The Michael Mann poll

I watched Thief recently, my first Mann, and it was different from the expectations I had from reviews and the impression I've developed of his work. I anticipated something that was a very slick, flashy, image-obsessed thriller with existential pretensions, and while this isn't an incorrect description, the actual film came closer to a muted, downbeat late 70s demimonde character study (though it was by no means amateurish).
I didn't love it, but probably liked it more than the film I thought it would be. I guess "slick" and "flashy" both underwent exponential growth over the course of 80s filmmaking and TV; I guess I thought I would be seeing the Lexicon of Love of crime films.

aside from his involvement in the miami vice tv show i would describe no mann project as slick or flashy

Colin Farrell's hair is very slick in Miami Vice

his shirts are flashy

omigod @ "the Lexicon of Love of crime films -- what a phrase and aspiration!

What about Diva?

>> the Lexicon of Love of crime films

The Thomas Crown Affair (original)

I prefer the '99 remake.

I would too (I'm a McQueen agnostic-at-best) if it weren't for Denis Leary.

aw yeah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l3oWrNQo_Ng

i’m a fiend for sake

looks like a TV show. visually a little dull?

it is a tv show?

Yeah. And Mann is exec producer.

right, but luck didn't look like a tv show. maybe it's just the trailer.

Mann directed the first episode of this, too.

He's also in pre-production on an Enzo Ferrari biopic starring Adam Driver. The Jez Butterworth screenplay that become Ford v. Ferrari was originally a Mann project.

He's getting up there in age. I hope we'll see another good movie from him.

Don't give a poop about a Ferrari movie - leave that shit to Ridley Scott - but I saw something about a Michael Mann sci-fi project ...

Ford v Ferrari was a good movie, though!

I read the book Tokyo Vice is based on - looking forward to this

ugh ansel elgort. i'll watch this but still ugh.

First episode is really good so far. Very Mann. Totally cold open. Looks beautiful.

Yeah, loved the opening, loved the setting and also how dialogue could seem credibly "stilted" given the cultural and language barriers between the characters.

echoing the sentiment of THE THIEF being underrated i this poll, a glorious mess of a marxist parable

I watched Hacker (or Blackhat) yesterday and...it was pretty bad.
I LOVE Miami Vice (and mojitos) and this one had some Mann touches that were great (the glorious shots over HK or in the port at night for instance) but the whole thing is kind of a mess and doesn't gel or make sense imo (for instance the silly final fight).
and most of the actors didn't help (particularly bad acting/lack of charism for the heroine).
It all felt like an inferior, botched variation on MV.
It's surprising following the raving comments here but it just didn't work for me.

Pop's been watching the tv Miami Vice for two weeks, so I'm treating him now to the movie.

as shitty as life has been lately, this is the good stuff!

watched the MV movie for the first time a few months ago and v much enjoyed its unabashed dad movie swag, Neanderthal i'm jealous that you are watching it with an actual dad. also the wife and i had great fun for weeks afterward spontaneously announcing to each other that we were fiends for mojitos.

search ilx posts for "fiend for mojitos" and revel in the glory

I tried watching Blackhat but scene where the (white) protagonist has the big idea of overlaying the routes of some couriers to the amazement of the Chinese cops was incredibly RMDE.

i'm a disco guy

mh it all makes sense now

i'm a disco guy

xp mojito eye open

Thinking about the parallel between MV and hackerblackhat and about their respective main charachters :
the hero : crockett/hathaway
the sidekick : tubbs/dawai
the love interest : isabella/lien
the boss/colleague : trudy, lieutenant castillo / barrett, US marshal
the lil baddy : yero / kassar
the big baddy : montoya / sadak

They are ALL in a different league in MV, both the charachters and the actors performance.
Like do we even know what kind of music kassar enjoys, huh ?

added Thief to my list of awesome first films, there are many, and if someone wants to do a poll I can give you a lot of recommendations

From another thread:

Feel like someone should recut the end of Manhunter with Paradise by the Dashboard Light instead of In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida.

― sleep, that's where I'm the cousin of death (PBKR), Tuesday, June 7, 2022 3:28 PM (thirty-seven minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Can’t believe Thief and Manhunter scored so low in the poll. His only essential movies alongside Heat

I think Thief might have been relatively low profile back when the poll was taken. It's subsequently been Criterion Collection-ed and whatnot so its reputation has grown. But yeah, it absolutely deserves to be number one here.

There's a Blu-Ray of Miami Vice sitting in my PO box right now; gonna pick it up tomorrow.

Tokyo Vice renewed for second season.

i was giving them the benefit of the doubt for employing sexual predator ansel elgort for s1, assuming it was shot before those accusations came out (like west side story), but i guess it doesn't bother HBO if they're going to keep him around for s2

MIAMI VICE (both cuts) is now streaming on HBO Max pic.twitter.com/fkLIPKQQQa

— Chris Evangelista (@cevangelista413) June 1, 2022

is anyone here enough of a superfan/dad to read the heat 2 novel that's coming out this summer?

McCauley lives!

I'm kind of inclined to listen to Heat 2 as an audiobook on long walks, just to experience the voices instead of sitting with it.

Also, did my annual-ish viewing of Miami Vice last night, and what stood out this time is the reflections of clouds on the water in a couple of scenes, especially the one on the first flight back that goes over...is that the Everglades?

Oh, I am waiting for that book.

shocked they didn't get it out in time for father's day tbh

preparing the "Great Ass!" collector's edition and they ran behind

Also, did my annual-ish viewing of Miami Vice last night, and what stood out this time is the reflections of clouds on the water in a couple of scenes, especially the one on the first flight back that goes over...is that the Everglades?

The sound on the Blu-Ray is astonishing. There were some explosions early on, when the Nazis murder the federal agent, that I swear lifted my couch off the floor. My wife came in from the next room, behind a closed door, to see what the fuck had just happened.

oh hell yeah, I haven't seen the cold open theatrical cut in years

doing this tonight, but with the theatrical cut

me at 19: i need to watch new film a day so i can build extensive film knowledge in every category
me at 25: every single night im gonna get drunk and watch the first 30 minutes of miami vice until i pass out

— robert franco, wandering ronin (@responsiblerob) June 2, 2022

The guy who plays the Nazi who says "pure, not that powdered shit you get in Nuyorico" is a local actor here. The week before the movie came out he was telling us he didn't know if he'd make the final cut.