I love how Kieslowski puts so much faith in his audience, refusing to take a side, and implementing a purely "show, don't tell" style of filmmaking.

MY SUPER EX-GIRLFIRNED flopped so badly that FOX has already terminated their contract with Ivan Reitman's production company after they singed a 3-film "first look" contract.

Reitman I'm sure will never direct again, unless he goes back to producing/directing softcore porn in Canada.

Dinner Rush
2000/Giraldi

In this widely unseen turn of century gem, director Bob Giraldi, best known for his work in music videos, crafts a far-reaching portrait of one eventful night in a hot New York Italian eatery. Giraldi's film becomes a living creation of sorts, Altmanesque in it's scope and ambition; multiple characters, intertwining story lines, a mix of varying emotional elements, not necessarily with one clear overriding theme to tie the piece together as a whole, which works here to produce positive results.

Ultimately, this film surprised and captivated me. Definitely a piece that gets better the more familiar you are with it, noticing a little nuance here and there every time. The night builds with tension and anticipation, truly pulsating with the energy that might be expected from such a restaurant, and Giraldi doesn't disappoint. I've come to consider the ending here as one of the most gratifying in recent cinema.

Collateral (2004;Mann)

This is my 3rd time watching this film...and it gets more enjoyable each time. I've never been really impressed with Tom Cruise's acting skills, but I thought he did an exceptional job. But this was definitely Jamie Foxx's movie. For the first 3/4 of the film...he's Vincent's helpless little hostage. That all changes after they visit Max's mother at the hospital, when Max throws his laptop off the bridge. When Vincent sends Max into the club to talk to his contractors...Max takes control. These guys think Max is Vincent...and Foxx uses that to magical effect. After this moment...Max takes control. This transition from helpless hostage to a man that won't take it anymore is simply magical...and Foxx pulled it off effortlessly.

This has become one of my top 5 favorite films...with Michael Mann becoming one of my favorite directors. I can't wait to see Miami Vice.

Glad you liked it, although I don't even know if I'd say Max took control. I think he finally overcame his situation by taking a chance for a change in the final scene.

Even though Vincent is a villain, I find him to be a very tragic figure. Tom Cruise is great in the role and Mann makes this character an excellent one through his great writing and subtle character development. The same can be said for Max.

COLLATERAL, my pick for #1 movie of 2004, will be a film that will be seen as one of the best crime drama, if not in general, pictures of the first decade of the new millenium.

Apparently, my gut instinct has proven me right so far, as people have said that if you like Michael Mann's movies, especially his crime pictures, then you'll dig MIAMI VICE.

The Real Blonde ** 1/2
(First Viewing)

No comments really other than the fact that this surprised me as a good movie. Pretty good cast to it too.

I can't help but only agree with everything that was said about Collateral. it's been passing on TV every now and then here lately and I found myself watching it over and over. it only gets better, since the first time I ever watched it, a few months after it was released. Mann developed a visual style and soundtrack that makes every scene worth watching just for the heck of it. and if you want a deep storyline and great character development, it still works perfectly. not to mention great, catching dialogue and top notch acting. I've seen all kinds of arguments against the plot of this movie and all of them had an answer, except this one: how Felix expected to get rid of anything after ALL os his witnesses were murdered in a row the day before the trial? I believe he must be the hell of a powerful guy that could overcome that, which is a bit unrealistic, but what the hell, it's just a movie.

Well, wouldn't it be circumstantial evidence? Especially if Vincent succeeded in killing Max and making it look like he was a Travis Bickle, as alluded to by the detective.

SUPER TROOPERS (2002) - ***

Humorously fun frat-house movie on highway cops by the comedy troupe of Broken Lizard. The plot is cookie-cut ass, but its an excuse for skits, from "Meow!" to the beat-down at the local burger fast food joint, to "unique" way of using a radar gun.

Can't wait for BEERFEST.

Wow, did I read that, right? I can't wait for it either

Master And Commander
The Far Side Of The World ***.5/4

During the Napoleonic Wars, a brash British captain pushes his ship and crew to their limits in pursuit of a formidable French war vessel around South America

MASTER AND COMMANDER, my pick for the #1 movie of 2003.

My Pick For that year was City of God but since that isn't an American Film I'll say its Lost In Translation, Kill Bill, or Return of The King

Miami Vice
2006/Mann

A decent film, although it seemed to be directed by a Michael Mann wannabe, not the Mann himself. Very light on real character development, but Foxx and Farrel are good enough. The plot felt contrived and forced at times, but the intense shootouts here and there kept it alive.

Sadly, Mr. Mann has also fallen victim to the recent plague of freehand camera use throughout 75% of this movie. I feel like every movie I've seen so far this year, save for maybe A Scanner Darkly, has overused the freehand method, a trend that was perhaps set off by Steven Soderbergh with the release of Traffic in 2000. We may be looking at our first defining characteristic of new millenium cinema.

Overall, Miami Vice, despite its many flaws, and the seeming absence of any real Michael Mann flair, is still a solid shoot-em-up picture, and one of the better films of the year so far.

L A Confidential ***
Very interesting crime drama, with a lot of twists throughout the movie. Good acting from everyone. But I noticed something about Russel Crowe. He never looks in the direction of the person he is speaking to, instead he focusses on some random infinity! This is something he does in Insider and Beautiful Mind as well. Why? I have no clue

I love LA Confidential.

The Conversation (1974) [img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v247/capoditutti/fourstars.gif[/img
Director: Francis Ford Coppola
A master of surveillence, private investigator brings his line of work into question when the possibility of a man and woman's lives being put at stake results from one of his assignments.
Well, hot damn. Wonderfully constructed... A beautiful piece of character development and study. This is probably one of the best films that studies insanities toll on a protaganist, save Taxi Driver. I've found myself in something of an interesting position; I'm seriously taking into consideration, the possibility that this is FFC's masterpiece, and not the much-acclaimed The Godfather Part II. The two come very close for me, and I simply cannot determine which is better in my eyes. Not yet.


Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Director: Sergio Leone
Thirty-five years after ratting on his friends, and being ran out of town by the mob, an ex-bootlegger returns to his old Jewish neighborhood in New York City.
Bloody fantastic. It had been nearly a year since my last viewing, which is ridiculously inexcusable; so in the past 24 hours, I've watched this film twice. This film brings me to a very serine mood. Emotionally, it does a very unique job on me. The hallucination theories fit, and I've come acustom to the film being a dream. The flashbacks seem very vivid but a bit exagerated and self-indulgent, as do most old memories when looked back on by a single person, and the 1960s segments seem completely bizarre and hazy. The new plotlines that Noodles faces in these segments are completely warped and resemble an intoxicated dream; which is the best comparison I can offer to anyone who has at least fallen asleep drunk.

Miami Vice - (Michael Mann;2006;USA)
Two Miami Vice detectives are put under assignment to infiltrate a cartel.
Where do I start? Michael Mann has done it again with some of his best visuals. The music is again excellent aside the Jay-Z/Linkin Park opening. In my local paper there was a photo of this film with an entire article describing the Buddy Films such as Bad Boys and such. Forget that. Mann brings us into one of the most gritty depictions of the drug trade, focusing on reality even in the most violent scenes as well as the emotions of the two lead characters. There's no corny Buddy moments. Even some of the cliche sounding dialogue flaunted in the trailer are less emphasized pieces of dialogue that blend in. The action scenes are excellent and made me feel as if I was there. It's not overdone, but genuinely thrilling. Michael Mann is perfectly summed as professional.

Expect a review tomorrow.

By the way Mista, I don't know what the hell you mean by "fallen victim to." Michael Mann hasn't fallen into anything. It's purely his style.

Well, according to Mista, Michael Mann didn't even direct the film. It was a Michael Mann wannabe.

what sort of Man would want to be Mann?

It's a style he's learned, that he's picked up recently.

If you look at his two best films, in my opinion, Heat and Thief, you don't see nearly as much of that, none in Thief. It's a style I wished he hadn't faded into.

Don't get me wrong, I thought Collateral was great. It just seemed really distracting here.

As I said on the other board, his style is evolving and becoming more liberated due to larger budgets and advanced technology. You make it sound like some mean evil baddie person taught Mann to do something bad. It's simply his vision.

Miami Vice is Mann doing what television and budget restrictions kept him from doing in the 80's.

Conversation is a great movie, but IMO, FFC's masterpiece was Apocalypse Now.

Out of Coppola's top 4, I cannot decide which is best. They're all great in their own unique way.

COMPANY BUSINESS (1991) - **

Flat spy thriller/comedy about a retired CIA agent(Hackman) escorting a Soviet spy(Baryshnikov) back to the reunified Berlin in a hostage exchange, before both become targets of assasination by the combined CIA-KGB task force. From writer/director Nicholas Meyer(TIME AFTER TIME, TREK 2: WRATH OF KAHN), this movie was mostly noted at the time for the fact that the Soviet Union dissolved during the making of it, and that there was massive studio-sanctioned rewriting and re-shooting, leaving for a movie that for the most part, was running as an enjoyable if forgettable adventure(**1/2-like rating), but the plot holes and even the movie being inconsistent with its own plot details catch up to it in the movie's rather abrupt ending. If you want Gene Hackman stuck in Cold War intrigue in Berlin, go rent Andrew Davis' THE PACKAGE instead.

Only, in Thief, you have a dated score and slow-motion overload. John Woo, anyone?

My Pick For that year was City of God but since that isn't an American Film I'll say its Lost In Translation, Kill Bill, or Return of The King [/b][/quote]City of God is a 2002 production, anyway. Lost In Translation is a co-production between the US and Japan. And Return of the King is a co-production between New Zealand, the US and Germany.

Would that leave Kill Bill as the "Best Film of 2003" (since it's American)?

I don't believe in only picking American movies or whatever nonsense. Notice that AMOROS PERROS was my pick for the year of 2000.

I think Thief's music is one of its strong points.

Me too, possibly; it's the finest part of a dated film. In fact, Mann's films have always been very much of the moment, stylistically. I wonder if Collateral and Miami Vice will date badly like Thief. I think Heat, in this respect, is his best film. But I haven't seen his newest yet.