Mikehoop3 Reviews

Miami Vice (2006)

Went in with low expectations. Came out feeling good.

[8/10 · 29 July 2006]

The drama behind this film is misleading. The online bloggers are skeptical, and I had been exposed to quite a bit of pre-release negative feedback. I went into the theater with no hopes. I expected a poorly edited, poorly acted, poorly shot film with a bit of action. But film making has changed. With a world flooded by reality television and celebrity scandal tapes, it was only a matter of time before it began seeping through to film. Michael Mann has developed a style which condescends almost anything that could be taught in film school. "Nobody knows nothing." Simply put, I think that more and more films will start to 'fake' this reality style. It is not quite documentary, not quite film, but now with digital video cameras appearing in shapes and sizes beyond our dreams, there is now less to know about successfully creating a film. Mann uses a plethora of cameras. From very low surveillance quality, to higher speed HDCam.

Besides his unique style, the story was told with a grand view. Mann really humanized such a wide range of characters. From sadistic drug lords to creative cops. OK, well maybe the acting was not Oscar worthy, maybe it wasn't very good at all. But I for one could care less. Gong Li was very good, and very beautiful, and everyone else was just very cool. That is why we want to see a film like this anyway, is it not? We just want to see a bunch of bad ass cops get in too deep, and then take out every foreign smuggler.

Yes the film looks poorly shot, but it was intentional. That is the whole point. It could be you holding the camera. Its just another voyeuristic technique. Have we forgotten Rear Window? I'm not saying Michael Mann is Hitchcock, but maybe he will find the perfect story which compliments his style. I sure as hell think Miami Vice and Mann go pretty well together.

Electroma (2006)

Beautifully Crafted Silence

[8/10 · 4 June 2006]

I think there is a lot to be said about experimental film. I saw the film on the beach at Cannes, and for all I know, the guys could have been sitting next to me. In a search for a human existence, two robots wander somewhat endlessly until they finally find a way to end it all. The film is making a remarkable statement on today's world. It raises so many great questions, and the only problem is that sitting through two hours of wandering characters takes an audiences expectations to another level. Fellini was able to allow his characters to roam, but in that wandering so much happened, and his characters were intellectually credible. In the case of Electroma, the lack of events is very anti-film. Everything which they have done with this film leaves the audience questioning, why? We love films because of what happens in them, not because of what doesn't happen. I think that Daft Punk's attempt to find something else in this medium is quite brilliant, yet it falls short of entertainment. The visual means in which they reached certain points was incredible, but finding a way through the monotony was difficult for some. The ending was fantastic though, and I wish they push the limits even more in their next take on film.

We are all robots who sculpt our own plastic faces. We are all wandering robots with no place to fit in. Maybe I am analyzing too much, but to go to such realms with out symbolism in some higher meaning would be a waste. Perhaps that is what they were out to do. Perhaps they were just creating a (beautiful) moving painting. Maybe just messing with our heads. Regardless, they were up to something, and we will just have to see what comes next to see whether or not they're full of it.

I do give them credit for the silence. It spoke louder than any music they've ever written.