Hell's Kitchen (1999)

... about the American b-movies of the 90's that isn't exactly placeable anywhere. my own very young background is literary with movies as adiaphora, but it's a damn necessary one if today's society is to be at all comprehensible (which even then doesn't insure us of its comprehensibility for all that). the movie reviewed is a mish-mash of emotion, all misdirected, but sure as hell standing in their own right; that is, as open to ridicule. an honest look, however, at the 'private' life of modernity rarely entails one linear chain of events, affects, that can be deduced 'logically'. confusion is not only permitted and encouraged, but sustained throughout its madness, meaning as banished as the howls of the afflicted discordant and the 'possibilities' being presented are using us for its own instrumental reason without ever including our 'human potential', so why not put in the breaks and vegetate? seems to be the message of modern-day cynicism. sure as bunkers, you can't either blame or pity these neo-nihilists, put in their rightful place by a society all-too-much-like a Russia of the late 19th century. a simple "no" is not the truth but at the same time not an "affirmative" of what you in your heart of hearts suspect of untruth (covered up with courteous witty banter). there is no hypocrisy in such play-acting, but even those who refuse to intellectualize (don't believe in any form of "rationalization" whatsoever) and give way to the scurvy feelings and blurry outlines of their being, vaporize the untruth of a society as well as any truth makes its intellectual form ever. the one is descriptive, the other normative. this movie portrays how most human relationships are actually played out from beginning to end and it should give rise to wonder, if not awe, in humility. the sheer bulk of madness transforms itself before our very eyes into an intelligible quality, which we begin to fear. i'm willing to go as far as to say it's cathartic, but in the modern sense, which, unlike tragedy, doesn't anesthetize your defeature with a supplementary cord of meaning. as always, it's the raw fact of death that shines a light on life and serves as the usual wake-up call for the lazy 'human'. (jolie is great, by the way)

Hell's kitchen is a messed up movie. The only normal character in the film is Johnny. The rest of the cast have serious issues. Angelina Jolie, my favorite actress, delivers a decent performance in this movie as Gloria. I think this movie went a little over board. This is not worth seeing. ** out of *****

I have always been intrigued with the acting skills of Mekhi Phifer ever since Spike Lee's brilliant Clockers, that's why I remotely enjoyed this film. The cast all around gave good preformances. The problem with it was definetly the way it was filmed and a contadictory message. Actually, there was no message at all, or else it was one burried in clichés. It was exactly like every other "New York-former-gangster" movie, and it had nothing special going for it (as apposed to Clockers, which had a whole underlying plot line to it). No message about Hell's Kitchen at all. This movie was pure mediocracy.C-

This movie is a good reflection on what the lives of interesting people could be. Being a fan of Angelina Jolie, I loved her role. I would suggest this movie to anyone that is interested in NYC, or Angelina Jolie's movies. I have also liked the rest of the cast in their other movies, as well. So the cast adds wonderfully to the movie, or maybe they Are the movie... I have not found this movie very many places to rent, and even though it is a new movie, it is out-of-print. If you are interested in renting this movie, I found it at Blockbuster, so check it out if there is one near you. I also purchased mine on an auction.