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[DVD Review] Public Enemies - Special Edition
9 hours ago
Michael Mann is a director who doesn’t do anything by halves. He’s a storyteller who knows exactly what he likes and returns to those themes again and again; skilled professionals compelled to do, be it good or evil; forbidden love; architecture and cityscapes; and the crisp visceral snap of digital video. Public Enemies, the tale of folk hero bank robber John Dillenger, is a film that brings together all of the above and more, but with a twist. This is not a period pastiche or a well-researched mock-up. Armed with light, portable, high definition cameras, Mann brings depression era America to life with highly mobile faux-documentary styling that sparks with a gloss and a sheen that positively pops off the screen.
Of course Mann has played cops and robbers before, and with 1995’s underworld epic Heat he brought together the two finest actors of their generation in Robert DeNiro and Al Pacino. »
- Neil Pedley
[DVD Review] I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown
20 December 2009 9:00 PM, PST
One anecdote from a Charles M. Schulz biography I read years ago said that whenever Schulz was considering hiring someone, he would take them out to lunch and see how they salted their soup. If they salted after they tasted it, they were hired; but, if they salted before they tasted it, there was no chance. Obviously, the alleged agoraphobe was not into extras for the sake of extras. So, it's no surprise that after 2000, when Schulz passed away, executive producer Bill Melendez decided he would add no salt to his Peanuts either. He vowed that all animated specials would only be made from Schulz's already-published cartoons. The result is choppy and episodic, but I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown is also, because of this decision, wonderfully pure, and the most worthy special since the original A Charlie Brown Christmas.
Sure, a popcorn and toast Thanksgiving dinner is fun, »
- Michael Narkunski
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