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This was a great action movie until the end, and that's really all I can say for those who haven't seen it. The shootout was a visual feast for the eyes. A good acion movie nonetheless.

Ah Thanksgiving. In my mind, the most quintessentially American of Holidays, and among my favorites. I love everything about Turkey day. Food, family football, friends, fireside chats, oh, and did I mention, food? Feasting on turkey leftovers in all their varied incarnations might be the best part of the whole experience. I spent this Thanksgiving with a family friend in upstate New York - beautiful scenery to go along with a great meal. Then I came home, got to see my friends from high school, and played in our annual Thanksgiving weekend rough touch football game. This left me bruised and VERY sore (I need to get more exercise), but, it was a lot of fun.. even though we got pasted. Oh well. We'll get 'em in the near future.

I also saw a few movies over the weekend. Reviews of all will be forthcoming, but I'll start with Saturday's DVD viewing first.

Heat is an ambitious but seriously flawed heist flick that is most notable for being the first movie in which Robert de Niro and Al Pacino appear onscreen together. Pacino is Victor, a workaholic L.A. homicide detective on the trail of a gang of bank robbers responsible for the murders of three armored truck security guards. De Niro is Neal, the leader of the gang, a career thief on the verge of getting out of the business for good. Each is good at what he does, and they take turns stalking each other in a game of cat-and-mouse involving the old standard "last big score" that de Niro's character is organizing. This aspect of the film is very good. Not so on-target are scenes involving criminal flunkies Val Kilmer, Dennis Haysbert, Tom Sizemore, and Kevin Gage, which bloat the running time without adding much. Haysbert's character is present merely as a plot device, and though Gage's role in the plot is pivotal, he also has a few scenes which are completely pointless, adding nothing to the story other than a little grisly psychosis. The female characters in the story function primarily as character development props for the male leads, and Ashley Judd, Amy Brenneman, and Natalie Portman are all criminally underused. In fact, pretty much everyone but Victor and Neal serves as an example of the kind of character writing that should be verboten for any alumnus of Screenwriting 101 - a deadly combination of importance to the plot, extensive screen time, and deflating two-dimensionality. A long, pointless shoot 'em up scene near the end of the film is jarringly out of place and highly unrealistic, and there are at least two subplots that seem to have been thrown in willy-nilly. The main plot itself is overly complex and introduces too many threads; while they are all wrapped up at the end, screenwriter/director Michael Mann has to resort to a contrived resolution to do so. There are lots of actors in this movie, but only two of them really get a chance to act. The duelling performances of Pacino and de Niro make the film worth a look, but on the whole I can recommend it only tepidly at best.

Wow, I can

Heat is, in a word, explosive. Micheal Mann's crime epic has become another favorite film of mine for one particular reason: De Niro and Pacino. The two Hollywood giants face off for the first time ever and the effect is astonishing. De Niro is Nemo, a master thief and leader of a bank robbing crew who have become brothers and killers all together. Pacino is Detective Hanna, a veteran cop with the tenacity of a wolf whose fierce dedication to his job is endangering his marriage and his stepdaughter's emotional well-being. Pacino and De Niro go at it amid L.A.'s wild streets, both of them very good at what they do, thus insuring that only one will survive. Val Kilmer stars as one of De Niro's crew and is wracked with painful addictions and the hard truth that his wife is cheating on him. The film is packed with intense dialogue, towering performances, and a crazed shooting spree on a packed L.A. street that becomes an instant classic in the cops and robbers genre. This film is a must see and I highly recommend it.

The best gangster/cop movie ever. The best gangster/cop (De Niro/Pacino) ever. Thank you Michael Mann!

:fresh: this film sees the first pairing of pacino and deniro, two of films best ever actors. give it a strong script, great acting and thrilling action sequences (with real guns and stuff!!!) and you have one of the best thrillers to come along in quite a while.

There's a lot to love and hate about this film. DeNiro and Pacino in the same film together...a literal cat and mouse game between a damn good cop (Pacino) and a damn good master thief (DeNiro). There's the shoot-out that's so well done. The scene when Pacino and DeNiro sit down for coffee is a must see. But, length is an issue. It runs a little over three hours. Some of the sub-plots aren't developed good enough for satisfaction. And there are too many Pacino moments.
Pacino Moment - Anytime in a film where Al Pacino yells, screams, or throws something against a wall for no discernable reason.


The themes are good and well thought out. The direction is tight and it's a beautiful film to look at.
I only wish that it was slimmed down a bit.

also nice, nice use of music. and a relationship to knead in your hands, as good as butch cassidy and the sundance kid, and its exact opposite in nature.

Every time i watch this I walk away and think my life is boring.....I wanna rob a bank or some ish...A classic in my eyes

and the crackheaded movie purchasing continues....


the getaway ($5) - yeah, i know. but dude....naked kim basinger!

the thomas crown affair ($5) - yeah, i know. but dude....naked rene russo!

heat ($5) - i hardly need to explain purchasing a movie with al pacino AND bobby d. do i?

blade runner d.c. ($2.50) - sci fi goodiness.

point break ($5) - yeah, i know. but dude....naked tank girl!


i also bought Aqua Teen Hunger Force - Season One ($25), but since i've only seen about one episode, i will wait to review it.

i also sent a check off for my copy of Evil Dead 2: Collector's Tin ($30), and will be reviewing it soon.