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2009
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July
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- Feature: Jordan's Movie Quest: the Year 2002
- Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince Discussion
- Jordan's Review: Harry Potter and the Half Blood P...
- Sam's Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Bruno Discussion
- Sam' Review: Bruno
- Jordan's Review: Bruno
- Public Enemies Discussion
- Sam's Review: Public Enemies
- Jordan’s Review: Public Enemies:
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July
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Sam,
ReplyDeleteI think our biggest disagreement comes in our divergent views of the cinematography. I always think that using digital video and handheld cameras is a risky bet, and I have seen it go wrong many times before, but I think Mann executed it like a champ here. Whenever I was bored with what was going on on screen (which was sadly quite often) I just paid attention to the way the scene was shot, and usually there were enough beautiful visuals to take my mind off of what the scene was lacking in content. I must have thought "this movie will look so good on bluray" almost as many times as I thought "I don't think I'll actually own it because I just don't care enough." Thanks for giving Lilli Taylor and Giovanni Ribisi shout outs, I did the same in the theater when both came on screen, mostly because their appearances were the most exciting things happening in the movie at the time. I will agree that Mann is a talented director, and I generally like his movies, but I think the major flaws in this one were in the script, not necessarily its execution. Your thoughts?-Jordan
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteSo we were both disappointed, not surpised. I'm not really that shocked that you enjoyed the cinematography more than I did because that's personal taste so there's no point in really arguing that. As i mentioned before in the review, his style makes more sense for sleek present day stuff like Collateral (which i loved). I felt like it was someone filming a movie set. The digital makes it look less like a movie and since it was all set 70 years ago it looked like the hbo behind the scenes special. anyways besides that point we agree on just how much potential was squandered here. i was also more interested in the fbi stuff but they didn't really go into too much depth. i thought crudup was a bit over the top but maybe i just hate him for leaving mary louise parker. i'm glad we both recognized how generic this was. i wanted more dillinger stuff!! it really was boring and it could have been anyone in the 30's. what you think?
-Sam
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteOk here comes my argument for why the cinematography didn't work, and you proved why. i don't think the audience should be cognitive of digital or film or hand-held or dolly or whatever. if you're sitting there thinking, oh he's using digital and shaking the camera a lot, than it takes away from the movie. he's not tarsem or guillermo del toro (i know you are not making these claims, these are just directors whose cinematography is worth paying more attention to) so i don't go into his movies looking to be blown away visually. as you said, story's got to be there and it was lacking. and you can't shake your camera enough to change that.
-Sam
Sam,
ReplyDeleteI honestly thought he kept the camera shaking to a minimum. And I think that digital looks pretty, which I don't so much mind in a '30s movie. I can see why it might have taken you out of it, but to me, the fact that the movie just wasn't that entertaining took me out of it, and the digital kept me in it, as I marveled at some of the great shots. I also feel I gave Mann too much credit in the above post--in addition to script issues, the movie has serious pacing issues, which he is entirely to blame for. Since he co-wrote the script as well, I'm placing most of the blame for this one on him. What did you think of Bale though? I felt, as I said, that most of his flatness came from a bad script that gave him nothing to work with, but it also seemed clear that Depp transcended the crappy script while Bale just seemed to be phoning this one in. Thoughts?
Jordan,
ReplyDeleteI agree about how this one lies on Mann. I think your observation about Depp and Bale are accurate. Depp had a shitty script and pulled out a good performance, Bale didn't. I DO think that Bale tried, but i could tell he was trying, Depp made it look effortless and that's the different in their talent. I'm sure both realised the script was weak.
Sam,
ReplyDeleteYou know I'm a Depp man, and so I'm proud of his performance here, but I would also consider myself a big Bale fan and I was disappointed in him. I'll chalk it up to him awcknowledging a bad script and deciding to rest up for when it really counts.-Jordan