90s Movie Review - Sleepers

Director: Barry Levinson
Genre: Drama/ Thriller/ Crime
Runtime: 147 minutes
Year: 1996
Starring: Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric, Brad Pitt, Billy Crudup, Ron Eldard, Robert De Niro, Minnie Driver, Dustin Hoffman, Brad Renfro, Bruno Kirby, Joseph Perrino, Geoffrey Wigdor

Description: After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.  

Review: With the director of “Rain Man”, an all-star cast and a heavy subject, “Sleepers” looks like a successful film on paper. I don’t think it was successful, but it’s definitely a film that should get more credit.
We meet four kids from ‘Hell’s Kitchen’, a neighborhood in New York. One day the four boys decide to pull a prank, but it goes horribly wrong and they end up in a youth prison. And life isn’t easy for them, because they are abused, sexually, physically and mentally. After they are released, the lose touch. Until two of the friends, John and Tommy, run into one of the guards and kill him. It’s up to the two other friends, Michael and Shakes, to keep them out of prison.
Even though the ending is a bit flat and the characters don’t all get the depth they need, the overall film is pretty strong and I believe it’s very much overlooked and underrated.

Rating: 3,5/ 5

Netflix Friday - Volume 50

Some Netflix film tips for the weekend! And there is something for everyone, since I picked a movie for all the different genres.
 

Action: Atomic Blonde (2017)
An undercover MI6 agent (Charlize Theron) is sent to Berlin during the Cold War to investigate the murder of a fellow agent and recover a missing list of double agents.
 

Drama: Pieces of a Woman (2020)
When a young mother’s home birth ends in unfathomable tragedy, she (Vanessa Kirby) begins a year-long odyssey of mourning that fractures relationships with loved ones in this deeply personal story of a woman learning to live alongside her loss.
 

Comedy: We’re the Millers (2013)
A veteran pot dealer (Jason Sudeikis) creates a fake family as part of his plan to move a huge shipment of weed into the U.S. from Mexico.
 

Animation: Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
When an unconfident young woman is cursed with an old body by a spiteful witch, her only chance of breaking the spell lies with a self-indulgent yet insecure young wizard and his companions in his legged, walking castle.
 

Romance: Notting Hill (1999)
The life of a simple bookshop owner (Hugh Grant) changes when he meets the most famous film star (Julia Roberts) in the world.
 

Horror: Child’s Play 2 (1990)
While Andy’s mother is admitted to a psychiatric hospital, the young boy is placed in foster care, and Chucky, determined to claim Andy’s soul, is not far behind.
 

Science Fiction: I Am Legend (2007)
Years after a plague kills most of humanity and transforms the rest into monsters, the sole survivor (Will Smith) in New York City struggles to find a cure.
 

Crime: Sleepers (1996)
After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, an unexpected random encounter with a former guard gives them a chance for revenge.
 

Thriller: The Shallows (2016)
A mere 200 yards from shore, surfer Nancy (Blake Lively) is attacked by a great white shark, with her short journey to safety becoming the ultimate contest of wills.
 

Documentary: Dolly Parton: Here I Am (2019)
In this documentary, the life, career and music of Dolly Parton are reflected in interviews with friends and companions and the artist herself, interlaced with clips of Parton’s performances.
 

Family: A Cinderella Story (2004)
Routinely exploited by her wicked stepmother, the downtrodden Samantha Montgomery (Hilary Duff) is excited about the prospect of meeting her Inter beau (Chad Michael Murray) at the school’s Halloween dance.