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The Five Types of Moments in a Michael Mann Movie

For a director whose work is known to be incredibly macho and conform to genre tropes, Mann stands out amongst a lot of cinephiles as the one of the best studio filmmakers working today. His films, shot in digital or non-digital, evoke a moody imagery that glorifies his character’s emotional being yet is radiated by coolness. Last night, the BAMcinematek …

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10 Best Movie Shootouts of All Time

Shootouts, unlike any other type of action scenes, put death in the forefront of the audience’s mind. Whereas a car chase draws the attention onto the race, or a fight scene onto the pursuit of victory, shootouts test the mortality of our protagonists and anti-heroes. It’s more than just a hail of bullets that matters …

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10 Best Movie Heist Scenes of All Time

Hollywood has had a long love affair with the heist sub-genre. Dating as far back as the silent film era with 1928’s Alias Jimmy Valentine, and transcending various genres like westerns (The War Wagon), war (Kelly’s Heroes) and even animation (Toy Story 3), the heist has tantalized our fantasies and outsmarted our wits for decades. …

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The Obsessive World of Michael Mann

Michael Mann is fascinated by obsessives who work on opposite sides of the law. In fact, when you go over his filmography, it’s filled with them: loners who are hardened by choice and keep others at a constant arm’s-length, indulging in their skills instead. Starting in 1981, Mann made his first feature, Thief, about a …

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Top 10 “One Last Job” Scenes

With November Man out, excitement for Pierce Bosnan’s return to spying is at an all-time high for many James Bond fans. November Man, based on the seventh installment of Bill Granger’s book series called There Are No Spies, is about ex- CIA agent Peter Devereaux (Pierce Bosnan). While living a quiet life in Switzerland, Devereaux …

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The Definitive Kubrickian Films: 40-31

As we spend a month looking at the great Stanley Kubrick, we can also look at the filmmakers who were clearly influenced by Kubrick. “Kubrickian” films tend to exercise incredible control of the camera, are extremely ambitious, tend to deal with much weightier themes, and always maintain a sense of mystery, like a there’s an …

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A Feast For The Eyes: Famous Film Eateries

Locations in films are rarely the thing an average filmgoer remembers after watching a film; it’s always about the story, character and the lines they say that later form the proverbial ‘word of mouth.’ However, when you think of great confrontations, conversations and simple exchanges, they always take place in a nice public setting – …

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Eight Counts of Grand Theft Cinema

We love crime movies. We may go on and on about Scorsese’s ability to incorporate Italian neo-realism techniques into Mean Streets (1973), the place of John Huston’s The Asphalt Jungle (1950) in the canon of postwar noir, The Godfather (1972) as a socio-cultural commentary on the distortion of the ideals of the American dream blah …

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4 Films, One Fatal Flaw Away From Greatness

Imagine if the studio’s wishes had been fulfilled, and Robert Redford had been cast as Michael Corleone in The Godfather. Or imagine if Raiders of the Lost Ark had been scored by Randy Newman. What would it be like if Apocalypse Now ended with a musical number, complete with Montagnard cabaret dancers and Marlon Brando …

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Top Ten Cop Movies

Authors note: Okay, let me just a minute to explain about my relationship with cop movies. I love them! As an ex-actor my ideal role would be that of some down on his luck, hardboiled cop! The very first feature length script I completed was a cop thriller! I did my very best at channeling …

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