Highest Rated Review by the Community
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Sep 17 '06
Pros: Stunning stylistic production design, cinematography and direction.
Cons: a few bad lines of dialogue, confusing to some subplots
Summary: I and probably many others expected Brian DePalma’sBlack Dahlia to be an over the top visceral thrill-ride with rating busting sex and gore scenes and outrageously arty fluid camera-work throughout the sleaze and odd characters created from ... read more
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Mar 19 '07
Pros: You can call the film noir attempt a pro if you squint hard enough
Cons: Everything else
Summary: Film noir, by and large, was filmed in black and white (despite the prevalence of color film available during much of the period they were popular) and ran fewer than 120 minutes. For the former, it is easier to play with light and shadow in the limited ... read more
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Feb 18 '07
Pros: Hillary Swank's performance is superb.
Cons: Really doesn't concentrate on the Black Dahlia murder.
Summary: Brian De Palma bases the film “The Black Dahlia” off of the top selling book of the same name. The book, when written by Elroy, was more of a fantasy undertaking in that he created a series of fictionalized characters and storylines to tie in ... read more
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Feb 06 '07
Pros: sets, props, research that went into production, Elizabeth Short case
Cons: casting, script, subplots, dollar store version of Chinatown
Summary: Normally I write detailed reviews of films I have recently seen on epinions but with this one I will go with an express review since the film is nothing to write about. The plot is a fictional version of the events and lives surrounding the infamous ... read more
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Feb 04 '07
Pros: Visually stunning, cool camera angles
Cons: Miscasting, too many confusing subplots
Summary: Visually, The Black Dahlia is a real achievement of filmmaking with director Brian DePalma and company, giving a loving tribute to 1940's film noir. Every part of The Black Dahlia is lovingly shot with the kind of dark, brooding intensity that harkens ... read more
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Dec 27 '06
Pros: music, cinematography
Cons: direction, screenplay/dialogue, miscast, uneven
Summary: On paper, The Black Dahlia should have been a good film, possibly even a great one. Director Brian DePalma seemed an ideal choice to helm this intricate and noir-ish adaptation of James Ellroy's dark and excellent book of the same name, ... read more
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Nov 21 '06
Pros: Visual look. Score.
Cons: Bad script, bad direction, bad performances.
Summary: Flaming Desire, my new musical adaptation of the Bruce Willis actioner, Die Hard continues in pre-production, but at a slower place than I would like. The first draft of the script simply would not do. I gave the writers explicit ... read more
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Oct 24 '06
Pros: Mia Kershner's performance escapes unscathed. How often does DePalma make a film?
Cons: A script that tries to include too much, hammy acting and phony noir atmosphere.
Summary: There are only a handful of characters in The Black Dahlia, a laughable and cardboard creation by former suspense-master Brian DePalma: The up-and-coming police officer and former boxer Bucky Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), his emotionally unstable partner ... read more
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Sep 22 '06
Pros: A song performance by K.D. Lang
Cons: Direction, plot, acting, pacing, dialogue.
Summary: I sat a few weeks ago enthralled by a trailer for a new movie from Brian DePalma. Aaron Eckhart and Josh Harnett were to play detectives in a gritty film noir based on a sensational murder case! The ever lovely Scarlett Johansson was playing the femme ... read more
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Sep 17 '06
Pros: Some Scenes, Plot, Cinematography, Look, Editing, Music, & Cast.
Cons: The Directing, The Ending, Lost Subplots, Script, Rushed Third Act, & Loss of Psychological Aspects.
Summary: Throughout his career, Brian de Palma has a career that is filled with great triumphs and big failures. While films like Carrie, Blow Out, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Carlito's Way were triumphs and to some, ... read more
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Sep 17 '06
Pros: Several bravura camera tracking shots by the brilliant Vilmos Zsigmond. Hilary Swank, John Kavanaugh.
Cons: Josh Friedman's amateurish screenplay. Veteran Director De Palma's bad habits. Confused editing, confusing plot holes.
Summary: Early on in Brian De Palma's THE BLACK DAHLIA, there is a scene in which the leading characters, Detectives Leland "Lee" Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart) and Dwight "Bucky" Bleichert (Josh Hartnett), take their blonde chum, Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson), to ... read more
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Sep 17 '06
Pros: lots of talent, good production values, good Foley work, especially on the gunshots
Cons: dumb dialogue, bad casting, direction that's too derivative and distracting
Summary: When two-thirds of the nation's critics panned The Black Dahlia, Brian De Palma's latest attempt at film noir, I decided to take a look for myself. After all, I thought, maybe these were the same stupid critics who waxed rhapsodic about Femme Fatale, a ... read more
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Sep 17 '06
Pros: Atmospheric story; generally excellent performances
Cons: An over-the-top sex scene; a scenery-chewing Fiona Shaw
Summary: Director Brian DePalma (Scarface) has never been known for subtlety. So you can imagine the opportunities that The Black Dahlia -- based on an actual Hollywood murder -- offers DePalma to go over the top. But if you can tolerate the movie's ... read more
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Sep 16 '06
Pros: Hilary Swank has a buff bottom.
Cons: Her bottom is buffer than Harnetts...
Summary: "I've seen better films on the Lifetime Network"... ~ Quote from a little old lady in the ladies room after exiting the Saturday matinee of The Black Dahlia ~ Look, there are just some people out there that will watch anything simply because it ... read more
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- Express Reviews
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Sep 19 '06
Pros: NONE!!!
Cons: Everything!!!
Summary: I know very well the case of the Black Dahlia, all I can say about this movie is "HUH"! All the talent in Hollywood and this is what they come up with! The worst movie ever made! I don't even need to go on and on in this review, it was an "ALL AROUND"
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