What movies are you watching?

[Simple Torture]

I watched All The President's Men this afternoon. It was good; I've never been into them, but I betcha I'd like good detective movies. Any recommendations?

In the Heat of the Night
Zodiac
Chinatown
The French Connection
Three Days on the Condor
LA Confidential
Manhunter
Vertigo

Excellent. I've seen Zodiac, which is one of my faves. Thanks!

[Simple Torture]

I watched All The President's Men this afternoon. It was good; I've never been into them, but I betcha I'd like good detective movies. Any recommendations?

Robert Altman's The Long Goodbye

I think I read this book, maybe.

[Simple Torture]

LA Confidential

After adding these to my watch list, I remembered: when I first saw the poster for this movie in 1997 as a 13 year old, it caused an ol' force awakening, if you know what I mean.

[LetMeSleep]

LA Confidential

After adding these to my watch list, I remembered: when I first saw the poster for this movie in 1997 as a 13 year old, it caused an ol' force awakening, if you know what I mean.

It's a great film. And it'll move you.

[Simple Torture]

LA Confidential

After adding these to my watch list, I remembered: when I first saw the poster for this movie in 1997 as a 13 year old, it caused an ol' force awakening, if you know what I mean.

It's a great film. And it'll move you.

This sounds like there are tits; there better be tits.

[tommymtcom]

No tits, but you do get to see Kevin spaceys dong.

[BurtReynolds]

[epilogue]

I watched All The President's Men this afternoon. It was good; I've never been into them, but I betcha I'd like good detective movies. Any recommendations?

In the Heat of the Night
Zodiac
Chinatown
The French Connection
Three Days on the Condor
LA Confidential
Manhunter
Vertigo

Excellent. I've seen Zodiac, which is one of my faves. Thanks!

Vertigo is one of the greatest films of all time. Easily on my top 10.

Chinatown is also exquisite and I highly recommend it. Just brilliant noir.

Most people love LA Confidential, so I would recommend it even though I personally don't really care for it.

Manhunter is one of the absolute worst films I've ever seen. I would never recommend anyone see it.

Zodiac is brilliant, but you said you've seen it.

I haven't seen the others on his list but have heard great things about both.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

I watched All The President's Men this afternoon. It was good; I've never been into them, but I betcha I'd like good detective movies. Any recommendations?

In the Heat of the Night
Zodiac
Chinatown
The French Connection
Three Days on the Condor
LA Confidential
Manhunter
Vertigo

Excellent. I've seen Zodiac, which is one of my faves. Thanks!

Vertigo is one of the greatest films of all time. Easily on my top 10.

Chinatown is also exquisite and I highly recommend it. Just brilliant noir.

Most people love LA Confidential, so I would recommend it even though I personally don't really care for it.

Manhunter is one of the absolute worst films I've ever seen. I would never recommend anyone see it.

Zodiac is brilliant, but you said you've seen it.

I haven't seen the others on his list but have heard great things about both.

Manhunter is definitely an acquired taste. It's early Michael Mann, so it's got a pretty heavy Miami Vice vibe. But it's genuinely scary, and the whole cast is awesome: Brian Cox, William Peterson, Joan Allen, Dennis Farina, Tom Noonan, and a great bit part by Chris Elliott. It should be at the bottom of your list, but maybe don't brush it off completely.

I'm continually shocked when people say they like Manhunter. More over, I'm blown away when people praise the performances. William Peterson is painfully bad. And I usually like Brian Cox but he's just so uninteresting as Hannibal Lecter. None of the character as I read him is in that performance. The movie is dull and campy. There isn't any suspense, forget about it being 'genuinely scary.' I spent the entire movie rolling my eyes and screaming at the screen. It has no business being that terrible. The people involved are so much better than what they turned out. It's gross.

Then again, I know so many people who really like the movie and love the performances that I have to wonder if the wrong movie was in the case when I rented it.

[LoathedVermin72]

Manhunter is a masterpiece, and Petersen, Noonan, and Cox are brilliant in it.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

Manhunter is a masterpiece, and Petersen, Noonan, and Cox are brilliant in it.

Real talk, do you really think it's a "masterpiece?" You're not being hyperbolic when you say that? Like, if someone wanted to see just one single movie by Michael Mann and they'd never seen his work before, that's the one you'd tell them they have to see?

I'm happy to concede Cox's performance. It's not bad, it's just not what I think the character should be. But he's making interesting and consistent choices, for sure. Petersen, though... I have a hard time remembering a performance that bad in a major Hollywood movie. As someone who has studied acting, it just infuriates me. I get worked up just thinking about it.

[Strat]

I tried to watch it once but i just wasn't in the mood for it. Perhaps Ill give it another go. I enjoyed the red dragon though!

[LoathedVermin72]

Manhunter is a masterpiece, and Petersen, Noonan, and Cox are brilliant in it.

Real talk, do you really think it's a "masterpiece?" You're not being hyperbolic when you say that? Like, if someone wanted to see just one single movie by Michael Mann and they'd never seen his work before, that's the one you'd tell them they have to see?

I'm happy to concede Cox's performance. It's not bad, it's just not what I think the character should be. But he's making interesting and consistent choices, for sure. Petersen, though... I have a hard time remembering a performance that bad in a major Hollywood movie. As someone who has studied acting, it just infuriates me. I get worked up just thinking about it.

Yes, absolutely. I think it's top-tier Mann, an equal of Heat and Blackhat.

What do you find so bad about Petersen? He does sometimes verbalize his thoughts, but I think that's a character choice. It expresses his insularity and isolation.

[LoathedVermin72]

I tried to watch it once but i just wasn't in the mood for it. Perhaps Ill give it another go. I enjoyed the red dragon though!

i hate red dragon so much

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[epilogue]

Manhunter is a masterpiece, and Petersen, Noonan, and Cox are brilliant in it.

Real talk, do you really think it's a "masterpiece?" You're not being hyperbolic when you say that? Like, if someone wanted to see just one single movie by Michael Mann and they'd never seen his work before, that's the one you'd tell them they have to see?

I'm happy to concede Cox's performance. It's not bad, it's just not what I think the character should be. But he's making interesting and consistent choices, for sure. Petersen, though... I have a hard time remembering a performance that bad in a major Hollywood movie. As someone who has studied acting, it just infuriates me. I get worked up just thinking about it.

Yes, absolutely. I think it's top-tier Mann, an equal of Heat and Blackhat.

What do you find so bad about Petersen? He does sometimes verbalize his thoughts, but I think that's a character choice. It expresses his insularity and isolation.

There's nothing behind the eyes. He telegraphs everything. He's showy. Every word out of his mouth feels false. I don't believe him in any moment during the movie. It doesn't seem like he's in the same film as everyone else, and not in an interesting way, but in a lost and incompetent way. His deliveries are canned and emotionless, or they're too big and campy to be taken seriously. It's like they hired a porn actor to do a parody version of Manhunter and cut him into the Michael Mann film.

He's not living on screen at all. Unlike Cox who is absolutely in every moment. The more I think about it, the more I do really like Cox in the movie. I think I was just too biased by the character on the page and by what I'd already seen from Hopkins to appreciate it. I held my own preconceived notions against him. He really does a lovely job, though.

[LoathedVermin72]

Manhunter is a masterpiece, and Petersen, Noonan, and Cox are brilliant in it.

Real talk, do you really think it's a "masterpiece?" You're not being hyperbolic when you say that? Like, if someone wanted to see just one single movie by Michael Mann and they'd never seen his work before, that's the one you'd tell them they have to see?

I'm happy to concede Cox's performance. It's not bad, it's just not what I think the character should be. But he's making interesting and consistent choices, for sure. Petersen, though... I have a hard time remembering a performance that bad in a major Hollywood movie. As someone who has studied acting, it just infuriates me. I get worked up just thinking about it.

Yes, absolutely. I think it's top-tier Mann, an equal of Heat and Blackhat.

What do you find so bad about Petersen? He does sometimes verbalize his thoughts, but I think that's a character choice. It expresses his insularity and isolation.

There's nothing behind the eyes. He telegraphs everything. He's showy. Every word out of his mouth feels false. I don't believe him in any moment during the movie. It doesn't seem like he's in the same film as everyone else, and not in an interesting way, but in a lost and incompetent way. His deliveries are canned and emotionless, or they're too big and campy to be taken seriously. It's like they hired a porn actor to do a parody version of Manhunter and cut him into the Michael Mann film.

He's not living on screen at all. Unlike Cox who is absolutely in every moment. The more I think about it, the more I do really like Cox in the movie. I think I was just too biased by the character on the page and by what I'd already seen from Hopkins to appreciate it. I held my own preconceived notions against him. He really does a lovely job, though.

I can understand these as subjective reactions, but I don't share them. It's important to remember that the role he is playing is largely defined by isolation, obsession, detachment. I think it makes a lot of sense that he often seems "emotionless," with occasional bursts of big drama. I find his choices gripping; I think it's a very memorable performance. But, like the film, it is idiosyncratic. Uniquely stilted. The film and his performance have an off-kilter style, and I can see how one may find them grating and aloof.

[epilogue]

Guys, come on...If film is an industrial process, and the auteur attempts to shepherd his vision through that process, I'd say this is an extremely cohesive vision. It may not be for you, but it's a damn fine Michael Mann film; it works less well as an adaptation of the source material:

Maybe it is a "cohesive vision" but that doesn't mean it's a good vision or an interesting vision. I certainly don't find it compelling. I find it grating and amateur. But I will say that I was watching it as an adaptation of the source material, and as you say, that's maybe the thing it's least interested in and worst at. So that didn't help things. But even laying the source material aside, there's just so little that I can sink my teeth into. I've said before I'm not a Michael Mann fan, so it's possible his vision, his language, just isn't for me. We will forever miscommunicate. But god, I really hate Manhunter. I disagree that it's a good representation of Michael Mann.

Just watching that trailer .... man! It just grates on me so much!