to do the right thing, I feel everyone can feel connected to Serpico, sure he has his flaws but he tries to make a meaningful change. I see this type of dilemma happen in many jobs, teachers, office workers, etc. so it’s no surprise almost everyone likes it.

Al Pacino is so great in this film, the way he reacts gets demoralized, angry, worried, and scared, he is one of the best actors to ever live. (Also he looks so good in the movie, jeez)

New 4K restoration by Kino Lorber and Paramount, is one of the best 4Ks I’ve ever seen, it has a lot of contrast, and grain levels are high, just what I love.

4K Blu-Ray Kino Lorber release.

Comments

Review: Resan (The Journey) - 1987

Story - Petter Watkins' global look at the impact of military use of nuclear technology and people's perception of it, as well as a meditation on the inherent bias of the media, and documentaries themselves. Cast - Peter Watkins Crew - Peter Watkins (Director) Runtime - 873 minutes "I think to remove the veil of ignorance from the world is the most direct way at least to achieve enlightenment." Sometimes it is incredibly difficult to sit and watch a long movie, after all, the way of life in the XXI century has been accelerating to the point that 90-minute movies are consumed in 20 different parts on a tiny screen while commuting to work. This is a world that 15 years ago I would have never imagined. I believe on this occasion, watching a movie divided into 19 different sections has helped me to appreciate and embrace what it is trying to say on a different level. It is hard for someone in 2024 to...

Opinion: Propaganda and "modern" Right-Wing ideas.

"Will God Forgive Us?" Have we taken for granted the power of propaganda films? We are almost 100 years removed from WW2 and the several communist revolutions that took place during the 20th century. I believe that during this period of time, when people from the past are starting to become impossible to relate to or to understand, we often dismiss their experiences and history as something foreign, from a less civilized time, it is easier to latch on to iconography and the images produced during that era. Propaganda movies are often victims of this simplification, and no country or society is more likely to have such results as Nazi Germany. Perhaps the biggest example of this is Triumph of the Will , in which filmmakers (and modern right-wing viewers) have distilled the 2-hour movie as a compilation of "based" content, where massive rallies, unification, standardization, and epic scenery are the ...

Look Back - Review

Cast - Yuumi Kawai, Mizuki Yoshida. Kiyotaka Oshiyama - Director Tatsuki Fujimoto - Original Writer "Then why do you draw, Fujino?" One of the most common complaints when watching a film is the runtime. When movies like Oppenheimer or Killers of the Flower Moon reach or surpass the 3-hour mark, it can be heavy to most viewers, but looking past the raw number of minutes it will take you to finish a movie this often rewards you with a much more intimate portrait of the characters, their mental states and why are they doing the things they do. This is not the norm, and many times the long runtime can feel clunky and unimportant. On the other side, we can get works like Look Back , that with a duration of 57 minutes fails to capture the essence of its two main characters and is more focused on giving us cute and emotional montages, trying to overcompensate the lack of character development. Look Ba...

The Alex Archives

Search This Blog