Titreenp SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Actuakers One of my all time favorites.

GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.

Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!

DeuceWild_77 The global success and Oscar nominations (and wins) for "L.A. Confidential" ('97) put the neo-noir / crime thriller genre back on the map in terms of Hollywood big productions, featuring major stars and established directors, and several films succeeded, such as "The Black Dahlia" and "Hollywoodland" (both from '06), based on real life cases of infamous murder, some unsolved to this days."Lonely Hearts" from the very same year, tells the real life story of Raymond Martinez Fernandez (played by Jared Leto) and Martha Beck (played by Salma Hayek), the notorious "Lonely Hearts Killers", a couple that during the 40's conned several wealthy widows, by placing ads in magazines, pretending to be brother and sister. As the delusional and sociopath Martha became more possessive towards Raymond, she starts killing his fiancees, afraid that he could fell in love with one of their unsuspecting victims. Det. Elmer Robinson (John Travolta), a newly widower and his partner, Det. Charles Hilderbrandt (James Gandolfini) with the help of Det. Reilly (Scott Caan), are tasked to investigate the case...Screenwriter & documentary director, Todd Robinson, the real life grandson of Det. Elmer Robinson, made here his screen debut directing a theatrical released motion picture, which also penned the screenplay due to his emotional connection to the real life case, via his own grandfather, who told him curiosities about it since his early age.Robinson made good use of his Art Department: all the props; the sets' decoration; the hairstyles and costumes; the cars and the planes, are very faithful invoking the 40's Era and the movie looks and feels it visually. For its medium budget it's a hit.The screenplay could have been better handled, way too much screentime was given to the pair of detectives and their own private lifes, instead of focusing it more on the killers, enhancing the couple's wicked behavior and their descent into doom. The added humor beetween Gandolfini and Scott Caan's characters always picking on each other, is somewhat funny at the beginning, but ultimately, repetitive and unnecessary.The cinematography is only appropriate as so is the direction, it have a certain TV feeling to it, maybe due to the budgetary reasons, it lacks wide shots and the violence is also toned down, with the noble exception of one well staged sordid scene involving the infamous couple and Alice Krige's character.The editing obviously suffered from scenes left out in the cutting room floor, maybe to shorten the movie to be more audience friendly, but that affects the storytelling with several breaks in the narrative and an anti-climatic (not so) grand finale.John Travolta is okay in the lead role of Elmer Robinson, with a good supporting turn from the late great James Gandolfini, even if his character was seriously underdeveloped, with both sharing good on-screen chemistry, proved earlier in "Get Shorty" ('95). Scott Caan is in training mode for his future role of Danny Williams in the hit TV show, "Hawaii Five-0" and Laura Dern did her best out of a pointless character, Travolta's colleague at the Force and, secretly, his mistress. Jared Leto as Ray Fernandez is over the top hammy, too cartoon-ish for a movie like this, almost shading his ridiculous performance in "Panic Room" ('02), but Salma Hayek saves the movie in the acting department, offering a commited performance as the wicked Martha Beck, had the movie being better she could have possibly been a contender for an Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role.In short, "Lonely Hearts" deserves, at least, a watch for completists of neo-noir, "killers on the run" and period pieces, it's a kind of hybrid beetween "Badlands" & "The Black Dahlia" and even if it isn't as good as the previous adaptation of this story to the big screen, "The Honeymoon Killers" ('70), which was more faithful to the real life case and more focused on the couple, it have Salma in one of her best performances to date and some good cinematic moments...

seymourblack-1 The exploits of a murderous couple who, in the late 1940s, became known as "The Lonely Hearts Killers" generated a great deal of public interest because of their long-running crime spree and the gruesome nature of the numerous murders that they committed. It's no surprise, therefore, that their story has already provided the basis for a couple of movies and the most notable of these was Leonard Kastle's "The Honeymoon Killers" (1970). In Kastle's movie, the focus remained exclusively on the couple and there was never any intimation that the police were on their tails. "Lonely Hearts", by contrast, tells its story by providing a balanced view of what took place, from the perspectives of both the criminals and the police.Interestingly, director and screenwriter, Todd Robinson is the grandson of the homicide detective who arrested the two killers and so his motivation for telling the story in the way he does is perfectly understandable.After the unexplained suicide of his wife three ears earlier, Nassau County police detective Elmer "Buster" Robinson (John Travolta) had fallen into a deep depression and unable to come to terms with what had happened, confined himself mainly to desk work. This changed however, when a woman's dead body was found in circumstances very similar to his wife's and his colleagues immediately concluded that the death was a suicide. From that point on, Buster became determined to prove that the woman in question had been murdered and to hunt down her killer. Although Detective Charles Hildebrandt (James Gandolfini), who'd been Buster's friend and partner since their "squad car days" wasn't convinced, he was nevertheless, pleased to see this positive change in his old buddy.Raymond Martinez Fernandez (Jared Leto) was a small-time scam-artist whose speciality was locating lonely single women through the newspaper personal ads and after writing to them for a while, would seduce them before relieving them of as much money as possible. One of his marks was ex-nurse Martha Beck (Salma Hayek), but after discovering that she was unemployed, he immediately lost interest in her. Unexpectedly though, Martha recognised what Raymond was up to and enthusiastically joined him in his endeavours, posing as his sister. Unfortunately, Raymond soon discovered that his new partner-in-crime was intensely jealous of the ladies he targeted and was, not only swift to turn her hand to murder, but also to goad Raymond into murdering as well.The couple's murderous rampage continued unabated for some time before Buster, who was also preoccupied by problems with his personal relationships, was eventually able to catch up with the pair and bring them to justice."Lonely Hearts" is a beautifully made film that successfully captures the look and atmosphere of the period in which it's set and features some great hardboiled dialogue. At one point, Buster predicts that "Hell's coming home for Xmas" if Raymond ever decides to dump Martha.Adding an account of the police perspective on the investigation provides some extra interest but what's more difficult to understand is why some departures from the true story were included for no apparent reasons. Fernandez didn't, in fact, kill a police officer and an old man as depicted in this movie and Martha Beck, in reality, was an unattractive, insecure woman who weighed over 200 lbs and was not Hispanic.This movie boasts a terrific cast of actors who turn in some excellent performances. John Travolta conveys the troubled nature of his character who's struggling to come to terms with the death of his wife and to overcome problems with his relationships with his son and his secret lover. Jared Leto is good as the toupee-wearing gigolo who finds himself on the road to Hell after meeting Martha and Salma Hayek, although obviously miscast, brings great vitality to her role and does especially well in the scenes that she shares with Leto. James Gandolfini (who provides the movie's entertaining narration) also does a good job of playing a tough cop, whilst also simultaneously showing the warmth that exists between Hildebrandt and Robinson.Overall, "Lonely Hearts" is a worthwhile remake that's interesting and enjoyable to watch (especially for those who aren't too concerned about its factual inaccuracies).

secondtake Lonely Hearts (2006)A steady, interesting, colorful crime movie packed with both great old tropes from the film noir days and lots of familiar tricks. Amazingly, it's based on a true story from post-war America that goes way way way beyond the slimmed up version here. The result is good, yes, but never mesmerizing, never a complete surprise, and never up to the potential of the either the source material or the talented cast. The very dependence of well known formulas for a kind of classic look and feel is what holds it back, because we know those formulas so well. The one aspect to the movie that is forcibly modern is the one that feels so forced it's almost pandering to a contemporary audience--lots of open swearing and sexual references in a manner not really "right" for a 1951 America.Several lead actors are terrific. Salma Hayek, once she arrives, is an edgy bad girl, a woman with little moral code and a comfort level with blood and manipulation that makes an old school femme fatale look like schoolroom stuff. Her bad boy companion, Jared Leto, at first comes off as a Robert Downey Jr. wannabe, but he gradually hardens up his edges and by the end is pretty believable as a cocksure murderous idiot. The two cops, John Travolta and James Gandolfini, are a great pair, the one restrained and more in tune with the criminals, the other the sidekick with a good heart. (They might be modeled after, say, Glenn Ford and William Bendix, as two 1951 actors who could have pulled off the same roles with more conviction.)The filming, the editing, the pace, the sets, the old cars, the interior and exterior location shoots, all of the nuts and bolts are in place here for a good movie. (Of these, the photography is the most routine, partly because of how it's directed, as in the last scene when the cops swarm the house--it could have been really exciting.) But overall it's the script--the script, not the story--that holds it all back. The parallel plots of the two criminals in their love affair crime spree and the cops on their trail is clear and fine, but unrevealing. The events happen, and we sort of know how it will end. And it does (not to give away anything!). If you want the true facts, go to the really long but readable account at trutv.com and type in the Lonely Hearts. As a quick and hopefully helpful movie comparison, you can look at recent films like "Road to Perdition" or "Shutter Island" and see how a period piece film can brim with originality and better filming. A movie comes closer to this kind of familiar quality, based on older classic Hollywood models, is "Public Enemies" with Johnny Depp, though that one had some really beautiful moments in the photography. And what about that title? It is derived from the male killer's original tactic for getting money, which is given a comic treatment at the beginning of the movie--he writes to lonely women, gets them to fall in love with him, and steals their assets.A final revealing note: the director is the grandson of the cop who led the original investigation into the crimes. That means he's really well placed emotionally, but as a director he's really incomplete. It's amazing, in fact, that he got the budget and talent he did with such a short track record. Opportunity squandered? Partially. Give it a chance.

MBunge This is a dark, shocking and fairly gripping crime story undercut slightly by some bad storytelling decisions. It's like a wonderful meal where the chef decided to use pepper when he should have used salt. It doesn't ruin anything but it leaves a bit of an odd taste in your mouth.Based on a real life story from around 1950, Lonely Hearts is about Ray Fernandez (Jared Leto) and Martha Beck (Salma Hayek), a small time con man and the crazy woman who led him into a murder spree. At least it should have been about them because they are both fascinating characters and Jared Leto and Salma Hayek give strong performances in the roles. Unfortunately, writer/director Todd Robinson decided that Ray and Martha would have to share the screen equally with Elmer "Buster" Robinson (John Travolta), the police detective who eventually brought Ray and Martha to justice. Buster isn't really that interesting and it isn't helped by John Travolta giving one of the most sedentary and impassive performances of his career.Ray Fernandez was a confidence man who used his easy charm and a toupee to romance widows and old maids he met through "lonely hearts" newsletters and then took all their money. When he tries to take advantage of Martha, she not only sees through him, she overwhelms him with her passion and latches onto Ray with the obsession that the emotionally-damaged call love. Ray is a bad guy but he's also a normal guy who's almost helpless against the manipulation of the sociopathic Martha. She's incapable of considering anything but her own unquestioned needs and it gives her a strength that Ray finds irresistible. This common criminal and this deranged woman come together and turn petty crimes into inhuman savagery.The story also deals with Buster Robinson's uneasy relationship with his his partner Charlie (James Gandolfini) and his lover Renee (Laura Dern), a woman who works at his precinct. Underneath it all is Buster's unresolved sorrow and grief over the unexplained suicide of his wife. The problem is that all of Buster's difficulties are addressed in a perfunctory manner and don't connect in either a direct or analogous way to Ray and Martha's story. Nothing about Buster's life is all that compelling. It's certainly not as engrossing as Ray and Martha's twisted union or their relationship with their poor victims. When the film focuses on those women and how their unhappiness, personal hardship and hope made them vulnerable, it is both creepy and riveting. Writer/director Todd Robinson is the grandson of the real Buster Robinson, but his desire to enhance his grandfather's role in the story distracts from the heart of the tale without adding enough substance on its own. The film is also hurt by some intrusive and pointless narration by Buster's partner and an excessive amount of vulgarity and crudity from the cops at the start of the film that spoils the illusion of 1950s wholesomeness that would have been such an affecting counterpoint to Ray and Martha's depravity. I'm sure the police of that era didn't talk and act like Shirley Temple, but it was an age where manners and social order were almost oppressively strong and I don't think writer/director Robinson has any idea how different then was from now.For the outstanding acting of Leto and Hayek and its powerful, startling moments of human brutality, Lonely Hearts is well worth watching. It could have been even better, but you can't hold that against it.