The Yards

Miramax Films | Release Date: October 20, 2000

8.0	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 43 Ratings

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JLuis_001Jan 30, 2022

I wasn't sure about giving it a six, but it did manage to convince me because I didn't find it disappointing. The Yards has an excellent main cast, but suffers greatly from a lack of transcendence due to its reluctance to focus on unnecessaryI wasn't sure about giving it a six, but it did manage to convince me because I didn't find it disappointing. The Yards has an excellent main cast, but suffers greatly from a lack of transcendence due to its reluctance to focus on unnecessary characterizations that add nothing to what the film achieves in other sections, especially since here both the plot and its cast do get it right, and therefore manage to drive the story as best they can with what they are given.

Although they don't get anything that becomes special or more attractive, and it's a shame because the film had elements with which it could have achieved it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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DawdlingPoetNov 27, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is a crime drama film, which features themes including corruption, friendship, theft and fate. The film sets itself up quite early as a gritty, urban tale and it seemed relatively fast paced, with scenes set in a New York nightclub taking place quite early on. The camerawork used in said scenes was quite disorientating and probably would bother people who may be prone to motion sickness. It has the feel of a gangster film, with characters having a fairly strong Italian-American, gangster/mobster dialect - think The Sopranos, that sort of thing.

Cast wise, the film features a fresh faced Mark Wahlberg as Leo Handler, who seems unsurprisingly naive to the game he's entering in to. He's quite nervy and a fast runner at times. Meanwhile, Willie Gutierrez is played by an equally fresh faced Joaquin Phoenix (the film dates from 2000 I should add - most of the films I've seen these 2 actors in being made from c. 2004/5 onwards). These were both good actors for their roles, as I felt they looked the part of their characters, given their different backgrounds. Other cast members include Charlize Theron as Erica Soltz, James Caan as Frank Olchin and Faye Dunaway, who plays Kitty Olchin. The cast is quite impressive for such a film. While the plot was ok, it wasn't exactly entirely original - you'd almost expect such a cast to be in a slightly better written, or otherwise quality, of film.

The film features some incidental music, mostly quite sombre instrumental based pieces, presumably to add to the films grittiness. It seemed a little cliche but I wouldn't say its awful either, although it was perhaps a little loud on ocassion. Ironically, there were also moments featuring frustratingly quiet dialogue, which I found a bit hard to follow fully. To be fair, I suppose its what you might expect, if underground type criminal characters are discussing 'certain things' in public, or otherwise, they wouldn't want to shout things to the world exactly but even so(!). I think the audio quality isn't great for any content less than HD and I was watching an HD recording of this film but it seemed to be in standard definition - given its from 2000, it quite probably doesn't have better quality audio.

It is quite a family oriented film, certainly not in terms of it being family friendly, viewing wise but in terms of the plot and characters being respected, or disrespected, due to their relationship to one another. Again that made me think of gangster type films.

Content wise, the film contains violence in the form of fights (fist fights etc.), there's partial nudity but nothing very graphic, some strong language, scenes featuring both smoking and drinking and in general, the film is somewhat dark, both in tone, themes and also in terms of the general lighting in a lot of scenes. There are also some relatively quick turn of events which may briefly frighten young viewers. Due to this, the film has been given a 15 rating.

I thought this film was pretty good - not brilliant or great but quite decent. It has a spooky feel to it which builds after a while but I thought it could have done with a bit more in the way of character background/development maybe...it was missing something in any case. There were some scenes in which I found myself feeling surprisingly gripped but overall it didn't quite hit the overall mark to get a full mark from me, star wise, as it were. I wasn't as keen on it at the start but I found myself feeling more engrossed and keen to see what happened to the main character, Leo, as the plot developed.

I'd say yes, I would recommend it if your interested in it given what I've said and especially if your keen to see either Mark Wahlberg or Joaquin Phoenix in a role from some years back. If your looking for a totally modern, high quality and highly memorable action/crime film, though, you may be better looking elsewhere. It certainly isn't perfect, or even great but, as I've said, its a good enough watch, with a decent cast, some gripping moments and a spooky feel, or tone, to it. I'll leave the 'would you recommend it?' question as undecided as it depends on what your looking for, as to whether this would be recommended or not.… Expand

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NickTheCritickNov 7, 2021

The film itself is not bad, but after the good debut of little Odessa, Gray seems to get lost a bit here. The story of a teenager who comes out of prison intent on resuming a normal life but who is sucked into the lap of delinquency isThe film itself is not bad, but after the good debut of little Odessa, Gray seems to get lost a bit here. The story of a teenager who comes out of prison intent on resuming a normal life but who is sucked into the lap of delinquency is something that has already been seen several times. The acting is good but the movie isn't that interesting.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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CameraBounceGodDec 26, 2015

juaquine pheonix saying just stand there and watch it'll be alright says it all but who cares..i may finish it for the hell of it..................................

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

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John935Oct 11, 2015

Classic. The French are gaga for director Gray and Frenchies know a thing or 2 about film. Amazing cast and Caan particularly stands out. DP Harris Savides worked for the Coppolas and it shows. This is sort of Carravagio meets The Godfather.Classic. The French are gaga for director Gray and Frenchies know a thing or 2 about film. Amazing cast and Caan particularly stands out. DP Harris Savides worked for the Coppolas and it shows. This is sort of Carravagio meets The Godfather. A sizable number of critics accused it of pretentiousness. Like a NY crime picture shouldn't aim too high, right? This one you need to see.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

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