25th Hour (Lee, 2002)

[ozzylogic]

Managed to watch this gem from Spike Lee, and it's one of the best I've watched this year, especially Edward Norton's character 'Monty Brogan' and his speech in the toilet. With an all star cast, this movie is almost flawless.

It tells the story of a man who has it all, but gets busted and has to go to jail for 7 years, so in the last 24 hours of freedom, he decides to connect with everyone closest to him.

I also managed to check out the deleted scenes in the special features of this DVD, and it's got one titled Sway, where all the main characters of the film define the term 'Sway' in their own point of view, with Spike Lee's unique direction (does it have a name? the camera doesn't lose focus from the main character, but the background is always in motion...).

[animatedude]

man....watching that speech scene was like listening to Master Of Puppets on very high volume.

[ozzylogic]

The speech is as good as Samuel Jackson's lines from the Bible before he shot the bad guys in Pulp Fiction. Brad Pitt's lines from Fight Club are along the same lines too.

[madali]

25th Hour (Lee, 2002)
IMDB Link

Five years ago, I went to jail for DUI (I wish it was something more awesomer than just being drunk). Because of the strict laws in Dubai, I was sent to the main jail for 26 days. I had an appeal, came out for a week, went to court, lost, and went back in.

One of the most difficult parts of being sent back was the day before. In “25th Hour”, Monty (Edward Norton) is going to prison for seven years after being busted for drug dealing. I’m not saying Monty and Madali were in the same boat, as that he is being sent to jail for 7 years and I went in only for 26 days, but I have a point of reference at least. Once you go to jail, you’re in, it’s done, the process of waiting begins, and your mind is set in somehow making sure the time passes by.

The day before itself is painful. Your mind plays a million sceneries on how your life will play out once in jail. The day you were caught plays over and over in your mind, and how many different paths you could have taken for it not to lead to this. You feel ashamed of looking into the eyes of your friends and family, yet you have to act nonchalant and strong, to fool yourself and to reassure people who care about you. You feel confused about how badly you want this experience to be over but you don’t want this last day to finish.

But once you get it, it is resignation, and it is actually easier.

This personal story was to show you that to me “25th Hour” has a slight feeling of familiarity. That does not mean you have to be a tattooed, muscled, skinhead criminal like me to appreciate it, because the movie is a great snapshot of life. Not just about Morgan’s day, but about the day of his closest friends, and about the decisions everyone makes every second of their lives.

Edward Norton’s rant in the middle of the movie is already a classic and one that will be remembered and brought up for decades to come. Just let not that scene overshadow other scenes. Morgan’s father (Brian Cox) has a brilliant monologue scene too, and it’s full of hope and possibilities, and it is beautifully written and voiced. Others, such as Philip Seymour Hoffman and Barry Pepper, have their own moments to shine.

“Well, fuck you, too. Fuck me, fuck you, fuck this whole city and everyone in it. Fuck the panhandlers, grubbing for money, and smiling at me behind my back. Fuck the squeegee men dirtying up the clean windshield of my car. Get a fucking job! Fuck the Sikhs and the Pakistanis bombing down the avenues in decrepit cabs, curry steaming out their pores, stinking up my day. Terrorists in fucking training. SLOW THE FUCK DOWN! Fuck the Chelsea boys with their waxed chests and pumped up biceps. Going down on each other in my parks and on my piers, jingling their dicks on my Channel 35. Fuck the Korean grocers with their pyramids of overpriced fruit and their tulips and roses wrapped in plastic. Ten years in the country, still no speaky English? Fuck the Russians in Brighton Beach. Mobster thugs sitting in cafés, sipping tea in little glasses, sugar cubes between their teeth. Wheelin' and dealin' and schemin'. Go back where you fucking came from! Fuck the black-hatted Chassidim, strolling up and down 47th street in their dirty gabardine with their dandruff. Selling South African apartheid diamonds! Fuck the Wall Street brokers. Self-styled masters of the universe. Michael Douglas, Gordon Gekko wannabe mother fuckers, figuring out new ways to rob hard working people blind. Send those Enron assholes to jail for FUCKING LIFE! You think Bush and Cheney didn't know about that shit? Give me a fucking break! Tyco! Worldcom! Fuck the Puerto Ricans. 20 to a car, swelling up the welfare rolls, worst fuckin' parade in the city. And don't even get me started on the Dom-in-i-cans, 'cause they make the Puerto Ricans look good. Fuck the Bensonhurst Italians with their pomaded hair, their nylon warm-up suits, their St. Anthony medallions, swinging their, Jason Giambi, Louisville slugger, baseball bats, trying to audition for the Sopranos. Fuck the Upper East Side wives with their Hermes scarves and their fifty-dollar Balducci artichokes. Overfed faces getting pulled and lifted and stretched, all taut and shiny. You're not fooling anybody, sweetheart! Fuck the uptown brothers. They never pass the ball, they don't want to play defense, they take five steps on every lay-up to the hoop. And then they want to turn around and blame everything on the white man. Slavery ended one hundred and thirty seven years ago. Move the fuck on! Fuck the corrupt cops with their anus violating plungers and their 41 shots, standing behind a blue wall of silence. You betray our trust! Fuck the priests who put their hands down some innocent child's pants. Fuck the church that protects them, delivering us into evil. And while you're at it, fuck JC! He got off easy! A day on the cross, a weekend in hell, and all the hallelujahs of the legioned angels for eternity! Try seven years in fuckin' Otisville, J! Fuck Osama Bin Laden, Al Qaeda, and backward-ass, cave-dwelling, fundamentalist assholes everywhere. On the names of innocent thousands murdered, I pray you spend the rest of eternity with your seventy-two whores roasting in a jet-fuel fire in hell. You towel headed camel jockeys can kiss my royal Irish ass! Fuck Jacob Elinsky, whining malcontent. Fuck Francis Xavier Slaughtery my best friend, judging me while he stares at my girlfriend's ass. Fuck Naturelle Riviera, I gave her my trust and she stabbed me in the back, sold me up the river, fucking bitch. Fuck my father with his endless grief, standing behind that bar sipping on club sodas, selling whisky to firemen, cheering the Bronx bombers. Fuck this whole city and everyone in it. From the row-houses of Astoria to the penthouses on Park Avenue, from the projects in the Bronx to the lofts in Soho. From the tenements in Alphabet City to the brownstones in Park slope to the split-levels in Staten Island. Let an earthquake crumble it, let the fires rage, let it burn to fucking ash and then let the waters rise and submerge this whole rat-infested place.”

4/5

[theoddball]

Hahaha! Mad I knew that there had to be something "dark" in your past, hehe!

Awesome film, by the way. Too bad it's relatively underrated as a Norton performance compared to Fight Club and American History X. And yes, I did read the entire text of that legendary monologue, which means I also had to do this:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/mbOuU3L3bQc&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/mbOuU3L3bQc&rel=1</a>

[X.]

Brave of you to share that with us, Mad.

[madali]

I thought everyone knew!

[raging]

This is my favorite Norton film. This film is excellent because it does something very few films are able to do…

Give respect to its supporting cast even though it’s fundamentally about one guy's unique torment. Spike Lee does a near impossible job of making us care for all the characters that revolve around Monty’s world, the father, the GF, the two best friends. It's because these people are treated as more than standard cardboard characters and given dimensions to their personalities this movie feels more complete and hits us the hardest when they ask Monty the  question on why oh God why did you do it? Why didn't he quit while he was ahead? Why did he get to greedy? Asked for a little bit more.

Spike Lee deliberately keeps Norton’s character notoriously low key right up till the bathroom scene where he lets Monty the fierce autonomy to utter whatsoever he wants to Proclaim; comparable to the impact of a train on collision with another we in the audience are jolted, Norton’s speech just hits all the right notes, Norton is this eras BRANDO. I cant give him any higher praise.

And a small word of praise for actor Brian Cox. Time in and time out I've seen this underrated actor give some valuable gems without any media extol; we need more character actors like him. His voice over monologue right at the end of the movie is every bit as central as Norton’s because it’s very incisive in giving us the glimpse into the life Monty can attain if he becomes a Fugitive.

Maybe live in peace make a comfortable life for him and raise a family but always living in the fear that this can all come plummeting down if he’s exposed someday. A lesson for all people who idolize a life in crime this film cliché agreed but what the hell ‘Don’t do the crime if u can’t do the time’.

[X.]

Agreed on Brian Cox. A wonderful, underrated actor. Raging, you must see Michael Cuesta's "L.I.E.." It's not an 'easy watch' -- that depends on how strong your gut is for pedophilia and gay themes. But, it's a really moving and fearless portrait of a lonely man and a young, impressionable kid; who both need each other in the truest and most purest sense of the word.

P.S. Raging, thanks for the review. It made for good reading. May be you or one of the Mods can correct the formatting in your post?

[raging]

actually AK  i by mistake double spaced the paragraphs in the box it looked nice then ,when it was posted it look funny

also can i start a post or a thread and u know write a review of it say couple of days later say hypothetically i start a review of a movie with its title and go like review coming soon.and write it couple of days later. 
yeah i know it might be risky ppl starting posts and then just leaving it empty but say i dont write a review in 3 days from actual date u can either
A)Delete it
OR
B) Give credit to the first guy who writes the review first even in the allocated 3 day period no probs

The reason is, im finding it hard to motivate myself to write about a movie simply becasue ive seen so many films ive got to go to wikepedia  or IMDB sometimes and read the play by play  action of the movie to refresh my memory   in other words to much research work,

now with a film like 25th hour somebody has already started a thread so i can just read there posts and refresh my memory its just for motivating myself and in a way if im responsible i might get off ma lazy ass and actually start a new thread , currently ive written a review of a classic movie and its 1 word page and it took me 2 weeks the 25th hour review was written only today. so whats the verdict .   

P.S Ive got extreme tastes in movies , im up for anything even bad movies as long as its not boring ...Because of matrix revolutions im still in therapy

[X.]

You can start a thread for a new, unreleased movie at anytime. If it's an older film and you intend to review it, there's no rush -- start the thread whenever you are ready.

Bottom line, you are welcome here, even if you post one line, two lines or a full review!

[fizz]

...Because of matrix revolutions im still in therapy

Haha...we all are.

Raging, good to read your point of view. Keep em coming.