A Most Wanted Man Caught it on Prime this past weekend. Its about a group of spies in Germany looking into corruption and terrorist financing by a local Islamic leader, and how the spy group systematically builds up their pool of informants as they work their way up. I really enjoyed it. Its creative, very well-written and the main character has a heartbreaking melancholy about him, which becomes that much more real since its Phillip Seymour Hoffman's last movie before he died. Its a slow burn spy thriller, kind of like Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy; but not that slow. Rachel McAdams and Willem Dafoe were also both excellent characters. I think its definitely worth watching. The only complaint I had was too many of the characters mumble, and with fake German accents, it makes the dialogue hard to follow sometimes. 9/10
The Rocketeer I made my wife watch this because she had never seen it and I remember it being really good. I also remember The Disney Channel promoting it nonstop when I was a kid. Well, it’s really not that good. It has the potential to be a proto-Iron Man, but it’s just poorly put together. The movie just doesn’t have an act 2 where there’s 30 or so minutes of the Rocketeer saving people and becoming the hero. He goes from putting on the rocket once to fighting Nazis on top of a zeppelin. Also, why don’t his fucking legs burn off immediately? The acting is fine, but the main actor is forgettable and not believable as a college-aged guy. Jennifer Connelly is a hot as hell though. 3/10
Manhunter (1986) If I had to choose one movie— just one film I could give “Most underrated movie of all time”, this is it. Panned at the box office, dismissed by critics and wrongfully tagged as a “cult” movie, this has aged better than wine and should rightfully take its place as one of the best movies of the 1980’s, and one of the best thrillers EVER MADE. Here you have a movie directed by a visual/audio genius (Michael Mann) featuring two ingenious characterizations: William L Peterson as the broken forensic FBI investigator, and Tom Noonan as the stoic and terrifying “Red Dragon” Francis Dollarhyde. Both performances draw you in so much any flaws are impossible to notice. Noonan, unforgettable in the role, portrays as a horrible monster containing deep, rich veins of humanity flowing through him— something you pretty much never see in films. The once “dated” music score now sounds more mesmerizing than ever, and the film maintains vice-grip tension until its somewhat abrupt and peculiar climax (Mann ran over budget and had to cut the plot there). This is bar-none the best adaptation of any of Thomas Harris’ “Hannibal” stories. Brian Cox lacks the panache Hopkins has as the classic character, but this film as vastly superior than any that followed. A beautiful film with intense and brilliant colour and sound focus. You can’t take your eyes off of it. Just you and me now, sport. 9.5/10
I agree 100%. I saw this in the theater on a boring rainy afternoon with nothing to do and looking to kill some time. Had no idea what it was about, just walked up and chose it from the marquis. I was blown away. Totally captivated and engaged for the entire movie. It was a hell of an experience, and I remember feeling drained at the end of it.
It’s that good? I’ve never seen Manhunter. I always assumed it was the forgotten entry in the series.
It is superior to Red Dragon in every single possible aspect. A must-see. I’ve never met a person who didn’t like it.
Spoiler: kinda spoiler? In order to catch the bad guy, he slowly becomes more and more like him in order to think like him, understand his motivations, and eventually predict what he's going to do. Watching that descent and how it fucks with him and his family/life was pretty engaging. "Will I be able to return to normal once I'm done?"
Like I tell people, Mindhunter and Manhunter do not just have similar titles. The dramatic effect of the latter definitely influences the former, not to mention the actions of the main character. And you Nett, of all people must love this:
I mean it's a fun movie and under appreciated. It is not the best Hannibal film adaptation. Silence of the Lambs is an ageless all time classic and the better film. You'll never convince me otherwise. That being said, it's better than the rest of the films in the series. It is a definite Micheal Mann movie, feels just like his movies of the time. Going from the dark gothic stylings of Silence to a sleek bright color pallet of Manhunter is quite jarring. I think the score is dated. It's inline with Mann's Miami Vice stylings of the time but doesnt hold up for me. Tom Noonan is great and I thought the best part of the film. Brian Cox as Hannibal Lecter (Lecktor because they didnt get the rights to the character name) was good but had virtually no screen time and he just didn't put on an all time performance like Hopkins did with his relatively short screen time. Since it's set in the same universe as Silence it's hard to separate the two. If the movie was just a stand alone phycological thriller with no connection it'd be in the better half of Michael Mann films Ive seen but still wouldnt be in the same league as Silence. I love Michael Mann films so I really enjoyed it and would recommend watching it.
I watched it last night. Its definitely a Michael Mann film, that's for sure. The over-synthed music and the cinematography were very much his signature. But William Petersen sucks a leading man. He lacked all charisma and screen presence. His attempts at brooding did nothing much else than such the life out of the movie. I did enjoy the procedural aspect of it though. Brian Cox was a cool interpretation on the character of Lecter. Overall, I enjoyed it and I'm glad I watched it, but I understand why it was panned. Its just not super captivating.
Silence of the Lambs won its praise from Hopkins. The film swept the “Big Five” at the Oscars, but Foster did not deserve best actress. I still think it’s a great film, but the movie did not deserve best picture or best director. Hopkins was on screen for sixteen minutes, almost half of that his opening scene. That’s not a “lead actor” role in the least. His performance was so hypnotic, so utterly transfixing that it made this wild-eyed, balding old psychopath a sex symbol to women and a hero to men. It’s one of THE most effective acting performances, anywhere, ever.
My wife did a CSI binge not that long ago. I tried to sell her on doing a Manhunter viewing by (jokingly) telling her that she can have a chance to watch William Petersen mumble his way through a movie for two hours. Weirdly, she did not take me up on it. Overall, I still like it. It's very much a time capsule. You could show it to anyone, not tell them when it was made and they could still easily guess it's an 80s movie without any problems.
I have not since a performance like Hopkins as Lecter anywhere else either. Ledger's joker comes close, but theres very few times where the movie makes you root for the bad guy. At least I was rooting for him to escape. I think because it was so electrifying, he deserve to win Best Actor based on how powerful it was. It saturates the entire film. Jodie Foster as Best Actress is a little more questionable. You'd think after The Accused she would have improved her southern accent a bit.
The escape is easily the best thing about the movie for me. Every police officer during that scene is terrified, fully demonstrating the power and influence of Lecter’s character even when he’s not on screen. And once the infamous Shock-reveal occurs, fools the audience Just as much as it does the cops. A brilliant and genuinely gripping sequence.
You guys ever see the Get Carter remake with Stallone? I don’t know why this movie got wrecked by critics. I really like it. It’s not perfect and the stylistic camera work is a little over-done, but it’s a pretty fun noir-ish flick.
I liked Stallone a lot in it. The other characters are weird and disjointed. But Stallone makes it good, especially how he’s willing to play dirty and his utterly direct approach to getting what he wants. It also has a very good car chase.