Jeffrey A. Schaler, Ph.D.

Jeff's Movie Recommendations

Gangs of New York, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio (in that order). DiCaprio stinks, Diaz is cute, but Day-Lewis steals the show. Period.

Rating: 10 Bill the Butcher Knives Out of 10

Top-notch flick that didn't get the good review it deserves in The New Yorker. My wife and I saw this on New Year's Eve in Maryland. The theater was packed. Forget the story, it's the acting, stupid, and Daniel Day-Lewis redefines the meaning of good acting. Spectacular. Rod Steiger gave me the shivers like that in The Illustrated Man ("Don't you ever call these tattoos.")

I don't know how accurate the movie is from an historical point of view. It was interesting to see the resistance to the draft in the 1860s, the hatred towards Lincoln, federal troops firing on the mob, and especially cannons firing from ships into the five points, the slums and underground tunnels and living quarters. See it.