As I sink back into the rhythms of life in Toronto — screening, writing, screening, writing — I find myself doing what I always do, trolling the interwebs for things to read when I should be working. And there’s some great stuff here.
At The House Next Door, contributor and actual research scientist (!) Simon Hsu offers an excellent list of Scientists on Film for the site’s 5 of the Day feature, collecting five films that depict scientists and their laboratory environments in an honest and/or accurate manner. The highlight for me was his inclusion of Douglas Trumbull’s “Brainstorm” — a deeply, deeply flawed film that still manages to be quite thrilling when depicting the research, development and marketing of the high-tech device that drives the film’s plot. (Which isn’t necessarily what Trumbull was going for, but still.)
And then there’s the fine discovery that Mike D’Angelo will be contributing to the Onion AV Club beyond his excellent Cannes reports — starting, I believe, with this intriguing meditation on what he thinks Michael Mann might have been trying to do with the notion of celebrity in “Public Enemies”, and whether or not Mann achieves his goals. It’s a really good read, even if you believe — as I do — that “Public Enemies” is both Mann’s least and worst film.
Right. Off to the first screening of the day, then … and then, once that’s done, I can allow myself to read the comments thread.
‘”Public Enemies” is Mann’s least and worst film’? Bold Statement.
Even lesser and worser than “The Keep”?
I confess that I rather enjoyed The Keep, as flawed as it was. It’d be nice to see it released on DVD before the Big Crunch at the end of the Universe…
“This is MY project!!!” I love Louise Fletcher, be it as a villainous nurse, scheming Bajoran, or simply a mean, mean woman.
I don’t know whether I should feel guilty, in having watched her die in this one, more than once. Such a death that others had to share in it vicariously through “the hat”.
Mann-wise, I gotta give credit to Manhunter, made Hannibal popular wayyy before Sir Hopkins. Gotta count for something. Also gave Tom Noonan some juicy, chewy screen time. Yay Tom.