In Contention

Tag: Public Enemies

  • 7/6 Web Round-up

    Daniel Radcliffe in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince• Ahead of the latest Harry Potter instalment, a profile of no-longer-boy wonder Daniel Radcliffe. [The Guardian]

    • Ever a must-read, Nick Davis continues reviewing the decade, taking on “American Psycho.” [Nick’s Flick Picks]

    • Dredging up the Marion Cotillard 9/11 “controversy” … again? Jeez. [Times of London]

    • Nathaniel Rogers tweaks his Oscar predictions, elevating “The Lovely Bones” to pole position. [The Film Experience]

    • A Brit offers his perspective on the ten-wide Best Picture field … and remains on the fence. [ScreenDaily]

    • List of the day: the top 10 “apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic” movies. [Rope of Silicon]

    • Jim Fusilli chats with “Public Enemies” composer Elliot Goldenthal. [Wall Street Journal]

    • Andrew O’Hehir catches up with the wonderful oddity “Tony Manero,” which is gradually making its way across the the U.S. [Salon]

  • SUNDAY CENTS: Photo finish on ‘Ice’

    Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs*Historical figures quoted are adjusted to today’s dollars.

    It was another close race at the box office this weekend with estimates calling it an exact tie between “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” but Monday actuals might tell a different story.

    The third entry in the animated series (only the second major animated franchise to reach three films) earned $42.5 million for the three-day weekend and $67.5 million since opening on Wednesday.  Independence Day falling on a Saturday was always going to hurt but given the fact that the first two “Ice Age” films opened with $57.2 million and $74.6 million respectively, this is a bit on the low side.

    There really wasn’t enough material with these characters for one movie, let alone three, so it’s not surprising that the shine is wearing off.  But Fox will still cross $400 million worldwide with this sucker so it’s no big deal to them.

    Hot on its heels was “Transformers.”  A 62% dip to $42.5 million gives Michael Bay’s magnum opus $293.5 million after 12 days.  Uptight movie nerds need not worry though because at 12 days “The Dark Knight” had already amassed $333.9 million, so there’s no chance of Shia rubbing elbows with the bat’s total gross.  It does have a great chance of becoming the 12th film from this decade to cross $400 million though, and that’s a damn shame.

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  • Love your ‘Enemies’

    Marion Cotillard in Public EnemiesI’ve had a busy week, so I’m a bit late to the table on “Public Enemies” — but in a way, it seemed fitting to wait until the 4th of July to watch such a muscular, intrinsically American piece of cinema.

    Much has already been said on these pages about the film, so there’s no need for me to discuss it at great length, but I do want to say how befuddled I am by the numerous lukewarm-to-cool critical reactions out there. I went into the theater with guarded expectations — not being an ardent devotee of Michael Mann’s oeuvre in the first place — only to be greeted by something rare and rather special: a broad, red-blooded blockbuster that is nonetheless tailored specifically for adults.

    Calling it Mann’s finest film since “The Insider” may sound like faint (albeit merited) praise. Perhaps more meaningful is to declare the film — with its elegant synthesis of crisp, confidently linear storytelling and rich, unfussy visual construction — the most completely realized major American studio picture of the last two or three years.

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  • WEEKLY WRAP: Academy expands, Malden passes

    Karl Malden and Claire Trevor at the 1951 Academy Awards• This week’s Off the Carpet column took a long, hard look at the ramifications of a 10-nominee Best Picture race.

    • As the popular game of expanding past fields to ten continued, we joined in the speculation.

    • Meanwhile, AMPAS added 134 members to its voting body, from Seth Rogen to Danny Boyle to Peter Gabriel.

    • And they furthered their controversial remodelling, scrapping all honorary awards from the Oscar telecast.

    • We bade a sad farewell to Oscar-winning actor and former AMPAS president Karl Malden.

    • In other disheartening news, Michael Bay’s “Transformers” sequel rocked the box office.

    • We championed “An Education” and its star Alfred Molina, while the film was the subject of this week’s Page to Screen column.

    • With “Public Enemies” on everyone’s mind this week, we counted down the best performances from Michael Mann films.

    • The Edinburgh Film Festival wrapped, handing its top award to Duncan Jones’s “Moon.”

  • 7/3 Web Round-up

    Sorority Row• A to Z on Michael Mann — all you needed to know about the director. [Empire]

    • Oscilloscope jumps on the video-on-demand bandwagon, partnering with Warner Digital Distribution. [indieWIRE]

    • The 10 sexiest gangster girlfriends of all time. [Film School Rejects]

    • Oh, by the way.  Weeks after outlets jumped the gun, David Carradine’s death has been ruled “not a suicide.” [The Guardian]

    • Patrick Goldstein talks to Michael Mann about the bank-robber technical adviser the director tapped for “Public Enemies.” [The Big Picture]

    • Eric D. Sneider is baffled by the juxtaposition of the “Sorority Row” trailer and prints of “The Hurt Locker.” [Cinematical]

    • Owen Gleiberman and Lisa Schwarzbaum talk about why they think “Public Enemies” misses the mark. [Entertainment Weekly]

  • Brit critics cool on ‘Enemies’

    Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesWith Stateside critics somewhat split on “Public Enemies,” I was interested to see what the UK reception for the film would be like. For all the brawny Americanness of his aesthetic, Michael Mann has many passionate apologists on these shores — he even received a BAFTA nod in 2005 for “Collateral” — perhaps to some degree because Britain is where he studied film and began his career.

    On this occasion, however, the limeys aren’t feeling the love, as the film has opened to a raft of disappointing notices from the major British broadsheets. Wendy Ide at the Times of London is harshest, calling the film “a bloody, muddy mess.” She’s no fan of the film’s digital aspects, perhaps rather naively complaining about the lack of studio sheen:

    Mann’s aim appears to be to develop a new, distinctive digital aesthetic. Which is admirable in theory, but Mann’s digital aesthetic seems to involve making the movie look as grimy and unpolished as possible. Post-production is for wimps. That irresistibly glossy, larger-than-life reality created by Hollywood movies is diminished here. The flat glare of the digital camera emphasises the artifice of the film-making process rather than bringing the hoped-for gritty authenticity to the story.

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  • 7/2 Web round-up

    Michael Bay• Michael Bay is a drug. [First Showing]

    • Three years after stirring trouble regaring the on-set particulars of “Miami Vice,” Kim Masters decides to take aim at Michael Mann once again with speculation and anonymous quotes. [The Daily Beast]

    • Meanwhile, Harvey Weinstein seems to be making a transition to film critic, calls “Public Enemies” the start of the 2009 Oscar race. [The Daily Beast]

    • Elliot J. Gorn questions the historical accuracy of the film, fails to understand compositing, artistic license. [Slate]

    • Headline of the month: “Tippi Hedren tells Michael Jackson’s former pet tigers of his death.” [The Guardian]

    • Attempting to steer coverage slightly away from commerce, Eugene Hernandez introduces a new, David Hudson-inspired column aggregation column.  Not exactly novel to the net but certainly to the outlet. [indieWIRE]

    • Geoff Boucher sits down with Guillermo Del Toro. [Hero Complex]

    • The 10 most clever bank robberies in movies. [Spout Blog]

  • Food for thought

    “We wanted the look of Public Enemies to have a high level of realism, not an over period feel…Among the historical aspects are a lot of action, romance and drama, and Michael [Mann] and I talked about achieving an immediate feel.  One thing you can do with a digital camera that you can’t do with film is shoot with a 360-degree, or no, shutter…We tested that with gun-muzzle flashes from the machine guns and some flares that we planned to use to light a few scenes, and the 360-degree shutter had a really great look in those situations.”

    Dante Spinotti, talking to Jay Holben in this month’s issue of American Cinematographer magazine.  The article isn’t online yet but the magazine is on the rack, so pick it up, give it a look.

  • Tell us what you thought of ‘Public Enemies’

    Johnny Depp in Public Enemies

    I think we all know what most movie-goers — well, those who won’t be lining Fox’s pockets at “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” — are going to see this week, so while I’ve offered my thoughts in full, and even dedicated an installment of The Lists to the film’s director and his eye for talent, it’s time to deliver your thoughts.  I imagine people are beginning to make their way out of matinees by now, so head on back here once you’ve seen “Public Enemies” and tell us what you thought.

  • TCM gets in the gangster mood

    Manhattan MelodramaSpeaking of John Dillinger’s final hours, it’s worth pointing out that TCM will be showing a slew of classic gangster titles tonight, including the Clark Gable starrer “Manhattan Melodrama,” which was the last film Dillinger would ever see.  Mann makes considerable thematic use of the film in “Public Enemies,” as noted by critic F.X. Feeney in an exchange with Jeffrey Wells two days ago:

    “I will admit La Cotillard takes the coupe du monde in [Mann’s female characters’] honors, but then she is not only great in herself but that magnificent hall-of-mirrors moment when Dillinger contemplates her angelic double, Myrna Loy, in ‘Manhattan Melodrama.’ It seems to me that here, Mann grandly contradicts the old saw that men’s ‘immortal dreams of women’ are ‘unattainable.’ From where Dillinger sits, that dream has been attained quite fully, thank-you-very-much. A ticklish mystery, this.”

    In addition to “Manhattan Melodrama,” TCM will be showing “Fog Over Frisco,” “G-Men” and the 2008 documentary “The Public Enemies: The Golden Age of Gangster Film.”  Set your DVRs.

  • Vishnevetsky’s dispatches from the set of ‘Public Enemies’

    Johnny Depp on the set of Public Enemies“Public Enemies,” opening nationwide today, is the first film to bring Michael Mann back to his native Chicago since his feature filmmaking debut, 1981’s “Thief.”  Fellow Midwesterner Ignatiy Vishnevetsky was on the set for a few days in the summer of 2008 and has been collecting his thoughts over at The Auteurs’ Notebook.  It’s a gem of a feature for Mann enthusiasts.

    Vishnevetsky digs into the man and his aesthetic motives, pondering this or that on-set particular and drawing connections to Mann’s portfolio throughout.  Most of the entries seem to have been written from the location shoot of John Dillinger’s (Johnny Depp) FBI slaying outside Chicago’s Biograph Theatre.

    Watching the gun-down happen over and over again in real time as takes are refined and repeated, Vishnevetsky spends considerable time in part one analyzing Mann’s approach, observing, taking it all in.  Color me incredibly envious.

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  • THE LISTS: Top 10 performances from Michael Mann films

    Russell Crowe in The InsiderWith the forthcoming release of Michael Mann’s “Public Enemies” (review) dominating — quite impressively, I might add — the publicity circuit this week, all eyes are on Johnny Depp.  An Ulmer Scale X factor for this character study posing as a summer blockbuster, Depp’s performance is sure to draw champions and detractors alike for its delicate, internalized particulars.  But of one thing we can be certain: the work is of a piece with Mann’s typically detailed approach to character.

    Mann’s collaborative process with his actors typically involves something called “character acquisition,” a tightly-conceived regimen, of sorts, that gives his films’ characters the authentic touch that makes his work so novel.  Many times these details won’t even be discussed in the overall narrative, but their background impact on the performer is unmistakable.  Take, for instance, the photos of the childhood home of Tom Cruise’s hitman Vincent in “Collateral” that Mann brought to the actor’s attention, merely by way of more fully developing the character’s clearly complicated formidable years.

    The result of this hard work has been a slew of captivating, at times career-best performances from some of the most accomplished actors working today.  A Michael Mann production represents the opportunity to go deeper with a performance and perhaps even learn more about the craft.  Will Smith has frequently discussed his collaboration with Mann as the most rewarding experience of his professional life.  And, as Javier Bardem once told me, “When Michael Mann invites you to his party, you don’t turn him down.”

    So with that, a collective representing the best performances to come from Mann’s 10 feature films to date seemed the best way into this week’s installment of The Lists.  It’s a very personal list, of course, as yours would be.  There are three performances from one film, none from two, and a pair of unconventional supporting turns to shake things up.  After going back through the director’s work last week in preparation for the list, even I was surprised my #1 choice was left standing, but regardless of order, see this as a way to compliment a true actor’s director.

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  • Troubling mixed reaction to ‘Enemies’ afoot

    (from left) Marion Cotillard and Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesIt’s not like we didn’t see a divided take coming on Michael Mann’s latest, but the reviews that are trickling in, updated frequently over at Rotten Tomatoes, are troubling indeed.

    And I have to say, when Rex Reed is one of the few champions of an artistically daring film, what is the world coming to?  David Denby, for instance, has missed the boat to a certain extent, though he certainly finds much to praise.  But this:

    The movie is structured around repeated scenes of wounded men (agents as well as criminals) dying as they look into the eyes of their friends. Yet some of the dying men are barely known to us, and the device, though beautifully staged in each case, doesn’t have the power it should have had. The movie is emotionally neutered.

    Eh, to each his own.

  • Contest winners!

    Mr. Gittes and Zach are the big winners from our “Public Enemies” contests and the proud owners of a new poster.  Gittes nailed the trivia question, which regarded Michael Mann’s “Arms and the Man” project, developed out of talks with journalist Lowell Bergman before “The Insider” came to fruition.  Zach, meanwhile, won out in the thin caption contest field with the following zinger:

    Marion Cotillard in Public Enemies

    Emails have been sent to the addresses provided when you commented, guys.  If there’s a better email address, let me know.  We’ll get the posters to you asap.

    Thanks to everyone for participating!

  • 6/29 Web Round-up

    Stephen Frears• Rachel Abramowitz catches up with Johnny Depp on the “Public Enemies” publicity trail. [Los Angeles Times]

    • Helen O’Hara remembers Michael Jackson’s movie moments. [Empire]

    • Jenni Miller talks to “Cheri” director Stephen Frears. [Cinematical]

    • Guillermo DelToro’s credo. [The Independent]

    • “Do the Right Thing” still asks burning questions. [Washingotn Post]

    • Hey, remember Julia Ormond? [New York Daily News]

    • David Cairns talks to “Pontypool” director Bruce Macdonald. [The Autuers’ Notebook]

  • Gangster lovin’

    Johnny Depp in Public EnemiesJoe Queenan is one of my least favorite Guardian film contributors — too often perversely hard to please — but I did appreciate the boyish honesty of this piece, in which he sheds his usual cineaste grousing to indiscriminately geek out over guns and fedoras. With “Public Enemies” only a few days away, he extols the simple joys of the gangster genre:

    For those of us who secretly believe that gangster movies are the only ones worth making – despite our obsequious lip service to Truffaut and Antonioni – the timing could not be better. Aficionados of gangster movies view reality as a daisy chain connecting one gangland saga to the next, with ordinary life – family, children, career, lunch – occurring in between. We do not need an uninterrupted stream of gangster movies to survive, and we certainly do not need half-hearted twaddle like Knockaround Guys to function properly – but we cannot tolerate long gaps between high-quality releases.

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  • Respectfully disagree

    Marion Cotillard in Public EnemiesF.X. Feeney, whose Taschen study on the films of Michael Mann is must reading for fans of the director, has gone on the record with Jeffrey Wells as believing the female characters from Mann’s films to be “deeply observed, self-reliant and fully dimensional.”

    The comment follows an earlier Wells posting concerning Marion Cotillard’s strong performance in “Public Enemies,” opening Wednesday.  And while I have all the respect in the world for Feeney and his opinions, I have to respectfully disagree with his take here.

    In writing about Cotillard’s performance in my review of the film, I praised the actress for finding “the right combination of frailty and strength that has defined the few well-developed female characters from Mann’s films,” and I stand by the passing commentary at the end there.  Most of the females in Mann’s work, to my eye, serve as transitional devices more often than not.  Cora Munroe in “The Last of the Mohicans,” Charlene Shiherlis in “Heat” and now, Cotillard in “Enemies,” represent the few examples of the director tapping into women with a compelling trajectory.

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  • SUNDAY CENTS: Box office ‘Trans’-stormed!

    Transformers: Revenge of the FallenAfter a critical mauling the likes of which is usually reserved for Uwe Boll, Michael Bay’s mega-budget sequel “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” opened to the second largest five day opening of all-time behind “The Dark Knight.” Is that surprising? Not really.

    The original film is one of only two non-sequels in the last three years to make over $300 million at the box office and was the highest selling DVD of 2007, beating the much-higher profile third films in the “Spider-Man,” “Shrek” and “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchises. In short, for whatever reason, people loved that film and the two years that passed was short enough to strike while the iron was hot, but long enough to significantly improve effects and get bigger, badder robots on screen for longer.

    $112 million for the three days and $201.2 million since opening Wednesday are the official estimates and that is astounding. Word of mouth could be absolutely poisonous and the film would still out-gross the original and collect over a half billion worldwide. This was the blockbuster that summer has been waiting for and it will take less than 10 days to pass “Up” as the highest grossing film of the year so far.

    The only other new action came from “My Sister’s Keeper” at number five with $11.8 million. For a cancer drama, that’s a fine start, but a troubling amount of it came from Friday, indicating some kind of fanboy rush. Are there groupies for this book like there are for “Twilight?” Just couldn’t wait to see if they added a cancer-free twist at the end? Very odd.

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