1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
as real as it gets, NG Martin, April 21, 2010
This review is from: Leaving Las Vegas HD DVD Elisabeth Shue French Import English Audio (DVD)
normally i wouldn't just come out with guns blazing after reading someone else's review, but in the case of the last reviewer i feel i must not only come out blazing but reload and then keep reloading. he clearly just based his reviews on his own feelings and not the movie.
hold a sec while a reload...
so the movie. in one's lifetime rarely does a movie, er, move you on so many different levels. from mike figgis' trumpet playing, which is haunting and lonely, the notes of which act as the stone steps of the pathway to the character's end, to cage's acting, the movie is quite literally - perfect. By far some of nicolas cage's best work and you won't find a more believable, real and engaging film. even shue, whose acting in later years is less than stellar, fits right into this role, and honestly, i would not have wanted anything about the casting changed.
The beauty of this film lay in its honesty, which is brutal at the very least (perhaps this is why the last reviewer use the word repugnant). not only does it go a good job at capturing the downward spiral of someone who has lost it all, but it captures the despair and misery of losing it all to alcoholism.
the movie also is honest about relationships. too often movies establish an unrealistic, trite and superficial love story that just comes off as puke-evoking. the beauty of shue and cage's relationship is how each accept each other unconditionally despite their flaws - she a las vegas prostitute, and he a raging alcoholic there to drink himself to death, which he openly admits to her. at one point in the movie cage says to her, "you can never ask me to stop drinking." chilling.
it's witty, humorous and sad in all the right combinations. to this day (i just said it again the other day), it remains as one of my Top 10 movies of all time.
see the movie. even after a decade or more in the can, this movie still holds its own to this day.
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0 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
You must be joking, February 21, 2009
This review is from: Leaving Las Vegas HD DVD Elisabeth Shue French Import English Audio (DVD)
Single handily the worst movie I have ever seen, 1 star does it too much justice!
Has there ever been a more depressing, boring waste of space ever made? Idon't think so.
God awful to the point of being repugnant!
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