On Q List of Movie Reviews
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Q&A (1990)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
6/16, 10/24
6/16:
I hadn't realized this until now that when it came to corruption among boys in blue, Sidney Lumet was the master storyteller.
Q&A is the third such compelling movie in his oeuvre with Serpico
and Prince of the City being the first two. Nick Nolte is a badass and uses his massive
body size to tear up everybody. He's a force to be reckoned with. The mustache is a brilliant move on his part.
I'm always surprised that Luis Guzmán has yet to receive an Oscar nomination; he's very talented and makes acting look
effortless. Timothy Hutton turns in a decent performance and is a better actor than I give him credit for. It's a shame about
what happened to his career during the 90's.
Whenever I see Armand Assante on screen, I've always felt he was capable of giving just one great performance. Hence, it's
about time that he did in Q&A; in fact, Armand Assante is so good that he's the only one of the cast to score
something: a Golden Globe nomination.
The plot is intricate, and it's very multilayered. So, what a great job by Sidney Lumet for keeping up with the task which
seems difficult. By the way, here's an obscure fact: Edward Torres was a New York State Supreme Court judge and wrote three
books: Carlito's Way which starred Al Pacino, the sequel to it, and Q&A.
All in all, Q&A is the Miami Vice version of New York City.
10/24:
The last time I saw Q&A, I gave it a '9', and now, it's a '10'.
The storytelling is very good in a complicated way with lots of streetsmart people from all sides. Even more outstanding
are the performances, especially by Nick Nolte, Armand Assante, Timothy Hutton, Luis Guzmán, Charles S. Dutton,
Paul Calderon, and Lee Richardson, among others. I thought Bobby Texador survived the boat explosion, but he didn't.
All in all, Q&A is a brilliant neo-noir film by one of the best directors ever: Sidney Lumet.