A rare and often quite good try at making a thriller with real people and believable contemporary backgrounds.
The Yards (2000)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
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
Get This Movie
Reviews for The Yards
Gray adds the kind of design and style that make The Yards his own, and casts Mark Wahlberg in an increasingly more impressive light.
The film's intense realism has a transcendent quality that makes it feel -- dare I say it? -- almost Shakespearean in the depth and scope of its commentary on the human condition.
Never envelops the audience in the deep tenor and rich realism of its sullied world.
The Yards appears greater than the sum of its old sources, in part because its hero wouldn't know a cliché if it pressed two Knicks tickets in his hand and told him there's more where those came from.
It is so choked with its own solemnity that it barely musters the energy to tell a story.
It's filled with compelling performances, steeped in lovely photography, paced with grace and, finally, able to convey gravity and moral ambiguity.
A serious film that strives for a moral complexity and a textural density rarely found in contemporary dramas.
Wahlberg's sympathetic portrayal of an unlucky loser is probably the best work that he has ever done.
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...
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 90% 90% | District 9 |
| 86% 86% | 500 Days of Summer |
| 63% 63% | Extract |
| 06% 06% | All About Steve |
| 78% 78% | It Might Get Loud |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Fresh Links
Featured

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



