Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

source: Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

source: Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead

Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead is a crackling, explosively verbose, darkly comic 90's neo noir. In other words, right up my crime infested alley. It operates on a heightened plane of larger than life thugs, Machiavellian crime bosses and an almost beat poetry by way of Shakespeare writing style, courtesy of Scott Rosenberg's pen. The writing is one of the best quality's of this film, and when you watch it and find out what buckwheats and boat drinks are, you'll get it. Andy Garcia turns on the slick as Jimmy The Saint, an ex mobster on the path to enlightenment, attempting to open his own business, called Afterlife Advice, where dying people record pearls of wisdom for their loved ones to see after they're gone. He is called back into action for a job by his old employer, a creepy, all powerful gangster known only as The Man With The Plan, who is played by, you guessed it... Christopher Walken. He is a a perverted, unsettling ghoul in the role, paralysed from the neck down and confined to a blow tube operated wheelchair, lurking in his dimly lit, Gothic mansion and hurling threatening orders like Max Schreck from Nosferatu. He coaxes Jimmy into pulling his old crew together for one last job, a personal one involving Walken's even creepier son. Of course the job goes horrendously wrong, resulting in Walken's wrath raining down upon each and every one of Jimmy's crew, as they all scramble, most of the, unsuccessfully to escape Denver. It's a stark, largely unpleasant bit of violent fun with a snappy vernacular all its own, but don't mistake my review as making out as pure darkness, without a heartbeat. There's an incredibly romantic core, as Jimmy falls in love with two vastly different, beautiful girls at once: an angelic socialite from the other side of the tracks named Dagney, played by the ever gorgeous Gabrielle Anwar, and Lucinda, a scuzzy, spunky hooker with a heart of gold played with twitchy, heartfelt energy by Fairuza Balk. Jimmy's crew is a pockmarked landscape of rough and tumble character actors, all with their own distinct flavour. William Forsythe is aces as Big Bear Franchise, a family man thug, Christopher Lloyd displays warmth and feeling as Pieces, the veteran of the crew, Bill Nunn is great as Easy Wind, and Treat Williams comes out of left field as Critical Bill, a nickname reminiscent of the condition he puts people in, as he's an absolute live wire lunatic, who literally uses corpses at the morgue he works at for punching bags, because his shrink told him he needs an outlet for his rage. Yeah. Steve Buscemi has a sly role as dangerous hit-man named Mr. Shhhhh, because he barely says a word. There's also great work from Jack Warden, Bill Cobbs, Don Cheadle and Glenn Plummer. I have to reiterate again what a lovely script it has, like a particular lingo all its own, that the characters wear like a verbal glove, and share with you with every interaction they have. It's an extremely overlooked bit of hard boiled fun, with just the right touches of scary, shocking violence, world weary golden age regret, with a stable full of wild, wacky characters to keep you more than entertained. Check it out.

I can't believe that 1000 of my fellow IMDb folk gave this movie a 7 or better. What is wrong with you? This is a terrible movie; if you don't believe me, read the reviews! The dialogue is infantile, the plot ridiculous ( why would Jimmy get 4 other crazy thugs, and split the $50,000., when he do it himself, or just hire one or two of the crazies for a couple of grand?)If you haven't seen it, please don't! I could go on for hours about how bad this movie is, and what a waste of acting talent, but I'll stop now.

Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead is directed by Gary Fleder and written by Scott Rosenberg. It stars Andy Garcia, Christopher Lloyd, William Forsythe, Bill Nunn, Treat Williams, Steve Buscemi and Christopher Walken. Music is by Michael Convertino and cinematography by Elliot Davis. Jimmy the Saint (Garcia) is a ex-gangster who finds one of his debts has been bought up by his ex boss, The Man With the Plan (Walken). The Man wants Jimmy to assemble a crew to put the frighteners on a guy who stole the girlfriend of his son, Bernard (Michael Nicolosi), who has been so traumatised by the break up he has taken to "bothering" young girls. Calling on four of his old comrades in crime, Jimmy feels it's a simple job that will finally clear him of his gangster debt whilst earning his hard up pals some cash. However, in fighting threatens to destabilise the group and when the "job" invariably goes wrong they all have to deal with the vengeful aftermath of The Man With the Plan. You wanna throw those pathetic yuks some scratch, I applaud your sensitivity. One of a number of films that surfed in on the wave created by Pulp Fiction, Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead is a nifty and potent picture at times, with sharp dialogue, moments of brutalising and a fire-cracker of a neo-noir finale. Yet it's hurt considerably by the ridiculousness of the set up. Film hinges on a "shake down" arrangement that just comes off as a weak excuse for a film, in fact it's bad writing. There are a myriad of ways to set up a heist gone wrong and then have the crims be on the run for their lives, this set up is just pathetic. Buscemi's hit man is poorly conceived, with some glaring conflicting in the characterisation, while the Anwar (beautiful and leaving a good impression) love interest angle could have had much more made of it if the makers had had the courage of their convictions. Give it a name. Still, if you can allow the annoyance of the crappy set up to subside, then there's strong noir themes to indulge in here. A one time bad boy struggling to escape his past and characters stuck in a bleak destiny influenced rut they can't get out of. There's a pervading sense of depression hanging over the film, which in a twisted way makes for good film, while the character dynamics are strong because the characters are very memorable. Helps, too, that they have awesome names like Jimmy the Saint, Critical Bill, Franchise and Mister Shhh! Acting is very good, with Garcia earning his quality pathos stripes, Williams doing psycho with ease, Forsythe a mighty machismo presence, Lloyd resigned and pitiless and Walken turning in another in his long line of bitter scary bastards. Worthy of interest to neo-noir fans for sure, but frustration sits in the narrative to stop it being an essential viewing. 6.5/10

Jimmy `The Saint' Tosnia as a small business recording messages from the terminally ill. He owes money to a local loanshark – a debt that is called in by The Man With The Plan. The Man wants Jimmy to scare off a man who has stolen away his son's high school sweetheart. Jimmy takes on a group of 4 other men to help him, however the job gets messy and fails, The Man takes the only action he can and puts a contract on their lives – giving Jimmy the option to run, however Jimmy stays to make sure that the rest of the group get safety into hiding. At the time, cool crime stories were all the rage – everyone wanted to have a go, the multiplex audience were falling over themselves for jobs gone wrong, violence and snappy dialogue. So into this crowded market place came this film – it did quite well and was probably above average for the rest of the genre at the time. The plot is nothing new and really is very simple when viewed in a synopsis. What makes the film work is the fact that it does manage to pull off the `cool, snappy' thing. The dialogue is cool and filled with catchphrases `boat drinks' `mama-rammer' `give it a name'. The characters are also written larger than life – from the silent hitman up to the Man With The Plan, they all have quirks that make them larger than life. Of course this doesn't make a film in itself and it is not without flaws – at times it does feel like it's treading water, but for the most part the smooth feel helps it glide along. The cast are all good. Garcia has one of his better roles in a while and is effortlessly cool or increasingly desperate as the role requires. Walken doing a sinister bad guy isn't earth shattering but he at least he's putting in effort and isn't slumming as he has of late. Williams is probably the funniest as Critical Bill – when summing up why the job went wrong he says that it was probably Jimmy's fault for giving him responsibility as, `everyone knows I'm off my *'. Lloyd is good value and Nunn also acquits himself well. Anwar is beautiful and she was well cast – she really does, as Jimmy says, `glide' when she walks. Buscemi is in a small part but is memorable as always. Overall this may not stand out from the crowd of this genre in the same way as Pulp Fiction does but is does have a certain cool, snappy feel to it that helps it glide along. And, in Garcia, it has a lead that really holds it together and helps bring out an emotional involvement towards the end.

I went into this film with no expectations. Still, I was horribly disappointed. As I saw the opening credits roll by, I was pretty excited: Buscemi, Lloyd, and... Walken! As it turns out, the actors were just fine. They did what they could but no one could polish a turd like this. The writing was staggeringly bad. All of the dialog fixated on the characters using cute little terms for things. It seemed like a very awkward effort to be hip. Half the time they made no sense at all. The whole "Give it a name" routine seemed like a very forced attempt to create some sort of catchy phrase along the lines of the "Fuggedaboddit" in Goodfellas. Jimmy the Saint's rambling monologues seemed like they were pulled from some teenager's diary. I loved the way he just sort of read those lines to the air and everyone pretended to listen. I felt really bad for Garcia. He's no Pacino and not even Pacino could make any of those lines sound like they made any sense. And what was with his wavering accent? All of the empty characters seemed like they were written with Kevin Costner in mind. The epitomic moment of this film is when Critical Bill insists on playing a cop and Jimmy caves in and lets him do so with the insurance that he's not allowed to open his mouth. Jeez! I wonder if he'll somehow screw everything up... by... opening his mouth or something? The slightly-too-loud background music indicates that this is very possible! Let us continue to watch and see! Jimmy's whole fling with Dagney was so tacked-on-- as was his relationship with Lucinda. They had no bearing on the rest of the film. There were many little stories that all involved the main character but none of them had anything to do with each other and none of them had any development within themselves. There were no surprises in the movie and I simply didn't care for any of the characters except for, perhaps, the kids that got killed out on the highway. They, of course, were simply props in the film. For that matter, all of the characters were simply props. Lifeless robots with flashy nicknames who drift about with a single motivation: the script-- They must read the lines they have been given and hope that the editors make sense of it all. What was with Jimmy beating up the dude in the office? That whole scene was pointless. Are we supposed to think that he's some kind of stand-up guy now? What was with those abrupt clips from the dying people slapped randomly through the film. How poetic. How deep. Not really. I can't bear to think of it any longer. To sum up: bad story, flat characters, horrid dialog, poor editing-- A poor attempt to cash in on the Pulp Fiction popularity of the time. It would give it zero stars, but it gets one point for Walken and one point for Buscemi.

I CAN imagine telling someone this film is 'a reputable film of inherently admirable qualities' - a wide-ranging score, sharp cinematography, a beautiful elegiac tone and a killer script all provide the foundations for one of the most surprising films I've seen. Andy Garcia's A-list performance is superbly supported by a host of brilliantly- cast characters, with Treat Williams, Christopher Lloyd and the malevolent Christopher Walken outstanding. The whole film just sits really well - all the small background details help the plot, flesh out the characters and culture or provide telling counterpoints to the situation. Highly recommended, for those who like their films stylish, well-acted and intelligent.

This film is very unique and it features a stellar cast including the great Andy Garcia, the talented Christopher Lloyd and the brilliant Christopher Walken, who;s performance is exceptional even though it is a small part. This film is very memorable featuring great performances especially from Steve Buscemi playing the hitman. It also has very creative and quotable dialogue inluding the term boatdrinks. I recommend this to anyone who is a fan of the crime genre or anyone who is a fan of the cast. Watch this film, quote the dialogue and be a gangster yourself.

This may be the worst movie I have ever seen. The actors were excellent, but the writing is terrible. The idea that the young man who is presented with the completely out of control Treat Williams, will continue to bait him until he brutally murders him is too ridiculous to contemplate. 10 for acting, 0 for plot.