HEAT

This time we are going all the way back to 1995, when two of the most prestige actors collided in a single film. Mr. Al Pacino and Mr. Robert De Niro act together and were both the leading role of Mr. Michael Mann crime opera, Heat.

This movie is epic. It has all the great ingredients a perfect movie should have. It has a great story (based on true story and real people which is always great, cause what is better than real life), it possessed one of the greatest and innovative directors of all times, Mr. Mann. It has, like I mentioned before, two of my favorite actors alive or dead (by the way, I like Pacino even more). It has a cast that other studios, projects, directors or producers would kill for, starting with Val Kilmer (his best performance ever), Tom Sizemore (before he started hitting women), Natalie Portman (in one of her adolescent performing years), Asheley Judd, Amy Breeneman, Diane Venora and a lot more up to the man himself, Mr. John Voight.   

The Plot is very conventional. It’s a pursuit story of bad against evil. A robber and a cop. A chase. But what Mann did in this crime drama thriller is brilliant. He took a TV story with all its characters and gave life to them all. You are starting with your hero, a cop chasing bad guys and move into De Niro's character in and out, back and forth like a beautiful ballet dance. It is written and shot dazzlingly and although it is 170 minutes long, you can't take your eyes off of it. You are mesmerized to every scene, you are curious of every turn or choice one of them makes. You are rooting for the good guy and near the end you are so confused and involve in the villain life, you can't decide who to root for. This is the job of cinema Gods. Mann, Pacino, De Niro, all do their impeccable part of their lives (I know we are talking about the same guys who did so many iconic characters such as Vito Corleone himself, or his child, Michael Corleone and many more but…see the movie if you haven’t yet and let's talk again).

Pacino. The actor who capture my intersest and heart in cinema in the begin with. He actually becomes his character while you don’t forget you are seeing Al. you are craving for each scene he is in. the way he walks, the way he speaks, the way he reacts to his opposite in each footage. A master of the craft in its prime. You root for him in this picture not because he is the cop and basically the good guy. You will find that he is not the most pleasant, patient guy at all, but Al took it too all other level of performance that you cannot even blink between takes. One of his great performance indeed.

De Niro. My second favorite actor back in the day. I got to tell you that when someone had told him he can do comedies, that is basically the time I started feel bad that one of my icons is goofing around and I don’t like it one bit. We are talking about the raging bull for the love of god, we are talking about Scorsese favorite actor before Leonardo DiCaprio, Goodfellas- James Conway, Sam the fucking Ace Rothstein in Casino, Max Cady in Cape Fear and didn’t even got to Deer Hunter or fucking Taxi Driver. I think Heat is one of his latest work that I can idolize this actor's performance. After that it was Focker's and all kind of other crap minus some good performances such as in Ronin or Wag the Dog. De Niro's performance is great because of Al's and vice versa. they complete each other like no one has done before. De Niro's character is tormenting and you can see a focused, by the rule man who start slipping when he meets someone and let his feeling interrupt with his work. Beautiful evolve of his part.

The restaurant scene. This is the scene that took these big actors and put them in the same room, sharing a restaurant table in a lovely evening with people eating and chatting around them. It was so climaxing that you stop paying attention to the crowd and you can see only them. One camera is on Al behind De Niro's shoulder and one on De Niro behind ALs. One camera from the side, one camera from the other side all shooting together endless takes. The job was brilliantly done. It is one of the most incredible and memorable scene the cinema has to offer. A masterclass in acting, writing and directing.

The shootout scene. The shaky camera while running, the camera movement, down and behind Pacino while he ran and zoom in to a shot of him and his assault rifle, looking through his metal scope before taking a marksman shot to the head of the man holding a hostage little girl, simply WOW. Michael Mann in his finest hour. The beginning of the shootout start in a split of a second. I tried to time it once, to see how long it took Val Kilmer to spot the cops on the street while stepping out of the bank and start shooting. Less than a second.

I cannot wait for the upcoming movie that Scorsese is working on with these men, The Irishman, because the last time they team up in a movie wasn’t that great. Righteous Kill, they look tired and not in to it at all.

See you in the my next article

G.   

Christopher Nolan – The work and the Director

Christopher Nolan – The work and the Director

"We try to achieve it all using camera, there are no green screens" Nolan, BBC newsnight, 2016

Mr. Christopher Nolan is one of the great directors of our time. He easily stepped into the hall – of – fame of icons such as Spielberg, Scorsese, Scott and Kubrick. He have made 10 films and since Memento (which blows my mind every time I see it) till the fabulous Dunkirk, each movie has its own Nolan uniqueness and it is hard to think about any other director that could have made a better job. 

He usually work with his Brother, Jonathan Nolan on the writing before entering the director seat. Thus, he gives a special angle to the movie. First he dream, then he make it happen. There aren't many directors that can pull it off. Tarantino is the master on filming his texts and thoughts. He does that to the letter and doesn’t leave much for the actor's improvisation's techniques, but, if Tarantino writes it, you can be sure it's great. 

I love that Nolan always quest the Time issue in his movies. Memento is going backwards and forward in a matter of minutes which is brilliant. Its character loses time because of a short term memory impairment and finds all kind of ways to overcompensate this problem. You can see in Inception (one of the great movies of this decade, best performance of DiCaprio in a long time) that time is the main theme of this picture. The whole idea of a dream within a dream effect time differently and when you add another layer of a dream to it you can count the years. 

Seconds, minutes, hours, years. What a brilliant idea! 

Interstellar, wow! What a spectacle. When I first saw this movie I wept like a school girl whose been left on the sidewalk after dark. In Mathew McConaughey scene, when he watched his grown daughter (Jessica Chastain)  video after he realized he just lost 20 years over a few hours in space and just wept like any father would. No one can stay indifferent to that scene. This means that Nolan can direct actors as well and not just brilliant ideas and spectacles cinematographer's shots. Don’t forget he directed the best actor there is, Mr. Al Pacino in Insomnia. Another great movie that deals with time and what it does to you. 

Nolan loves the notion of ambiguity in his films. Every ending scene must leave you thinking. He wants to give you a gut punch while you are watching his movies but he also need you to keep on thinking about what you just saw. In one of his interviews he said that today's movies are being watched more than once. On the big screen and afterward on cable TV, hotels, plane etc. Thus he wants to make movies that you can watch for the 2nd or even a 3rd time and still find new ideas and details that you have missed in your previous screening. 

This man took Batman and reboot the story into a trilogy saga that can be posted on a mantel everywhere, proudly. He made a dark Knight movies which was dark indeed. He tackled the questions of time, good vs evil, fear and how people address it. He made it so realistic that even when you see a fight scene on the Dark Knight Rises between Batman and Bane on the footsteps with all the people around fighting as well, your mind is oblivious to the costumes. You do not pay attention that there is a man in a dark mask and a cape of a bat fighting a man with a breathing mask. It seems real. That for me is great directing. On Marvel's film you can see the green screen, you can see the CGI in all its glory. They make it fun but it is definitely not Nolan's world.  

The music in his films is breath taking. From David Julyan (the prestige, Insomnia) through James Newton Howard (Batman trilogy) and the master Hans Zimmer (inception, Batman trilogy, interstellar). Each composer gave him exactly what he needs for his movies. The scenes intertwined with the music perfectly and made itunforgettable. 

"I don’t use temp music. I sit with my composer, talk to him about my though of the film, giving him the script and he start to send me bits of music. If we like it we use it." Nolan interview 2017 

When I hear the soundtracks of his films, even at the office, it gives me the urge to stop it all and go see his film. Even though I saw them a couple of times before. 

To conclude our discussion, if you haven’t seen a Christopher Nolan movie yet, you are both lacking in knowledge but blesses as well, because I, for once, would give a great amount of money to have the experience of seeing them for the first time again. 

Following , 1998 

Memento , 2000

Insomnia, 2002

Batman Begins, 2005

Prestige, 2006

The Dark Knight, 2008 

Inception, 2010

The Dark Knight Rises, 2012

Interstaller, 2014

Dunkirk, 2017

pic from
https://batman-news.com/2018/10/07/gotham-trailer-batman-bane-season-5/
https://indiefilmhustle.com/christopher-nolan-screenplays-download/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRZ2_w56U0
https://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/hollywood/happy-birthday-christopher-nolan-heres-what-makes-the-ace-director-a-great-visionary-4773906/

Man Of Steel - איש הפלדה

Let's talk about Man Of Steel the movie or the reboot of Superman from 2013.

I know that the Marvel world is more successful and fun than the DC universe but, be that as it may, I want to start with Superman. (we'll address Marvel heroes in future articles).

Director Zack Snyder along with producer Mr. Christopher Nolan (Mr. Nolan is truly one of the best director ever and currently the one I expect the most of. I'm thinking of writing a whole section just on his movies and their effects on my expectation of future movies) created a whole new world that is not related to the previous superman movies which are great fun but…

Snyder and Nolan created (with screenwriter Davis S. Goyer which collaborated with Nolan on his Batman movies), a Krypton world which is the weak part of the movie in my opinion. Some hybridization of Jurassic park with TV series Babylon five mash up with star-track technology. Not a great opening but still, we encounter the lovely Ayelet Zurer (Israel represent)  and the Man, Russell Crowe as Jor-El (it was a nice touch that they thought about Crowe which is an academy award winner and consider to be a prestige actor such as the first Superman from  1978 which involved Mr. Marlon Brando as Jor-El). Another prestige actor, Michael Shannon is also appeared at the beginning and introduced as the villain of the movie as General Zod. Of course it is basically follow the comics rules but I think it was farfetched 15 minutes.

After Kal-El the baby sent to earth we start to see Nolan in action. The time breaks and back and forth jumping to an older Clark Kent and a younger versions playing by the great Henry Cavill and mostly his parents Mr. Kevin Costner and the magnificent Diane Lane are what Nolan does best. He portrayed a synopsis with action scene and built the problematic question of "does the world ready for Superman?" with Costner as the protective father which ultimately pays for his protection. 

There are a lot of magnificent actors in this flick. The lovely Amy Adams and  the cool Laurence Fishburne and more. But I wanted to focused on the music of this film.

You don't know me yet but all my friends know that my second hobby is film music. I do not talk about songs from Fame or Bond's films, I'm talking about movie scores. 

Mr. Hans Zimmer is one of my favorite composer, score writer or  whatever you want to title it. Since Broken Arrow throughout Gladiator, The Rock and up till Interstellar (another Nolan outstanding film). 

In this movie I consider Mr. Zimmer score as a supporting actor of some sort. The beautiful melodies along with the special instrument he gathered to come up with the extinguish sounds of the planet being destroyed are remarkable. I love that he always try to come up with new sounds and try different melodies in his scores. When you watch a movie that Zimmer made the score you want be able to get confused on who is the composer. There are a lot of mockups to his scores but there is only one Zimmer.

Drum session. see what Zimmer did...

If you put the CGI's scene aside (which are great by the way – dark and wonderful) and try to capture the camera movement and stills by the hands of Amir Mokri (Bad boys 2) you can see how Nolan interference is basically what makes this film look like this and not another Transformer flick of some sort. 

I saw this movie 5 times by now, the last one was with my 10 years old son which I finally convinced to drop Ant-man and join me to the rear Comic Superhero – Superman. He of course enjoy the CGI parts more than the more quiet story scenes but nonetheless he came out happy and thrilled. As am I. 

I added cool stuff I bought for him (which I took to my office of course) plus I'm adding you a picture of my arm tattoo so you can see I'm serious 😊

Please see below my cool merchandise tips

בואו נדבר על איש הפלדה הסרט או האתחול מחדש של סופרמן מ 2013.

אני יודע כי העולם של מארוול הוא יותר מוצלח ומהנה מאשר היקום של DC אבל, אם כי, אני רוצה להתחיל עם סופרמן. (נדון בגיבורי מארוול במאמרים עתידיים).

הבמאי זאק סניידר יחד עם המפיק מר כריסטופר נולאן (מר נולאן הוא באמת אחד הבמאים הטובים ביותר אי פעם. אני חושב לכתוב קטע שלם רק על הסרטים שלו ועל ההשפעות של צפייה של בסרטיו) יצרו עולם חדש לגמרי שאינו קשור לסרטיי סופרמן הקודמים שהיו כמובן כיף גדול אבל ...

סניידר ונולאן יצרו (עם התסריטאי דייוויס ס. גוייר, אשר שיתף פעולה עם נולאן על סרטיי באטמן), עולם קריפטוני שהוא החלק החלש של הסרט לדעתי. כמו הכלאה של פארק היורה עם סדרת הטלוויזיה בבילון 5 יחד עם טכנולוגיית סטאר-טרק. לא פתיחה נהדרת, אבל עדיין, אנחנו פוגשים את איילת זורר היפהפייה (ייצוג ישראלי לפני עידן גל גדות) ואת הגבר, ראסל קרואו בתור ג'ור אל (זה היה רעיון נחמד שהם חשבו על קרואו שהוא זוכה אוסקר ולשקול שחקן יוקרה כמו הסופרמן הראשון מ -1978, שהיה מר מרלון ברנדו כג'ור אל). שחקן יוקרתי נוסף, מייקל שאנון, הופיע גם הוא בהתחלה והוצג כנבל של הסרט כגנרל זוד. כמובן שכל העולם הזה בעצם ממשיך את כללי הקומיקס אבל אני חושב שאלו 15 דקות מופרכות למדי.

אחרי קאל-אל התינוק שנשלח לכדור הארץ אנחנו מתחילים לראות את נולאן בפעולה. הזמן פוסק הלוך ושוב וקופץ לקלארק קנט מבוגר יותר וגרסאות צעירות יותר של הנרי קאווייל הגדול, ובעיקר הוריו מר קווין קוסטנר ודיאן ליין הנהדרת הם מה שעושה נולאן הכי טוב. הוא מציג עלילה עם סצינות פעולה ובונה את השאלה הבעייתית של "האם העולם מוכן לסופרמן?" עם קוסטנר כאב המגן אשר בסופו של דבר משלם עבור ההגנה שלו.

יש הרבה שחקנים מפוארים בסרט הזה. איימי אדמס היפהפייה ולורנס פישבורן המגניב ועוד. אבל רציתי להתמקד במוסיקה של הסרט הזה.

אתם עדיין לא מכירים אותי אבל כל החברים שלי יודעים שהתחביב השני שלי הוא מוזיקת הקולנוע. אני לא מדבר על שירים מסרטי "תהילה" או "בונד", אני מדבר על Soundtrack scores.

מר האנס זימר הוא אחד המלחינים האהובים עלי, כותב או מה שאתה רוצה ככותרת לאמן הדגול הזה. מאז Broken Arrow לגלדיאטור, לפריצה לאלקטרז ועד Interstellar (עוד סרט מעולה של נולאן).

בסרט זה אני מחשיב את מר זימר כשחקן בסרט לכל דבר ועניין. המנגינות היפות יחד עם הכלים המיוחדים שהוא אסף הם מדהימים. אני אוהב שהוא תמיד מנסה לעלות עם צלילים חדשים ולנסות מנגינות שונות בכתיבה שלו. כאשר אתה צופה בסרט שזימר הלחין את המוזיקה שלו, אתה לא יכול להתבלבל מי הוא המלחין. יש הרבה חיקויים למוזיקה שלו אבל יש רק זימר אחד.

תופים.  תראו  איזו עבודה על קטע תופים, מאחורי הקלעים

אם אתה שם את הסצינות של גרפיקת המחשב (CGI) בצד (שהיא נהדרת דרך אגב - מורבידית ונפלאה) ומנסב לתפוס את תנועת המצלמה והסטילס על ידי אמיר מוקרי (Bas boys 2) אתה יכול לראות איך ההתערבות של נולאן הוא בעצם מה שעושה את זה הסרט ולא עוד סרט רובוטריקים כלשהו שמוקרי גם צילם.

ראיתי את הסרט הזה 5 פעמים עד עכשיו, האחרון היה עם הבן שלי בן ה 10, שסוף סוף שכנעתי אותו לרדת מ Ant-man  ולהצטרף אלי אל גיבור העל, הקומיקס האמיתי - סופרמן. הוא כמובן נהנה מחלקי ה- CGI יותר מאשר בסצנות הסיפור השקטות, אבל בכל זאת הוא יצא מאושר ומרוצה. בדיוק כמוני!

הוספתי דברים מגניבים שקניתי לו (אשר לקחתי למשרד שלי כמובן) ובנוסף אני מוסיף לכם תמונה של הקעקוע שלי על היד כדי שתראו שאני רציני 😊

על עצמי - about myself

שלום לכולם 

בבלוג הזה אנסה לתת סקירה לסרטים שראיתי ואהבתי.
חלק מהסקירה תהיה תכנית יותר (צילום, בימוי, משחק וכו') אבל אנסה לכתוב בצורה חברית יותר וזורמת יותר שגם אלה שפחות אוהבים מושגים טכניים ייהנו ויוכלו לקרוא ולהבין מה כוונת המשורר.

קצת על עצמי, 
אני בחור נשוי + 2 וחוץ מהמשפחה שלי התחביב שמכיל את חיי מעבר לעבודה ומשפחה זה סרטים.
מאז שני מכיר את עצמי אני צופה בסרטים. כל מיני סרטים.
אני לא בחוג לקולנוע או בחור מסתורי בסינמטק שידבר אתכם על גודאר או הסרט האירני האחרון שחייבים ללכת לראות...
לא חייבים כלום!
קולנוע או סרטים בשבילי הם שעה וחצי עד שלוש של בריחה מהמציאות.
גם סרטים שמתקשרים יותר למציאות שאנחנו חיים בה הם סוג של בריחה.

המצב הנפשי שבו אני נמצא בכניסה לקולנוע; הריח של הפופקורן בשילוב הטחב מהשטיחים המעופשים, הקור הממוזג שנכנס לריאות בכניסה לאולם, מציאת המקום המושלם (למעלה, באמצע שהסראונד יקיף אותי בדיוק בנקודה הנכונה), וכמובן הרגע שכל האורות נכבים ורק המסך מתחיל לרצד את התמונות.
תחושת נירוונה.

הבלוג מיועד לאלה מכם שאוהבים סרטים, חולמים סרטים, אוהבים לדבר על סרטים בלי פלצנות מיותרת או סתם כאלה שבא להם לקרוא מה אני חושב על סרט מסוים שאולי אהבו או אולי יצאו באמצע. כן..כן.. אני מכיר אנשים שיוצאים באמצע הסרט. לא מקבל, אבל מכיר :)

דרך אגב, יכול להיות שאוסיף מידי פעם קישורים או פרסום לקניית מוצרים הקשורים למה שדברנו. רוב המוצרים נבדקו ע"י והם דיי מגניבים. אני כמובן לא מוכר את המוצרים שלי, אין לי חנות או משהו כזה אלא רק ממליץ למי שמתלהב מדברים כאלה כמוני.

הבלוג הזה הוא סוג של חלום שלי מגיל צעיר, לשתף את המחשבות והתחושות שלי על סרטים מסוימים.
אשמח לקבל תגובות על כל כתבה, מה אהבתם, אם בכלל, אבל כיאה לאנשים מבוגרים נא לשמור על שפה נאותה, כל המקללים למיניהם יש מספיק מקום באינטרנט להוציא את השד שם. לא אצלי.

קריאה מהנה.
ג. 

Hello everyone

In this blog I will try to give an overview of the films I saw and loved throughout the years.

Some of the review will be thechnical issues (photography, directing, acting, etc.), but I will try to write in a more sociable and flowing way that even those who like less technical concepts will enjoy and be able to read and understand what the poet intends.

A little about myself, 

I'm a married guy + 2 . The hobby that holds my life beyond work and family is movies.

Since i know myself I  have been watching movies. All kinds of movies.

I'm not in a cinema school or a mysterious guy at the Cinematheque to talk about Godard or the last Iranian film you have to go see ...

You do not have to see anything!

Cinema or movies for me are an hour and a half to three of escaping from reality.

Even films that relate more to the reality we live in are a form of escape.

The mental state in which I am at the entrance to the cinema; The smell of the popcorn combined with the mildew from the moldy carpets, the air-conditioned cold entering the lungs at the entrance to the hall, finding the perfect place (above, in the middle to catch that Dolbi 5.1 surround sound), and of course the moment all the lights go out and only the screen begins to flicker.

A truly sense of Nirvana

The blog is for those of you who love movies, dream movies, like to talk about movies without unnecessary scholar remarks or just to read what I think about a particular movie that you might have loved or maybe have got out in the middle. Yes, yes, I know people who go out in the middle of the film. Not accepting them , but familiar with the phenomenon :)

By the way, I may occasionally add links or advertising posters to buy products related to what we have talked about. Of course, I do not sell my products, I do not have a store or anything like that, but I just recommend it to those who are enthusiastic about such things as me.

This blog is kind of my dream from an early age, to share my thoughts and feelings on certain movies.

I would be happy to receive responses to any article, what you love, if any, but as appropriate older people such as us, please keep a proper language, all the cursers and the swearing can be at other blogs. not here. Thanks. 

Enjoy.

G.