miami awful

the real vice in "miami vice" is the movie itself.

1) horrible dialogue. why didn't someone tell michael mann that he can't write meaningful (or at the least tolerable) conversations? every attempt at hipness fell flat.

"people are going to come in here and say, 'what's this? is this some jackson pollock on the walls?'"

"this is how we do it...smooth."

"i'm a fiend for mojitos."

"time is luck."

2) horrible cinematography. the viper 1K looks muddy, the framing was atrocious, and mann hasn't figured out how to use hand-held shooting in an artistically motivated fashion.

3) weird facial expressions. jaime foxx and colin farrell make weird faces throughout the whole movie. were they grimacing because of bad water or because of the bad dialogue?

4) bad blocking. for most of the movie, it was basically impossible to tell what was happening except that people were talking to each other (or killing each other).

5) excessive script tidiness. mann likes to pretend that he's better than classical hollywood cinema stylists, but he's as grounded in tradition as most american moviemakers are. for example, early in the movie, the main characters threaten to splatter someone's blood on the walls. at the end of the movie, the main characters splatter that person's blood on the walls.

6) gong li's decision to be in this movie. with "geisha", "vice", and the upcoming "young hannibal", gong plays the "dragon lady" and single-handedly sets back asians in cinema to the racist fare of the 1920s and 1930s.

2/10

as i've written repeatedly, 90% of all movies are bad.

i've written more than 500 reviews for dvdtown.com. i never see you comment on any of my positive reviews.

i started a thread for "united 93" called "the best movie of 2006". you didn't have anything to say there, either.

It looks like I'll be in agreement with Eddie (and others) here as well...

As a MAJOR fan of MIAMI VICE (and also CRIME STORY) TV shows during the mid'80s, I am so disappointed at hearing the mostly negative reviews for this movie. Note: today's WALL STREET JOURNAL gave it a marginal thumbs up due to some of the action scenes etc.

WHY did Michael Mann decide to make the film in a style totally different from the show. As the USA Today review states, there was a lot of humour in the TV show [to counter the serious stuff], and it's completely missing from the film version, among other things.

The TV show had amazing colors, music, bright beaches, cool editing, etc, and the film version looks to be nothing but "darkness" all around and poor dialog.

Well, I will probably still go see it anyway [matinee price though], but I'm looking forward to the day that Universal releases all FIVE seasons of the TV show in HD DVD! And with some of the original "cuts" put back (as a few shows had violent content edited before repeats].

Well, I still have both Miami Vice TV show music CDs to enjoy, and two LaserDiscs movies (from the first season). I know of the DVD sets of the first two seasons, but I'll wait for the (hopefully) future HD DVD releases of this great series!

Mann delivered with HEAT and THE INSIDER (among others), but blew it with MV film.

-Love Hendrix

I was shocked at just how awful this movie looks. I am curious to know how much of it inherent in the high-def photography, and how much has to do with the blow-up for theatrical release. I can't believe I'm saying this about a movie (any movie) but I think this one might actually look better on DVD. As Eddie says, the image is muddy at best, and so soft it sometimes looks like little more than a smudge, esp. in the jerkiest of the shaky cam scenes.

Speaking of "shaky cam", it is neither inherently good nor bad, but when used in a film that is composed almost entirely of close-ups and extreme close-ups, it becomes downright nauseating. There are a few bright spots, mostly the rather elegant shots of the "go fast" boats skimming the water, but I felt like I spent most of the two and a half hours looking a a movie shot through a kitty litter box filter.

Farrell seems borderline comatose throughout the movie, but Foxx is as convincing as he can be with lukewarm material. I can't bring myself to say anything bad about Gong Li so I'll just say she looks fabulous in a business suit - at least I think she does, it's hard to tell with this photography.

I left the film thinking it was ratehr mean-spirited, but I suspect that may be more attributable to the audience I suffered with. When a blood-spattering head shot induces half the audience to guffaw loudly and the other half to applaud wildly, I think to myself, "Maybe the death of theatrical distribution isn't such a bad thing."

The constant hyper-macho posturing by every single character in the movie, both male and female, is pretty laughable, but I think it comes with the territory.

Hey now! Can we just get off the "Eddie only loves Final Fantasy" crap! The joke is old news, and quite frankly, I'm sick and tired of everyone poking fun at him about it! It's old, so drop it, thank you. ;)

In all fairness, Eddie is right about "Miami Vice." In my opinion, the movie does do its best to look good, but underneath all the convoluted substance is a complete disaster. Trust me, there's a lot more facts in Eddies take on the film than just his opinion.

Tim :@

God, is there a movie you DO like Eddie? Personally, I liked Gong's performance in this one, at least her non-verbal parts. (much more improved from "Geisha")

I honestly never see you make positive comments on about a movie on this board. Few movies are in your "elite" group of recommended films. I'm sorry that not all films can be as superfantasicalmagnificent as "Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within" =P


Try this on for a change, why not try start posts on films you like? (As opposed to trashing the ones you don't) You could be like...yenno.....positive for once....SHOCKER

I agree, this movie is crap! It had to be the slooooowest freaking Michael Mann movie to date. The dialog was flat, the interactions between characters were dull, plus the plot was so convoluted that by the time I could figure anything out, I just didn't care anymore. In fact, when the film finally does get to any action, I remember sitting there and thinking "Hurry up and get done already!"

What rip! What sham! The only good thing I can say is I still do like the way Mann shoots his films. I love the whole hand-held camera action and the way he makes things seem realistic but for god’s sake write some interesting dialog and give the movie a pace that won't put us to sleep! The action sequences were decent once we got there but I was so bored I just wanted it to end.

I'm with Eddie on this one, this movie freaking stinks to high-heaven! For the love of Pete, I’ve had more entertainment out of a cold bowl of split-pea soup!

4/10

Tim:.(

**And by the way, I highly recommend Michael Medved's daily radio program and several books!**


I hesitate to ask "recommend for what?" Cheap kindling? A slightly preferable alternative to dental torture?

lovehendrix,

i was responding to alexanderl, not you. alexanderl was being a reductionistic prick, so i took him to school.

eddie

"Yes, LoveHendrix, it's true, Eddie has not only written reviews for DVDTown, but for many other sites as well. These days, he writes exclusively under his long-time pen name: Michael Medved."

8) L-O-L

And by the way, I highly recommend Michael Medved's daily radio program and several books!

-Love Hendrix!