American Gangster

Denzel Washington is a gangster, dealing pure Southeast Asian heroin out of Harlem. Russell Crowe is a New Jersey cop and aspiring lawyer who leads a task force assigned to take down the big dogs of the dope game. Ridley Scott's epic take on the American dream lacks the procedural detail of "Zodiac," the thought-provoking parallelism of "The Wire," and the elan for its subject of "Blow." It's also yet another film that's an ennui-inducing hour overlong for no reason.

Denzel was good, but he's always good, so it's almost not worth mentioning. Ruby Dee was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for being in the film for 5 minutes and not doing anything memorable. Unless I missed a scene where she acted her ass off, the nomination is undeserved. Most intriguing was Josh Brolin as an evil cop who demanded perquisites from Frank Lucas. He looked like Pierce Brosnan if he put on a few, and it was a strong performance alongside his other turns this year in "Planet Terror" and "No Country for Old Men." And to think people thought he would be remembered as the older brother in "The Goonies."