kadar

(2012-05-01 00:29:20)

Gives made-for-TV movies a bad name.

A superficial puff-piece about a fascinating political character thatstaysso much on the surface that it verges on soft-core propaganda.Neither James Woods nor the script really bears a particularly closeresemblance to Guiliani, both making him look better than he reallywas.One example that can symbolize many others: Guiliani is shown as a devotedYankee fan, but there is no mention of his various overt and coverteffortsto funnel millions of public dollars to George Steinbrenner and hisbaseballteam.The director's and writer's point of view is not only essentiallypro-Guiliani, but the narrative framework is also centered within hispolitical cadre, rather than being informed by the insights of detachedandbalanced observers.I would have liked to have seen more about where Rudy came from --geographically, socially, and psychologically -- to help understand how hebecame such a capable yet massively flawed figure on the New Yorkpoliticalstage. This movie trivializes its subject matter, focussing on atwo-dimensional cutout rather than a three-dimensional character within acomplex context.

DCB73

(2012-04-30 11:13:44)

Penelope Ann Miller

It's too bad the talented Penelope Ann Miller was cast in thisgarbage! Her talent and acting ability should be used for muchbetter roles than this. As usual, Penelope is always outstanding,no matter what she is in but this role was sickening. Hope to seeher in better stuff than this in the future.

Theo Robertson

(2012-04-26 14:32:08)

I Didn`t Learn Anything

September the 11th 2001 was a day when I was ill with a really bad chestinflammation . I was having a cup of tea watching the end credits ofNEIGHBOURS when a BBC newsflash came up . I instantly thought The QueenMother had died untill the newsreader said two planes had crashed into eachof the twin towers of the WTC building and I spent the rest of the day witha shocked expression on my face as the events in New York unfolded . Theworld changed that day and not for the better RUDY : THE RUDY GIULIANI STORY is the first filmed dramatisation of theevents of 9/11 . It`s also a biopic of the legendary Mayor of New York onthat day , but I found this to be uninformative . Mayor Rudy took on themafia ? Well I knew that already . He drastically cut the crime rates in NYC? I knew that already . He was a bit of a lad and cheated on his partner ? Ididn`t know that but is infidelity all that interesting ? As a big JamesWoods fan I was also disappointed with his performance in the title role andcouldn`t help thinking Woods was slightly miscast , Woods is in his elementplaying manic , intense bad guys and I`ve never thought of Giuliani as amanic , intense bad guy . As one reviewer has already pointed out RobertDuvall would have been perfect in the role .The biggest problem with this TVM is nothing to do with the actors oranyone`s opinion of Mayor Rudy , it`s probably more to do with the events on9/11 . The reality of something so shocking , something that set so manywheels in motion for both good and bad for many years to come completelyoverwhelms something as unimportant as a movie made for television .

AndrewBogut6

(2012-04-25 17:59:23)

Don't get the angle of this movie....

My main question regards the motivation behind this story. Firstly,does it aim to provide an informative account of Rudy or simply cash inon September 11? Moreover, if his biography is intended to be paramount, I am not sure whether it glorifies or condemn his character.On the whole, i thought this movie was poor. The production values wereterrible, to say the very least. As was the handling of the events ofSeptember 11. To include such emotive footage of that day is dangerous,especially when Rudy exclaims "what have these bastards done to mycity?". From an objective standpoint this line was simply ectopic inthe context of the movie, almost adding light to the situation. Thefollowing "women and children first" dialogue seems misplaced in theterror and hysteria of the situation.