Michael Mann

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TedW
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Re: Michael Mann

#51 Post by TedW » Fri Oct 18, 2013 12:38 pm

L.A. Takedown can absolutely be skipped, even for completists. It's as if the most hacky TV movie director of the 80s decided to remake a Michael Mann movie in an hour and fifteen minutes. It really is pretty unwatchable.

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Re: Michael Mann

#52 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 18, 2013 2:33 pm

It does have "movie of the week"-circa 1989 stamped all over it. I'd say that the only interesting difference is that the Waingro character is more weasel-y and way less intimidating than what Kevin Gage ultimately rendered in Heat.

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Forrest Taft
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Re: Michael Mann

#53 Post by Forrest Taft » Fri Oct 18, 2013 3:55 pm

I like how the coffee shop scene is pretty much word for word identical, and covered in a similar manner in both pictures, yet it's incredibly flat and unexciting in L.A. Takedown, whereas it's still one of the highlights of Heat. Good actors can make a difference!

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warren oates
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Re: Michael Mann

#54 Post by warren oates » Fri Oct 18, 2013 6:45 pm

He also had adequate time to shoot everything in Heat. But that's part of the appeal of certain moments in L.A. Takedown to me. Like some of Mann's work on the TV series Miami Vice, there's a scrappy invention and rawness of somebody working without enough time and resources to get it perfect. Case in point is the moment where the robbery goes to shit and one of the guys kidnaps a kid off the sidewalk. More beautifully staged and shot in Heat but more viscerally effective and convincingly scary in L.A. Takedown.

TedW
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Re: Michael Mann

#55 Post by TedW » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:08 pm

warren oates wrote:He also had adequate time to shoot everything in Heat. But that's part of the appeal of certain moments in L.A. Takedown to me. Like some of Mann's work on the TV series Miami Vice, there's a scrappy invention and rawness of somebody working without enough time and resources to get it perfect. Case in point is the moment where the robbery goes to shit and one of the guys kidnaps a kid off the sidewalk. More beautifully staged and shot in Heat but more viscerally effective and convincingly scary in L.A. Takedown.
Horses for courses, warren... but I certainly wouldn't ascribe "beautifully staged" or "more viscerally effective" to anything in L.A. Takedown, and certainly not when compared to Heat. It's nothing more than a dry run with no money and an underfed script. And the cast is terrible. I bought it at a video store in London way back when, paid to have it converted to NTSC, thinking this was some Rosetta Stone that would unlock secrets and provide insights... nah. There's a reason why it didn't get picked up as a pilot, and I'm not even sure they aired it in the US as a standalone movie.

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Re: Michael Mann

#56 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Oct 18, 2013 7:29 pm

Your heightened expectations probably did you in insofar as hating it then. If you like Heat as much as I do, it's kind of like hearing the demo of your favorite song. It feels like a sketch of what was to come, something which could be molded and shaped into something else as was the case here. Plus I wouldn't be too surprised if NBC meddled around with Michael's process making it, too.

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knives
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Re: Michael Mann

#57 Post by knives » Fri Oct 18, 2013 8:59 pm

TedW wrote: And the cast is terrible.
When were Michael Rooker and Laura Harrington terrible?

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Re: Michael Mann

#58 Post by TedW » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:02 pm

I'm talking the leads primarily, Plank and McArthur. But there's no reason for me to bash this movie further. It is what it is. You think Laura Harrington delivers a fine performance in this thing, that's cool, I won't argue.

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knives
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Re: Michael Mann

#59 Post by knives » Sat Oct 19, 2013 12:07 am

I will say that even not having seen Heat Plank is just doing a bad Pacino impression. McArthur does fine for the setting though.

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Re: Michael Mann

#60 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sat Oct 19, 2013 3:36 am

I'll be damned, while it lasts, The Jericho Mile.
Last edited by flyonthewall2983 on Sun Mar 02, 2014 12:56 am, edited 1 time in total.

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colinr0380
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Re: Michael Mann

#61 Post by colinr0380 » Sun Oct 20, 2013 12:28 pm

Here's the first part of the 20 minute From L.A. Takedown To Heat interview with Michael Mann that BBC2 did when they premiered L.A. Takedown back in 1997.

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Re: Michael Mann

#62 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:29 pm

Is Manhunter with MGM or Lionsgate right now? I know MGM put out the recent DVDs and Blu, but the last time I saw it on TV the subtitles had a LG copyright.

oh yeah
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Re: Michael Mann

#63 Post by oh yeah » Mon Oct 21, 2013 9:26 pm

I can't speak with confidence on that, but speaking of Manhunter...here is an interview with William Petersen from around its release. Great time-capsule. The whole concept of "profiling" was quite unknown at the time.

BTW, has anyone noticed how similar the transitions from opening credits to first shot Manhunter and Blue Velvet are? Both released within just a couple months of each other. Lynch was actually initially tapped to direct Manhunter but found it too disturbing (!)

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Re: Michael Mann

#64 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Tue Oct 22, 2013 3:31 pm

Didn't he say that the novel was disgusting, or something to that effect? It's funny now because there have been quite a few Lynchian scenes during the first season of Hannibal.

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Re: Michael Mann

#65 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:36 am

RobertAltman wrote:I like how the coffee shop scene is pretty much word for word identical, and covered in a similar manner in both pictures, yet it's incredibly flat and unexciting in L.A. Takedown, whereas it's still one of the highlights of Heat. Good actors can make a difference!
What also made a difference was the preparation the actors did, prepped by Michael for Heat as compared to it's TV counterpart. He might have had a couple months max in total production time on L.A. Takedown, which meant the most that the leads probably did was read a few books and wear out their VHS copies of The French Connection.

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whaleallright
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Re: Michael Mann

#66 Post by whaleallright » Fri Nov 01, 2013 12:47 am

months? on a TV film, it's possible that he had weeks.

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Re: Michael Mann

#67 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Fri Nov 01, 2013 1:04 am

He said in the video a few posts above that it was shot in 19 days. Could be weeks then if the pre and post-production schedules were just as short.

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Re: Michael Mann

#68 Post by oh yeah » Fri Nov 01, 2013 5:10 pm

Maybe I'm missing some posts in another thread, but has anyone here brought up Mann's new film, Cyber, which has been in post for nearly 2 months now? I'm very excited for this. Per IMDb: "American and Chinese forces work together on a case of high-level computer hacking." Mann is at his best when he's telling stories about the Now, the cutting-edge de-humanized, postmodern whatever-you-wanna-call-it alienated society of ours (e.g. Heat, Miami Vice film), so I'm looking forward to this. Not that I don't really like Public Enemies or Mohicans, but I prefer it when he does present-day films.

There's been little word on it, unfortunately. But one of its stars, Viola Davis, just said in an interview that the experience was extremely grueling (yet worth it), and that the camera-work looked extraordinary.

Naturally there's some doubt already regarding Chris Hemsworth in the lead role... but think of how Mann got career-best performances out of mostly mediocre actors like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell. In fact, so many of the peformances in his films are the finest or among the finest of that actor's career: I'd certainly say Russell Crowe was never better than in The Insider, and admittedly I'm not a fan of either but Depp and Bale impressed me most in Public Enemies.

TedW
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Re: Michael Mann

#69 Post by TedW » Fri Nov 01, 2013 5:56 pm

oh yeah wrote: Naturally there's some doubt already regarding Chris Hemsworth in the lead role... but think of how Mann got career-best performances out of mostly mediocre actors like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.
Don't lump Jamie Foxx, one of the best character actors of generation, in with those other guys.

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Re: Michael Mann

#70 Post by oh yeah » Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:21 pm

TedW wrote:
oh yeah wrote:Naturally there's some doubt already regarding Chris Hemsworth in the lead role... but think of how Mann got career-best performances out of mostly mediocre actors like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.
Don't lump Jamie Foxx, one of the best character actors of generation, in with those other guys.
Well, I don't agree, though I suppose he's better than Farrell and Smith on the whole. But was he really "one of the best character actors of generation" prior to being cast in Collateral in 2003, or especially Ali in 2001?

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knives
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Re: Michael Mann

#71 Post by knives » Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:25 pm

Hasn't Farrell done enough to be considered at least a good actor let alone better than Foxx.

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Mr Sausage
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Re: Michael Mann

#72 Post by Mr Sausage » Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:27 pm

oh yeah wrote:
TedW wrote:
oh yeah wrote:Naturally there's some doubt already regarding Chris Hemsworth in the lead role... but think of how Mann got career-best performances out of mostly mediocre actors like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.
Don't lump Jamie Foxx, one of the best character actors of generation, in with those other guys.
Well, I don't agree, though I suppose he's better than Farrell and Smith on the whole. But was he really "one of the best character actors of generation" prior to being cast in Collateral in 2003, or especially Ali in 2001?
I think you're confusing Ali with Ray, Foxx being outstanding in the latter. He never really followed up on the promise of that, Collateral, and Miami Vice, but it's clear on the basis of those three that he's very talented.

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Re: Michael Mann

#73 Post by TedW » Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:46 pm

oh yeah wrote:
TedW wrote:
oh yeah wrote:Naturally there's some doubt already regarding Chris Hemsworth in the lead role... but think of how Mann got career-best performances out of mostly mediocre actors like Will Smith, Jamie Foxx and Colin Farrell.
Don't lump Jamie Foxx, one of the best character actors of generation, in with those other guys.
Well, I don't agree, though I suppose he's better than Farrell and Smith on the whole. But was he really "one of the best character actors of generation" prior to being cast in Collateral in 2003, or especially Ali in 2001?
He wasn't pursuing a career as a dramatic actor prior to Any Given Sunday, in which he is also quite good. And he is excellent in Ali, Collateral, Vice, and Ray as well. Perhaps even a few others (I didn't see the cellist movie), but certainly those.

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Re: Michael Mann

#74 Post by TedW » Fri Nov 01, 2013 8:47 pm

knives wrote:Hasn't Farrell done enough to be considered at least a good actor let alone better than Foxx.
Not really.

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knives
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Re: Michael Mann

#75 Post by knives » Fri Nov 01, 2013 9:02 pm

TedW wrote:
knives wrote:Hasn't Farrell done enough to be considered at least a good actor let alone better than Foxx.
Not really.
So In Bruges, Horrible Bosses, The Way Back, Cassandra's Dream, and The New World mean nothing?

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