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Ramble Film School: Michael Mann
Well, we got word this four-day weekend just turned into a five-day weekend. It’s likely to become a six-day one. I’m couped up in the basement, with very little to do except bask in the glory of a Super Bowl win and think up new stuff for the Ramble.
So here’s one. Film School.
We all have our favorite scenes from our favorite movies. I invite you share them with us here, so long as you can find a clip already being hosted somewhere.
I’m going to kick things off with, well, a few of my favorite scenes from a few of my favorite movies of my favorite director: Michael Kenneth Mann. It’s actually kind of interesting that Michael Mann is my favorite filmmaker, especially since:
a. he really hasn’t directed that many films (10); and
b. I only thoroughly enjoyed 3 of them (Heat, The Insider and Ali). The rest range from the extremely well-made, but I just never got into it (The Last of the Mohicans, Manhunter [the original Hannibal Lecter movie], Public Enemies) to the “meh” (Miami Vice, Collateral).
But for me, those 3 pack a lot of punch (pun evident in a sec). Plus, all three of them have been on recently. Let’s start, shall we?
hotspur78 4:47 pm on February 9, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
1) “Ali” is wildly overrated. The slow-mo was way over-used, and “We Were Kings” blew it out of the water. It WAS impressive how Michael Mann made Ali’s blatant philandering seem like a cross he had to bear, rather than admitting that the dude just liked fucking too much to be a faithful husband.
“Last of the Mohicans” and “Manhunter” are two of the more re-watchable movies you’ll ever find on cable. Showtime has been showing it all the time (in fact, it’s on Showtime 2 right now – I checked). Even Red Dragon, while good, was no real improvement on Manhunter (Captain O’Hagan was an excellent Hannibal Lecter). As for LotM, Daniel Day-Lewis is – surprise – a bad-ass. And I always thought Madeleine Stowe was the most underrated hot chick from the early- to mid-90’s. No? Just me? Anyway.
2) Finally saw “The Insider” a couple of weeks ago. My jaw dropped when I heard Safe From Harm at the end (Music geek note: any time you see a “Perfecto” remix to a song, that means it was done by Paul Oakenfold). The film already looks pretty dated (though maybe that was Mann’s intention?) but is a good story, and Al Pacino tones it down just enough to be tolerable.
3) I agree with El D that the Pacino/DeNiro scene in “Heat” is not that awesome. However, the chase scene before that, where Pacino is in the helicopter following DeNiro, is phenomenal. And the use of Moby’s remix of Joy Division’s “New Dawn Fades” is an inspired move. Very impressive.
el D 5:44 pm on February 9, 2010 Permalink | Log in to Reply
Very interesting that you mention the pre-”conversation” chase scene. It was the exact same clip I wanted to share (especially b/c of the New Dawn Fades), but thought it was overkill for today’s class.
For those of you interested, here it is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eluU-Hj7Pnw#t=6m10s