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

IIRC yes. last time i watched it all was probably 5 years ago. remember some really torrid scenes with unvarnished acting, also some awkward battle scenes.

ddl gives a spectacular physical performance but some of his line readings are kinda deadly. its always been hard for me to tell if that's just the role, though. i think those qualities mostly work in the movies favor just because its trying to be an unironic, stirring period epic - stuff like the 'i will find you' scene really works, and i think the material is one of the best possible matches for mann's humor-free sensibility. and i think he does a better job of communicating his themes in it than in a lot of his other pictures, and of getting us into his characters' heads.

I once saw the silent version of Last of the Mohicans and thought it was pretty cool that Mann copied almost exactly a bunch of shots from it.

Even Public Enemies, which is a clear example of Mann falling short of potential, has one of my favorite shots of all time, this running board cam of one of Depp's buddies dying as they escape from the prison. You just see him hanging on for dear life even as the life fades from his eyes, and they he drops off and disappears. Mann's also been really into this intimate, over the shoulder POV since he went digital and cameras got smaller.

he's been into that since Heat - he uses those shots really well to put you 'in the moment' & i think hes better at that than any director around

Anyone else notice that nearly every one of his films has been released in a director's cut or tweak of some sort save Thief and Insider? Alternate versions of Manhunter, Mohicans, Miami Vice, Ali and even Heat exist. Only Ali may be better than the original, though.

xpost, Yeah, the over the shoulder stuff during the street shoot out in Heat is pretty incredible.

Even Public Enemies, which is a clear example of Mann falling short of potential, has one of my favorite shots of all time, this running board cam of one of Depp's buddies dying as they escape from the prison. You just see him hanging on for dear life even as the life fades from his eyes, and they he drops off and disappears. Mann's also been really into this intimate, over the shoulder POV since he went digital and cameras got smaller.

― Josh in Chicago, Saturday, March 17, 2012 12:13 PM (17 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Ya I remember this super well

So many problems with Ali but the opening 30 mins or wtv are incredible

he uses those shots really well to put you 'in the moment' & i think hes better at that than any director around

― these pretzels are makeing me horney (Hungry4Ass), Saturday, March 17, 2012 12:15 PM (26 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yah well said there's something abt the way he uses digital that evokes this vibe really intensely, feel like he understands the medium better than anyone

Public Enemies was an uninteresting failure.

ur an uninteresting failure

o damn

lots of great moments in Public Enemies, especially the death (shot on Celluloid!) and the forest shoot-out (just well done) but no, it doesn't hang together quite how it should. Looks great though. Miami Vice might be his masterpiece though.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/michael-mann-david-milch-interview-luck-horses-cancellation.html

^^^^^ just came to post that. great read.

high level milching:

I would just say that you’re coming up against certain deep, fundamental biological truths: that any living thing is subject to the laws of mortality, and that there was nothing that was done with any of these horses that was unnatural, nothing that was other than what they had evolved to do. [In claiming otherwise], there’s a kind of moral and emotional fastidiousness that is entailed, which at a certain point becomes absurd. Organic matter depends upon the appropriation and consumption of other organic matter. There are just truths that obtain whether we find them pleasant or not. The kind of flinching from any form of art or experience that PETA seems to advocate is ultimately life-hating.

Interesting. I like listening to these guys talk.

I could have sworn way back when that Deadwood was not cancelled, per se, but that Milch walked away. But recently it's been increasingly coming up as cancelled. What went down, exactly?

http://blog.jopinionated.com/2007/08/22/exclusive-deadwoodjohn-from-cincinnati-actor-jim-beaver-responds.aspx

hbo canceled it, then reacted to the fan/media backlash by offering milch two two hour episodes to wrap things up but at that point the actors had been released from their contracts milch was working on john from cincinnati wkrp and it never happened

iirc

ive said this before but i think all he does now are 'interesting failures' -

Mentioned upthread re Mann, but hard to see Milch doing anything but as well, unless he makes his Moby Dick.

hbo cancelling deadwood was just incredibly stupid on their part.

it was a tragic is what it was!

booo! booing u hbo, damn

But wasn't the show sort of backed in a corner by the fact that, you know, it was based on actual people and their fates? Can't keep Hearst the local heavy when he becomes a senator. Though I guess they could have tried.

I don't think that had any effect on anything. They weren't trying to keep the show on the air forever, just finish telling their story. HBO cut them off one season short.

http://www.vulture.com/2012/03/michael-mann-david-milch-interview-luck-horses-cancellation.html?mid=twitter_vulture

there was gonna be a flood and a fire!

Hearst left at the end of Season 3, though he sort of won. Season 4 would have dealt with the fallout of the elections. xposts

Sepinwall interviews Milch about the finale.

I didn't realise that Milch new the end of Deadwood was...the end. I thought that scene at the end was too perfect.

Thought Luck really found its way towards the end there. Also thought the last two eps got the Mann-style really well. I will miss it.

That episode was amazing.

Yeah. Bittersweet. I really liked this show a lot.

Up there I meant "knew" and not "new.

god that last episode was great-- so sad its over

"whats the story with us?"
"i suspect in the long run, we all go broke"

i want to see a "making of" that explains how the fuck they shot the racing scenes

HBO's cancellation of the beleagured horseracing drama "Luck" cost the network $35 million, according to an earnings report released by Time Warner Wednesday.

Time Warner, which owns the premium cable provider, said it suffered the "impairment" because of the series' cancellation in its first season following the death of three horses.

The show had already started production on its second season, and most of the costs were attached to shutting down production during that unaired season, resulting in the $35 million writedown, HBO said.

so that's how much a horse costs

they can make it back, go hard on the derby this wkend

Not sure if this is upthread, but a very sobering piece about the horse racing industry:

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/04/30/us/breakdown-horses-series.html

http://www.followhorseracing.com/en/the-latest/blogs/2013/02/17/out-of-luck-episode-1-buy-low-sell-high/

holy cow that horse run very good.

― ⚓ (gr8080), Monday, January 9, 2012 6:37 AM (1 year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/david-milch-made-100m-gambled-866184

Damn, he looks pretty good for 70.