badbrownie

I came to IMDb looking for a review to decide on whether to watch this and there wasn't one so I let that decide in the movie's favor as I figured to write one for it.

I liked it. Any movie with the word 'noir' in the title has work to do to avoid the clichés that the genre forces it to reference. The characters have to be one-dimensional and fit the molds. The dialog has to be clipped and clever. Yet this movie is homage to noir as well as being a fun yarn in its own right.

It's stylish and stylized with narration and inner monologues from multiple characters. There's flashbacks and story tangents from all the main characters, that stand on their own as but also get sewn together by the end. It's black and white but you stop noticing that early on because the medium matches the tone of the movie so well.

If you're in the mood for light story-telling that's well thought out then Hotel Noir is a fine place to spend an evening.

Carlito's Way is the story an honorable criminal trying to go straight in a criminal world with no honor.

This movie begins with its own spoiler. Carlito is shot and being wheeled on a gurney while calmly commenting on his situation. Perhaps it's his dying that we're witnessing or perhaps it's just a point that his future will go through.

The rest of the movie is just brilliant. Personally, I even prefer it to that other, better known, Brain De Palma/Al Pacino collaboration. This movie is from the same era as Goodfellas, another 'narrated gangster' movie. But it's better!