that's how we lost december.
went and caught public enemies last night, which was quite good. it is two and a half hours long, though, and it feels two and a half hours long, so if you see it i hope you like your butt and sitting on it. depp, bale, and cotillard all do excellent jobs, as expected, but it is the plethora of supporting "hey it's that guy" actors who really flesh the film out. bill cruddup is especially memorable as j. edgar hoover, stealing all of his scenes (and as well he should).
i know it's not the case, but at times it felt as if mike mann was unsure of his ability to make audiences feel what he wants them to feel, and supplements these with a poignant score. just to make sure everyone is on the same page.
tim pointed out to me (and thanks for that, by the way, now i can't stop noticing) that mann's films often have unnecessarily loud scores that seem to force emotion rather than allow it to manifest itself naturally. this is certainly evident in public enemies. there is a brief shot of depp as john dillinger crying which i thought was incredibly distracting. we know the scene is sad, dude. we don't need the visual exclamation mark for the cheap seats.
maybe i am a crazy person, but that one shot (thankfully, at the hour and forty-five minute mark, closer to the end of the film than not) pulled me out of the story entirely, and i never quite recovered from it.
my favorite thing about the movie? none of the action scenes (and there are many) are set to music. awesome. i love when this happens. i don't need an orchestra telling me this part is tense, there are machine guns happening. i'll figure it out thanks. this is such a peeve of mine that i have a tough time caring about an action sequence when it is set to music. it's the same reason i have a hard time watching sitcoms with laugh-tracks.
the it crowd and black books notwithstanding.
so by and large public enemies was quite good, but not quite great. 8 out of 10 ratings.
in other news, i doodled this on the card i attached to the gift i gave b and jax when they married.
rock on.
-dan-
addendum: i have been sitting outside as i write this, and thought the crashy explodey noises were fireworks. turns out it was a looming thunderstorm.