Al Pacino, Robert De Niro and Val Kilmer in the Michael Mann movie ‘Heat’

An ensemble cast to rival ensemble casts starred in a Michael Mann movie noted for its action, crime and drama. Al Pacino and Robert De Niro starred opposite one another in the movie about crime, law enforcement and the effect these lifestyles have on love in the Los Angeles, California based movie Heat (1995).

(From left, Val Kilmer as Chris Shiherlis, Robert De Niro as Neil McCauley and Tom Sizemore as Michael Cheritto in the Michael Mann movie Heat).

The movie itself begins with professional thief Neil McCauley, as portrayed by Robert De Niro, robbing more than a million dollars of bearer bonds from an armored truck with a crew including Chris Shiherlis, Michael Cheritto, Trejo and Waingro, with the last being new to the crew. Waingro, McCauley and Cheritto each kill someone during the heist, which brings heat upon and within the crew in introducing important thematic elements that will run through the full scale of the movie. Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Danny Trejo and Kevin Gage portrayed Shiherlis, Cheritto, Trejo and Waingro, respectively.

(From left, Diane Venora as Justine Hanna and Al Pacino as Lieutenant Vincent Hanna in the Michael Mann movie Heat).

With the theft and homicides history, the Los Angeles Police Department investigates the crimes. Lieutenant Vincent Hanna, as portrayed by Al Pacino, assesses quickly that the robbery was well planned. We learn quickly that Hanna has a strained relationship with his third wife, Lauren, in addition to difficulty emotionally connecting with his stepdaughter, Lauren Gustafson. Justine Hanna and Lauren Gustafson were portrayed by Diane Venora and Natalie Portman, respectively.

(From left, Ashley Judd as Charlene Shiherlis, Amy Brenneman as Eady and Natalie Portman as Lauren Gustafson in the Michael Mann movie Heat).

Meanwhile, the instinct of professional thieves is to manage the reality or perception of heat in their professional or personal lives. We learn after the heist that Chris Shiherlis was having marital problems with Charlene Shiherlis, as portrayed by Ashley Judd. We see Neil McCauley take a romantic interest in Eady, a graphic designer much younger than he is yet worth a look. Meanwhile, McCauley has a direct interest in putting an end to provocative behavior from Waingro, which becomes an extended storyline for the movie. Amy Brenneman portrayed Eady.

(From left, Kevin Gage as Waingro, Jon Voight as Nate and William Fichtner as Roger Van Zant in the Michael Mann movie Heat).

These relationships simultaneously worsen, suggest potential redemption for, and called for enlightened coercion when McCauley and his fence aim to engage solutions to their criminal and personal problems. In the aftermath of the robbery, Roger Van Zant has his hands in part of McCauley’s criminal plays. As the original robbery victim; Van Zant, as portrayed by William Fichtner, winds up in contact with Nate, the fence, and Waingro with criminal plots in furtherance of the original robbery. Waingro’s plans are pointed more strictly at addressing the heat raised by his actions in and since the opening robbery. Jon Voight portrayed Nate. The ways that each of these threads pull upon one another in resolving the many storylines is well done.

(From left, writer, director and producer Michael Mann, actress Ashley Judd and actor Robert De Niro in support of the Michael Mann movie Heat).

While the movie, as reported by Rotten Tomatoes here, performed slightly better among audiences than critics, there is more to recommend the film than to detract from it overall. The intrigue throughout the story was masterfully done, with the reward landing in the showdown between stars that one had been hoping for from the beginning the show. My biggest complaint was in the final portrayal of the ending, which left me wanting something slightly more in the form rather than the portrayal or outcome of it. Given the largely masterful criminal drama movie, I grant Heat as written, directed and produced by Michael Mann 4.25-stars on a scale of 1-to-5.

Matt – Wednesday, November 16, 2022

Kevin Costner and seven time Academy Award winning movie ‘Dances with Wolves’

Winning Academy Awards for best picture, director, cinematography, film editing, adapted screenplay, original musical score and sound mixing, Kevin Costner‘s directorial debut was a commercial and mostly critical success. (For criticism on cultural grounds, read point sixteen here). Dances with Wolves (1990) ran for approximately three-hours in theatres and nearly four-hours with the extended cut intended for home viewing.

(From left, Robert Pastorelli as Timmons and Kevin Costner as Lieutenant John Dunbar in the movie Dances with Wolves).

Kevin Costner stars as the character Lieutenant John Dunbar of the American Civil War‘s Union Army whose perspective both narrates and interprets the experience of Dances with Wolves. The film, clearly a western, offers some colorful history for Dunbar that allows the film to unfurl in some form of context that offers a view into the lives of Sioux peoples. The film gets into the serious storytelling of the Sioux culture after arriving at Fort Sedgewick with Timmons, as portrayed by Robert Pastorelli.

(From left, Rodney A. Grant as Wind In His Hair and Graham Greene as Kicking Bird in the movie Dances with Wolves).

The story of Dancing with Wolves revolves largely around getting to understand the lifestyle that was that of the Sioux peoples that lives in part of the Great Plains region of North America. The beginning of that tale in the movie involves the prejudice and stereotypes of the native and emerging United States national culture that will brings with it conflict. Dunbar keeps a diary of the initial perceptions of contact from the perspective of a Union solider. Wind In His Hair, as portrayed by Rodney A. Grant, and Kicking Bird as portrayed by Graham Greene are part of the Sioux perspective.

(From left, Tantoo Cardinal as Black Shawl, Mary McDonnell as Stands With A Fist and Otakuye Conroy as Kicking Bird’s Daughter in the movie Dances with Wolves).

A significant portion of making the larger narrative of the interpersonal, non-historical story of Dances with Wolves emotionally work was a story of romance and physical communication. This placed Stands With A Fist, as portrayed by Mary McDonnell, at the center of two important pieces of that achievement. Getting to know Stands With A Fist at first took interaction with Kicking Bear and Wind In His Hair and Kicking Bird. Kicking Bird’s wife Black Shawl, as portrayed by Tantoo Cardinal, became central to building that story.

(Teddy and Buck as Two Socks – a Wolf in Dances with Wolves).

It took a fair amount of movie time for the notion of why the wolf, a character we came to know as Two Socks, developed some emotional feet. As the backstory for John Dunbar began to lose its meaning, the role of what it meant to be Union soldier gave way to what the day-to-day lifestyle of being Sioux in the community that John Dunbar had found. In a bit of a spoiler, Dunbar had been granted a Sioux name the revealed the budding relationship Dunbar had with the wolf and with the larger Sioux community. After all, Dunbar’s emotional conversion, along with the social meaning of that conversion that is a sore subject of cultural identity and portrayal for some, gets its emotional legs.

(From left, Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman as Ten Bears and Doris Leader Charge as Pretty Shield in the movie Dances with Wolves).

Leadership with the Sioux community that Dunbar took to heart in Dances with Wolves included Chief Ten Bears, as portrayed by Floyd ‘Red Crow’ Westerman and his wife, Pretty Shield, as portrayed by Doris Leader Charge. When the larger narrative for returning the movie to the opening backstory that started the revelation of the Sioux culture had come to pass, know that Ten Bears and his wife and Pretty Shield, along with others, played their part.

(Tony Pierce as Corporal Spivey in the movie Dances with Wolves).

I briefly touched on the Dances with Wolves story of John Dunbar had come to Fort Sedgewick, near modern day Julesburg, Colorado in the northeast part of the state. Corporal Spivey, as portrayed by Tony Pierce, offers something meaningful for the broader brushstrokes of the movie directed by Kevin Costner that were meant to be felt. Michael Blake‘s screenplay and novel helped lead us here. I for one appreciated the story for the lifestyle of the Sioux that was shared. Acknowledging the cultural critique (read point sixteen here) that comes with the Hollywood story, our rating for Dances with Wolves is 4.0-stars on a scale of 1-to-5 stars.

Matt – Saturday, January 2, 2021