I'm firmly convinced he's the best moviemaker, ever.

I was just on IMDB checking out his filmography. I'll be damned if 4 of my top 5 movies of all time have his name on them....and as we all know I'm the arbiter of good taste.

Here's the highlights of his directorial career:

1979 "The Jericho Mile" - Great story about an olympic class runner, serving time for manslaughter. For its time, very gritty and well done. I never knew, until checking out IMDB that Mann had directed it.

1981 "Thief" - probably James Caan's best role as a safecracker being screwed by the mob. Great sleeper movie.

1983 "The Keep" - a superb, visually stunning retelling of F. Paul Wilson's book. It's vague, compared to the book, but makes a great companion to it, and the music is awesome.

1984 "Miami Vice" - Need I say it? I justified a pastel jacket purchase with this series, and Smith and Wesson sold some of their fugly autos based on this show....and who can deny the awesome musical talent of Phillip Michael Thomas?

1985 "Manhunter" - Pretty much paved the way for psychological drama, and introduced Mann's attention to detail in a crime movie. FWIW, I thought Brian Cox was a much more chilling Dr. Lector, because he wasn't so over the top. William Peterson was great in this, too.

1992 "Last of the Mohicans" - Damn near perfect moviemaking, AFAIC. Brilliant casting, visually one of the most beautiful movies ever made, the sound and score are superb. Violent, affecting, just perfect. Everyone in this movie should have gotten an oscar, even the foley guy.

1995 "Heat" - the Grandfather of all gunplay movies. There can be only one Heat. BTW, what was big Al's rifle? It's long, it's overwrought, and it's FUCKING AWESOME!!!!

1999 "The Insider" - Well, he had to slow down at some point, right? Ok, it's not that bad, but coming on the heels of Heat, it played like an insurance seminar. 2 points for casting tho.

2001 "Ali" - Hey, at least Will Smith wasn't a cowboy, right? Let's all celebrate a Muslim anti-US guy who's taken about 1,200 too many shots to the head! Sorry Michael, I give this a thumbs up -your ass.

2004 "Collateral" - Here we go, back into gunplay and LA crime drama! Kick ass, and best of all that sack of shit Tom Cruise buys it in the end. (oops, hope I didn't give that away to the 2 of you who haven't seen it)


Now, except for 2 mediocre flicks in there, I think that's about as good as a director gets. Spielberg? He crapped out a few. Scorsesse? "Kundan", need I say more? Even the most revered directors ever had some shit stains. Mann is the man, I think.

I'm just hoping on hope that the Miami Vice movie is done ala Heat and Collateral...not SWAT or Starsky and Hutch. (which were good enough in their own right, but not what I want for Crockett and Tubbs)

Crockett used a Bren Ten in Miami Vice

Ive been a Michael Mann fan ever since "Thief."


The movie that got me interested in the 1911 as a kid:

I really like the fact that he focuses on realism.  I can watch a movie like Heat, or Collateral, and I can really see those movies playing out in real life, and not just on a screen.  I appreciate his gunfights, too.  Of course most people would never be able to understand the difference between the gunfights in Heat and those in the Matrix, but a gun nut like me loves that stuff.

If you didn't like The Insider, watch it again.  I thought it was OK when I saw it in theatres, I caught a lot more of it the second time around.  Very good film.

Still haven't seen Ali.

Quoted: Crockett used a Bren Ten in Miami Vice

Only in the first two seasons, after that it was a 645 Smith then a 4506....both in .45.

Your Miami Vice-Fu is weak.

Quoted: I really like the fact that he focuses on realism.  I can watch a movie like Heat, or Collateral, and I can really see those movies playing out in real life, and not just on a screen.  I appreciate his gunfights, too.  Of course most people would never be able to understand the difference between the gunfights in Heat and those in the Matrix, but a gun nut like me loves that stuff.

Agreed on Heat all the way.. Agree on Collateral until the last 5 minutes when a Libby cab driver somehow sprouts a dick and then outshoots a seasoned hitman.

Quoted: Quoted: Crockett used a Bren Ten in Miami Vice Only in the first two seasons, after that it was a 645 Smith then a 4506....both in .45. Your Miami Vice-Fu is weak.

yeah but the early season's where the only ones worth watching
maybe he was experiencing frame cracking.
I haven't watched it since it was on NBC and that was a long time ago

Quoted: Quoted: I really like the fact that he focuses on realism.  I can watch a movie like Heat, or Collateral, and I can really see those movies playing out in real life, and not just on a screen.  I appreciate his gunfights, too.  Of course most people would never be able to understand the difference between the gunfights in Heat and those in the Matrix, but a gun nut like me loves that stuff. Agreed on Heat all the way.. Agree on Collateral until the last 5 minutes when a Libby cab driver somehow sprouts a dick and then outshoots a seasIoned hitman.

Agree on Collateral I thouht is was good but  didnt like the ending

anyone see The Island yet???

Hey don't forget the series Crime Story....absolutely great...

Quoted: Agree on Collateral I thouht is was good but  didnt like the ending anyone see The Island yet???

I think The Island is directed by Michael Bay.

Quoted: Quoted: Agree on Collateral I thouht is was good but  didnt like the ending anyone see The Island yet??? I think The Island is directed by Michael Bay.

Yes, the Island is a Bay movie.  Entertaining, but it certianly doesn't break any new ground.  Logan's run with a dash of coma and matrix, in my opinion.

Mann, on the other hand is kick ass.  I've had a VHS tape of Thief for years.  I guess I'll have to get the DVD eventually...  I love it when he kicks her out and just erases his existance.
Heat was awesome.  The gun fight was one of the best choreographed on film, I believe.  So many times they are just action shots edited together piece-meal.  This was fluid, you could follow their progression thru the streets.

Maybe someone could educate me?  There are a lot of parallels in Thief and Heat.  Someone told me the screenplay for Heat was written before Thief.  Is that right?

I didn't get into Miami Vice until after the fact, when it ran on USA pretty regularly.  It used to be on at 6 or 7 AM, after my 3rd shift and before school.  That was when I got hooked.  It wasn't until later I realized it was Michael Mann.

Quoted: Quoted: Agree on Collateral I thouht is was good but  didnt like the ending anyone see The Island yet??? I think The Island is directed by Michael Bay.

Yes, the Island is a Bay movie.  Entertaining, but it certianly doesn't break any new ground.  Logan's run with a dash of coma and matrix, in my opinion.

Mann, on the other hand is kick ass.  I've had a VHS tape of Thief for years.  I guess I'll have to get the DVD eventually...  I love it when he kicks her out and just erases his existance.
Heat was awesome.  The gun fight was one of the best choreographed on film, I believe.  So many times they are just action shots edited together piece-meal.  This was fluid, you could follow their progression thru the streets.

Maybe someone could educate me?  There are a lot of parallels in Thief and Heat.  Someone told me the screenplay for Heat was written before Thief.  Is that right?

I didn't get into Miami Vice until after the fact, when it ran on USA pretty regularly.  It used to be on at 6 or 7 AM, after my 3rd shift and before school.  That was when I got hooked.  It wasn't until later I realized it was Michael Mann.

"The Keep" SUCKED

The book is probably one of the - if no THE - best horror book I've read. Better than King, better than Straub.

The movie was abominable.

I've heard good things about many of the other flicks. I liked Heat a lot.

Quoted: Crockett used a Bren Ten in Miami Vice

And also a S&W 4506 toward the end.

All directors come up with a few bombs, even the vaulted Steve Speilberg.

Quoted: Quoted: Agree on Collateral I thouht is was good but  didnt like the ending anyone see The Island yet??? I think The Island is directed by Michael Bay.

Yup. Bay is the asshat responsible for the affleck verison of "Pearl Habor".

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Crockett used a Bren Ten in Miami Vice Only in the first two seasons, after that it was a 645 Smith then a 4506....both in .45. Your Miami Vice-Fu is weak. yeah but the early season's where the only ones worth watching maybe he was experiencing frame cracking. I haven't watched it since it was on NBC and that was a long time ago

I remeber reading that they had problems getting blanks to function properly in the Bren.

Quoted: FWIW, I thought Brian Cox was a much more chilling Dr. Lector, because he wasn't so over the top.

Yes. Cox's Lector was chilling because he has a veneer of charm. It was pretty disturbing to seem him
drop the facade when he grabbed at the crime scene photos. He obviously got off in a sexual way
on those.

Mann does a great job showing a real, lived-in LA, full of bars, freeways, and industrial areas.

The "New" Crockett live-fire training:



The "New" Tubbs live-fire training:



The "New" Switek live-fire training:



The "New" Gina live-fire training:

Quoted: The "New" Crockett live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/CFMoveFire.jpg The "New" Tubbs live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/JFMuzzleFlash.jpg The "New" Switek live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/DLMuzzleflashHandgun.jpg The "New" Gina live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/ERGreatMuzzle2.jpg Ok, so who are the actors?

I like enough of his stuff. I'm not a die-hard fan of everything he's done.

BTW... is this close enough to a movie topic that it should be in the movie forum? GB finally hooked us up... it seems a shame to put a movie related discussion in the GD now...

My wife won't even let me watch HEAT when she's home anymore.  I've seen it so many times I can recite it.  Still when she leaves it comes out and the surround sound goes on.  The beauty of it is the reality of it.  The echo of the gunshots off the buildings and the movement.  All just looked right.

They obviously put in the work and it showed.

Quoted: Quoted: The "New" Crockett live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/CFMoveFire.jpg The "New" Tubbs live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/JFMuzzleFlash.jpg The "New" Switek live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/DLMuzzleflashHandgun.jpg The "New" Gina live-fire training: img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/ACamPuller790/ERGreatMuzzle2.jpg Ok, so who are the actors?

Miami Vice (2006) from IMDB.com

Great.  Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx .


R

I'm a big Michael Mann fan.

Agreed, he does make good stuff!

Quoted: Great.  Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx . R

Ugggh.

Quoted: Great.  Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx .

Ha, yeah that's how I feel about it too.

www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=1&f=136

Those actors don't look anything like who IMDB says they are.

Quoted: www.ar15.com/forums/forum.html?b=1&f=136

Jesus H. Christ, we have a movie forum now too?? How much compartmentalizing is necessary??

What's going to be left in GD if this continues? Zombies and ammocan fort construction?

I should look around more I guess. I'd bet there's a "White Guy from Mid-Ohio with women issues" forum I should be hanging out in.