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A Most Violent Year

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A Most Violent Year (2014)

December. 31,2014
|
7
|
R
| Drama Thriller Crime
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A thriller set in New York City during the winter of 1981, statistically one of the most violent years in the city's history, and centered on the lives of an immigrant and his family trying to expand their business and capitalize on opportunities as the rampant violence, decay, and corruption of the day drag them in and threaten to destroy all they have built.

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Reviews

AniInterview
2014/12/31

Sorry, this movie sucks

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Nessieldwi
2015/01/01

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

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Brainsbell
2015/01/02

The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

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Fleur
2015/01/03

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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don2507
2015/01/04

To me at least, this engrossing film is much more about an independent businessman facing huge hurdles in a (very) tough industry, than it is the crime drama that critics allude to. Indeed, its (mistitled) title, based on other reviews on this site, apparently attracted some violence-aficionados who were expecting a mob film with wise guys decapitating each other, and were thus sorely disappointed. I can't remember many (any?) Hollywood films where the central character is a businessman who is portrayed as honest, decent, wise, and with an intuitive knowledge of human nature, and that frankly makes the film interesting to me. Abel Morales (as portrayed by Oscar Isaac) is the businessman in the film. He's a well-spoken, self-controlled immigrant businessman who's doing reasonably well in the NYC heating oil business, but in the film he plans a major expansion of his capacity by purchasing a fuel oil terminal on the East River. He has 30 days to secure the financing for the acquisition but he's beset by either rivals or freelancers who hijack his fuel trucks and sell his oil, plus an ambitious Assistant DA who's investigating price-rigging and tax evasion in the heating oil business who seems to be (unfairly) targeting Morales. One thing leads to another, allowing his bank to drop his financing, and he's forced to locate other sources of funding in the few days he has left to close the deal. Maybe these business issues don't do anything for you, but the characterization of Morales and his desire to do the right thing made me root for him. His wife, the daughter of a mobster, urges him to fight violence with violence to which he refuses. He even throws her gun away that she purchased for protection. Yes, there's criminal activity in this film (e.g., the hijackings) but it's essentially about an honest man trying to stay on the right side of the law operating in a cut-throat business who has a major investment that will either make him or break him. Eight stars for a rare portrayal of a businessmen struggling to overcome all sorts of obstacles.

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Clifton Johnson
2015/01/05

Chandor has a gift: the tension simmers, the conflict builds and the characters face human conflicts. It doesn't matter whether it is Wall Street corruption, shipwrecks or family business, every movie feels high stakes. The story telling is tight, and the imagery is tighter. Performances like Isaac's here are rare, but the ability to harness them is rare too. This film is MacBeth set in 1981 New York. I wanted it to boil faster, but it cooked anyway. And the final shots were perfect.

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chris
2015/01/06

'A most violent year' is an extremely thoughtful and measured drama. It isn't remotely violent and instead depicts a self made businessman who is trying to remain calm and make reasonable business decisions in the midst of a particularly violent period in recent NYC history. There are shades of gangster movie sentiments - where Abel wants to make his business legitimate (or seem legitimate). The lack of violence actually engages us in a greater human story about a man with the will to succeed at any costs. A man with vision, self- belief and measured decisions. Behind him is a wife with equal vision and more cunning. What makes the story work is some great acting. Oscar Isaac is very believable and extremely controlled. Jessica Chastain is unpredictable. Albert Brooks seemed too confined in his role but I always enjoy watching him as an actor. I also felt that David Oyelowo was underused and an intriguing story line could have been developed between his character and Abel. They never really came to a head. Overall I really enjoyed it and thought it was intelligent and thoughtful.

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Edgar Allan Pooh
2015/01/07

. . . is the main take-away from A MOST VIOLENT YEAR. Even for folks who do not own a copy of BUSH CRIME FAMILY, which explains how Jeb Bush's grandpa--Prescott Bush--made World War Two possible by providing Hitler's Blitzkrieg with a crucial diesel fuel additive in the 1930s, the History of Oil is synonymous with the History of Violence, from 1880 to the Present. THERE WILL BE BLOOD, GIANT, and AMER!CAN SNIPER are just three of countless films documenting mayhem in the oil fields and in the Oil Wars. A MOST VIOLENT YEAR sets itself apart by focusing upon 18 deadly fuel oil truck hijackings, along with sundry kidnappings, beatings, and Acts of Terrorism which occurred around New York City in 1981. Oscar Isaacs plays "Abel," an adherent to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Non-violent Preachings. But Abel's no more able to defend himself against the Little Oil Industry thugs than millions of ordinary Americans have been in combating Big Oil's Fracking (which has brought coast-to-coast earthquakes into formerly quake-free zones, causing untold thousands of cracked home foundations and driveways, not to mention polluted drinking water aquifers). Like America itself, A MOST VIOLENT YEAR shows Abel being slowly roasted alive in a vat of boiling oil. It's the peaceful Abels of this world who are doomed to perish under Big OR Little Oil's Mark of Cain.

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