Thursday, August 03, 2006
Cineaste Showoff
I'm surprised this guy managed to type without tipping his brandy glass all over the keyboard.
And I thought I had a big fat head. Read all those names he drops. I'm surprised he left out so many!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0430357/board/nest/49531848
The critics who panned it or felt it was empty do not understand the true depth Mann's achievement.And in case you still doubt his command over high culture he has a Capote quote in his signature as a true credential.
There are levels of nuance and subtlety in it, things suggested and not stated, varying degrees of shade and shadow that reaches the height of artistry, like the best film noir, French New Wave cinema, or the literature of Henry James or Virginia Woolf. In many regards, Mann is carrying the torch of the best cinema of the past, perhaps the successor of Antonioni's minimalism/existentialism (just one aspect of Mann's cinema), and he manages it while remaining fiscally responsibly to his backers. He is a juggler par excellence who adroitly manages artistic and commercial considerations--a near impossible feat and dance on the razor's edge. And he makes it look easy too.
On another thread, someone observed that the French seem to be praising this film. Let me say that only someone who has at least some understanding of the French New Wave (especially, A boute de souffle) can appreciate Miami Vice for all of its merits. This film is easily one of the best in the last 25 years of cinema and it flies low on the radar; only someone with a heightened sensitivity of the art and craft of film can appreciate it fully.
I only wish I had the time and energy to write about it further. I envy the professional critics who get the opportunity to do so. One Miami Vice carries the weight of 300 other films on its back, and supports the very foundation of cinema. To see that a good portion of the general public and many professional (American) critics fail to see this film's greatness is reassuring because it kind of confirms to me just how good this film is--great art is rarely appreciated in it's own time, if ever. It may be premature of me to place this film within the pantheon of other great ones, but intuitively I feel this is the right decision. It would make my list of top 50 films of all-time. Take a look at my list of top 5 and you will see where I'm coming from.
The stars must be aligned for Colin Farrel (sic erat in fatis), as he got to work with another of today's preeminent directors, Terrence Malick (come to think of it, Gong Li and Jamie Fox have been quite lucky as well, working with great directors in the past). These two directors, perhaps with Kitano and one or two others, are the best in the business today.
Miami Vice is the first film in many years that I know I'm going to see several times in the next couple months. And when the DVD comes out, I'm going to pick it up immediately, with no reservations. I'm only disheartened that so few can look past the surface banalites of the gunplay.
[please read the posts I have made on this thread for a further explanation of all of the above]
I frankly don't see what all the fuss is about -- Truman Capote in Capote
You and me both, Capote.
You and me both.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Bat Vice
This summer is horrible.
Horrible. For movies.
Television, in my eyes, used to be the golgotha of media. There was never anything good on to watch besides... besides what? Cartoons! Even they, with their unlimited imagination (thanks to the miracle of animation!!), got old. Remember when Adult Swim premiered and the excitement for good, mature animation was heavy in the ether? Funny how fast that went. How many pop-culture-satires-with-non-sequitor-dialogue shows can one network hold now? For every engaging and well-written Venture Bros. there seems to be forty brainless s-CRY-eds and eighty more tiresome Aqua Teen re-runs. RE-RUNS. Even infallible South Park disappointed this season.
Cripes.
However, there exists Battlestar Galactica and 24 and they're terrific. Certainly different levels of terrific, but fanfuckingtastic the same... almost. 24 is an addictive cliffhanger-after-cliffhanger television goldmine. It's exactly what television should be. Constant tension and danger and holy shit those CLIFFHANGERS. It is the epitome of episodic. A neverending cycle of double-crosses and shoot-outs for me to cheer and root for till I'm blue in the face, the sheer amount of badasses... this is a man's show, a gamer's show. Remember Commando, when Tommy Chong's daughter says "These guys must eat a lot of red meat!" Not that I'm elevating 24 to the Olympian heights of masterpiece-for-the-ages Commando but 24 eats a lot of red meat. And shoots a lot of deer, and most likely votes Republican.
Right now Jack Bauer is suspended in a crashing jet plane, possibly because of a missile, on his way to prevent terrorists from nuclear bombing Los Angeles. I have 16 hours left to go in the (second) season. Thank the lords for DVD.
The Lords of KOBOL. If 24 is Burnout Revenge then Battlestar is Shadow of the Colossus. Thoughtful, moving, exciting I love every character and it's the best sci-fi show, movie, anything in the past 20 years. It's like getting Blade Runner Lite in every episode.
But this is all known. I'm way behind in both series. So where was I? Right. Movies. They blow. Why do I bother anymore?
I told a few pals I thought Miami Vice was lousy and their reactions were sarcastic and incendiary as if I knew nothing about cinema or how Hollywood works or what birds are.
"What are you an IDIOT? Are you RETARDED? It's goddamned MIAMI VICE."
Well excuuuuuuuuse me for wanting a good movie based on a good TV show from a good director. In a year of skin-boiling disappointments and wretched embarrassments I secretly wanted, desired, longed for a good, adult movie in Miami Vice. And it, despite Gong Li's goofy pronunciation and Colin Farrell's hair, is the most serious movie I've seen all year. There were no superheroes, no Pyramid Head, no Dashiell Hammett-y dialogue. No humor.
There was... very little. I was led to believe I was gonna see a great movie. I watched Collateral, Michael Mann's previous flick, the night before. That's a great damn movie. Charismatic performances from the guy In Living Goddamn Color and Jerry Maguire in his best role, rad soundtrack (the Fever nightclub scene and the ending credits music) and gorgeous to look at. Those taxi cab yellows and neon blues pop out of the city and those dark clouds in the night sky... I love those. Those - the visual charms - are in Miami Vice. But everything else is lost to some weird kind of arthouse mentality where no fun and play is allowed. I was led to believe Collateral brought Michael Mann to a place where he could make hard-R, entertaining, engaging movies. Miami Vice earns its R-rating with a few short sequences of blood but as a whole it's not very entertaining in the least and the only engaging part is late in the third fucking act. I was led to believe, by many mainstream critics, that I was going to see a good movie.
Fuck those guys.
In a perfect world Miami Vice would be the most kick-ass cop movie around given the director's pedigree and the fact that he is adapting/updating his own creation from 20 years ago instead of handing it off to some hack P.O.S. like Ratner or McG. This has Mann's signature all over it so by all rights, this should have been fucking awesome. When I heard it was a dark and depressing take on Crockett and Tubbs I thought "Shit, that sounds right up my alley." I even had an analogy all lined up.
Kenshin TV show : Miami Vice TV show :: Kenshin OVA : Miami Vice movie
Christ, I really AM an idiot.
There's some stuff to like in Miami Vice - when things happen - but then things don't happen. For a long, long time. It's like the sixth long-ass movie of the summer and it's very redundant. Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx mumble a lot and then Colin and Gong hook up for a few hundred times. And there's lots of speed boats. It's all very boring until the third act when some actual gunplay kicks in (these are the things that happen) and my interest is piqued way too late. Even the music was boring.
Even the sex was boring and cheap, and featured porno music. This movie counted on me getting jazzed about Colin and Gong shacking up - and in a better movie I would have , by GOD I would have - but I didn't care. How could I? There's little attempt to get to know them and the one they try (Gong Li looks like her mother. Wow! Okay?) is dumb and underdeveloped. They have a connection, sure: they're both trapped in worlds they're tired of and don't want to be in anymore. Their sex and possible love is a possible escape. Okay, there's a great idea of it all but the execution falls flat on its face. It's not sexy, it's not romantic, it's desperate. Which is kind of cool and sad but would be even cooler had there been a reason to care and had we all not seen this same plot a thousand billion times before, and better.
Here, it's just painy-by-numbers. Michael Mann uses the same night photography he did in Collateral so the movie looks really good (though the theater's print was grainy as hell... bring on the digital projectors, for crying out loud) but it sure doesn't feel good... at least when guns aren't going off. Otherwise... heck, I can't remember a single line from the movie.
There's no reason to see it, for fans of the TV show, fans of the actors, Jamie Foxx or Colin Farrell or whatever. Jamie isn't even IN most of the movie (I guess those rumors of him and his uppity entourage aren't rumors) and when he IS he's talking on a cell phone or grumbling some macho bullshit that should sound cool but sounds... I dunno. There. It's just there, effortless and unimpressive. Colin fares only slightly better since he has an exorbitant amount of screen time and hides his Irish brogue fairly well with the deepest set of balls voice possible out of a human throat which would be Don Johnson-esque if it had any type of playfulness to it whatsoever but I'd rather bet it's because it sounds cool and threatening or something. Remember the way Batman speaks in Batman Begins? It's like that, amplified and not coming out of Batman which makes it, well, odd. Funny, I knew I didn't like either guy in their role so I guess none of this is a surprise in any way.
God, I hate myself sometimes.
The supporting cast actually got more attention from me as the drug cartel leaders all sport the most amazing beards I've seen all yearand Naomie Harris, the chick from 28 Days Later and Tristram Shandy - and can be seen now in the over-engorged Pirates of the Caribbean 2 as the 27th Oracle-from-the-Matrix character to be seen since the Matrix came out - has her butt exposed. So, yeah, THAT was cool. Also, there's Elizabeth Rodriguez who defies all expectations of Latinas-with-guns-in-movies by looking sexy, tough and not being Michelle Rodriguez. She completely steals the show in one shoot-out which is cool but a bit odd because you'd think Foxx or somebody would have the spotlight for that particular, er, shot. Good thing he didn't because she actually has some electricity to her, whether it's her Ruffles blonde hair or what she says to the punk before he buys it. It's a solid, crowd-pleasing Hollywood kind of moment of badassery and satisfaction. The scene leading up to it - a covert rescue operation on a bad guy's trailer hideout - is by far the best of the movie with ample tension and teamwork reminiscent of Stand Alone Complex, if only because it's capped off with a tough female taking charge.
If only that was in a better-paced, better-plotted movie... As it stands now Miami Vice is a vastly uneven disappointing flop with a super-simple plot that's twisted and warped to appear more convoluted than it should be. I suppose it was a mistake to watch Mann's superior Collateral the night before because my hopes got way too frickin' high. I guess I'm not as cynical as I should be.
How the fuck is that possible?
GOOD movie news is Batman Begins 2 is The Dark Knight and Heath Ledger is cleverly cast as The Joker. As one of the three good things about Brothers Grimm (Peter Stormare and Jonathan Pryce are the other two kinda sorta I guess) in which he played his role with an almost Monty Python sort of delivery. I guess he's a funny guy. Can he do The Joker, the greatest villain EVAR?
I'll wait to pass judgment till I'm actually in the theater breaking my fingers in excitement but that's definitely an interesting choice. Makes more sense than Michael Keaton or Crispin Glover now that I think about it, to have Joker and Batman be the same age so they can grow into an Alan Moore's Killing Joke type of relationship. Oh Christ, I hope they go that route.
Some things they absolutely have got to do this time around:
1.) Keep David Goyer far away. I don't wanna see anymore "THE MAINS ARE GONNA BLOW!" and "HEY NICE COAT!" guys. Jonathan and Christopher Nolan teamed up for Memento so the grin on my face is wide enough to break my jaw. Hey... I should be The Joker!
2.) Harvey Dent. He's gotta complete the Batman-Gordon team seen in The Long Halloween and he's gotta be awesome. Throw in hints of his temper and a flipping coin and not only will fanboys cry tears of ecstasy his downfall in the third movie will cause heartache. HEART... BREAK.
3.) Detective work. We get very tiny seeds of this in Batman Begins but in The Dark Knight he's also got to grow into the "world's greatest detective."
4.) Some kind of pact/understanding with Lucius Fox. He's no idiot, he knows he's Batman. I guess they could leave it at that since Fox is such a nice honorable guy anyway but something's odd with the amount of people who know Bruce Wayne is Batman.
5.) Harley Quinn. Perhaps. She reveals/does so much for The Joker's character it may be tricky to have her in this. Ideally she would be the prime example of the sick, twisted control The Joker can have on someone, in this case, using sex. Ick. If that's not "dark" I dunno what it is. But her bright-red goofy clown suit may ruin that.
6.) The Penguin and the Kid who hid Batman in his basement! Remember that from the animated series? That would be such an awesome subplot wouldn't it!!!! ALSO HUMMINGBIRD BOMBS
7.) Bring Scarecrow back in some capacity! ZOMG BLARG
