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KILL THE IRISHMANMovie Reviews
Period crime tale set in 1970s Cleveland and based on a true story about an Irish mobster who took on the Italian mafia in an attempt to overpower them. Cast:Ray Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer, Christopher Walken, Marcus Thomas, Linda CardelliniDirector:Jonathan HensleighRelease Date:March 11, 2011DVD Release:June 14, 2011From:Anchor BayRating:RLength:1 hr 46 min
JUNE 14, 2011
Kill The Irishman, Good (Not Great) Reviews Key Cities
Kill The Irishman played in key cities to good not great reviews. • Clint O'Connor wrote in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer, "...it's a hoot to see one of our own, Cleveland thug Danny Greene, in the cinema spotlight.... boasts a gangster swagger and spirit..." • And Alynda Wheat wrote in People, "...a gripping (if not particularly ambitious) criminal enterprise." More Reviews Below...
Kill The Irishman Positive Reviews (28 Reviews, reviews below)
Alynda Wheat, People: VERY GOOD(cg) "Ray Stevenson's performance and the archival news footage of Greene's exploits make it a gripping (if not particularly ambitious) criminal enterprise."(See all of Alynda Wheat's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 137 words, 03/10/11
Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: VERY GOOD(cg) "The structure of the storytelling is pretty square, but the cast is tasty, including Vincent D'Onofrio... Val Kilmer... Christopher Walken..."(See all of Lisa Schwarzbaum's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 93 words, 03/11/11
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Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times/Chicago Tribune: WEAK "...plays like an explosion's aftermath: clichéd shards of mob movies that add up to the usual 'Goodfellas' knockoff."(See all of Robert Abele's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 240 words, 03/11/11
Linda Barnard, Toronto Star: MODERATE(cg) "The sometimes-sluggish movie is at its best when things are blowing up and square-shouldered Danny is meting out his favourite brand of bare-knuckle street justice..."(See all of Linda Barnard's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 590 words, 03/18/11
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "With post-'Goodfellas' crime-movie tropes dyed for St. Patrick's Day... the atmosphere throughout is past prime, stymieing any strut."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 223 words, 03/09/11
Stephen Cole, Toronto Globe & Mail: MODERATE(cg) "A big, bloated, though frequently engaging gangster movie... has a generic '70s-era, movie-of-the-week look and feel. It will play better on TV."(See all of Stephen Cole's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 549 words, 03/18/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR(cg) "Greene's a blustering jerk... his associates are one-dimensional gangsters and goons, and Kilmer, D'Onofrio and Walken don't get nearly enough screen time."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 177 words, 03/17/11
KEY CITIES (11 Reviews)
Mark Jenkins, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...always lively and sometimes smart. But director and co-writer Jonathan Hensleigh's tough-guy boasts and banter lack the poetry heard in better examples of the genre."(See all of Mark Jenkins's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 388 words, 04/08/11
Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: MODERATE(cg) "...the kind of artless crime-world saga that telegraphs its punches and stocks its smoky bars with muscle from 'The Sopranos.' "(See all of Steven Rea's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 03/25/11
Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: WEAK(cg) "Veteran screen tough guy Ray Stevenson ('The Book of Eli,' 'King Arthur') steps into the lead role and has everything but a good script to help him carry it off."(See all of Roger Moore's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 426 words, 04/09/11
Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star-Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The moral might be, 'live by the bomb, die by the bomb,' if this bad-guy biopic had the slightest interest in imparting ethics lessons."(See all of Colin Covert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 168 words, 04/08/11
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: VERY GOOD(cg) "...the cast makes up for some occasionally spotty storytelling and telegraphing of events... [But overall,] an entertaining look at a brutal time in an ugly place."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 536 words, 04/08/11
Mark Feeney, Boston Globe: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "In a special category is Christopher Walken... in one scene he pronounces the word 'loansharking' with more topspin than Wimbledon and the US Open put together."(See all of Mark Feeney's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 511 words, 03/18/11
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...has one of the best casts of outlaws in years, rounding up Christopher Walken, Tony LoBianco, Paul Sorvino, Steve Schirripa and other veterans of the genre."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 422 words, 03/11/11
Clint O'Connor, Cleveland Plain-Dealer: VERY GOOD(cg) "...it's a hoot to see one of our own, Cleveland thug Danny Greene, in the cinema spotlight.... boasts a gangster swagger and spirit..."(See all of Clint O'Connor's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 551 words, 03/11/11
Joe Williams, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...it's got a colorful cast, so some of its cliches are excusable. But without a compelling central character, it's not an ode worth singing."(See all of Joe Williams's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 184 words, 04/08/11
Tom Long, Detroit News: MODERATE(cg) "...shot in many of the more dreary neighborhoods of Detroit... standard mob fare, neither exciting enough nor interesting enough to matter."(See all of Tom Long's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 343 words, 03/18/11
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (6 Reviews)
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice/LA Weekly: FAIR "With post-'Goodfellas' crime-movie tropes dyed for St. Patrick's Day... the atmosphere throughout is past prime, stymieing any strut."(See all of Nick Pinkerton's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 223 words, 03/09/11
Peter Keough, Boston Phoenix: MODERATE(cg) "...there's a bit of good in every Irishman, and the same goes for this movie, what with the performances from Stevenson, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Christopher Walken."(See all of Peter Keough's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 161 words, 03/17/11
Scott Tobias, AV Club: MODERATE(cg) "...writer-director Jonathan Hensleigh doesn't do much beyond filling in the template... every character and setpiece feels like it fell off a truck."(See all of Scott Tobias's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 362 words, 03/24/11
Nick Schager, Slant: POOR(cg) "...a mind-numbingly familiar saga of thuggish tough guys... despite a based-on-real-life pedigree, proves indistinguishable from its imitative brethren."(See all of Nick Schager's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 454 words, 03/05/11
Norman Wilner, Toronto Now: POOR(cg) "Greene's a blustering jerk... his associates are one-dimensional gangsters and goons, and Kilmer, D'Onofrio and Walken don't get nearly enough screen time."(See all of Norman Wilner's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 177 words, 03/17/11
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: VERY GOOD "...highly enjoyable... Maybe the secret weapon of 'Kill the Irishman' is that grizzled veterans like writer/director Jonathan Hensleigh and Ray Stevenson know this for real."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 581 words, 03/18/11
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
John Anderson, Daily Variety: MODERATE "Set in the '70s and endowed with the era's crime-drama muscle... suffers from the period's proclivity for cloying sentiment and a tendency to Robin Hood-ize its story..."(See all of John Anderson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 708 words, 03/06/11
18.3 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Kill The Irishman's reviews are separated by an average 18.3 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Kill The Irishman (28 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Kill The Irishman's reviews cover 43.6% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 10,383 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 371 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 4 Days After Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Kill The Irishman's reviews on average broke 4 days after opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Kill The Irishman's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Kill The Irishman (28 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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