Word: liotta
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...where Ray Liotta got his start...
...recent death, has become an object of fascination. Unfortunately, the timing of the film is the best thing about it. Despite some flashes of style, particularly in set design, it's an oddly dutiful account of Sinatra's life during this period. The story is familiar; the actors (Ray Liotta as Sinatra, Joe Mantegna as Martin) fail to generate electricity, and the script contains some real embarrassments. Would J.F.K. really have compared Marilyn Monroe to "an ancient Roman vase...
...Swingers, about two guys making their way through the world on terms they borrowed from Frank's life and works. The past year also saw the publication of two histories of the Rat Pack; a pair of Rat Pack movies are in the works (an HBO film starring Ray Liotta as Sinatra and a Martin Scorsese film about Dean Martin); and a few weeks ago, the cable channel TV Land drew its highest ratings to date with a never before broadcast Rat Pack concert from...
...rookie does fine. He leaves the plot propulsion to the Scorsese grads--Keitel as a mob-controlled cop covering up a killing, De Niro as a flinty internal-affairs detective on Keitel's trail, Liotta as a good-bad cop--while he watches, listens, recedes into the wallpaper. Mining his own insecurity to mirror Freddy's, Stallone dominates these scenes with his poignant passivity. The sweet sadness in his eyes reveals something rare in modern films: how much pain and insult a decent man with zero self-esteem can endure. Of course, he and we know he's the hero...
...lineup of high profiles, Liotta has the toughest role and does wonders with it. He gets to play ambiguities. Stallone has to dramatize indecision; he does it by carefully plodding toward Freddy's crisis. He describes the sheriff as "a noble turtle," and during the shoot he kept a small turtle in his pocket. Mangold wanted the star to lose his chiseled look, so Stallone gained 40 lbs. of flab--a condition he often felt obliged to explain. "He'd say, 'Hey, I'm doing a movie, that's why I'm heavy,'" Liotta recalls. "He'd say this...