Public Enemies

Do you ever write a blog and then stop for a long time and then start writing on it again... it's almost like a diary...

Anyhow, life caught up with me with a vengeance and I didn't want to do anything for a really long time but hopefully that is over now.

For summer movies, I didn't see a lot. I saw Public Enemies ,which I liked, but I thought the script was weak. The movie made me want to read the book and that explained how the script was so stretched out... The book covers a year (1933/1934) in the early life of the FBI and all the mistakes that were made. 1934 was a popular year for bank robbers -- moreso than ever before and probably ever since. It was a year of Dillinger, Pretty Boy Floyd, The Barker/Karpis Gang and Baby Face Nelson to name a few. The movie focused on Dillinger with some appearances of the other gangsters as happened in real life. I imagine that it would be difficult for the screenwriters to adapt a movie from the book.

Michael Mann, the director, makes beautiful looking movies. He could be a Monet or Van Gogh (along with his cinematographer) in the film form. His timing is impeccable -- the robbery scenes of Heat, the chase scenes in Public Enemies are phenomenal. And he always picks a great cast... It is for these reasons that I go see any of his movies and hey, if the script is great then it is a bonus for me. Public Enemies is a good rental. The actors are great: Depp, Cotilliard, Bale and Crudup. It is a visually stunning -- it's too bad about the script but in a film world of dreck -- this one stands above.

I was re-reading some of my blogs and I was amazed to see comments from people I didn't know and from people I knew ... so thanks for that .. you made my day. Thanks to Anonymous for your dead-on, intelligent criticism.