I just did a rewatch of a classic 1950's sci fi movie titled Conquest Of Space now that I have my bd copy of it. The special effects were well done for the era it was made but the prevailing racial attitudes of the 1950's were on display in regards to the way a japanese american character was treated but the movie tried to be accurate from a scientific point of view. I'll give the movie 7 1/2 out of 10 points. In my estimate there were only about 10 exceptional sci fi movies made in the 1950's, most of the rest of them are low budget schlock.
Holy moly this was fantastic. Somehow despite a few Michael Mann films being amongst my all time favourites (Man Hunter, Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice 2006) I'd not seen Thief! What a movie it is. James Caan is a no nonsense master diamond thief, an outsider who lives life on purely his own terms, yet is hoping to stitch a normal life together after one last big job for which he's got into bed with some nasty mobsters who of course have other plans.
It's nice, after having been happily binging on John Woo films lately (as much as I adore them), to see a genre film that mostly goes in the opposite direction and presents an absolutely believable story and quietly nauced protagonist, as well as a male female relationship that has depth. The late night cafe scene where Caan and his girlfriend (excellently played by Tuesday Weld) discuss their pasts is one of my favourite scenes in the movie, elegantly imbuing their relationship with so much weight. The depiction of the actual robbery is also wonderfully weighty and detailed. There's nothing fancy or flashy or even particularly deceptive about it, it's presented as something more akin to hard labour performed by consummate professionals, with lots of time spent showing the blow torching and grinding during the safe cracking process, with the look of exhausted satisfaction on Caan's face afterwards perfectly capturing the feeling of a hard job well done. There's something amazingly nostalgic now in this depiction of expert crims who work hard with manly tradesmens tools.
The whole cast is brilliant but Caan in particular is just perfect in this role, really believable as the reasonable but hard edged ex con with a quiet danger about him. And the film is beautifully shot and has really great style, with some really impressive lighting and composition. The synthy soundtrack by Tangerine Dream is also a standout feature of the film giving the realistic scenes an otherworldly feel. A cracking film!
Thanks to your post I went back to Thief after watching about half of it many months ago.
It might be unkind but I would give it about a 6 or 7.
Maybe it's because it's an early film and Mann hadn't quite got his mojo yet but I think it's James Caan.
It did have John Santucci and Dennis Farina so that was a plus. I love playing the spot the actor in a Mann film/TV show that's been in another. He certainly loves his regular extras.
Oof! Horses for courses and all that, but conversely I was actually impressed by just how much mojo Mann had already. I'd say it's easy amongst his very best. But also Caan absolutely makes the movie in my opinion, it's one of those performances where I genuinely couldn't imagine anyone playing the role better. But I respect your opinion!
Where do you stand on Miami Vice 2006, Otomo? From what I gather it splits opinion but it has its ardent fans of which I am one! Such a weird, ridiculous, silly but deadly serious, unique film that is way more badass than it has any right to be. I love it!
I'm old enough to have been watching Miami Vice when it was on TV and loved it. Sadly the complete edition is expensive so I just own the first two seasons. These do include the 2 Abel Ferrara episodes and 2 with Dennis Farina. When America sneezes, the world catches a cold.
Although there are some Mann films I haven't seen, I went to the cinema to see Miami Vice simply because he directed it.
I'm a big fan. All the actors did a great job at capturing the vibe.
Wowsers, I seem to have coincidentally seen some of best films of the 80s over the last couple weeks. To Live and Die in LA is definitely in that category for me without a doubt! An absolute blood pumping, thrill ride of an 80s neo Noir from William Friedkin. Insanely 80s, from the awesome Wang Chung soundtrack, the sex on a stick outfits, the random weird touches like the crazy dancers or William Dafoe's villain artisanally forging dollar bills wearing a kimono etc. But what really makes this film great is that despite it initially being set up like just another 80s cop movie with all the familiar trappings and tropes, it ends up veering off into something unexpectedly strange and dark.
William Petersen is the Secret Service agent, Richard Chance, out to catch Dafoe's counterfeiter villain, Eric Masters, who killed his partner. But as the film progresses you realise both are mirror images of each other, both complete and utter adrenaline junkies. We're introduced to Petersen's character through two early scenes: one featuring an encounter with a suicide bomber where he appears almost transfixed at the act of self detonation, and another scene where he's shown enthusiasticly bungie jumping. And similarly, we're given a slight hint into Dafoe's reckless death drive when he's introduced to us in a scene where he burns his self portrait for no apparent reason.
Chance isn't the kind of maverick cop you see in loads of other films, heroes who don't play by the rules but save the day. Chance is an awful human and an even worse cop, the kind of guy who became one just for the thrill and power of it, a completely self serving nihilist. What initially seems like a restless passion to catch his partner's killer, eventually starts to seem more like a pretext for him to chase the ultimate rush as things spiral out of control, him loving every second of it. He has a coercive relationship (sexually and otherwise) with his informant who he controls through the threat of prison if she ever stops giving him what he wants. He emotionally manipulates his his new partner Vukovich to go along with his insanely reckless plans. And yet the film does such a great job of making you feel the rush of it all that you almost get swept up in Chance's lifestyle. Your mind reeling from heart racing car chases (the big chase is easily one of my all time favourites! So good!) and seeing Petersen's tight booty swaggering around in jeans and cowboy boots and leather jackets to pumping 80s synth, cocksure and unstoppable. Even as it becomes clear the man is completely off his rocker and doesn't care who he hurts or kills.
So it's a jaw dropping moment when the film cuts his invisible bungie cord and casually, unceremoniously has a baddie blow his brains out. Not a drop of heroism or sentimentality at all. You're dropped back down to earth. It took me a few seconds to actually process what I was seeing as it was such a surprise to have this magnetic force of sexualised toxic masculinity you've been glued to for the last hour and a half reduced to a hunk of lifeless flesh so nonchalantly. Not long after this Masters' fate is also fulfilled as he (semi deliberately?) burns to death. And ending on a dark note, Chance's up to this point humane partner, Vukovich, is now changed and infected with the same sickness as Chance, and literally dressed like him too, turns up at the informants home to tell her that she'll working for him now, as disconcerting flashbacks of a naked Chance flash across the screen.
You could say To Live and Die in LA belongs in that category of things that subvert genre conventions while also existing within them. But TLADILA does it especially well. It blows up the mythos of the maverick cop while also being an exceptionally entertaining maverick cop flick, and each side only enhances the other. The film has a lot to say about the psychology of America.
And to put this film in anime terms, it's like Gurren Lagann but infinitely better.
Excellent read.
Like CSI, I only watched it because of William Peterson and loved it.
If I had created our Venn Diagram a few weeks ago, it would have hardly overlapped. Now that bit in the middle is getting bigger.
For all the chases, cars and on foot, my first thought when thinking about the film is Washing Machine.
This was utterly, utterly awesome. I LOVED it! Set in the chaos of early 20th century China, a revolutionary, a fellow revolutionary hiding her politics from her general father, a jobbing musician hoping to steal herself enough for a new life, the daughter of a theatre house operator with dreams of one day performing on stage herself, and a well meaning soldier with nowhere else to go all get tangled together haphazardly by fate, and try to survive and outrun the turbulence that breaks out around them and the opera house while also fighting for a better future. The film is a really interesting mix of genres and tones, combining zany comedy, earnest historical drama, action scenes often centered around the Peking Opera, but that also sometimes tips into Woo-esque bloody gun violence, and feminist themes too. I haven't seen anything quite like this before and all the elements somehow just work really well together. It's an absolutely gorgeous movie to look at. So colourful and every scene full of frenetic energy. The action is incredible and there's loads of really memorable scenes.
The three female leads (played by
Brigitte Lin, Sally Yeh and Cherie Chung) are the centre of the film and the sisterhood they form despite coming from different walks of life is really nice. But also just in general, the film's theme of bonds of friendship found and forged in chaotic and uncertain times is quite lovely, and is something to sort of take heart in during these times when it increasingly feels like we're never much more than a heartbeat or two away from some total calamity striking. Oh and also the music is amazing too!
It's currently in the "leaving soon" section of Tubi, so watch it while you can if you're interested!
What Dreams May Come starring the late great Robin Williams who was one of my favorite actors. This movie is an imaginative, visually overwhelming take on the afterlife. It didn't do very good at the boxoffice when it was released but the critics liked it. The special effects have to be seen to be believed-especially the scenes that mimic an oil painting. A solid 8 1/2 points out of 10.
Holy moly this was fantastic. Somehow despite a few Michael Mann films being amongst my all time favourites (Man Hunter, Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice 2006) I'd not seen Thief! What a movie it is. James Caan is a no nonsense master diamond thief, an outsider who lives life on purely his own terms, yet is hoping to stitch a normal life together after one last big job for which he's got into bed with some nasty mobsters who of course have other plans.
Thief is my favourite Mann movie so far. Caan's confession about life in prison . Because quite a few of his characters are driven by an all-consuming terror of going back to jail. And I think more than most crime stories Mann's films present that as an innately human and understandable motivation. James Caan and Robert De Niro's character in HEAT desire to never see the inside of a jail cell again and Mann treats that like how Christopher Nolen's Inception or Interstellar treat trying to get back to your kids as a basic human drive anyone could understand.
Saw The Odyssey last month. I liked it just fine though I think it gets a little long in the tooth. Matt Damon is just completely disappearing into that role and there's a lot to like even if I'm pretty cold on it. It's a movie that's more fun to think about than to watch. Particularly in how Nolan treats the Greek Gods as very direct forces on this earth whose motives and desires are made clear but its human selfishness and irrationality makes them sound more abstract and call on their fury. And Odysseus being forced to travel a world where everybody is as crafty and underhanded as he was in the battle of Troy gives the movie an interesting sense of dread. Did he actually change the world on a metaphysical level by proving being cutthroat was a virtue to be praised above decency? He finally seeing the world for what it always was without hiding away behind his cause but still possessing the arrogance to believe his greatness caused it to change? At the same time it belabours the point too much by the end. I think its best film is still Oppenheimer out of all the ones I've seen. They both tackle of the same ideas but I think Nolan is much more directly critical of J. Robert Oppenheimer than he can be of Odysseus which gives it more of a bite. I liked it but it's a 6/10 because I don't think I'd watch it again. Robert Pattinson is amazing in this. It is weird he is also going to be in Dune 3
Yeah, out of all Michael Mann's crime films that I've seen, I'd say Thief has by far the best writing and the most believable, nauced and intriguing protagonist. Frank does have the desire to stay out of prison, and certainly the professionalism that Robert De Niro's character in Heat has. But whereas (from my memory of Heat at least) you feel Robert De Niro's character was just born to rob banks and has no genuine deeply felt desire to do anything else or the ability to change, with Frank it's different. Yes he's a consummate jewel thief, but he was turned into that by a traumatic upbringing in the prison system (ended up doing 15 years for stealing $45!). It feels like Frank has the ability and desire to change, and would probably thrive at honest work, but through a combination of his own trauma and society's refusal to allow him to reintegrate, he just can't get to that place he longs for. It's fascinating how the film practically portrays him going about his robbery work as if it were more akin to honest hard labour, again perhaps reflecting Frank's yearning for the life of a regular working man.
There's that brilliant, spine tinging moment where he's complaining to the Mafioso about getting ripped off and his hard work getting exploited and the Mafia guy says "go join a union" and Frank says "I'm wearing it!". Another thing I love about the film is that bizarre little collage picture Frank carried around with him that represents all his hopes. It's such an unusual little detail that gives you a fascinating glimpse into the character's tumultuous interior. Brilliant film!
Thief is my favourite Mann movie so far. Caan's confession about life in prison . Because quite a few of his characters are driven by an all-consuming terror of going back to jail. And I think more than most crime stories Mann's films present that as an innately human and understandable motivation. James Caan and Robert De Niro's character in HEAT desire to never see the inside of a jail cell again and Mann treats that like how Christopher Nolen's Inception or Interstellar treat trying to get back to your kids as a basic human drive anyone could understand.
Saw The Odyssey last month. I liked it just fine though I think it gets a little long in the tooth. Matt Damon is just completely disappearing into that role and there's a lot to like even if I'm pretty cold on it. It's a movie that's more fun to think about than to watch. Particularly in how Nolan treats the Greek Gods as very direct forces on this earth whose motives and desires are made clear but its human selfishness and irrationality makes them sound more abstract and call on their fury. And Odysseus being forced to travel a world where everybody is as crafty and underhanded as he was in the battle of Troy gives the movie an interesting sense of dread. Did he actually change the world on a metaphysical level by proving being cutthroat was a virtue to be praised above decency? He finally seeing the world for what it always was without hiding away behind his cause but still possessing the arrogance to believe his greatness caused it to change? At the same time it belabours the point too much by the end. I think its best film is still Oppenheimer out of all the ones I've seen. They both tackle of the same ideas but I think Nolan is much more directly critical of J. Robert Oppenheimer than he can be of Odysseus which gives it more of a bite. I liked it but it's a 6/10 because I don't think I'd watch it again. Robert Pattinson is amazing in this. It is weird he is also going to be in Dune 3
For the most part I agree with you on The Odyssey but my favorite Nolan film is Interstellar. Interesting fact: Matthew McConaughy who starred in Interstellar 1/3 costarred with Jody Foster 10 years earlier in Contact. The reason I say he 1/3 costarred is because Contact was Jody Fosters movie being as the the story was told from her character's point of view, it was also an excellent movie. It was based on a book of the same name by the late astrophysicist Carl Sagan of Cosmos fame.
An intriguing urban fantasy oddity and an early screenwriting credit for Clive Barker, seeing ex-gangland minder Larry Lamb coerced into searching for a high-class call girl (Nicola Cowper) kidnapped by a secretive gang of disfigured drug addicts who live underground. This starts well, with plenty of moody shots of noirish, wintry London and a weirdly stacked cast of British character actors in immaculate 80s drip, but the film consistently fails to build any real sense of narrative tension and ends up feeling a lot longer than its relatively short running time would suggest. Saddled with a thankless role as the film’s McGuffin, Nicola Cowper also looks alarmingly young to be a sex worker, not something this film feels equipped to discuss (Travis Bickle ain’t goin’ sauf a the river at this time of night).
The version I watched was the theatrical cut, however, and Arrow Video are cooking an extended version that restores ten minutes of missing footage. Much as I doubt this would fix everything wrong with the film, I would be interested to see if it does anything to make the last act more coherent, as it definitely feels as though we’re missing a significant chunk of exposition towards the end.
The Exterminator (1980)
Mildly infamous grotty New York revengeathon, in which baby-faced warehouse worker Robert Ginty seeks vengeance on the street gang who maimed the friend who saved his life in Vietnam (Steve James), only for things to escalate out of control once he gets a taste for vigilantism.
Not for the feint hearted, with some fairly graphic gore on show (particularly in the surprisingly stylish opening Vietnam scene), but this was generally better than I expected. Ginty’s famous lack of charisma actually kind of helps things; there’s something rather dead-eyed about his face that made me completely believe in him as an absolute psychopath, venting his frustration on ‘acceptable’ targets, in a film that feels thoroughly ambivalent about whether or not we’re supposed to see him as the hero.
Even at just a hundred minutes, I did find it rather padded though. The romance between matey detective Christopher George and hospital doctor Samantha Eggers is cute, but feels like another film entirely, and is honestly quite jarring when we cut from that back to Ginty doing unspeakable things to a nonce.
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