The movie's depiction of its characters ... has the depth and complexity of real life, and the actors know how to deliver the goods.
The Yards (2000)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:85
Fresh:55
Rotten:30
Average Rating:6/10
Consensus: Featuring strong performances and direction, The Yards is a richly textured crime thriller with an authentic feel.
Synopsis: Director James Gray's second film is a dark and atmospheric exploration of the corruption that lies underneath both the surface of a New York City railway manufacturing company and the family that... Director James Gray's second film is a dark and atmospheric exploration of the corruption that lies underneath both the surface of a New York City railway manufacturing company and the family that runs it. Mark Wahlberg turns in an impressive and quietly intense performance as Leo, a 24-year-old who has just been released from prison and is in need of a job. Leo gets a job working for his uncle Frank (James Caan) in the railway business, where his best friend, Willie (Joaquin Phoenix), shows him how to bribe politicians by day and sabotage the competition's work by night. Almost immediately Leo and Willie run into trouble when they go down to the railway yards to damage their competitor's work. Leo is soon on the run, hunted for a murder that Willie committed. Gray's THE YARDS shows the obvious influence of Francis Ford Coppola's seminal GODFATHER films as he emphasizes that his characters inhabit two worlds, one that follows the shifting morality of their businesses, the other centering around traditional family life. Aided immeasurably by its outstanding cast, stylish visual sense, and a lush, dissonant score, THE YARDS is a gripping and intensely moving film that fully lives up to its own ambitions. [More]
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, James Caan, Charlize Theron
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Joaquin Phoenix, James Caan, Charlize Theron, Ellen Burstyn, Faye Dunaway, Steve Lawrence
Director: James Gray
Director: James Gray
Screenwriter: James Gray, Matt Reeves
Producer: Nick Wechsler, Paul Webster, Kerry Orent
Composer: Howard Shore
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Reviews for The Yards
The performances are decent enough, but someone forgot to put some thrills into this thriller.
The comparisons gang up on the movie. This is a fair crime story but nowhere a great family crime story.
This deliberately paced (to put it politely) drama, rarely kicks into high gear.
Gray balances the hugeness of the canvas and the occasional broadness of his strokes with spare, scrupulous detail in the individual characterizations.
Even if The Yards is no masterpiece by association, it still features two galvanizing young actors at the top of their game.
After a point, The Yards crosses the line from portentously atmospheric to merely dolorous.
The acting, along with director/co-writer James Gray's unfailingly bleak style, elevate this to be above the norm.
One of The Yards' impressive elements is the way that, while it sometimes strains credibility, it conjures up an entire world -- and an entire world view -- without ever leaving Queens.
It can't help being smothered by the filmmaker's desire to create a story straight out of The Godfather or Greek mythology.
The Yards is anything but the typical Hollywood slam-bam gangster melodrama.
Things in The Yards become so hard to swallow that even the most easygoing movie-goers will find it hard to suspend disbelief.
There's an old-fashioned steadiness that reminds me a bit of the old James Cagney pictures. And that sort of thing still works pretty well.
Latest News for The Yards
January 16, 2008:
Charlize Theron Joins The Road's Gang
The Coen brothers' adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men has been a mainstay on critics' year-end best-of lists -- but that film's success was only part of an... More...
May 20, 2007:
Cannes: James Gray's "We Own the Night" Sold To Columbia
Columbia Pictures has purchased the North American rights for James Gray’s "We Own the Night" for $11.5 million, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The film,... More...
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