Heat

Heat, 1995. Directed by Michael Mann.
starring: Robert DeNiro, Val Kilmer, Al Pacino.

"The lives of two men on opposite sides of the law - one a detective; the other a thief." (IMDB).

Now before I really get going on this one (and I'm gonna go, believe me), yes, it's a pretty long ass film. 170 minutes, to be exact. But call me crazy, I loved every one of those minutes and was almost bummed when it was all over.

Forget for a moment that this was back when DeNiro was in his forties (and smokin' hot). Or that Danny Trejo is not only on the crew, but drives an EL CAMINO. There are so many brilliant things in this film that it's hard to even itemize them, but still, I'll try.

Cast: Unbelievable, both lead and supporting players. Jon Voight, Hank Azaria, and (a probably coked-out) Tom Sizemore were my faves; they were just fun to watch together. Bonus for Voight's long, ratty hair, and Ted Levine (JAME GUM) working probably the greatest mustache ever seen in film.

Mise En Scene: Some nice bits of production---the each-different hockey masks from the armored truck takedown and the subsequent fluttering down of car dealership sparkly blue streamer just after the truck crashes. The boat of a station wagon DeNiro drives through that open lot where he's supposed to make the pickup but gets double-crossed (and the way that damned thing bounces like ten feet in the air over all the bumps in the road). And that shoot-out in the middle of LA is pretty impressive; lots of bullets flying, lots of breaking glass, and sorry, but something about DeNiro in a suit, firing off rounds seriously excites me.

Lines: Al Pacino is a pretty outlandish kind of actor, but he's effective, and his lines are funny. Sing-songing "there'll probably be a note on the door," "You can get killed walkin' your doggie!" and "DON'T WASTE MY MOTHER-FUCKIN' TIME!" . . . not to mention the whole "great ass," exchange with Azaria. Over the top, clearly, but hilarious.

Isn't it funny and frustrating how *nothing* they do goes according to plan? Armored truck---jerkoff guy starts shooting the guards (necessitating an already-lined trunk for his later disposal). Station wagon drop-off, all a ploy. Drilling into the metal place, whoops, cop makes a thump, they walk away. Bank, obviously not a smooth operation. My favorite scene in the entire film is Charlene's (Ashley Judd) tiny motion to Chris (Val Kilmer) to let him know that the cops are waiting for him when he sees her out on the balcony, but the two major scenes between DeNiro and Pacino---first their respective deadpans into the camera after the thump gives them away during the metal heist, realizing suddenly that they've just both been made, and second, their little standoff conversation in the diner----these scenes are pretty damned cool, too. And for anyone who really enjoys this film, I highly recommend it with the subtitles on; I feel like I learned everything I thought I was missing before.

Mean Streets

Whatsa matter with you?

Mean Streets, 1973, directed by Martin Scorcese.
Written by Martin Scorcese and Mardik Martin
starring: Harvey Keitel, Robert DeNiro, David Proval

"A small-time hood struggles to succeed on the "mean streets" of Little Italy." (imdb).

I love this. Little Italy in the seventies; what a place. This was only Scorcese's third feature length film, but man, it's a goodie. And I can't believe I'm saying this, but Harvey Keitel? Hot. I'm not kidding.

This film is full of fun:

-opening scene: "You don't make up for your sins in church. You do it in the streets. You do it at home." You said it, man. Those three edits, each cut closer than the last as he lays back down in his bed (to the Ronettes?) . . . so, so cool.

-the religious stuff. Constant thrusting hands into flames, confession, wallpaper very cross-like in hotel, San Gennero Festival, etc., it's major. Keitel's character (Charlie) is referred to as "Saint Charles."

-DeNiro as Johnny Boy. The scene when he walks down the bar with the two chicks to "Jumping Jack Flash" is *legendary.* The scene just afterwards where he goes on for about THREE DAYS about his money woes with Charlie---even at that young an age (30 years old, y'all) DeNiro was something else.

-This film was very carefully conceived. It was a story of the exact kinds of things young Martin Scorcese witnessed, asthma-bound, from his own window in his old neighborhood: hoods, connected guys, religion, and music. And though Charlie and Johnny Boy seem to end up in the gutter, did you happen to notice the opening credits (after the Ronettes)? They're home movies, started off in a very obvious way paying homage to A FILM PROJECTOR. The films themselves are of Charlie and Theresa holding a little baby in a very elaborate Christening gown and a cake that's iced with the words, "God Bless Christopher." I'm not going to get into how seriously this turns me into a complete, emotional water works, but how's that for a (secret) happy ending? Tricky, tricky. The very last scene of the film just so happens to be someone closing their window shades, by the way. . .

This film was pretty much a valentine by Scorcese to Little Italy. I love it.

The quality is not great on this clip, and it's missing some valuable lead up (DeNiro checks his *pants* at the coat-check; Keitel's character says, "Thanks a lot, Lord, thanks a lot, for opening my eyes. You talk about penance and you send this through the door. . . ") but it's the best I could find. Incidentally, the giggling bartender (Proval) would later go onto become the unfortunately-hacked-to-pieces-by-Christopher-and-Tony Ritchie Aprile from The Sopranos', second season. He doesn't quite have such a sense of humor in that, does he?

Goodfellas

Goodfellas, 1990, directed by Martin Scorcese.
Written by Nicholas Peleggi and Martin Scorcese.
starring: Ray Liotta, Robert DeNiro, and Joe Pesci

"Henry Hill and his friends work their way up through the mob hierarchy." (IMDB).

The great thing about Martin Scorcese is that he really loves films. You can see it in almost every scene he creates; this guy seriously loves films, he loves music, and more than anything else, he really cares about the characters he's bringing to life. You'll probably never see a greater example of it anywhere than this entire movie.

Lookin' hot. Lookin' DAMN hot!

The freeze frames: In the opening scene, after Tommy (Pesci) attacks a man in the trunk of their parked car with his mother's butcher knife, the film stops, freezing on Henry (Liotta). "As far back as I can remember, I always wanted to be a gangster." After a teenage Henry ignites a lot full of cars with rags soaked in gasoline, the camera stops again, at a distance as the explosions and fire nearly engulf him from behind, "One day, some kids from the neighborhood carried my mother's groceries all the way home. You know why? It was outta respect."
-Henry's first introduction to Jimmy Conway
-the congratulatory huddle at Henry's first bust at the courthouse
-Henry's beating after his father receives the truancy notice from school

Instead of clubbing you over the head to make you notice that these events are important, he just stops the camera and freezes the action, like HEY! THIS STUFF WAS MAJOR! PAY ATTENTION! It's fun.

The music: amazing. And unlike Casino, almost perfectly balanced between emotion, action, and fill. Many scholarly pieces that are written about this film discuss Scorcese's "maturity" as a filmmaker, and how this film marked it; the music and its placement indicates this, scene after scene. You get Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, The Chantels, Bobby Vinton, The Shangri-las, A lot of Rolling Stones (score!), Cream, Derek and the Dominos, George Harrison, Sid Vicious, and Muddy Waters. The music really, really makes the film.

The writing: this is the (true) story of Henry Hill, written first in Nicholas Peleggi's novel Wiseguy, and rewritten as a screenplay by Peleggi and Scorcese. It's exciting, it's funny, and the way the story is told, from Henry's (and his wife Karen's) insider viewpoint is excellent. They're both competent narrators and interesting, likable personalities. As with many narratives in the Mafia genre, we get pretty early on that things start off well but then begin to decline---that's how a lot of film writers talk about Mafia pictures in general, as in how that decline is shown, how it's dealt with, how do they meet their ends, death, jail, witness protection? In this instance, Henry gets out, but not because he wants to; the striking thing about Henry's story is that we see just how dangerous these lives of these men really are: the cops, the drugs, the whackings . . . but it was also about status, belonging, and family. Not just gangster concepts, right?

Everyone talks about this scene, and it's well worth the buzz. There are very few serious bits of dialogue spoken, but the scene does a magnificent job of showing that sense of status and belonging up there. Yeah, the song was also used in Adventures in Babysitting, but this *completely* blows it away; it's one of my favorite scenes of any movie, ever.

Casino

Yeah, I know. This was supposed to be Mafia March, right? Better late than never.

"A Half-a one-a these! A HAAAALF!"

Casino, 1995, directed by Martin Scorcese.
Written by Nicholas Pileggi.
starring: Robert DeNiro, Joe Pesci, Sharon Stone.

"Greed, deception, money, power, and murder occur between two mobsters." (imdb).

Jeez, that was a pretty lackluster description! If you can believe it, this was the first thing of Marty's I saw, and back then, I thought it was amazing. I still think it's worth watching, but knowing what I know now, I can safely say it's hardly the best of his films. This time I found it kind of over-long, bloated, and drowning in pop music. And Sharon Stone was decent, I guess, (nominated for Best Actress Oscar for this) but this time around I just kept envisioning KATE GOSSELIN the whole time, especially with that chopped 80s mop . . . thanks, reality TV. It was kind of sickening.

Also, there wasn't much *fun* in this film, it was pretty much all fights and not-nice people. What Goodfellas or The Sopranos (on deck tonight and tomorrow) did well, this film tanked at---and that's getting us to like the crew. Sam Rothstein (DeNiro) was good at his job and I kind of liked his constant pointing, arm gestures, and smoking, and clearly I'd still hit that a million times, but other than that he was kind of stuffy. Ginger (Stone) had a great wardrobe but was just not likable, at all. So that basically leaves Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) and Lester Diamond (JAMES WOODS!). Yes, I just said that James Woods was one of the best things about this film; he's a douche, but a well-done douche, and good for a few laughs at least. I think the best way to describe this film is a good (albeit long) introduction to Scorcese. If you like this, you'll *love* his other stuff. The clip below uses what I thought was the best song of the film, and slow-motions the in-the-end-they-all-get-whacked bit. And just to be clear, the cornfield scene shown is the G-rated version, compared to the actual film experience, length, sound of bats, etc. So if you do choose to see it, be aware. And don't let kids see this, either.

Machete: Bulls Eye.

A few old Goodies

Best played-down performance, ever. DeNiro is a bit of a dolt, but Stallone more than makes up for it. I highly recommend checking out Cop Land if you haven't already.




Henry Thomas (ELIOT!) is quite good as the young Norman Bates in Psycho 4, The Beginning. Now, none of you Hitchcock purists need to get all up in my face about this, I'm not saying it's cinematic quality, but it is definitely cheese quality. I, for one, LOVE horror movie sequels, well, classic ones anyway. I first saw this business when it came out on HBO, maybe in the year 1988? Janet Leigh introduced it; it was very exciting for my brother and me. We also **thoroughly** enjoyed the previous two sequels, so we were pretty easy sells. There was an element this time around, now that I'm a mother myself, of sheer DISGUST at how Mother Bates (although being very caricatured about it) treated him, and how their twisted relationship almost stirred something emotional in me, especially as the young Master Bates is propping his strychnine-poisoned mother into the rocking chair to finish out her last breaths. Reliving it with the corpse in the rocker was a little more comical than emotional, but you get the point. Ahhhh! The Bates house is on fire! The shot at the end full on looks like a bad painting, but hey. I still had a good time.