The Insider - Michael Mann


cageyJG

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QUOTE~~Despite the disappointing box office reception, The Insider received near-unanimous critical praise, garnering some of the best reviews of 1999 and of Michael Mann's career. It holds a 96% "fresh" rating at Rotten Tomatoes based on 132 reviews[6] and an 84 metascore on Metacritic.[7] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and half out of four stars and praised "its power to absorb, entertain, and anger".[8] Newsweek magazine's David Ansen wrote, "Mann could probably make a movie about needlepoint riveting. Employing a big canvas, a huge cast of superb character actors and his always exquisite eye for composition, he's made the kind of current-events epic that Hollywood has largely abandoned to TV--and shows us how movies can do it better".[9] In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin praised Russell Crowe as "a subtle powerhouse in his wrenching evocation of Wigand, takes on the thick, stolid look of the man he portrays", and felt that it was "by far Mann's most fully realized and enthralling work".[10] Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, "When Crowe gets to command the screen, The Insider comes to roiled life. It's an All the President's Men in which Deep Throat takes center stage, an insider prodded to spill the truth".[11] Rolling Stone magazine's Peter Travers wrote, "With its dynamite performances, strafing wit and dramatic provocation, The Insider offers Mann at his best--blood up, unsanitized, and unbowed".[12] However, Entertainment Weekly gave the film a "B" rating and felt that it "a good but far from great movie because it presents truth telling in America as far more imperiled than it is".[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Insider_(film)Am I really the first to post on this? So - this movie came on in the middle of the night and the music, and Al Pacino yelling woke me up. I'm looking at the scene and it's a guy on a beach on a cell phone, talking to some catatonic guy's staffer and screaming at him. Finally the guy on the beach yells, "Just tell him to come to the ****ing phone," and the guy snaps out of it, grabs it and slams the door shut. Don't know if I'll watch it, but soundtrack (I think mostly instrumental) seemed promising. http://www.amazon.com/The-Insider-Music-Motion-Picture/dp/B0000296JH

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This to me personally was one of the most important movies of the last century!I lived through this and remember it well. I used to watch 60 minutes and when they came on the air and said we HAD a story regarding smoking to tell you but we can't, I was dumbfounded!!! All I could think of was who has the power to shut down this medium? What happened to freedom of the press?I used to teach highschool and one of the courses was Communications which part of the curriculum was about "Yellow Journalism" the impact of radio and television and the news etc. The United States prides itself on their freedom of speed and all the amendments to their precious constitution, and this one case in history stifled the most important and most watched news broadcast show in the world. This one item alone is enough to make it one of the most provocative cases of the 20th century! Not just the fact that cigarette smoking is bad for you , but the CEO's of all major tobacco lied under oath at a Congressional hearing.The entire case was a farse! Bending the law with crazy things like "Tertiary Interference" and other "Lawyer-Speak" double talk also made light of how rotten the American Legal system really is. It was all about big corporation money.Michael Mann took a very controversial topic and made an absolute MASTERPEICE!It was all true and it actually happened so people who watched this cinematic story should realize the impact this one case had on journalism and greed of corporations. It is a very complex tale.This is a must see film for everyone and you better watch it with your eyes open!Forget Siscal & Ebert....I give it a 10/10

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The scene where Pacino phones Russell Crowe from the beach is a good one. The hotel manager can't say f**k.The Insider is quite good but it's not a favourite of mine. I think Mann was trying to be Oliver Stone with that film. Maybe he was tired of critics saying his work was all style and no substance so he did a movie with more substance than style. I really don't like Russell Crowe. I think he's an overrated actor. I don't even like Gladiator. Overhyped film. Pacino was great though. One of his best later performances and his best work since Glengarry Glen Ross and Carlito's Way.The Insider is way too long. It's overlong by about half an hour. If I'm honest I don't really think this story was feature film material. My favourite type of movies are those that make you think. For me, the important things are characters, story and dialogue but this film doesn't really click with me. IMO Mr. Mann's best film is Thief. Second best is Manhunter. Third best is Heat. Fourth best is The Insider. I haven't seen Collateral. Tom Cruise sucks as an actor and as a person.

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Well you may be right Tommy regarding action movies for the thinking man such as Heat, however this story was more of a docu-drama and was revealing FACT not fiction, so for that reason and the fact of the material, I think it is a very important film.A docu-drama is different than say an action or suspense type film.The critics may crash Mann's efforts, but the story needed to be told to a public ignorant of the facts.It's funny after all these years and people now knowing about "Ammonia Impacting" and all the garbage they put in cigarettes that people still smoke?!?!?The biggest smokers on earth now are the Chinese according to sales statistics. A huge Rothmans and Dumaurier plant here in Ontario both closed up a decade ago and moved offshore. A good friend of mine in Tillsonburg used to grow tobacco and now has totally gone to Ginseng. (no more tobacco crops)Smoking in North America is on the decline.................................

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Yes Cagey I was a teacher a while ago. I am semi-retired now. There are no teaching jobs around here...all the kids grew up?!? :)Seriously...many schools have closed around my area from lack of enrolment as the population of youth is diminishing rapidly?It is good to see youth interested in MV though! Bazzzzzinga!

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  • 4 months later...

One of Mann's best films, Crowe should've won The Oscar back then.

 

I agree... overlooked for sure.

He was intense though, wasn't he?

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When Russell Crowe takes on a role, he's ALL IN.

 

 

And yes, very intense actor but seems to have mellowed with age in real life.

Edited by MrsEvanFreed
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