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?

The Lost (2006) - Marc Senter stands out in unpleasant serial killer indie

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Star Marc Senter lights up in a skull-shaped plume of smoke above a female corpse on this ominous poster for Chris Sivertson's The Lost

Ray Pye is a young man who attracts some weak friends who also fear him, after he murders two random women and continues his life of being a psychopath in the following years.

The Lost is written and directed by feature-debuting Chris Sivertson (Brawler (2011)), adapting the same-titled 2001 novel by Jack Ketchum (Right to Life (1998), novella). It is a small indie serial killer thriller loosely based on real-life serial killer Charles Schmid, 'the Pied Piper of Tucson', who killed several women in 1964 and was killed by fellow prisoners in 1975. Unfortunately the story is fairly uninteresting, since there is no one to attach any sympathy on. - What makes the youngsters follow - and refrain from report - Ray Pye is unfathomable, and the man himself; he is like a lit stick of dynamite, a cannon of unchecked masculine rage and psychopathy.
Ray is portrayed with impressive energy and credibility by Marc Senter (Dementia (2015)), who may have accidentally scared himself away from gaining future parts in this constantly unpleasant drama-thriller.
Sivertson shows obvious affection for the films of David Lynch with The Lost, but what the impetus behind the picture is feels unclear.

Watch a clip from the movie with Senter here

Cost: Unknown
Box office: Unknown
= Uncertain
[The Lost premiered 12 March (South by Southwest Film Festival, Austin, Texas) and runs 119 minutes. Production details as well as details on the theatrical performance of the film are not reported online to my knowledge. Sivertson returned with The Best of Robbers (2006). Senter returned in I Know Who Killed Me (2007). 2,443 IMDb users have given The Lost a 6/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Lost?

Life (2015) - No James Dean ...

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+ 3rd Worst Movie of the Year
+ Most Deserved Flop of the Year

The too-early demise of star James Dean is hinted at with the torn line and B/W of Dane DeHaan's face as the star on this poster for Anton Corbijn's Life

James Dean is an up and coming star in Hollywood with his breakthrough in Elia Kazan's East of Eden (1955) soon about to open, when a freelance photographer searches him out for a photo reportage.

Life is written by Luke Davies (Lion (2016)), based on the real life friendship between James Dean and Life magazine photographer Dennis Stock, and directed by Anton Corbijn (Control (2007)).
Contrary to the case with Simon Curtis' great My Week with Marilyn (2011), - an apt comparison piece to Life, - Corbijn's film doesn't have a lead actor to fill out the towering, iconic role of its star James Dean. Life is also, ironically, brought down by a very earth-bound plot and photography (by otherwise great cinematographer Charlotte Bruus Christensen (Fences (2016))), which often seems unsure of where the camera really ought to be.
Dane DeHaan (Life after Beth (2014)) nevertheless clearly poses the biggest problem for the film, and Corbijn should have searched farther to find a true James Dean. DeHaan isn't attractive enough, and his eyes and voice have none of the spark and intensity that defined Dean for the public. Starting out DeHaan also gives Dean some gay affectations that makes one hope that the relation to Robert Pattinson (Damsel (2018)) as the photographer might develop in such a direction, - but alas, Life merely teases us a bit. - It would be natural to expect that DeHaan's career hit the wall with this disaster but no: For some reason he continues to be booked for prestigious roles in sometimes colossal movies (which most often flop terribly.)
Life takes us and the two leads to Indiana for no obvious reason and becomes a deadly bore. Corbijn stands on the thinnest supportable ice here.

Related posts:

Anton Corbijn: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
A Most Wanted Man (2014) - Hamburg anti-terror spies in lean, serious picture
The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing  
2007 in films - according to Film Excess
Control (2007) - Ian Curtis' youth, love and music as the front man of Joy Division

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: Reportedly 10-15 mil. $
Box office: 1.2 mil. $
= Box office disaster (returned between 0.12-0.08 times the cost, depending on the film's final cost)
[Life premiered 9 February (Berlin International Film Festival, Germany) and runs 111 minutes. Corbijn, himself originally a photographer, has stated that he wasn't interested in the James Dean part of the story. Shooting took place in Ontario, including Toronto, and in Los Angeles, California from February - March 2014. The film only had a very limited release in North America, and its gross from it is unreported: It was issued as VoD at the same time, and the earnings from this are not made public. The film's biggest markets were France with 298k $ (24.8 % of the total gross), Germany with 167k $ (13.9 %) and Norway with 137k $ (11.4 %). Corbijn has not announced any new film since the disaster. DeHaan returned in Two Lovers and a Bear (2016); Pattinson in The Childhood of a Leader (2015). Life is fresh at 64 % with a 6.2/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Life?

Flame & Citron/Flammen og Citronen (2008) - Madsen's thrilling WWII resistance picture

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+ Best Big Flop Movie of the Year + Best Danish Movie of the Year + Best Thriller of the Year

Stars Mads Mikkelsen and Thure Lindhardt stand out in period garbs on this deliberately ruffed up poster for Ole Christian Madsen's Flame & Citron

A small group of Danish resistance fighters during WWII commit determined efforts out of Copenhagen to assassinate the greatest Nazi criminals that come into their country. But the work tears at them from all angles.

Flame & Citron is written by Lars Kristian Andersen (The Shooter/Skytten (2013)) and Danish co-writer-director Ole Christian Madsen (Banshee (2013-16)). The Danish resistance heroes are given the very biggest paintbrush production-wise here, in a Danish film production context, and a role-model seems to be master filmmaker Steven Spielberg and his great Munich (2005).
For a Danish film, Flame & Citron is handsomely made, although one inevitably feels that the story has probably been exaggerated a bit here and there. After a while the title duo characters also capture one's imagination, thanks to good performances from Mads Mikkelsen (The Green Butchers/De Grønne Slagtere (2003)) and Thure Lindhardt (Little Soldier/Lille Soldat (2008)). Lars Mikkelsen (House of Cards (2015-17)), Jesper Christensen (The Interpreter (2005)), a tremendous Stine Stengade (Above Suspicion (2013), TV-series) and Christian Berkel (Miracle at St. Anna (2008)) complete the fine cast.
Especially suspenseful is the third act of this war thriller romance, which, however, is undoubtedly mostly of interest to Danes.

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Listen to a part of the score for the film here, composed by Karsten Fundal (Danny's Doomsday/Dannys Dommedag (2014))

Cost: 8.6 mil. $
Box office: 10.1 mil. $
= Big flop (1.17 times the cost)
[Flame & Citron was released 28 March (Denmark) and runs 130 minutes. Madsen had been fascinated with the real-life Flame & Citron resistance duo since his childhood and researched the film for 8 years, while also gathering the necessary funding, which involved 7 European countries and no less than 25 companies and governmental support funds. Filming took place from March - May 2007 in Copenhagen, Denmark, Berlin, Germany and Prague, Czech Republic. The 46 mil. DKK budget made the film reportedly the most expensive Danish film ever staged. It was the most popular film of the year in Denmark, selling 673,741 tickets. It opened #65 to a 15k $ first weekend in 2 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #58 and in 8 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 148k $ (1.5 % of the total gross). The biggest 3 markets were main production country Denmark with 9.2 mil. $ (91 % of the total gross), Germany with 301k $ (3 %) and Norway with 149k $ (1.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3/4 star review, equal to the one here. The film won 1/3 Bodil award nominations (Danish film critics' awards), 5/14 Robert awards (Danish Oscar) and was nominated for a European Film award. Madsen returned with Superclásico (2011). Mikkelsen returned in Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky (2009). Lindhardt returned in shorts The Duality of Love (2008) and Closed Doors (2008) and theatrically in comedy turkey Take the Trash/Blå Mænd (2008). Stengade returned in Moving Up/Spillets Regler (2008). Flame & Citron is certified fresh at 87 % with a 6.8 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Flame & Citron?

Children of Paradise/Les Enfants du Paradis (1945) - Carnés undying masterpiece, maybe the most heroic film ever made

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An irresistible original French poster for the second part of Marcel Carné's then two-parter Children of Paradise

A pantomime and a beautiful actress fall in love in dashing Paris of 1827, but he is not the only one infatuated with her, - in fact she gets three additional suitors and soon finds herself in a terrible jam as a result of this.

Children of Paradise is written by Oscar-nominated Jacques Prévert (Adieu Léonard (1943)) and directed by French master filmmaker Marcel Carné (La Marie du Port (1950)), and the four suitors are all based on actual 1820s and 1830s French personalities. The title refers to the theater, where the children are understood to be the actors, and the paradise, or the gods, which some have suggested would have been a better English translation of the French title, are the rough, loud, good-natured working class audiences in the theater's second balcony, whose veneration the actors sought as that of gods.
Children of Paradise is a completely masterful film, which is rich on intellect, stimulating, at times sharp and at times funny dialog, formidable sets, scenes and photography (by Roger Hubert (Der Meineidbauer/The Perjurer/Die Sunderin vom Fernerhof (1959)) and Philipppe Agostini (Topaze (1951))). Its uniformly brilliant cast give deep-seated life to the rich characters: Arletty (The Longest Day (1962)) as Claire Reine; Louis Salou (The Lovers of Verona/Les Amants de Vérone (1949)) as the Count; Marcel Herrand (Young Love/Une Histoire d'Amour (1951)) as Lacenaire; Pierre Brasseur (Dirty Hands/Les Mains Sales (1951)) as Frédérick Lemaître; and Jean-Louis Barrault (I Accuse/J'accuse! (1938)) as Baptiste the mime. 
Children of Paradise is a painful and wise treatment of the nature of love and its mystery. It is made with a genuine and infectious love for the filmmaking process and the theater.

 

Related post:

 

Marcel Carné: Top 10: Best French movies

Watch a trailer the film with English subtitles here

Cost: Reportedly around 60 mil. francs
Box office: Reportedly around 41 mil. francs - France only
= Unknown
[Children of Paradise premiered 9 March (Paris) and runs 190 minutes. The film was made during the German occupation of France during WWII, making the endeavor extremely difficult and dangerous: Its set designer and composer were Jews working in secret on the film, always in mortal danger. A producer was forced from the production due to Jewish ancestry; the length was combated by the French Vichy government, and a crucial part of financing, the Italian co-producer, fell away as the Allied conquered Sicily in 1943. Huge sets were mounted in Nice, including a quarter-mile long 'Boulevard du Temple', which was damaged by a storm and had to be rebuilt. Shooting also took place in Paris and in Pathé's Val-de-Marne studios. The film's budget was reportedly unmatched in French film at the time. It required several hundred extras, who willingly turned out for filming, but in outdoor market scenes, the food laid out would often disappear, simply because the extras were war-famished. Actor Robert Le Vigand, who plays the informer-thief, was sentenced to death by the Resistance for Nazi collaboration at the time of Paris' liberation in August 1944. He fled and was replaced. Arletty was also arrested for collaboration shortly after the film's release and spent a short time in jail, based on a short affair she had with a German officer. Production lasted an extremely long two years, with Carné working hard to keep the film from release until after the liberation of France, when he wanted it to appeal to the rebuilding of the country's dignity. He fought to have it released as one long film, and succeeded, with ticket prizes doubled. Another new invention by Carné was the opportunity to reserve seats in advance. Almost 5 mil. paid admission in France alone, where it became the 2nd biggest movie of 1945, behind La Cage aux Rossignols, a school-drama. Whether the very costly film became profitable with releases in other countries, in which it continued to work its way over the next several years, is not known. It has enjoyed acclaim and several re-releases (including a 2012 US re-release in which it grossed 36k $ in 2 theaters in 3 weeks) and a 2012 4K-restored Blu-ray release. It was nominated for the Best Original Screenplay Oscar, but lost to Muriel Box and Sydney Box for The Seventh Veil. It also won a critics' award at the 1946 Venice International Film Festival and is recognized by Roger Ebert and just about every other serious film scholar as a great film. Children of Paradise is fresh at 97 % with a 9.2 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Children of Paradise?