Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Lachlan Coulson This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Gary The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

bkoganbing Over the course of his career Mark Wahlberg has emerged as the working man's image on the big screen. He certainly comes by that naturally with his background being born and raised in the Dorchester section of Boston. His best performances on screen in my opinion have been of ordinary people and their situations. In The Yards he gives one of his best performances and his Boston accent barely shows.The Yards refers to the place where the New York City subway cars are housed and maintained. There are several in the city and the action here takes place in the Sunnyside section of Queens. Mark Wahlberg is a young man who recently was released from jail having taken a rap for all of his friends involved in a crime.He wants badly to turn over a new leaf and his uncle James Caan who has a business maintaining the subway cars offers him work. He can also go the trade school route. But Wahlberg's mother Ellen Burstyn is in a bad way and he's needing money now. Another tragedy of our inadequate health system. Rather than repair subway cars, Wahlberg goes to work with his old running buddy Joaquin Phoenix who works for Caan on the side wrecking the work of other contractors, minority contractors who get a set quotient of work.But one night Wahlberg is caught by a cop whom he turns the tables on, takes his nightstick and clubs him leaving him in a coma. At the same time Phoenix has a quarrel with yardmaster at night and knifes him to death. No one suspects him, but there's a bullseye on Wahlberg's back with every cop in the city hunting him.The manure piles up big time in this one, even threatening the Queens Borough President Steve Lawrence. How it all works out is a typical New York City story.Big Kudos for Mark Wahlberg in this one and some recognition for Joaquin Phoenix playing another one who gets in way over his head. The Yards should be seen back to back with the Al Pacino film City Hall for a real look at New York's political underbelly.

himbletony I had to move pretty quickly when this movie first came out. In spite of strong reviews, I guessed it wouldn't be around for long (in recent times, think of the wonderful Tabu, which in spite of ecstatic reviews, totally bombed in the UK). It was good that I caught it and I did not regret it. This is more than a story of corruption and redemption, it is also an amazing mood piece. The fact that so many quality stars were involved in this film tells you how impressed they were by the script and by the vision of director James Gray. I think the slow ratcheting of tension was beautifully done, not at all boring. In some ways it reminded me of "On the Waterfront", which I also love and was as much about character as plot. Yes, it is THAT good.

Russ-79 Speaking to the blu-ray transfer of this movie, this is one of the sorriest transfers I've seen. Echo Bridge Entertainment took the wide format of this movie and chopped 30% of it off entirely. I wonder why Miramax would allow them to butcher the movie like this. It's a disgrace. The movie was shot in 2.39:1 ratio but you won't see that much of the film since Echo Bridge Entertainment decided you don't need to see the entire film. They issued it in 1.78:1 ratio which is like redirecting the movie. Cheesy distribution companies like Echo Bride should be run out of the movie business entirely rather than be allowed to destroy an otherwise good film from a good cast. Read the review here by Blu-ray.com and see how the film was butchered by Echo Bridge. I say don't buy this one. Maybe it will be re-released by some other company in the future, someone who holds film more sacred. Unfortunately Echo Bridge is not such a company.

MBunge The Yards is one of those films that's pretty good as long as you don't think too hard about it. It has some great performances and a strong build-up, but the story doesn't really work and the whole thing sort of flames out and sputters to its conclusion.Leo Handler (Mark Wahlberg) is a young man fresh out of prison and returning to his family. Leo is neither well educated nor particularly bright, but he is hopeful of getting a job with his Aunt Kitty's (Faye Dunaway) new husband. Frank Olchin (James Caan) runs a subway car manufacturing company and strongly urges Leo to get the training to qualify for a good union job. That would take a few years, though, so Leo decides to throw in with his best friend Willy Gutierrez (Joaquin Phoenix). Willy is essentially Frank's bag man, handling the payoffs, petty larcenies and sabotage that are the seedy underbelly of doing business in the city. But when a nighttime trip to vandalize a competitor's subway cars goes murderously wrong, Leo becomes the linchpin of a scandal that could destroy his family or cost him his life.There's a lot to like about this somber and quiet tale, chiefly the work of this fine cast. Mark Wahlberg as an actor has, I believe the phrase is, a "limited instrument". Put him in the right role and he can be electric. Put him in the wrong role…and you get something like Wahlberg him in the Planet of the Apes remake. Leo is the right sort of role. Wahlberg's common, uncomplicated performance provides a clear window into the corrupt world of Frank and Willy. James Caan is pitch perfect as a man who is aware of the criminality at the heart of his business but believes he and his family can glide harmlessly over it. Joaquin Phoenix plays Willy as a successful version of Leo; a street kid who thinks he's making good. Phoenix, however, has a greater depth of talent and is able to show the audience far more as Willy's life falls apart. If he and Wahlberg had switched roles, Phoenix could have still shined but Wahlberg would have been a fiasco as Willy.The distaff side of The Yards doesn't get as much to do but manage to do as much as they can. Charlize Theron plays Erica, Leo's cousin and Willy's girlfriend. The character isn't much more than a plot device that takes off its shirt, but Theron gives her much more depth than she really deserves. Ellen Burstyn as Leo's mother is, again, more of a tool to get Leo through the story. Faye Dunaway as Erica's mom and Frank's wife does get just a little sliver of substance in her role. Plotwise, Aunt Kitty is largely just an obstacle but she also embodies one of the themes of the story. Kitty married a rich man to try and give herself and her daughter a better life. Yet Frank's wealth only disguises the fact that he and his world are exactly the things Kitty was trying to get away from.The Yards is also a decent take on the subject of big city graft and how that sort of corruption persists year after year. It's not really an organized conspiracy. It's just people making self-serving deals and trying to get a leg up in what they see as an unfair world.But as I mentioned, you can't think too hard about any of this stuff. For example, there's a section of the plot where the only way it could happen is if the entire police force were made up of utter morons and there's a big cover-up that, if you consider it logically, couldn't possible cover anything up. The ending also feels…off. Everything is tied up a bit too neatly, both in circumstance and morally. It's like a happy ending glued onto a sad story.The Yards mixes family drama and urban venality into a tasty stew, but the proportions are not quite right. It's a fine meal that could have, and probably should have, been better.