Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
There's a podcast out now called "One Heat Minute" that basically breaks down each minute of the film with fans, critics, actors, comedians, etc. etc. There's even one episode with the now-departed Pasquale Buba and one just came out with Dante Spinotti, so it's pedigree in it's guests already have me intrigued.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Mann himself will be the guest on the next "One Heat Minute", coming this Saturday, discussing the final minute.
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Wait.... did a physical UHD release ever come out? I know Mann supervised the 4k resto in the past few years or so
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
No, just a Blu-ray featuring a new transfer taken from the restoration and some new extras.
- flyonthewall2983
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- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
On Twitter and Letterboxd I opined that the only things that could have made this movie better were if Kris Kristofferson were in the Jon Voight role, which was originally envisioned or so told on the IMDB trivia page, and that James Spader played the Roger Van Zant role. It's not a knock on William Fichtner at all, but some of the things he does in the part I can see Spader either improving or taking it further.
I wasn't ever going to bring it up here because I get the feeling that dream casting and such discourse is kind of frowned upon here (and probably rightly so), but I recently discovered that Spader actually played a character named Nick Vanzant in Supernova, which was directed by Walter Hill who once upon a time Mann gave him the script with the idea of him directing it, in the mid-80's.
I wasn't ever going to bring it up here because I get the feeling that dream casting and such discourse is kind of frowned upon here (and probably rightly so), but I recently discovered that Spader actually played a character named Nick Vanzant in Supernova, which was directed by Walter Hill who once upon a time Mann gave him the script with the idea of him directing it, in the mid-80's.
- Fandango
- Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2021 12:09 am
Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Listening to Michael Mann discuss Heat on One Heat Minute puts Neil's final decision into perspective. While it can be argued that it is completely out of character for someone who is shown throughout the film as meticulous and cerebral to make such an emotional and rash decision, Michael Mann actually confirms exactly that.
I believe the secondary role that the women take in the film suggests rather that the men were uninhibited by sudden temperament. Although Michael and Chris were professionals, Neil was a class above them, and this was emphasized in his demeanor throughout the film. He was truly committed to his profession. What was missing in his life that was abundant in everyone else's was the feminine influence.
Michael Mann said himself that in the moment under the bridge, Neil is no longer thinking logically—he is emotionalized because of Eady. It is in this moment that the allure of killing Waingro becomes a serious consideration. The audience, as well as Neil in the first half of the movie, are acutely aware of this poor decision. In this moment, Neil defaults to his base instincts (emotion) instead of his cultivated response (walk away if there's heat).
I believe the secondary role that the women take in the film suggests rather that the men were uninhibited by sudden temperament. Although Michael and Chris were professionals, Neil was a class above them, and this was emphasized in his demeanor throughout the film. He was truly committed to his profession. What was missing in his life that was abundant in everyone else's was the feminine influence.
Michael Mann said himself that in the moment under the bridge, Neil is no longer thinking logically—he is emotionalized because of Eady. It is in this moment that the allure of killing Waingro becomes a serious consideration. The audience, as well as Neil in the first half of the movie, are acutely aware of this poor decision. In this moment, Neil defaults to his base instincts (emotion) instead of his cultivated response (walk away if there's heat).
- therewillbeblus
- Joined: Tue Dec 22, 2015 3:40 pm
Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
The decision also humanizes him since we're primarily emotional beings hiding under resiliently logical exteriors, regardless of where you rank on those personality tests. It's tragic in a sense but Eady's ability to unlock Neil's emotion side is very moving, and although I don't think we get enough of their relationship's development, we get all we need to when Neil and Eady are on his roof that first night; specifically when his face casts off as he frowns and begins to process the loss of a purely logical self in the artificial simplicity he's carved out to hide in, and he simultaneously experiences the confusion of finding his emotional side, for either the first time or the first time since he started this 'new life' under said ethos. I just rewatched the film the other night and had to rewind that scene to watch De Niro's face-acting again, which is some of his best work (and, although I like this movie, I find the Pacino/De Niro restaurant scene to be egregiously irritating in how they deliver their dialogue). So while tragic, Eady woke him up from an isolated one-note zombie state to experience a full life for a little while. Not sure it was worth it, but if it wasn't we'd never get that final showdown and one of the best ever music-ending shots to Moby's God Moving Over the Face of the Waters.
It's worth noting that while Pacino and De Niro are both alienating workhorses who subscribe to oversimplified lifestyles as a defense, Pacino's life course is fueled by emotion, just an emotion that he can't share with another's emotion in a partner, and must instead project onto a cold world that cannot answer back or force his emotion to compromise. It's somewhat ironic that he needs to be in total control here, facing a massive context that could not be less controllable- but at least it can't talk back with unwritten rules of relational aggression, and can be depended upon to remain statically in the language of literal aggression. He turns his valve from logic to emotion when necessary, and after using that shadow detection superpower to end the film, his last gesture is to emotionally take the man's hand who's offering it. It's a sign of professional respect, but also emotional personal appreciation as both men shed their fronts of masculine defenses, De Niro asking for connection in the last moments of life to another man who 'gets' him, and Pacino accepting the only hand that's offered to him under the terms of the world he can bring himself to engage with emotionally.
It's worth noting that while Pacino and De Niro are both alienating workhorses who subscribe to oversimplified lifestyles as a defense, Pacino's life course is fueled by emotion, just an emotion that he can't share with another's emotion in a partner, and must instead project onto a cold world that cannot answer back or force his emotion to compromise. It's somewhat ironic that he needs to be in total control here, facing a massive context that could not be less controllable- but at least it can't talk back with unwritten rules of relational aggression, and can be depended upon to remain statically in the language of literal aggression. He turns his valve from logic to emotion when necessary, and after using that shadow detection superpower to end the film, his last gesture is to emotionally take the man's hand who's offering it. It's a sign of professional respect, but also emotional personal appreciation as both men shed their fronts of masculine defenses, De Niro asking for connection in the last moments of life to another man who 'gets' him, and Pacino accepting the only hand that's offered to him under the terms of the world he can bring himself to engage with emotionally.
- Fandango
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Thank you for the excellent insight.
Neil, while representing the villain, is always shown wearing a white shirt. This is symbolic of his attempt to blend in with the everyday world; Vincent the good cop, by contrast, is always wearing a black shirt, illustrating how often he interacts with criminals in the underworld.
Both characters in the film are shown during formal dinner scenes alongside their respective team. Just as Neil and his crew attend a dinner at a restaurant, so too does Vincent and his crew. In both scenes we see that Neil and Vincent, despite subjective shifts of focus, are lonely. As Neil glances around the room to see everyone with their wives or girlfriends, he is ultimately all by himself; By contrast, as Vincent is alone with Justine, despite being together, he is just as isolated and unable to share his emotion, as you so aptly stated. While the dinner scene with Vincent is shown in a high-rise, Neil's is on street level, highlighting the oft used motif of evil lurking down in the streets.
Although Neil's home (minimalist) is demonstrative of a certain postmodernist critique by Mann, we can also view this design choice as a symbolic mirroring of Neil's inner state—empty, "suggesting the emotional bankruptcy of bourgeois life in the post-industrial moment" (Christopher Sharrett, 2007). Similarly, Vincent's home has nothing that attaches him, save for a portable television, with his police office more reminiscent of a prison, with its "concrete and grey slabs," than any conventional work station.
The scene with Neil looking out of the window with the blue color filter is gorgeous, and one of my favorite moments in film. What is interesting to observe in this scene is how his back faces the audience. This is an explicit visual illustration of Neil's professionalism and "turning his back," if need be. There is a later scene, which sets up an interesting juxtaposition, when Neil is with Eady as he plans his escape. In this scene, we see Neil and Eady look outside, only this time we see Neil's profile, suggesting now that he is "attached" to Eady, and that his professionalism is attenuated.
The set-up to the ending is exceptional. The airplanes serve as dramatic intensifiers, as the audience views each one as Neil's hope for escape, and yet the longer Neil lingers, the more intense this feeling becomes. We see that just as Neil's hope for escape becomes bleak, so too does the audience's hope for a balanced resolution. In the final scene before the shoot-out, Neil's end comes set against the backdrop of white lights, mirroring the scene in the tunnel where his decision lead him to the film's close.
It is certainly true that there is a mutual understanding between the two men as they hold hands, but what is also interesting is how in the final moments, as they hunt one another, they are, once again, alone. This, I believe, brings the film's theme of loneliness full circle, and is a testimonial to both characters remaining true to themselves (Vincent telling his wife he doesn't believe it can work; Neil choosing principle and what he likely subconsciously understands is certain death by going after Waingro).
Neil, while representing the villain, is always shown wearing a white shirt. This is symbolic of his attempt to blend in with the everyday world; Vincent the good cop, by contrast, is always wearing a black shirt, illustrating how often he interacts with criminals in the underworld.
Both characters in the film are shown during formal dinner scenes alongside their respective team. Just as Neil and his crew attend a dinner at a restaurant, so too does Vincent and his crew. In both scenes we see that Neil and Vincent, despite subjective shifts of focus, are lonely. As Neil glances around the room to see everyone with their wives or girlfriends, he is ultimately all by himself; By contrast, as Vincent is alone with Justine, despite being together, he is just as isolated and unable to share his emotion, as you so aptly stated. While the dinner scene with Vincent is shown in a high-rise, Neil's is on street level, highlighting the oft used motif of evil lurking down in the streets.
Although Neil's home (minimalist) is demonstrative of a certain postmodernist critique by Mann, we can also view this design choice as a symbolic mirroring of Neil's inner state—empty, "suggesting the emotional bankruptcy of bourgeois life in the post-industrial moment" (Christopher Sharrett, 2007). Similarly, Vincent's home has nothing that attaches him, save for a portable television, with his police office more reminiscent of a prison, with its "concrete and grey slabs," than any conventional work station.
The scene with Neil looking out of the window with the blue color filter is gorgeous, and one of my favorite moments in film. What is interesting to observe in this scene is how his back faces the audience. This is an explicit visual illustration of Neil's professionalism and "turning his back," if need be. There is a later scene, which sets up an interesting juxtaposition, when Neil is with Eady as he plans his escape. In this scene, we see Neil and Eady look outside, only this time we see Neil's profile, suggesting now that he is "attached" to Eady, and that his professionalism is attenuated.
The set-up to the ending is exceptional. The airplanes serve as dramatic intensifiers, as the audience views each one as Neil's hope for escape, and yet the longer Neil lingers, the more intense this feeling becomes. We see that just as Neil's hope for escape becomes bleak, so too does the audience's hope for a balanced resolution. In the final scene before the shoot-out, Neil's end comes set against the backdrop of white lights, mirroring the scene in the tunnel where his decision lead him to the film's close.
It is certainly true that there is a mutual understanding between the two men as they hold hands, but what is also interesting is how in the final moments, as they hunt one another, they are, once again, alone. This, I believe, brings the film's theme of loneliness full circle, and is a testimonial to both characters remaining true to themselves (Vincent telling his wife he doesn't believe it can work; Neil choosing principle and what he likely subconsciously understands is certain death by going after Waingro).
Last edited by Fandango on Tue May 04, 2021 11:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
- feihong
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Interesting. I like the idea of Kristofferson in the Jon Voight role, and I think Spader would have given Van Zandt a Spader-ey kind of masculinity that would have been interesting. Part of what bugs me about the Van Zandt character is how he comes on so macho––"I'm gonna kill these guys"––and then he seems to get emasculated by how threatening McCauley and his crew grow to seem to him. Spader might have kept more of a sense of personal agency––Fichtner makes the character just sort of shrink in front of the macho swagger of McCauley and his crew.flyonthewall2983 wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 2:44 pmOn Twitter and Letterboxd I opined that the only things that could have made this movie better were if Kris Kristofferson were in the Jon Voight role, which was originally envisioned or so told on the IMDB trivia page, and that James Spader played the Roger Van Zant role. It's not a knock on William Fichtner at all, but some of the things he does in the part I can see Spader either improving or taking it further.
I wasn't ever going to bring it up here because I get the feeling that dream casting and such discourse is kind of frowned upon here (and probably rightly so), but I recently discovered that Spader actually played a character named Nick Vanzant in Supernova, which was directed by Walter Hill who once upon a time Mann gave him the script with the idea of him directing it, in the mid-80's.
It's funny you mention this, because for years now I've played this game, recasting Heat in all these different ways. The woulda-coulda-shoulda-been casting I always heard for heat was that Gong Li was up for the role that went to Amy Brenneman, and that Maggie Cheung read for the role that went to Ashley Judd (and that Michael Mann threw a fit when she told him she couldn't read the lines in the script 6 different ways in the audition). It always had me thinking of other casting, because for me the weakest element of the movie is Amy Brenneman, because Eady just doesn't really seem to plausibly turn McCauley's head or hold his attention. Partly I think the character is underwritten, but also Brenneman just does not challenge De Niro, or get him out of his shell. And I always thought that Diane Venora, who plays Justine Hanna, would have made something really substantial out of the Eady role, where Brenneman just doesn't. Venora could have seemed more intelligent, more alert to McCauley's dissembling, and she could have revealed more need for the relationship she has with McCauley. She could have challenged some of his preconceptions, made him reconsider his priorities. For a Diane Venora Eady to trust McCauley and be betrayed by him, De Niro would have had to work harder to get under the skin of the McCauley character; we would have to see how McCauley's ties to Chris Shiherlis and to Eady get in the way of him being the slick operator he had been up until that point. As it is, I think that part of the film runs a tad too smoothly. I was excited as a teen when I saw McCauley bail on Eady at the hotel––it seemed like a big tragedy, which is definitely how Eliot Goldenthal and, presumably, Mann himself wants you to think of that moment––but as an adult I am less sold on the depth of that emotion. If we felt that McCauley was beginning to recognize feelings he had always denied himself in the past, I think the betrayal would have worked better––and an actress who didn't look like a deer in the headlights would have gone a long way towards selling that betrayal.
Anyway, this led me to my Kevin-Bacon-style game of how I might recast Heat. I tried recasting it in different eras, and trying to imagine how those different casts might create different relationships between the characters. Of course, with Heat we also have a road-test for this idea, in Mann's previous try at the script, L.A. Takedown. It's fascinating to see a whole lot of the same lines and the same scenes play out with a sort of TV-movie approach, with actors that aren't generally world-class––definitely De Niro brings a lot of subtlety to the role which was not there in the original, but I was most impressed with how much Pacino transformed his role into one of substantial interest and much more range. Even though this is firmly within the post-Scent-of-a-Woman period for Pacino, running on full "Hoo-hah!" energy, it's really surprising to see all the deft changes he makes to line readings, to pauses. He makes Hanna observe things before reacting to them––something the actor in L.A. Takedown doesn't really do. It was fascinating to me also how macho L.A. Takedown is, compared to Heat––and Heat is already pretty macho. But L.A. Takedown just steams with cock-of-the-walk energy. Everybody is shouting at one another in their huskiest voices and losing it over the slightest challenge to their machismo. The only actor I can see who was in L.A. Takedown AND Heat was Xander Berkeley; He is the psychopath, Waingro, in L.A. Takedown. In Heat he is the middle-aged dude, Ralph, who Justine picks up on a night on the town. Pacino smashes the TV Ralph is watching. Berkeley makes this a funny role.
Anyway, I just go down the cast list and recast everybody when I play this game. I try and jump around to different decades, and sometimes to different countries. I aim to cast people who are of similar "stature" to the actors they ended up with in the various roles, thinking about these actors historically. But I'm sure I made some bonehead choices. I'll put down just one of these lists here. I have six I made, but this one is kind of fun.
This would be Heat made in the 80s: say, 1986. I call this one "the 'Heat' of desire, because the leads in this one could credibly be fantastic romantic foils for one another as well as for the love interests the script required of them.
- Neil McCauley––––––––Rutger Hauer
- Vincent Hanna––––––––Ed Harris
- Eady Finneran––––––––Michelle Pfeiffer
- Justine Hanna––––––––Karen Allen
- Lauren Gustavson––––––––Pheobe Cates
- Chris Shiherlis––––––––Kevin Bacon
- Charlene Shiherlis––––––––Rosanna Arquette
- Mike Cheritto––––––––Gary Busey
- Waingro––––––––Brad Dourif
- Roger Van Zandt––––––––Bruce Willis
- Nate, McCauley's fence––––––––Dick Van Dyke
- Donald Breedan––––––––Keith David
- Lillian––––––––Angela Bassett
- Seargent Drucker––––––––M. Emmet Walsh
- Casals––––––––Jimmy Smits
- Alan Marciano––––––––Paul Rodriguez
- Trejo––––––––Lou Diamond Phillips
- Ralph––––––––John Turturro
- Van Zandt's Bodyguard––––––––Lou Ferrigno
- Albert Torena––––––––Samuel Jackson
- Richard Torena––––––––Paul Winfield
My assumption would be that there would be different staff behind the camera as well, so I made some perhaps very personal choices of what I'd like to see there? So theses are they:
- Director––––––––Susan Seidleman
- DP––––––––Jordan Cronenweth
- Music––––––––Basil Pouledaris
I don't know if anyone thinks this is fun, or would like to play the game as well? I really enjoy mythcasting this movie. I have several other lists to share, if anyone enjoys this as much as I obviously do.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Sorry to make short work of the rest of your post, but this stuck out at me immediately as to what was wrong with the character, and you absolutely nailed it. I would have kept some of that emasculation in (very easy for me to imagine Spader selling the "empty telephone" line and the scene where he's introduced to Waingro), but make his death scene a bit more of a shootout. I don't necessarily buy that he just would have been hanging out at home (let alone watching a hockey game all lassiez-faire) after ratting the crew out to the police.feihong wrote: ↑Tue May 04, 2021 11:27 pmPart of what bugs me about the Van Zandt character is how he comes on so macho––"I'm gonna kill these guys"––and then he seems to get emasculated by how threatening McCauley and his crew grow to seem to him. Spader might have kept more of a sense of personal agency––Fichtner makes the character just sort of shrink in front of the macho swagger of McCauley and his crew.
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
I didn't necessarily see things that way. I saw it as that Van Zant was not in the same league of the career criminal as that of McCauley. He was something who talked the talk, but didn't necessarily walk the walk. He was a white collar criminal and probably not used to the violent repercussions that McCauley was common in McCauley's league.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Which is also kind of why Spader’s perfect for the role in my mind. The guy in over his head who is probably quite adept at selling wolf tickets to people more in his world, shown as ineffective at handling real danger, maybe not so much in a cowardly way though fear naturally results but in a way where all of his facilities are gone.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
And after rewatching Apocalypse Now repeatedly, I’m convinced that Al Pacino modeled Vincent Hanna a bit on Kilgore and how Robert Duvall owned every inch of the scene, but also has moments of humanity amidst his blustering bravado. Considering both Hanna and McCauley were Marines I have no doubt they came across a few characters like Kilgore in Vietnam themselves. Added to which Pacino always gives credit to Duvall’s performances in the two Godfather films they were in.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Michael Mann is on the latest episode of The Rewatchables, for their third episode on Heat. It’s the first time they’ve gotten a director to talk about one of his films, after having some guests on to talk about their favorite movies. Fascinating so far, his voice is a little rough to start out but once he gets on a roll (half hour in and he does most of the talking answering their questions). Really nice story about Al Pacino coming over to his house after they washed out at the Oscars.
- DarkImbecile
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Is Simmons on the episode? I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t stand to listen to him anymore…
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Yes. I have no such problem with him, and here him and Chris Ryan really are just picking his brain and reflecting on moments in the movie and not doing much in terms of long asides. Mann has a few of those in explaining some of the more simple questions he gets. The way he disavows the notion of the story being an “obsession” of his, is really interesting as to his process.
- lacritfan
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- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
You know, I’ve probably gone on and on here about this movie almost more than any others. But the truth of it is, were it not for a few key moments I’d probably hate this just the same. My father committed armed robbery just as spring began to dawn in the same year this later came out. I was 11 years old and it just ripped me to shreds. I didn’t really watch it until after he came back home, by which time I was a young man and more prepared to handle the world or so anyone that age thinks they are.
This is in his top favorite movies as well, but we’ve never watched it together and I’m not sure if I really want to at this point. Some of those moments I made reference to, particularly when Judd’s character is holding her son, much younger than I was when things went down but I could still relate to what kind of ever-expanding hell a family goes through when such ugly acts of violence affect them. From any sides. The movies which have made obvious homages otherwise have tended to lose that or make the characters more one-dimensional.
I’m sort of the belief that the way out is through when it comes to life sometimes, and why I tend to be drawn towards these kinds of films is recognizing the little truths sometimes hidden in the artifice. At worst some things are exaggerated like in most Hollywood movies but it never feels fantastical-ized to me, because as viscerally awesome the shootouts and such are the adrenaline rush is chased by this awful feeling of the possibilities inherent in the deadly scenarios the characters are caught in.
The recognition of things so piercing to my innocence in the way Mann frames it here, is at times as shocking as is the timing to it all. The bombing in Oklahoma City happened two months after it happened, and he was released just three months after 9/11, so that time in history for all it’s horror and the apathy growing amongst my peers, are some of the things I intuited for a long time when it came to remembering the 90’s, ostensibly the time in which I came of age and there was no shortage of emotional collateral damage from the incident which changed my life.
Drawing back to this film and Mann’s work generally, I think it’s almost insulting to just write his stuff off as action movies going above their intellectual pay grade. I think besides this the only other truly great movie he ever directed was The Insider, for nearly completely opposite reasons. With that he relies on the power of thoughtful dialogue, and the moral dilemmas within and expressed by his actors. It’s not as romantic towards anything except perhaps the pursuit of the truth, but it’s that kind of shit that sells itself if I can repurpose one of the lines from one of those moments I made mention of before at the outset.
This is in his top favorite movies as well, but we’ve never watched it together and I’m not sure if I really want to at this point. Some of those moments I made reference to, particularly when Judd’s character is holding her son, much younger than I was when things went down but I could still relate to what kind of ever-expanding hell a family goes through when such ugly acts of violence affect them. From any sides. The movies which have made obvious homages otherwise have tended to lose that or make the characters more one-dimensional.
I’m sort of the belief that the way out is through when it comes to life sometimes, and why I tend to be drawn towards these kinds of films is recognizing the little truths sometimes hidden in the artifice. At worst some things are exaggerated like in most Hollywood movies but it never feels fantastical-ized to me, because as viscerally awesome the shootouts and such are the adrenaline rush is chased by this awful feeling of the possibilities inherent in the deadly scenarios the characters are caught in.
The recognition of things so piercing to my innocence in the way Mann frames it here, is at times as shocking as is the timing to it all. The bombing in Oklahoma City happened two months after it happened, and he was released just three months after 9/11, so that time in history for all it’s horror and the apathy growing amongst my peers, are some of the things I intuited for a long time when it came to remembering the 90’s, ostensibly the time in which I came of age and there was no shortage of emotional collateral damage from the incident which changed my life.
Drawing back to this film and Mann’s work generally, I think it’s almost insulting to just write his stuff off as action movies going above their intellectual pay grade. I think besides this the only other truly great movie he ever directed was The Insider, for nearly completely opposite reasons. With that he relies on the power of thoughtful dialogue, and the moral dilemmas within and expressed by his actors. It’s not as romantic towards anything except perhaps the pursuit of the truth, but it’s that kind of shit that sells itself if I can repurpose one of the lines from one of those moments I made mention of before at the outset.
- yoloswegmaster
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
A listing for a Ultimate Collector's 4K UHD Edition of Heat has been found with a August release date.
- Walter Kurtz
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
The only way to make this an ULTIMATE Collector's Edition would be to include some money from the heist.
- Finch
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
The steelbook looks so much better than the copy and paste job on the standard edition.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
That picture of Mann on the top of what appears to be one of those huge LA buildings as seen during the brief aerial sequences is pretty awesome.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
Just finished the first chapter. (No spoilers ahead) The prologue tells the story of the film in a pretty matter-of-fact way which sets up the pace of the novel quite well. It works at the pace which the movie goes after the major heist and shootout, while also allowing for a lot of depth to assimilate the environment (helped of course by my own memory of the movie itself, but applied with the kind of deeper detail I suspect was provided in the original shooting script). I seriously might just read that first chapter over again to see if there is to be more mined out of it, but I honestly might just marvel at the craft over again.
- flyonthewall2983
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Re: Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
The book is great. I find myself going back to random chapters as I did picking up the movie from the Neil-Eady hookup a few nights ago.
Really hope this gets greenlit. I think he can do this material with new actors in the roles, despite how much the original cast reverberated in my head while reading it.
Really hope this gets greenlit. I think he can do this material with new actors in the roles, despite how much the original cast reverberated in my head while reading it.