comment #1

Colin says ...

I definitely agree about the anticipation crossing gender barriers. I think that all of Mann's films are great (The Keep excepted), and I'm looking forward to "Miami Vice," but my wife is even more excited about it than I am. I think that "Heat" is in her all-time top 5.

comment #2

Linden says ...

Eh, I've read various Miami Vice reviews by now and they all seem to either suffer from exaggeration or just poor writing.

comment #3

sprofessor says ...

I'm really excited about this film. Like jeff, I'm a really big Mann fan. So far the reviews have ranged from pretty good to great, with a few critics moaning that its not like the show. But overall i think the reaction will be similar to what Heat got, with alot of people not being able to see past the style. Their loss.

comment #4

T.H. Ung says ...

One does get the feeling that people are bending over backwards to get behind this film. There's all this "it's incredible" but "jeeze Louise, could it have been half intelligible?" and "if you can just let yourself be transported to this film's wavelength, you'll be blown away by how special it truly is." (That has happened to me since Woody Allen's Zelig.) Pleeeze, a dog's a dog. As David Poland once wrote, guys don't go to the movies for sex scenes when they can stay home with their computers. I hope this is an exception.

comment #5

Nicol D says ...

Funny but not surprising how the critic starts by saying Mann is very male centered director which is a true statement...then has to give the obligatory 'feminist' apology by qualifying that Mann crosses gender lines too.

There may be some females looking foward to Miami Vice, but I do not know of any women that would put a Mann film in their top 20 of all time or look forward to his work with the same anticipation as males.

Sad that now we have to qualify/apologize for it when a great director makes male-centric films.

Men and women are different and have different tastes. That's a good thing folks!

comment #6

Colin says ...

I don't know, T.H. Ung, there's a thin line between a movie being incomprehensible and a movie being refershingly free of exposition. I hope that most critics are just saying that there's not too much exposition, which would be great, and not that it makes little sense.

comment #7

T.H. Ung says ...

For those who prefer to see if they get it on their on, don't go to David Denby's breakdown, otherwise, do yourself a favor and read it before you go, starting with paragraph 3: "In general, it's a hard movie to read."

http://www.newyorker.com/critics/cinema/

comment #8

craptastic says ...

Mann is great but "Ali" is a piece o' junk! It always amazes me how extremely talented people can make the most mind-blowing film you've ever seen and then push out clunkers.

comment #9

guy steele says ...

Hey HE gang. I made the connection to Kubrick back many posts ago here. Mann is a perfectionist. I heard him once say that he controls every element in a frame.
I still think frame by frame The Insider is his best.
I am looking forward to Vice but only because of Mann. He is that type of Director. You go to his movies because of him period.
The only thing I wish? Some of his films need better endings i.e. Heat and Collateral. Their endings bothered me. Not that DeNiro or Cruise die... just they way they do. DeNiro was anti-climactic
and Cruise's was plain stupid. I am not saying Foxx can't kill Cruise but please the way it plays out is out of character from the rest of the film.
DeNiro needed a better confrontation with Pacino as well.

comment #10

sprofessor says ...

I've always loved the ending to Heat. Moby and then the sharp cut to black. Great stuff.

Ali isn't that bad a film. The problem is really with how Mann presents Ali himself in the film. Mann made him into a introverted loner (like all his characters) which the real guy most certainly was not. Mann really should have done The Aviator instead.

comment #11

Anonymous says ...

You know something. Let's get over this already. Michael Mann is little more than the thinking person's Tony Scott. Period.

Every time a new movie of his is about to come out all of the middle-aged male critics get all hard, declaring him the most significant male director working. Yet once the movie comes out they always have to make excuses for the fact that each of his films hits the same snag: lots of mood, great performances...but uninspired writing. EVERY TIME.

Don't they know what to expect by now?...

comment #12

craptastic says ...

Good one, professor! The Aviator would have been PERFECT for Mann. It wasn't a "bad" film... but Scorsese does loners pretty well himself

comment #13

Rob says ...

I'll give you that Collateral's ending is iffy (I just don't buy the cabbie outdueling the assassin in a gunfight, no matter what that pane of glass concealed), but Heat's ending is terrific. It fits perfectly with the tone of the film; it's a character piece, so it should have a character-driven resolution without the over-the-top climax. It's interesting, though, that as in Collateral, another trick of visuals - the shadows of the airport lights - is the difference in who survives.

comment #14

The King says ...

"The thinking person's Tony Scott+ - Good one, tool! The day Tony Scott comes up with anything that remotely touches the greatness of Heat or The Insider I'll sentence myself to nothing but Jennifer Aniston romcoms for the next 12 months. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed Man on Fire, The Last Boy Scout and True Romance but Mann at his best simply soars.

comment #15

Lisa says ...

The following is a selection of random thoughts.

I'm a girl and I love Michael Mann's films (apart from the Keep God that was awful). That gun battle in Heat is just ferocious - it's just brilliantly directed and so exciting. I would have Heat in my top 5, maybe (depends on the given day). I once watched it three times in a row. I can't wait to see Miami Vice. How can it go wrong?

I'm sure Last of the Mohicans is really popular with lots of women.

I liked Collateral loads too but I thought the ending sucked. Just too many dumb things happening at the end, like his mobile phone going dead - I mean when is that gonna stop being a cliche?

Ali - I didn't get but I loved When we were Kings!

I thought De Niro's confrontation with Pacino was fine. I think that you have to be careful when you are dealing with two amazing icons like that. He was clever enough not to go too far. He gsts it just right, actually, in my opinion.

I loved Manhunter. That CSI makes me mad tho. It's like Peterson is pissing all over Will Graham's character.

comment #16

christian says ...

whil i can't argue with mann's technical acumen (or acu-mann. sorry, john simon), seeing him compared to kubrick just because it takes him three days to set up a perfectly composed shot of a speedboat doesn't put him near stanley k.

terence malick certainly is more of a perfetionist than mann, and his flawed films are striving for more depth than a hot shower sex scene.

i mean, come on. can you give me one equivalent shot in the mann-o-verse that compares with the perfect composition and metaphor of dr. strangelove silhouetted before the big board?

comment #17

christian says ...

while i can't argue with mann's technical acumen (or acu-mann. sorry, john simon), seeing him compared to kubrick just because it takes him three days to set up a perfectly composed shot of a speedboat doesn't put him near stanley k.

terence malick certainly is more of a perfectionist than mann, and his flawed films are striving for more depth than a hot shower sex scene.

i mean, come on. can you give me one equivalent shot in the mann-o-verse that compares with the perfect composition and metaphor of dr. strangelove silhouetted before the big board?

comment #18

Scott says ...

Check this review out, says it may be Mann's best.

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0630,foundas,73971,20.html

comment #19

christian says ...

sorry for the double post. i was trying to fix spelling. i'm a perfectionist too.

comment #20

Scott says ...

Check this review out, says it may be Mann's best.

http://www.villagevoice.com/film/0630,foundas,73971,20.html

comment #21

Anonymous says ...

Seriously, find one movie of his that had a good script. Heat? Routine cops & robbers that seems better than it is due to the acute character development. But the plot is standard. Collateral? Don't even get me started. Might've worked like a Coen Bros. film if it'd understood it's essentially a satire about an incompetent hitman. The Insider? All about the performances. Otherwise it's a well-made TV movie. Ali? Again, it's Will Smith, and failed because of the writing. And now with Miami Vice -- looks great, performances are there...but the script is uninspired.

Mann is just such a skillful visualist -- not unlike Ridley Scott -- that he can sometimes get his movies by you without thinking too hard. Hence the Tony Scott comparison -- only I said he was the thinking person's version. And I meant that as a compliment to Mann.

comment #22

sprofessor says ...

its interesting that for a director that so many people dismiss as a stylist, that mann almost never talks about his style of filmmaking. in fact i've heard him disregard it as not being important on more than one occasion. on his commentry tracks, his interviews, everywhere - he always talks about the characters, the story, the details, etc.

it was only on collateral that i heard him talk a bit about photographing the night scenes with hd cameras.

i wouldn't compare him to kubrick either. they have absolutely nothing in common except being perfectionists about tiny details. the films they make are totally different. kubrick was far more obsessive than mann. and mann is far more interested in emotion that kubrick.

kubrick was undeniably brilliant but totally lost the plot towards the end IMO.

comment #23

Hopscotch says ...

I think there's a good ananlogy about Mann and Ridley Scott. Very visual, very techincal, if they made a movie under two hours it'd be a sign from God.

But I will contend that "The Insider" is a modern masterpiece. Amazing, brutal and brilliantly scored. Crowe hasn't topped it. I thought Christopher Plummer was robbed for end of year awards.

comment #24

Anonymous says ...

The Insider is fucking genius, the best Mann film, period. And Man on Fire is as good as anything Mann has done with the possible exception of HEAT and THE INSIDER. When Tony Scott is on, he's on! I actually prefer him to Ridley.

comment #25

sprofessor says ...

I don't agree with the Ridley/Tony Scott comparison either. I don't think Mann would never butcher his own movie as Scott did to KOH (even if it was under studio pressure).

The only director i would really compare him to is Billy Friedkin. Both have a great interest in the crime genre, macho men, documentary-like realism, attention to detail etc. I think they're even both from Chicago.

Of course Friedkin hasn't made a watchable film in decades but in his day he was quite the obsessive perfectionist also. i believe he once said that Mann was his favourite director because he made films like his.

comment #26

Linden says ...

Now that I've thought about it, it is pretty odd that a lot of the reviews for Miami Vice sound like apolegetic fanboys trying to convinces you to the see the film despite its flaws instead of basic reviews of the film.

I think the overall tone in some of them("there's lots of sex and drugs and things" or "then they just go make-out")sounds like its coming from teenage boys, when in reality it's coming from adult critics.

comment #27

Anonymous says ...

Exactly. Everytime the critics pump Mann up. Then once they see the movie they make excuses.

comment #28

Anonymous says ...

I appreciate Mann and his films but they all seem a bit artificial to me, Mohicans especially.
I think director John Glen (Bond) called perfect setups and lighting "chocolate box" shots. Mann is too chocolate-y, too calculating technically. Ditto Tony Scott.
Not a rant, more an observation. Still see all his films.

comment #29

Kyle says ...

When Mann is on he has no peer. I wish he would try his hand at another period piece (Mohicans is terrific), but beggars can't be choosers.

His Classics:
Manhunter - Masterpiece (e.g. Grocery Store Scene)
Mohicans - (Second half has hardly any peer)
Heat - Best film about challenge of maintaining a family and career that comes to mind

Just Below:
Theif - Air tight, great ending
The Insider - A little long, but my favorite Russell Crowe performance
Robery Homicide Division - great show with a fantastic Tom Sizemore performance

Solid:
Collateral - last third's far fetched plot did it in.

Fair:
Ali - unfocused, like he never really had a tight grip around the material

Haven't seen:
The Keep

comment #30

Todd J says ...

The Insider is on my Top Ten list of all time, and I'm a smoker. I could watch that movie forever and never get bored. Loved Pacino in Donnie Brasco too. I'll never understand why he wasn't even nominated. But then Saving Private Ryan didn't win a best Picture either.

comment #31

sprofessor says ...

The Insider was brilliant. Mann's best film IMO. Far more deserving of best pic and director than American Beauty. I really think it was a big step forward for him and have been a little disappointed to see him go back to the crime genre. But he's so good at its hard to complain.

Does anyone have an idea what Mann's next film may be? I know imdb lists Arms and the Man, Damage Control and The Few. But i really doubt the last two are gonna happen, and i haven't heard anything about Arms and the Man in ages. IMDB are often wrong about this stuff anyway.

He really needs to do a western.

comment #32

ArchiveGuy says ...

KYLE SAID:

"His Classics:
Manhunter - Masterpiece (e.g. Grocery Store Scene)
Mohicans - (Second half has hardly any peer)
Heat - Best film about challenge of maintaining a family and career that comes to mind"

You forgot the magnificent "Crime Story" series.

comment #33

Lisa says ...

I loved Crowe in the Insider. After having done the right thing by testifying in court, he's being driven home and he feeling quite smug about himself. He sees this car on fire and it's nothing to do with him or the plot per se but you can see the shivers going down his spine as it dawns on him what the repercussions of his decsion are going to be. Great music by Lisa Gerrard who scored part of Gladiator too. No way is that a tv movie. I love the way Mann shoots nearly the whole film from the side of Wigand's face - it really puts you in his shoes. It's Crowe's best performance no give me oscar I'm acting here about it. You can tell everything about Wigand from the way he walks.

ps Tony Scott's movies give me a headache. He should stopping pretending he's 25 - then maybe I could sit and watch one.