Luck: HBO series: David Milch, Dustin Hoffman, Michael Mann

http://www.good.is/post/if-we-don-t-kill-horses-for-tv-why-kill-them-for-gambling/

We Eat Horses, Don't We?

As always, I highly recommend folks dig up that New Yorker profile of Milch. He's likely a bona fide genius (even if I think his output outside of Deadwood has been erratic). Mann's a genius, too, but he arrived at it through sheer hard work, which perhaps explains why he's been so much more successful. He's less beholden to a muse and more able to simply buckle down and do what needs to be done.

Link?

http://deadspin.com/5893747/since-december-16-horses-have-died-at-aqueduct-racetrack

lets get real here folks, this show was canceled because no ones watching it

I thought that at first but not so sure. There's fewer people watching Enlightened and it's still on. Treme is in its third season and was drawing about the same numbers as Luck from what I've heard.

I mean I guess it was a combo of bad PR + expensive to produce + ratings not that great. But I don't really think HBO was just looking for an out here.

Even if not that many people watched it was still a "prestige show" and Dustin Hoffman's first ever TV gig

Enlightened probably doesn't cost 1/20th of what Luck does.

Mann's a genius, too, but he arrived at it through sheer hard work, which perhaps explains why he's been so much more successful.

He's also terrifying, and a careerist of the first magnitude. His legend - like, say, Lynch's - eclipses his outputs.

and kills 1/20th of the horses

I think laura dern is going to slit a horse's throat in the season opener

mann is a genius fuiud

no one suggested he wasnt?

yah remy did

if im parsing his pretend hollywood insider schtick correctly

Mann's a genius, too

oh rlly

Ali, The Insider, Collateral... jeezus, up there w/ the best of Renoir

shhh go watch e.t.

Heat was at least like a nutty 3-hour condensation of these endless HBO shows you guys love

bob_hope_dancing.gif

yah remy did

― lag∞n, Friday, March 16, 2012 1:29 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

if im parsing his pretend hollywood insider schtick correctly

― lag∞n, Friday, March 16, 2012 1:30 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

he said hes ALSO terrifying and etc., which means he agrees with the genius premise

Trigger lived through Son of Paleface

http://www.buyersmls.com/RoyRogers/paleface/bobtrig.jpg

His legend - like, say, Lynch's - eclipses his outputs

I realize josh and remy are just having a v strange convoluted conversation but still

the insider is better than anything spielberg has done in the last 25 years or so tbh

jeez war horse right up there with renoir

i dont think thats inconsistent with geniushood - mann hasnt made a Great movie in years and years - just some interesting ones

many of my favourite geniuses do tons of horrible shit

(altman, spielberg, mann, de palma...)

wild inconsistency is almost a defining feature of genius

s1ocki, we've prob been over this; I bet your films are better than the crap you like.

weve been over this

slocki

that's like whatever the opposite of a backhanded compliment is :D

patiently waiting for you to arrange a screening for me btw!

morbs you realize i like probably 90% of what you like, there's just like... other stuff i like too

i dont think thats inconsistent with geniushood - mann hasnt made a Great movie in years and years - just some interesting ones

is 'heat' the Great one?

morbs can't resist dead horses

oh shiiiiiiiiiiii

Mann has been making the same great movie in different iterations since "Thief."

“A director makes only one movie in his life. Then he breaks it into pieces and makes it again.” -Jean Renoir

Here's the infamously fascinating New Yorker piece, btw:

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2005/02/14/050214fa_fact_singer

And while it's pointless to argue with Morbs ... Morbs, even you have to admire Mann's formal gifts, right? Even if you for some reason disdain his philosophical/thematic stuff? And even then, I can't believe you'd say a bad thing about "The Insider," one of the best movies of the legendary 1999 slate.

Heat and Collateral are pretty much untouchable. Basically Josh OTM. Even if there are lots of irritating bits or silly soap-ish themes or etc. there are still at least a few amazing redeeming shots and moments which are stone classic.

Heat is really great. I kind of think he almost gets a lifetime pass for that. But he has made some dire shit, like Last of the Mohicans.

to be fair, consider the source material: http://etext.virginia.edu/railton/projects/rissetto/offense.html

Both of these guys would be satisfied being the cinematic/TV equivalent of Herman Melville, who had a career of duds but also did Moby Dick.

and you know Bartleby and The Confidence-Man and whatever...

i think anyone would be satisfied being the herman melville of whatever artistic field

god it would be amazing if "we've been over this" actually resolved conversations on ilx

“A director makes only one movie in his life. Then he breaks it into pieces and makes it again.” -Jean Renoir

Mann should stop after "breaks it into pieces."

Last of the Mohicans was all right. His spiffy-looking stuff since then is like liquor ads minus the content.