Poll Position: Donnie Brasco

'Ey, so you know what, I also saw this movie and you know what I thought about it? Forget about it. But seriously I cannot do a decent Italian mafia accent nor can I play the role, but luckily they got actors that could. "Donnie Brasco" stars Al Pacino (seriously are there any mafia movies that do not star him) and my favourite pirate Johnny Depp. I am glad I saw this movie, because it made me realize that I do not watch enough mafia movies. After watching this, I wanted to put a hit on a guy, uhh wack a guy ... nevermind. This movie really immersed me in the lifestyle of a typical Italian mobster and it felt good. Read more after the jump.

The story of this flick starts off with Joe Pistone a.k.a Donnie Brasco (Depp) who is an undercover FBI agent who infiltrates the mafia in the big apple. He makes good friends with Benjamin "Lefty" Ruggiero and as Lefty puts it, "I'm responsible for you; if you fuck up I get the hit." Lefty puts in a good word with his bosses about Donnie to let him play with the big boys. After a series of jobs, Lefty's best friend, Sonny Black, is promoted to a boss rank. Lefty is envious of Sonny and starts to resent him thinking that his seniority is being ignored. Joe's work with the mafia puts a strain on his marriage and family, forcing him to choose between his family and his job.

Lefty, Paulie, Nicky, Sonny and Donnie (Left to Right)

Best part of this movie is by far the characters and the atmosphere. The characters are all so strong throughout this movie and I really felt and believed all their roles. I think all the actors did an amazing job and loved it. This makes Johnny Depp's performance seem even more amazing. He needed to play off a typical mobster dirtbag and a decent humane FBI agent. And the transition you see when Joe's persona actually turning into his Donnie persona, even when he is around his wife and the other FBI agents is sheer wonderful. And I am glad this movie shows a lot of scenes with Joe and his wife, because you really sense the difference on how much Joe changes throughout this movie. I thought that was really neat and well done.

Like I listed before, the atmosphere this story is very captive. I honestly say with my years in the New York mafia, this movie replicates it perfectly and I really felt I was reliving my life as a mobster. After watching this movie, it made me want to play GTA3 again, and for whatever reason, a lot of this movie reminded me of GTA3. In all seriousness, the movie did a bang on job of making the viewer’s feel as much a part of the movie as the actors were, and I feel this is missing in recent cinemas.
Oh and I need to tell you about my favourite part! It was the small scene with Joe with his FBI friends in a shanty motel room. One of the FBI agents asks, "What's forget about it?" and Joe resonses with:
Forget about it is like if you agree with someone, you know, like Raquel Welch is one great piece of ass, forget about it. But then, if you disagree, like A Lincoln is better than a Cadillac? Forget about it! you know? But then, it's also like if something's the greatest thing in the world, like mingia those peppers, forget about it. But it's also like saying Go to hell! too. Like, you know, like "Hey Paulie, you got a one inch pecker?" and Paulie says "Forget about it!" Sometimes it just means forget about it.
I thought this monologue, if that is what you want to call it, was witty and to the point.

Overall, I loved this movie. It was fun, entertaining and made me feel that I should be an American ganster (even though I would fail with my pencil arms and legs). I would easily recommend it to anyone that wanted to see a crime movie. And if you don't think you'd be interested in this movie, forget about it.