Monument Ave. (1998)

Denis Leary (TV's THE JOB) and Martin Sheen (THE AMERICAN PRESIDENT) star in this explosive story about the power of loyalty, community, and friendship in the world of organized crime. In a tough Irish-American neighborhood, Bobby (Leary) is a small-time car thief working for the area's top mobster (Colm Meany -- CON AIR, THE SNAPPER). But then, Bobby's own gang kills members of his family, leaving Bobby faced with a tough choice: defend his family honor or obey the rigid neighborhood code of silence! With co-stars Billy Crudup (ALMOST FAMOUS) and Famke Janssen (GOLDEN EYE), MONUMENT AVE. is gripping entertainment in the tradition of GOODFELLAS!

Irish gangster activity served up all nice and steamy for ya

Gritty, funny, buddies, drugs, drinkin', crime, and Denis Leary = pretty good movie. Denis is one of those guys who doesn't ever seem to be acting. He's always some version of himself, which happens to be something I like. I suppose, due to my past life I never tire of watching guys sitting around partying and discussing pointless, banal topics with fervor and passion fueled by drugs and camaraderie. I'm getting to relive my youth vicariously sans the bad health and police issues. The plot was basic enough. Vaguely gang related but in the old school way of the Irish. People going along to get along even if it hurts them and their community until the head bad guy goes too far and the hero is forced to more closely examine his life and goals. The end was predictable enough but who cares? Pretty good flick for what it is. April 1, 2008

dark dark dark

I bought this DVD because Ted Demme was a great director und Denis Leary is a good actor, but having seen this film once I think I have seen it one time too often. This is one of those films where everything is dark, dark, dark. Not one bright moment, no humor at all, and in the end there is the eternal american message: The good guy shoots the bad guy and all is well and we can go to bed. And of course, if you cut out the f*** word, the film would run 60 minutes instead of boring 90. January 14, 2008

monument Avenue

I like Dennis Leary and Baltimore, so I should have liked the movie, but it is too irish mafia for me, especially in Baltimore which is more polish than irish, and the scenario is pretty poor. Famke Jannsen is her usual sexy self but I fail to see her connection to Leary or to the irish mob boss October 3, 2007

The easy life in a microcosm of car ring gang

MONUMENT AVE (aka SNITCH 1998), is somewhat of a chick-flick in a
masculine version, telling a story of a number of youths all from the
same neighborhood, who somehow escaped the radar screen of law
enforcement. This is said to stem from from the incompetence of the
constable, his being on the take, or from looking the other way due
to his shared ethnicity (Irish-Americans, Martin Sheen) with the
other delinquent elements.

The lead characters, among them Denis Leary, Kevin Chapman somehow
wind up at between 30 and 40 years of age, in almost an identical
spot as when they were youths growing up together, rejecting the 9 to
5 routine, in favor of a constant presence in pubs, drinking, high
on cocaine, whiskey, gambling, without having learned a trade or
profession.

They agree to defraud an insurer with a simulated theft of luxury
automobiles in some cases, and in others, sell those for parts as
part of a car ring on the East Coast of the USA.

The easy life, and excess familiarity with their own neighborhoods,
leads this gang to unrealistic expectactions in regards to their
ability to stop the hands of time and the winds of change, in terms
of their own neighborhood in the city from when they were kids,
fearing housing projects and other communities from setting shop in it.

In regards to business, the ring leader admits taking out a number of
well known community members over the years, to eliminate any and all
risks of informants to the police and any challenge to his leadership
position.

Surprisingly, this microcosm in which they sustain themselves
stays unchanged over a period of years, until the skeletons seem too
many, the truth too hideous to remain hidden in the closet. At their
age, the cognitive dissonance between right and wrong and the
expectations of their boss, grows too large to reconcile, such that a
desire to break free from this scene grows increasingly irresistable.

The overwhelming experience of this movie, is the skill of the
director underplaying his presence, by almost totally eliminating
music, special effects, cinematic inventions, by sticking to a
simplicity, and a low-key presence of the cameras. The action as it
unfolds feels authentic to the viewers, with the actors offering
realistic performances, in a movie that appears strongly
autobiographical in nature.

The weak point, is obviously the lack of consequences and pain felt by
the ring members from their actions, the easiness of their
lifestyles, and excess pleasure they seem to partake in, as well as
the astonishingly absent moral reflections, repercussions, analysis
of their gestures. In other words, the audience may have difficulty
identifying with the characters's shallow humanity. June 13, 2007

Vastly Underrated -- Best Boston Movie Ever

Anyone who grew up in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s will tell you, this is one of the best Boston movies ever made and comes as close as a fictional movie can to feeling like, at times, a documentary (only "The Verdict" comes as close to capturing what Boston is all about). It absolutely blows Good Will Hunting away. (The film "Southie", while truly awful at parts, is actually better than most people think, starred a Dorchester native, and was written by another. While it was set in NYC, "State of Grace" is a close cousin to this movie, but Monument Avenue does not have a ridiculous, horrible ending, which "State of Grace" unarguably did). Believe it or not, Monument Avenue is in almost all ways actually a better film than "Mystic River", and it is much more evocative of Boston. The guys in "Mystic River" are great characters but are obviously just that, characters, while the guys in Monument Avenue feel like the real thing, and few movies capture the dead-end, small-time criminal life of blue collar white NE ethnics better. Monument Avenue is also beyond dark, the final montage that closes the movie is practically unwatchable to anyone who knew or was related to someone who was a part of what was going on in Boston at this time and features one of the most effective uses of stills and mood music in American cinematic history. Charlestown is brought to life so vividly in this film that it is a character in the movie. Everyone in the cast (except for a jarringly weak Colm Meaney) nails it. Leary being great in this movie is no surprise (even though he is a hick from Worcester), but Famke Jansen is shockingly good. The movie is based on what happened in the 1980's-1990's when gentrification hit Boston's Irish Neighborhoods and an epidemic of bar-room shootings took place in Charlestown, in full view of people, with no witnesses stepping forward (a prime motiviation behind most of the witnesses not talking was the desire to settle the score by killing the shooter themselves later on, or preserving the right of the victims friends or family members to do so -- the feuds in Charlestown were so widespread that over 125 murders similar to those in this film are said to have taken place in 10 years -- that is not a misprint). Mothers Against Violence formed in response to this epidemic of murders and refusals to cooperate with the police in Charlestown (this is foreshadowed in the film during a funeral scene). All of Boston's tougher Irish (at that time) neighborhoods -- South Boston, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Hyde Park, Roslindale -- had a well-known unwritten code of silence and their share of feuds and unending cycles of vengeance, but Charlestown's was by far the most infamous, all-encompassing and unforgiving. The best-kept secret to outsiders that are not from Boston is that Charlestown is, far and away, Boston's toughest neighborhood. A powerful, elegant, and unfairly ignored film. Truly spectacular. September 7, 2006

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