Motherless Brooklyn (2019)

[Robert Crawford]

Title: Motherless Brooklyn

Genre: Crime, Drama

Director: Edward Norton

Cast: Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Willem Dafoe, Leslie Mann, Ethan Suplee, Alec Baldwin, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Josh Pais, Michael Kenneth Williams, Cherry Jones, Candace M. Smith, Fisher Stevens, Bobby Cannavale, Dallas Roberts, Robert Wisdom, Courtney Gonzalez, Joseph Siravo, Doris McCarthy, Erica Sweany, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Radu Spinghel, Olli Haaskivi, Migs Govea, Katy Davis, Blaise Corrigan

Release: 2019-10-31

Runtime: 144

Plot: Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, ventures to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend — a mystery that carries him from the gin-soaked jazz clubs of Harlem to the slums of Brooklyn to the gilded halls of New York's power brokers.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I'm looking forward to this film as I just hope it's a good movie with a talented cast.

 

[steve jaros]

Saw this yesterday and was very entertained. The almost two and a half hours flew by. Edward Norton, who we don't see nearly enough of these days, does a great job telling a tale about corruption in NYC public works. The period-setting is gorgeous, as are the actors - EN put together an excellent cast.

If you've read Caro's "The Power Broker", one of the best non-fiction books ever IMO, you'll be familiar with these kinds of machinations. Norton himself hasn't had a box office hit in a long time, so I'm surprised he had the power in Hollywood to get Warner Bros to finance what will almost surely earn little if any money, but I'm glad he did. Well done on all counts.

A-

 

[Malcolm R]

Norton himself hasn't had a box office hit in a long time, so I'm surprised he had the power in Hollywood to get Warner Bros to finance what will almost surely earn little if any money, but I'm glad he did.

It was relatively cheap, at only $26 million budget. Norton claims he and all the principal leads worked for free, though I wouldn't think that would fly with the actors union.

 

[Robert Crawford]

Saw this yesterday and was very entertained. The almost two and a half hours flew by. Edward Norton, who we don't see nearly enough of these days, does a great job telling a tale about corruption in NYC public works. The period-setting is gorgeous, as are the actors - EN put together an excellent cast.

If you've read Caro's "The Power Broker", one of the best non-fiction books ever IMO, you'll be familiar with these kinds of machinations. Norton himself hasn't had a box office hit in a long time, so I'm surprised he had the power in Hollywood to get Warner Bros to finance what will almost surely earn little if any money, but I'm glad he did. Well done on all counts.

A-

Yup, a fine movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. I figured out a key plot point very early in the film so I wasn't surprised by that reveal, but I enjoyed watching this fictional account of Robert Moses and the harm he did the NYC Metro area with his corrupt, racist and power hunger tendencies.

 

[steve jaros]

It was relatively cheap, at only $26 million budget. Norton claims he and all the principal leads worked for free, though I wouldn't think that would fly with the actors union.

It has made $3m so far. I'm sure WB is banking on a slow-burn run fueled by word of mouth and good reviews that will last through the holidays, but sometimes that doesn't materialize. Hopefully, it will.

 

[steve jaros]

Yup, a fine movie that I thoroughly enjoyed. I figured out a key plot point very early in the film so I wasn't surprised by that reveal, but I enjoyed watching this fictional account of Robert Moses and the harm he did the NYC Metro area with his corrupt, racist and power hunger tendencies.

While I agree that all three of your descriptions of Moses are accurate, IMO there is more to it than that. Particularly in today's era, where we have crumbling infrastructure, political paralysis that often prevents things from getting done, and when projects are finally approved they frequently end up with huge cost overruns and delays, Moses's ability to get projects approved and then built on time and under budget, is admirable. And most of his big projects are still working fine decades after they were built. So to me, he has a mixed legacy.

 

[Robert Crawford]

While I agree that all three of your descriptions of Moses are accurate, IMO there is more to it than that. Particularly in today's era, where we have crumbling infrastructure, political paralysis that often prevents things from getting done, and when projects are finally approved they frequently end up with huge cost overruns and delays, Moses's ability to get projects approved and then built on time and under budget, is admirable. And most of his big projects are still working fine decades after they were built. So to me, he has a mixed legacy.

Talk to the people that were affected by his legacy like some of my family members and then tell me it was mixed. To this day, I will always remembered my grandfather and some of my great uncles and aunts railing about Robert Moses and what he did to some communities back in the day. He ruin neighborhoods and lives during his tenure in power. Reading books on a subject matter is one thing, but, actually talking to the people that lived it is a totally different thing.

 

[steve jaros]

Talk to the people that were affected by his legacy like some of my family members and then tell me it was mixed. To this day, I will always remembered my grandfather and some of my great uncles and aunts railing about Robert Moses and what he did to some communities back in the day. He ruin neighborhoods and lives during his tenure in power. Reading books on a subject matter is one thing, but, actually talking to the people that lived it is a totally different thing.

I agree, if you were one of those people whose house was knocked down to build a Moses road or bridge or park, then to you (and yours) his legacy isn't mixed, he is hated and from your POV that is perfectly rational. But if we are going to talk to the people whose houses were cleared out for a park, we'd also have to talk to the thousands of people who have enjoyed the park over the years as well. They count too. Granted, not being either of those kinds of people, I have the luxury of adopting a birds-eye view. But, that's my view.

 

[Robert Crawford]

I agree, if you were one of those people whose house was knocked down to build a Moses road or bridge or park, then to you (and yours) his legacy isn't mixed, he is hated and from your POV that is perfectly rational. But if we are going to talk to the people whose houses were cleared out for a park, we'd also have to talk to the thousands of people who have enjoyed the park over the years as well. They count too. Granted, not being either of those kinds of people, I have the luxury of adopting a birds-eye view. But, that's my view.

That's your view, but, unless you lived in the NYC Metro area then I don't think you can fully understand the damage that Moses caused in which having some parks doesn't justify the means he utilized and how such things could've been done better and with improved mass transit system infrastructure that would've been better for the general public. Anyhow, I'm done with this as this subject matter just pisses me off on what could've been instead of the mess we have now in my home area transportation-wise all of these years later.