Gotti

[alpha_omega]

I really enjoy mob-style movies, but this just looks awful...mostly because of Travolta. I will withold judgement until seen, but it sure looks like Armand Assante played a much better Gotti than Travolta ever could have.

CP's thoughts?

[lawrenceRaider]

Revolta is who they cast when no one else wants the part.

[Frazod]

I really liked the old HBO movie with Armand Assante.

[hometeam]

[Simply Red]

Though I appreciate your sharing this - I really despise Travolta.

Edit: I now see you don't care for him either. Good for you. I agree.

[ShiftyEyedWaterboy]

Horribly miscast. Just doesn’t have the sleaze factor that Gotti had.

[alpha_omega]

Ha....looks like the "experts" agree......

Spoiler!

First Reviews Murder "Gotti"

The first reviews are in for "Gotti" and they're ugly. Movie critics at the Cannes Film Festival, who saw John Travolta's biopic about crime boss John Gotti filmed in Cincinnati two years ago, clearly don't think it will be a mob movie hit.

The Hollywood Reporter and IndieWire called it "pretty terrible," "cheap-looking," "bad," "amateurish," "incoherent," "tedious and episodic" and "poorly written, devoid of tension, ridiculous in spots and just plain dull in others."

Did I leave anything out?

Oh yeah: One reviewer compared John Travolta's Gotti performance to Alec Baldwin's Trump impersonation.

"The fact that it mostly portrays John Gotti as a loving family man and altogether likable guy, and his son John Gotti Jr. as a victim of government persecution, may be a first in the history of the genre. Leave it up to 'Teflon Don' to get a movie made that seems to clear him of all charges more than 15 years after his death," says the unbylined Hollywood Reporter review.

"It's a strange thing to say for a guy convicted of murder, but John Gotti deserved better than this amateurish biopic," writes IndieWire critic David Ehrlich.

In a backhanded compliment, Erhlich praises director Kevin Connolly, best known as an actor on "Entourage," for using footage of the real Gotti in the opening "because John Travolta's performance is hammy enough that we need hard evidence he's playing a real person."

Travolta, also a producer on the film, "plays the Teflon Don like a cross between Ray Liotta and Alec Baldwin's impression of Donald Trump," Ehrlich says. The Hollywood Reporter says that Travolta, "wearing a perma-tan and mounds of makeup," provides a "lively presence in some scenes, talking in a rowdy New Yawka accent and tossing off a few good lines early on… But he can do little to bring this tedious and episodic chronicle to life."

When filming wrapped in August 2016, Connolly praised Cincinnati for providing locations that looked like New York City. Ehrlich wasn't impressed. He said it was "a cheap-looking film that expends zero energy attempting to capture period detail."

The Hollywood Reporter put it this way: "Made on a purported $10 million budget, the film was shot in Cincinnati and tends to feel like it, with a few aerial images and Brooklyn exteriors reminding us that this is New York."

"Gotti" publicists asked the press at Cannes not to review the film, since the premiere was a "private screening," not part of the competition. They apparently wanted it both ways: Positive stories about "Gotti" premiering at Cannes without any bad reviews before the film opens in theaters June 15.

When I emailed Rogers and Cowan, the large Los Angeles public relations company, asking for "Gotto" photos Monday, I was told: "The film is not being screened for reviews at this time, and we've asked for an embargo from any critics who see it prior to release. We want audiences to experience the film for themselves, as I'm sure you understand."

John Gotti was known as the "Teflon Don." Maybe they're hoping these scathing "Gotti" reviews won't stick.

http://wvxu.org/post/first-reviews-m...gotti#stream/0

[Frazod]

Ouch.

[Deberg_1990]

Wait for Netflix......or 2am on Showtime Extreme

[alpha_omega]

Originally Posted by Frazod

I really liked the old HBO movie with Armand Assante.

Yes. In thinking about this upcoming movie, i went back and watched the HBO movie with Assante. The movie was ok, but Assante was outstanding.

[Frazod]

Originally Posted by alpha_omega

Yes. In thinking about this upcoming movie, i went back and watched the HBO movie with Assante. The movie was ok, but Assante was outstanding.

William Forsythe was nails as Gravano, too.

[Otter]

Anyone with a decent knowledge of organized crime knows Gotti was a ****ing idiot that old timers wanted dead. He was basically a joke and a blowhard amongst the mafioso.

I can name about 10 mobsters off the top of head that were at least respected and competent that would make a better story.

And Travolta? Really?

[rocknrolla]

Originally Posted by Otter

Anyone with a decent knowledge of organized crime knows Gotti was a ****ing idiot that old timers wanted dead. He was basically a joke and a blowhard amongst the mafioso.

I can name about 10 mobsters off the top of head that were at least respected and competent that would make a better story.

And Travolta? Really?

He wanted to be celebrity more than a mobster.

[srvy]

Well I saw Stacy Keach thats rare always like that dude.

[Otter]

Originally Posted by rocknrolla

He wanted to be celebrity more than a mobster.

Huge part of the problem. I'm not sure how much wanting to be a Hollywood Don caused his incompetence but he was also highly incompetent.

If you get bored here's a link to some Mafia podcast documentaries:

https://audioboom.com/channel/mafia

I'm nothing more than a well informed enthusiast on the history of the mob but listen to the John Gotti ones if you have a chance. They're about 30 minutes each and both very accurate from my readings. Great to play while you're driving or cooking dinner or as such.