rescreened that recently, it's a truly distilled version of the best aspects of Silence of the Lambs (though not quite as good in some ways.) It's genuinely creepy especially during the first half -- there's something about the policework in this film as they're trying to narrow things down which really worked for me a lot better this time, and something about the almost-corporate style of the feds as they work the case, fruitless meetings in office buildings, jetting all over the southeast, making tactical errors in public while the killer is operating in the shadows and they have zero leads, it's all really compelling stuff.
― omar little, Friday, 22 September 2023 23:11 (eight months ago) link
I love Manhunter. Red Dragon is actually not bad and closer to the book but Ralph Fiennes is completely wrong for the Tooth Fairy and I didn't buy Norton as Graham whereas Petersen looks like a shattered human being throughout.
Also Noonan as Tooth Fairy rules, even if his signature scene is a meme now
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 September 2023 23:21 (eight months ago) link
I saw both on dates with the same girl in my 20s (both were her idea!)
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 September 2023 23:22 (eight months ago) link
Noonan is chilling.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 22 September 2023 23:25 (eight months ago) link
DO U SEE
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 September 2023 23:35 (eight months ago) link
Whereas Fiennes was a sexy, chiseled, fresh out of LA Fitness Tooth Fairy.
I actually thought (incorrectly) that he couldn't act after I saw him in Red Dragon.
Manhunter is just shot so well. Those scenes of Graham isolated in his hotel looking at evidence, with a look like "this might kill me this time"
― Make the chats AI (Neanderthal), Friday, 22 September 2023 23:37 (eight months ago) link
My vote would have been the MV TV series
― calstars, Saturday, 23 September 2023 00:08 (eight months ago) link
Once “Ferrari” has been out for a few months, can we re-poll?
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Saturday, 23 September 2023 13:03 (eight months ago) link
Just watched the Ferrari trailer. Driver is kind of odd casting considering he's a full 20 years younger than Enzo Ferrari was when the movie takes place and needed to have his hair dyed gray for the role. (Or maybe it's a wig.) On the other hand, his last name is Driver.
― jaymc, Monday, 23 October 2023 12:41 (seven months ago) link
Great actor but clearly a case of needing a big name attached.
― Chris L, Monday, 23 October 2023 12:50 (seven months ago) link
the Frank Grillo Lamborghini film didn't exactly make waves even though "grill" was right there in his name.
― omar little, Monday, 23 October 2023 19:07 (seven months ago) link
Frank Grillo should get the McCauley role in Heat 2.
― read-only (unperson), Monday, 23 October 2023 19:16 (seven months ago) link
Can't wait for Bricklin featuring Tommy Lee Jones
― real warm grandpa (Neanderthal), Monday, 23 October 2023 23:54 (seven months ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=grWQ6CZqtOE
― Elvis Telecom, Tuesday, 24 October 2023 00:13 (seven months ago) link
Adam Driver reacts to someone asking about & criticizing the crash scenes in ‘FERRARI’ as “pretty harsh, drastic and cheesy.”“Fuck you, I don’t know?” pic.twitter.com/MtmehVa6D3— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) November 12, 2023
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 12 November 2023 23:32 (seven months ago) link
that's right
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Monday, 13 November 2023 15:50 (seven months ago) link
Just got the shipment confirmation email for my Blackhat Blu-Ray.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Saturday, 25 November 2023 22:56 (six months ago) link
hmm! mine hasn’t shipped but it’s estimating Monday delivery
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Sunday, 26 November 2023 00:03 (six months ago) link
I got the Neon box set last night with this film among them and the memory of Driver's accent in House of Gucci burned me and I can't.
― stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 26 November 2023 00:08 (six months ago) link
Wait, what? The Ferrari movie is in the boxed set?
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 26 November 2023 01:03 (six months ago) link
lol Josh, I almost posted the same thing until Zing warned me
― circa1916, Sunday, 26 November 2023 01:06 (six months ago) link
Rewatched Thief last night. Haven't seen it since sometime in the last century and goddamn, WHAT A MOVIE. Things I never noticed before: Second City founder Del Close as one of the mechanics at the car lot. Willie Dixon as the fisherman out by the lake. Frank trying to light a cigarette before the conversation with Jessie at the diner before giving up and agressively/nervously playing with it.
Ms. T's comment: "did he just hire real criminals as the supporting cast? I feel like I'm watching the real thing." Yes, indeed.
― Elvis Telecom, Monday, 4 December 2023 07:32 (six months ago) link
Blackhat Blu-Ray arrived in today's mail; I just re-watched the director's cut and yeah, it's top five Mann for me.
1) Thief2) Miami Vice director's cut3) Heat4) Blackhat director's cut5) Manhunter
6) The Insider7) Collateral999) Public Enemies
I still haven't seen The Last of the Mohicans, Ali or The Keep.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 04:48 (six months ago) link
Still don't get what y'all seeing in Blackhat
― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 09:59 (six months ago) link
It’s a Borges story
― G. D’Arcy Cheesewright (silby), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 16:41 (six months ago) link
― Josh in Chicago,
yes
― stuffing your suit pockets with cold, stale chicken tende (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 16:43 (six months ago) link
Yeah, I hated Blackhat when I saw it in the theaters. Tried the director's cut some months back, but I didn't make it very far, because 95% of the movie is the same and I just wasn't feeling it.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 16:45 (six months ago) link
Actually, wait, I'm still confused. There's a Neon boxed set that contains Mann's "Ferrari," even though it hasn't been released yet?
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:17 (six months ago) link
I think it's a For Your Consideration box sent out to movie critics.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:19 (six months ago) link
Oh, well, that makes sense. I thought it was some official Neon boxed set, not a box of year-end screeners.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:22 (six months ago) link
people like the Miami Vice director’s cut better? I thought it didn’t really add much. Blackhat one is better for the plot, although I see why they reconfigured it for pacing reasons. the order of the hacks/crimes in the theatrical release is muddled
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:39 (six months ago) link
I prefer the theatrical "Miami Vice," which has one of the best cold opens of all time.
I have some fan-assembled mock DC of "The Keep" I'm been meaning to watch.
The DCs of "Ali" and "Mohicans" are both good, but I honestly can't remember the theatrical versions or what's different.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 5 December 2023 17:48 (six months ago) link
Haven't seen the Blackhat director's cut but Miami Vice's theatrical version feels superior to the director's version
― active spectator of ecocide and dispossession (Eric H.), Tuesday, 5 December 2023 18:01 (six months ago) link
miami vice dc has more 360 degree shots of boats so i prefer it. cold open of the theatrical is classic tho
― ivy., Tuesday, 5 December 2023 18:09 (six months ago) link
The big thing with the revised Blackhat is that the sound was so much better. Saw the original in the theater two or three times, and the dialogue was so buried in the mix.
― underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Wednesday, 6 December 2023 05:17 (six months ago) link
That's true; you can hear what people are saying in this version. And as always with Mann, in both cuts, when guns start going off you better hope your TV is bolted down.
Seriously, though, there's a car bomb scene in Blackhat that's one of the best edits I've ever seen.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Wednesday, 6 December 2023 05:31 (six months ago) link
great, career-spanning interview which I don't think was posted
https://www.vulture.com/article/michael-mann-in-conversation.html
― Number None, Tuesday, 19 December 2023 08:31 (six months ago) link
Great interview, Mann is so smart and perceptive. I interviewed him a couple of times, years ago, and he just exuded intellectual curiosity. He wants to know how everything works: a car, a gun, a street light, a criminal, a city. Just really focused on the how and why of it all.
― Josh in Chicago, Sunday, 24 December 2023 23:27 (five months ago) link
Miami Vice director’s cut is an abomination
― papal hotwife (milo z), Monday, 25 December 2023 00:43 (five months ago) link
O to be in L.A.:
https://x.com/katiewalshstx/status/1742284331618328860?s=20
― underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 21:52 (five months ago) link
rewatched the theatrical cut of Blackhat on blu-ray the other day and I have to give some credit to the foley artists for the stabbing noises in the climactic fight scene
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Tuesday, 2 January 2024 22:00 (five months ago) link
Stories out there today about Heat 2 filming this year, with Adam Driver in one of the leads.
Also:
michael mann fans be like HOLY FUCKKK pic.twitter.com/2Pf6tpqGa6— bee (@beepupkin) January 5, 2024
― underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 5 January 2024 19:37 (five months ago) link
idgi
― Wack Snyder (Eric H.), Friday, 5 January 2024 19:53 (five months ago) link
https://www.cinemamoderne.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/heat-still1.jpg
?
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 January 2024 20:02 (five months ago) link
Yep, and Manhunter too.
― underwater as a compliment (Eazy), Friday, 5 January 2024 20:06 (five months ago) link
The Mann-approved Criterion issue of Thief seems to have been dipped in blue tint compared with the old Anchor Bay DVD, too. He took the whole "Blu"-Ray thing very literally.
― Tahuti Watches L&O:SVU Reruns Without His Ape (unperson), Friday, 5 January 2024 20:26 (five months ago) link
There are a myriad of reasons new releases have different color grading, but I think the overall trend (barring WKW and others making editorial choices) is to try to attempt to get closer to the theatrical grading/light presentation on blu-ray, especially with HDR
I was watching the interviews on the recent Blackhat release and the DP, Stuart Dryburgh, briefly touched on the fact that typically a director gives notes and the editor handles everything before final handoff, but Mann would take charge of the final lighting/grading himself when the editors had finished cutting. His opinion was that Mann had a light touch on the couple of recent things where they'd collaborated, but the anecdote definitely speaks to his concerns
― ɥɯ ︵ (°□°) (mh), Friday, 5 January 2024 20:49 (five months ago) link
I found a quote of his from 2017, I think, talking about changing the color grading of "Heat:"
EW: When it came to remastering the film for the Blu-ray, were there specific sequences you focused on?Yeah, the whole film! When you go into Blu-ray, and you go to 4K, you're in a different color space. Meaning that what was magenta doesn't translate exactly. There's no logarithm you could use to make "magenta" still stay magenta, with that exact color. So you have to imagine everything, from contrast, to how black blacks are, to what the color palette is. The ambition here was: If I was shooting the film two or three years ago, what would it look like? That was really it. So we went into every shot.EW: Your style in your more recent films has evolved from when you made Heat. Did that affect how you looked at this film?Let me put this rather precisely. When you see an emotion on a human's face, how much of the face do you see? What constitutes fear? What constitutes apprehension? What constitutes suspicion?Yes, I evolved, but also, audience perception evolves, and media evolves, year to year. If I shot this film two or three years ago, this particular film would be less chromatic. And the sense of tension would become more pronounced with greater contrast and kind of a more blue-black palette, than the film as I wanted it to be when I shot it in '94-'95.EW: Are there any moments in particular that bring up what you're talking about, that as you're working with the 4K, any sequence in the film that you think is seen anew on this definitive edition?The one that comes to mind is when Hanna is chasing Neil McCauley at the end of the film past the airport. All that is a lot darker. Primary reds are stripped out. The reflections in the metal—everything is substantially darker, if I showed you the before and after. They're big steps, they're not subtleties.
Yeah, the whole film! When you go into Blu-ray, and you go to 4K, you're in a different color space. Meaning that what was magenta doesn't translate exactly. There's no logarithm you could use to make "magenta" still stay magenta, with that exact color. So you have to imagine everything, from contrast, to how black blacks are, to what the color palette is. The ambition here was: If I was shooting the film two or three years ago, what would it look like? That was really it. So we went into every shot.
EW: Your style in your more recent films has evolved from when you made Heat. Did that affect how you looked at this film?
Let me put this rather precisely. When you see an emotion on a human's face, how much of the face do you see? What constitutes fear? What constitutes apprehension? What constitutes suspicion?
Yes, I evolved, but also, audience perception evolves, and media evolves, year to year. If I shot this film two or three years ago, this particular film would be less chromatic. And the sense of tension would become more pronounced with greater contrast and kind of a more blue-black palette, than the film as I wanted it to be when I shot it in '94-'95.
EW: Are there any moments in particular that bring up what you're talking about, that as you're working with the 4K, any sequence in the film that you think is seen anew on this definitive edition?
The one that comes to mind is when Hanna is chasing Neil McCauley at the end of the film past the airport. All that is a lot darker. Primary reds are stripped out. The reflections in the metal—everything is substantially darker, if I showed you the before and after. They're big steps, they're not subtleties.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 5 January 2024 21:37 (five months ago) link
there's a second season of tokyo vice coming to max next week?i generally enjoyed s1 despite the elgort factor but i did not think there was much demand for more of it from anyone
― na (NA), Friday, 2 February 2024 20:20 (four months ago) link
A friend who's a Chicago stage director shared this Thief-related detail (new to me) in a FB comment:
In one scene the cops herd a crew of jewel thiefs into the station. All of the cops are former criminals turned Chicago actors and all the criminals are former cops turned actors.
― paisley got boring (Eazy), Thursday, 13 June 2024 18:49 (one week ago) link