Heat (1995) - Mann's superb masculine thriller showstopper

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The three stars above a mysterious image of five men with long shadows make up this stylish poster for Michael Mann's Heat

A five-man group of professional robbers leave a mess after they rob a large sum of money in bearer bonds, and a dedicated veteran LAPD detective begins to let them feel his heat on their tails.

 

Heat is written, co-produced and directed by great Illinoisan filmmaker Michael Mann (Thief (1981), inspired by the actual criminal case of Neil McCauley and detective Chuck Adamson in the early 1960s.

It is a fantastically well-made man's film. The showdown of the cinematic powers that are Robert De Niro (Greetings (1968)) and Al Pacino (Scarface (1983)), - who meet for the first time on-screen here, - is gladiatorial, but Mann refuses to let this be the film's main premise.

The thrills and suspense is the heart of Heat, which works as a cat-and-mouse game of wits for the two leads but is also heavily loaded with good drama. De Niro and Pacino are terrific, and in supporting roles Dennis Haysbert (Jarhead (2005)), Ashley Judd (High Crimes (2002)) and Amy Brenneman (Nine Lives (2005)) are particularly satisfying.

Heat is written, directed and edited so that its long running time never gets in the way of us always paying full attention; and Elliot Goldenthal's (Blank Generation 1980)) score adds to the tension in superior fashion. Heat is a tremendous joy.

 

Related posts:

Michael Mann: Top 10: Best drama-thrillers reviewed by Film Excess to date 

2004 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Collateral (2004) - Great, urban, digital age thriller from Mann in his right element

Manhunter (1986) - Perhaps the best criminal profiling picture ever 

Watch a very short teaser for the film here

 

Cost: 60 mil. $

Box office: 187.4 mil. $

= Box office success (returned 3.12 times its cost)

[Heat premiered 6 December (California) and runs 170 minutes. Mann wrote a 180-page draft for Heat in 1979 that eventually turned into a pilot for a TV-series, which was canceled after the pilot was made and released as TV movie L.A. Takedown (1989). Mann's success with The Last of the Mohicans (1992) allowed him to take up his old script and ideas once again. Shooting took place from February - July 1995, solely on locations in California, including in Los Angeles. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Jumanji and hold-over hit Toy Story, to an 8.4 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 5 (#5) and grossed 67.4 mil. $ ( 36 % of the total gross). In recent years Mann has teased a sequel to the film several times; Heat is widely considered his greatest film. IMDb's users have rated the film in at #126 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Rashomon (1950) and Yojimbo (1961). Mann returned with The Insider (1999). De Niro returned in The Fan (1996); Pacino in City Hall (1996); and Val Kilmer (5 Days of War (2011)) in The Island of Dr. Moreau (1996). Heat is certified fresh at 87 % with a 7.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Heat?

Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011) or, The Heritage of Po

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1 Time Film Excess Award Winner:

Best Animation: Jennifer Yuh

1 Time Film Excess Nominee:

Best Animation: Jennifer Yuh (won)

Panda hero Po and his friends are back on this vibrantly colorful poster for Jennifer Yuh's Kung Fu Panda 2

QUICK REVIEW:

Po, the kung fu panda from the first, great Kung Fu Panda (2008), is haunted by some disturbing dreams that raise questions as to his parentage, meanwhile he and the Furious 5 must fight the evil peacock and his new fire-powered weapon!

Panda 2 is nearly as good as the excellent first film in the franchise: Jack Black's (School of Rock (2003)) humor and persona is still a major part of the equation and attraction, with other wonderful voices given by, among others, James Hong (Air Plane! (1980)), Dennis Haysbert (The Details (2011)) and Seth Rogen (The Night Before (2015)).
The animation is once again overwhelmingly beautiful and detailed. The film's best scenes from this standpoint interweave traditional cartoon animation with the general CGI animation in flashbacks to Po's tragic beginnings. Panda 2 is clearly made to jump out and grab us in 3D, but the film works just as well if seen in 2D. It is written by Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger (Kung Fu Panda, both) and directed by South-Korean Jennifer Yuh Nelson (Spawn (1997), TV-series).
There is lots of fun, adventure, a few tears and lots of wow moments here in the infectiously delightful Kung Fu Panda 2.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

 Watch the trailer for the movie here

Cost: 150 mil. $
Box office: 665.7 mil. $
= Big hit
[Charlie Kaufman (!) consulted on the script for Panda 2, and the development included more China research than for the first film, with Dreamworks personnel traveling to Chengdu, China for inspiration. Production began in 2009. The film was shown in Cannes (out of competition) before its May premiere. It received positive reviews and opened #2 (behind The Hangover: Part II) in North America to a 60.9 mil. $ first 4-day Memorial Day weekend. It broke the opening day record in China, where it grossed 92.1 mil. $ (13.8 % of the total gross). It became the highest-grossing film in Vietnam, surpassing Avatar (2009). It was the highest-grossing movie directed by a woman until Frozen (2013). It grossed 165.2 mil. $ (24.8 %) in North America. The 3rd biggest market was Nelson's native South Korea with 41.1 mil. $ (6.2 %). Kung Fu Panda 2 was, like its predecessor, the highest grossing animated film of the year, (6th highest grossing film of 2011 overall); it got nominated for the Best Animation Oscar, and it is certified fresh at 81 % with a 6.9 critical average on Rotten Tomatoes. Kung Fu Panda 3 is coming out next year.]

What do you think of Kung Fu Panda 2?

The Details (2011) or, Foibles of the Sexless Marriage

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+ Best Mega-flop Movie of the Year

Most people wouldn't want to be Tobey Maguire in Jacob Aaron Estes' The Details

QUICK REVIEW:

Our hero in The Details is a sexually neglected doctor/husband/father, whose new lawn gets plagued by raccoons, which begins a downwards-facing spiral for his otherwise comfortable life.

Tobey Maguire (Spider-Man (2002)) lights up in this comical-dramatic showcase, and Dennis Haysbert (Dear White People (2014)), Laura Linney (Mystic River (2003)), Elizabeth Banks (Walk of Shame (2014)), Ray Liotta (Goodfellas (1990)) and red-hot Kerry Washington (Django Unchained (2012)) are also all great. - Haysbert even provides a few touching moments in Details.
This is a VERY untraditional American film that walks far into the realm of dark comedy and the dark crannies of drama. It is funny and surprisingly believable and dramatic until SPOILER the third act, wherein everything in the narrative gets 'solved' in a long car scene, which isn't exactly the solution one had hoped for, plus the scene includes a few lines simply because the writer/director thinks they sound good.
He is Californian Jacob Aaron Estes (Summoning (2001), short), and Details fits well together with his only other feature to date, if one wanted to do an auteur analysis of Estes' works, Mean Creek (2004), which is also SPOILER about an unfortunate murder. A perhaps intended point after watching The Details, (perhaps not), SPOILER could be that grownups seemingly don't have to let such a murder take them down, whereas kids are more helpless.
Details lights a fire under many prejudices, like our stereotypes of the good doctor and the brutal Italian-American. The film isn't for everyone, but I certainly enjoyed it.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Laura Linney and Tobey Maguire in Jacob Aaron Estes' The Details

Watch the great trailer for the film here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: 63k $ (US only)
= Mega-flop
[The details surrounding The Details are mysterious and hard to come by, but it is clear that something behind the scene went awfully wrong between Estes and distributor The Weinstein Company: The Weinsteins apparently paid a handsome sum for distribution rights and then tried to recut the film and held it under wraps for a long period before finally releasing it on very few screens (less than a hundred) and only in the US! No wonder the film didn't make any money. Estes seems to have been the one who has paid the dearest for this utter failure: He hasn't directed since and has only now gotten a co-writing gig on Rings (2015), the third movie in the Ring horror franchise...]

What do you think of The Details?
Any details on why the fate of this film has been so dismal and/or the inside stories of the making of it are welcomed

24 - season 3 (2003) - The virus-centered peak for the great action show

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+ Best Action Title of the Year + Most Suspenseful Title of the Year

Jack Bauer is not in the greatest shape of his life, when his third hellish day kicks off in Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow's 24 season 3


3 years after season 2, a virus-infested corpse is dropped off with a bomb in LA, and a season with an overall threat of chemical, viral terrorism is kicked off.

The following summary of the season contains SPOILERS:

The troubles ironically evolve due to a risky, covert undercover operation gone haywire, which was co-headed by Jack Bauer (Kiefer Sutherland (Mirrors (2008)) and Tony Almeida (Carlos Bernard (Dallas (2012-13)). After a dramatic and action-packed prison break, led by Bauer, the audience is pulled around by the nose in a chase after the virus carrier, a juvenile delinquent named Kyle Singer. Meanwhile, Jack struggles with the dangerous, drug-running Salazar Brothers, the return of the grand villain, Nina Myers, and the ultimate henchman, Steven Saunders, a disgruntled ex-MI6 agent, who succeeds in getting his demands straight to the president.
Ryan Chapelle (Paul Schulze (Zodiac (2007))) tragically falls at his ruthless hand. Only by being equally ruthless, Jack finally manages to locate the 12 virus canisters.
At the political level, president Palmer's (Dennis Haysbert (Love & Basketball (2000))) brother Wayne Palmer turns out to be a real black sheep in the family, as he is revealed to have slept with their main campaign contributor's wife. Sherry Palmer (Penny Johnson Jerald (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1995-99))) is brought in to handle the situation, but it all spirals out of control.
Jack has gotten a new partner, Chase (James Badge Dale (Flight (2012))), whom he trains as they move along, reluctantly learning that he is heavily involved with his now CTU agent daughter, Kim (Elisha Cuthbert (He Was a Quiet Man (2007))).

She unfortunately remains a very unpleasant part of the show: Scheming, blank, and ever annoying. However, even Kim Bauer can't overshadow the fact that 24's third season is highly intense action, powerfully scored by Sean Callery (Small Time (2014)), inventively written and a regular triumph for Sutherland and the show's creators, Robert Cochran (Sons and Daughters (1991), TV-series, writer) and Joel Surnow (La Femme Nikita (2000-01), creator).
After this season, the show began its steady decline. Each episode began having more and more unbelievable, action-heavy scenes, until the storylines grew downright grotesque. Sad, but nothing lasts forever, and if you want to see 24 at its most brilliant, the third season is it, - the most coherent, suspense-full and exciting in the series. The chemical threat at the heart of the season is scarier than a regular bomb, and the device is utilized with tremendous skill, especially in the episodes that play out inside a hotel. The political affair storyline unfolds equally effective. 

Best episodes:

Episode 9: 9 PM - 10 PM - written by Evan Katz (The Commish (1993-94)) and Stephen Kronish (MacGyver (1986-87)), story by Cochran and Howard Gordon (Homeland (2011-14)); directed by Brad Turner (Hawaii Five-O (2010-11))
SPOILER Nina Myers finally dies

Episode 15: 3 AM - 4 PM - written by Cochran and Gordon, story by Michael Loceff (La Femme Nikita (1997-01)); directed by Kevin Hooks (Bones (2009-13))
SPOILER The virus spreads

Related posts:

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II] 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

24 season 2 (2002) - The Bomb 

Top 10: The best action movies and TV-series reviewed by Film Excess to date
24 season 1 (2001) - TV action milestone

Listen to a snippet of the season's fine score here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Unknown
[24 season 3 aired first on Fox from 28 October 2003 - 25 May 2004. The first episode runs 51 minutes, while all the rest run 43 minutes, totaling approximately 1,040 minutes. The season's average ratings in North America were down almost 1.5 mil. viewers from the preceding season, averaging 10.3 mil. The season was nominated for 8 Emmys, winning 3, for Outstanding Casting for a Drama Series as well as Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing and Single Camera Sound Mixing for a Series. It also won the two Golden Globes it was nominated for, for Best Drama Series and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Sutherland). In 2003, Sutherland also did Behind the Red Door, Paradise Gone, L.A. Confidential (TV movie) and a voice performance in The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (video), before returning in 24 S4 in 2004. 117 Rotten Tomatoes users have rated 24 season 3 4.3/5.]

Do you agree that the show's quality slowly declined after this season?
What do you think of 24 season 3?

24 - season 2 (2002) - Jack Bauer's great first return

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Thriller of the Year

Jack and the major characters of 24's second season

24's second run deals with the peril that the show was obviously made for: Islamic terrorism. 18 months after the events in the first season, a nuclear bomb gone missing forces the now elected President Palmer home from a fishing holiday, and Jack out of his slacker lifestyle to reinstatement with the Counter Terrorist Unit.

The following plot account contains SPOILERS: 

CTU gets blown up, and chief Mason subsequently falls in the line of duty, - masterfully acted by Xander Berkeley (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)). Paul Schulze (Nurse Jackie (2009-15)) is then introduced as a new office superior, and it is very evident why the creators increased his part in the following season; a very well acted part again. Slightly cheesy romantic intrigues surface at the broken down office. A subplot about an upscale LA wedding with a possible alien terrorist involvement unfolds surprisingly. Sarah Wynther (Jerks (2000)) and Laura Harris (Final Safe (2011)) are good as the yin-yang Warner sisters in this plot strand.
The merciless bad-woman of season 1, Nina Meyers' re-unification with the CTU office is played up as of almost mythic importance. First lady Sherry Palmer again writhes behind her husband's back, and yet she remains a  joy to watch due to Penny Johnson Jerald's (Automatic (1995)) talent. The president is derailed by an internal cabinet coup-de-grace, and Jack actually dies, (for a short while), when things are at their worst.
The ultimate thugs of season 2, however, turn out to be Westerners: Great German actor Thomas Kretschmann (King Kong (2005)) and Saw-famed Tobin Bell (In the Line of Fire (1993)). They do well in the episodes leading up to the big, final struggle in the LA Coliseum.
The biggest issue for the show is, once again, the increasingly unlikely storyline of Jack's daughter, Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert (My Sassy Girl (2008))). In season 2, she leads a bloody escape with a girl she babysits from the girl's violent father through LA, gets into a car accident, is chased by a puma, takes refuge with a hermit who locks her up in his scary safe-room; she escapes, but gets into a store hostage situation that turns extremely bloody again; but she gets out intact, and then has a final run-in with the mad father, whom she shoots. Her reactions to the conflicts around her are obviously supposed to be recognizably human, but are in fact totally incomprehensible. She is a ridiculous element and once again a faulty character that should have been written out of the series long ago.

But 24 is still a highly suspenseful series without equal, and the cliffhanger in the last episode creates chaos in a most thrilling way.

Best episode:

15 - written by Joel Surnow (The Equalizer (1985-86)), Robert Cochran (The Commish (1991-95)); directed by Ian Toynton (Bones (2007-15))
The bomb goes off

Related posts:

24 season 1 (2001) - TV action milestone

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
24 - season 3 (2003) - Viral suspense peak of great show

In lieu of a trailer for the season, no longer on Youtube, here is a part of Sean Callery's Emmy-winning score for the show to get you in the mood

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Unknown
[24 season was first shown 29 October 2002 - 20 May 2003 and spans 23 43-minute episodes, with the first episode 51 minutes long, totaling approximately 1,040 minutes. The season began the show's use of the Air Force One set initially created for Air Force One (1997). Lead Kiefer Sutherland (Taking Lives (2004)) was upgraded to producer as well for the season. The viewer ratings in North America were up more than 3 mil. from the first season to an excellent 11.73 mil. average for the season, which also received a rating of 83/100 on Metacritic, based on 23 reviews. The season was nominated for 9 Emmys, winning two, for Sean Callery's (Jessica Jones (2015), TV-series) score and one for singe-camera editing, and for 3 Golden Globes, which it didn't win any of. 143,625 IMDb-users have given 24 an average rating of 8.4/10.]

What series is TV's best replacement for 24 today?
What do you think of 24 season 2?

24 - season 1 (2001) - The TV action milestone

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The stars of Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran's 24 season 1

Counter-terrorist agent Jack Bauer does whatever is necessary to prevent the assassination of  presidential candidate David Palmer, the first black candidate in American history, in the hectic 24 hours in which his teenage girl is also kidnapped, his wife suffers amnesia etc. etc. etc.

24 is the great modern action suspense series. Its innovative real-time format heightens the show, and the multi-layered stories are often hugely captivating
Kiefer Sutherland's (Melancholia (2011)) great comeback role as Jack Bauer is a great modern hero, navigating between complex situations and threats with cut-throat determination and at the constant risk of making mistakes. Ultimately a warm present for the new, radical anti-terror legislation of presidents Bush and later Obama, 24 is a show where terrorists are often tortured or shot in the field with total justification. It is not a show with much after-thought or reflection in that regard, although the first seasons are more insightful and realistic than late ones. As such it is a perfect product for Fox.
Creators Joel Surnow and Robert Cochran (24 (2008), both) are veterans in TV; they did the Michael Chiklis-starring police comedy series The Commish together from 1991-95.
The role of Kim Bauer (Elisha Cuthbert (House of Wax (2005))) is an annoying know-it-all teen from episode 3 onward, a major problem for the season. Furthermore the dramatic situations that she gets into along the way become increasingly unbelievable. She is probably there for promotional and demographic reasons, but should clearly have been killed off in my opinion.
The show was not a sure hit: Fox initially commissioned just the first 13 episodes, treading into the expensive venture lightly. The plot line is a bit influenced by that unideal touch-and-go-policy.
Dennis Haysbert (Dear White People (2014)) and Penny Johnson Jerald (NCIS (2009-10)) as the future presidential couple are brilliant in the melodramatic political/family struggles in the second half of the season. In good supporting parts are Zach Grenier (Curb Your Enthusiasm (2001), TV-series) as a spin doctor swine, and Xander Berkeley (Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)) as an office-running minor psychopath.
24 is a great show and Haysbert and Sutherland are much of the reason for it, along with the show's exciting editing scheme, - as when video windows grow and diminish in multi-image layouts, - and great sound and composing work, by Sean Callery (Homeland (2011-15)). The first season is an extraordinary production and the start of the longest running espionage show in television history. - Great TV!

Best episodes:

8: 7 - 8 AM - written by Surnow, Cochran, Michael Loceff (La Femme Nikita (2000-01)); directed by Stephen Hopkins (The Life and Death of Peter Sellers (2004))
SPOILER Jack diverts the first assassination plot.

20 : 7 - 8 PM - written by Surnow, Cochran, Howard Gordon (Homeland (2011-15)); directed by Hopkins
SPOILER Jack is captured and taken to a secret prison, and the main villain, Victor Drazen, is revealed to be played by Dennis Hopper (Speed (1994))! - Quite a surprise treat!

Related posts:

24 - season 2 (2002-03) - The Bomb
24 - season 3 (2003-04) - Viral suspense peak of great show

Sarah Clarke (Twilight (2008)) as Nina Myers in Robert Cochran and Joel Surnow's 24 season 1

Kiefer Sutherland gives an interview about the first season here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: None - TV-series
= Uncertainty
[24 season 1 was originally shown 6 November 2001 - 21 May 2002 and runs 24 43-minute episodes, (approximately 1,032 minutes in total.) Cochran and Surnow got the idea for the show together in the IHoP in Woodland Hills, LA. The premiere was moved due to 9/11. After Sutherland won the Golden Globe for Best Actor - TV Drama, Fox decided to order the last 11 episodes. The season averaged 8.6 mil. viewers in the US. It was shown the world over; in the UK on BBC, where it was their biggest hit show ever. The DVD release was also #1 in the UK, and 24's strong DVD sales are thought to have been a big part of why the ratings for the later seasons increased. The season was nominated for 10 Emmys, winning 2: Best Writing for a TV-series and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Series. The show has ended its run now after 9 seasons and a TV-movie. It was remade in India in 2013. 24 season 1 is fresh at 100 % with an 8.85/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What is your favorite 24 season?
What do you think of the first season?