Of Michael Mann’s considerably good output Heat remains the top entry.
The 1995 heist movie excels in showing off the cat and mouse game between the robber and the cop. Robert De Niro and Al Pacino, here in their first scenes together, spark when they touch – and both characters brim with charisma and determination. The intense coffeehouse scene settles the fact that only one of these guys will be alive when the credits roll in, but that discussion is conducted inconspicuously and in an exquisitely civil manner.
We want to hurt no one. We’re here for the bank’s money, not your money. Your money is insured by the federal government, you’re not gonna lose a dime. Think of your families, don’t risk your life. Don’t try and be a hero.
Thus there’s no avoiding a collision. And that indeed happens with city-shattering force.
But the minutes ticking towards the conclusion are as necessary to the movie as the violence inherent in the last moments. The plans towards robberies are shown in great detail. And both the policemen and criminals are shown to be human beings. Most of whom are carrying a lot of baggage. These sidetracks occasionally threaten to muddle the plot. But life’s rarely free of complications, and hence the extra issues do not feel like they have been glued on.
In addition to the leading duo, the cast is packed with talent. The likes of Val Kilmer and Tom Sizemore fall in perfectly into McCauley’s crowd of high-end criminals while Ashley Judd, William Fichtner and Natalie Portman round out the extra helping of complications.
As with Mann’s other films (and Miami Vice, too), the cityscapes have a role to play here. Apart from Blade Runner L.A. has rarely looked finer – with glorious nightscenes alternating giving way to beach houses, and finally to a bloodbath in the financial district.
Heat is a long film. It clocks in at close to three hours. But slicing off any would make it a lesser experience.
Hayao Miyazaki’s
I was given the dvd of Duncan Jones’
After a long stretch of not so good movies, Guy Ritchie’s
Tim Burton’s
I expected to like
Postings about travel are not the only thing that’s rather delayed. There are more than half a dozen movie reviews in the backlog.
Watched Ridley Scott’s
Bear with me, the backlog of overdue movie reviews is getting shorter one by one.
Watched Steven Soderbergh’s
Kathryn Bigelow’s multi-oscar winner
The first in the rather overdue triplet of Oscar-candidate movies is Jason Reitman’s
The new
To cork my brand new bluray-player (ie. the PS3), I chose a film supposedly filled to the brim with eyecandy to show off the capabilities, and wasn’t disappointed. While the Wachowski brothers’
I liked the Coen brothers’ latest film,
(This is a long overdue review, been so much otherwise occupied that this fell by the wayside).
Watched Pete Docter’s second Pixar film,
It’s been over a month since I saw Quentin Tarantino’s
Watched Ron Howard’s 
The second film of the Merihätä festival was Rob Stewart’s
The first movie of today’s
Watched Francis Ford Coppola’s
Capped summer vacation with a comedy I thought would finish the holiday on a positive note. But that didn’t happen, 

