Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Public Enemies


Last night I raced from El Segundo to Sherman Oaks to go see a free premiere of the new Michael Mann movie - "Public Enemies." 

Traffic was crazy and it was a pain in the ass, but miraculously, I made it there by 6:45 to catch the show.

This movie was pretty okay. Obviously, I'm not a big fan of crazy shootout scenes and whatnot, but i did review it on IMDB. which I copied and pasted below. obv its really long and I am obnoxious. Oh, and it contains spoilers. **SPOILER ALERT PEOPLE**


I also attended the test screening in Sherman Oaks last night and I share many of the same opinions as luckyboi. The movie was long, confusing, and also, super-violent! My shoulders were sore afterwards because I had been so tensed up listening to that much gunfire. Character development was nil, and I am so sick of seeing romance on screen reduced to a flirtatious first meeting and a sexy montage and then - BAM - they are in love and cant live without each other. Where I come from, thats called a "one night stand" and usually it just doesn't work out.

As a heterosexual female I was deeply saddened when Channing Tatum dies in the first 5 minutes of this movie. He never even takes his shirt off or flashes a cute smile or breakdances. SUCH a waste. This might be a more personal complaint, but ladies - don't let your boyfriends trick you into seeing this movie because Tatum is in it. You will be pissed.

Also, believe it or not, I found Johnny Depp to be as charming as possible. Granted, its hard to make a CRAZY BANK ROBBING MURDERER seem lovable and cute, but he was fun and fun to watch even if you didn't care about him dying in the end. Marion Cotillard was a little annoying at first but she really does grow on you. Again, I think its this fast track romance thing that bugs people. You're always asking, "why is she with him?" "Why do they even like each other?" But she is naive and bored and supposedly an outcast, so eventually, you get why she is into him. There is never really any understanding why a guy like Dillinger would be that hung up over a girl. He kills people all the time and steals hundreds of thousands of dollars without thinking twice, but he is able to open himself up and love her totally and completely. Humm, okay well maybe I should consider dating wanted felons, since, relationship-wise they seem to have zero commitment issues!

The only other redeeming quality that I should mention is that I like the music (most of the time, sometimes it was a little over the top) and the costumes. Some of the camerawork was a little shaky, and seemed out of place, but it wasn't constant and I got over it pretty quick. It's just never a good idea to suddenly go handheld on me, Mann. I was busy trying to keep track of Baby Faced Nelson and Pretty boy Floyd and then out of no where its like - "what? why is picture out of focus and jerky." But like I said, then you get over it.

As far as the other "public enemies," there are so many characters and they all look the same. And they each get like five minutes of exposure so its hard to really follow or care about what these guys are doing. You find your self hearing all these names and trying to match them with the faces and getting pretty confused. I would actually recommend reading this story before you see the movie because it would definitely help you follow along. I would have liked to seen more of Charles Winstead, the one who eventually kills Dillinger and is always telling Christian Bale what to do. Oh yeah that reminds me....

I haven't mentioned Christian Bale yet. Why? Um, I almost forgot that he was in this movie. God was he boring and essentially meaningless. In the film the Bale/Depp relationship is basically the same as the Hanks/DiCaprio dynamic in "Catch Me if You Can" - the detective that is always one step behind his cleverly cunning fugitive. But at least Carl Hanratty was kind of a goofy clumsy guy, and Abangale just wrote some bad checks. Unlike Bale's character, an unqualified FBI officer who over and over again throws his men into dangerous situations and Depp's a cold blooded killer who essentially mocks Bale for feeling remorse. Ugh, Bale was just flat and by then end you weren't rooting for Bale or Depp, just for the movie to end so you could go and have a beer.

1 comment:

  1. "As a heterosexual female" are you sure about this, & if so why are you proclaiming it? you thought we may have our doubt's because you're talking about a boy?

    "relationship-wise they seem to have zero commitment issues" like in Revolutionary Road that had showed some issues, in fact that's the only thing in the movie. you'd probably like this one better

    also who is luckyboi!!

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