August 20, 2020: More from the Stargate vault! And our Crime Club convenes to discuss American Gangster!

More from the Stargate vault…

Will Waring directs from his mobile throne (Stargate: Atlantis – “The Seed”)

Down time on the Destiny set (Stargate: Universe – “Air Part 2”

“Wait.  That can’t be right.  Can it?”  Checking the script on Stargate: Atlantis – “Search and Rescue”

At the SGC with two of my favorite people: Robert Picardo and Amanda Tapping.

Wardrobe touch-up on Paul McGillion courtesy of Barry Peters.  Stargate: Atlantis – “The Seed”.

David Hewlett, Linda Ko, and Paul McGillion on the set of Stargate: Atlantis – “The Seed”.

The Crime Club convenes to discuss American Gangster.

Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe deliver powerhouse performances as two deeply flawed yet driven men on opposite sides of the law.

The set-up is great and, while this movie has all the hallmarks of a crime classic, it ultimately falls short. Despite the almost 3 hour run time, the Frank Lucas character fails to reach the iconic heights of a Michael Corleone or Henry Hill

All the standard gangster film beats are there, but the script brings nothing unique to their realization – which is a shame because the real Frank Lucas’s story is a fascinating one.  Curiously, one of the biggest elements I was really missing was the colorful supporting characters that typify these types of movies, the Sonny Corleones and Fredos and Luca Brasis who add so much depth and realism to these underworlds and their power players.

Overall a fine if fairly unremarkable movie.

Tomorrow’s Crime Club selection is the William Goldman and John Schlesinger suspense-thriller Marathon Man.

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