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'Public Enemies' and Inaccurate Locations

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Just got back from the midnight showing of Public Enemies - I thought it was pretty good, though Christian Bale's character had no depth whatsoever.

But what really made me start this thread is this:

The movie opens at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana.  I live in Michigan City (unless I'm at school, in which case I live in Chicago), and the location is very inaccurate.  I know it's supposed to be 1933, but even then it wouldn't have looked like that at all.

The movie depicts the prison (note that I have no way of knowing whether the prison itself is inaccurate or not, but I don't think it's right) as sitting in the middle of a wide open field of grass with a very straight dirt road in front.  In reality, the road is curved by necessity, and the surrounding area is not very flat and is more of a forest than a grassy field.  This completely ruined my suspension of disbelief, since this clearly was not Michigan City, Indiana.

Has anyone else here seen a movie where a scene or multiple scenes take place somewhere you're very familiar with, but it doesn't look anything at all like where it supposedly is?  And when this happened, did it take you out of the movie?  Because it sure took me out of this one.

Oh, and one important thing to note - this movie looks awful.  It really reminded me of what I hate about digital filmmaking.

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The only film that comes to mind right away is Taxi.  It's set in Manhattan (my former home).  Some of it is obviously filmed there, but some parts are most definitely filmed somewhere in California. It doesn't bother me too much because it's a silly comedy, but those California scenes stuck out like a sore thumb as soon as I saw them and are a distraction to me.

 

"You open the door - I don't want to get Daewoo on my hands"

 

 

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Is this a good criminal/gangster movie?

How does it compare to American Gangster, the untouchables, the godfather, scarface, goodfellas, casino?

Was Johhny Depp good in the movie?

Have not seen Public Enemies yet but it was a film i was going to see at some point.

Michael Mann the director made good films with Heat and Collateral, but i thought Miami vice was the biggest piece of shit i have ever seen.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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It's pretty good.  It's about on par with American Gangster, but doesn't hold a candle to The Untouchables, The Godfather, Scarface, Goodfellas, or Casino.  Johnny Depp is fantastic, Christian Bale is serviceable.

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Johnny Depp is an actor to watch certainly.  I think he is very highly talented which you really would not know from watching the bad popcorn pirates trilogy, though i liked curse of the black pearl,lol.

What happened to Christian Bale?  I liked him in Batman Begins but found his voice a bit grating in the dark knight and terminator salvation.

Rescue dawn was awful imho as well.

Though i liked 3:10 to Yuma.  But thought it was not as good as Eastwood's unforgiven.

As directors go i find Michael Mann to be pretty good.  Maybe not as good as Martin Scorcese, Brian DePalma. Francis Ford Coppola, or Ridley Scott.  Still he is excellent.

I think Heat is an underated film personally.  Collateral was amazing as well.

Do you think a longer cut or directors cut of Public Enemies will be released on dvd and blu ray?

How was the pacing in the film, or i should say movie since no film was used as you say.

On another subject what did you think of Tom Hanks and Road to Perdition?

Are their depth of field issues in the camera work because it was shot on video? I mean Public Enemies of course.  What is your opinion as a student of film.  What would you have done if you were the cinematographer ChaisawAsh?

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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No idea about a director's cut, but I'd welcome it - some aspects of the film feel truncated and confusing.

If I were the cinematographer, I'd have quit and not done the film since Mann only shoots on HD video now.  It looks like shit - it's not so much depth of field issues, really ... I can't quite put my finger on it, but there are a lot of blown-out bright lights and things like that.  And I read a review today in the waiting room at my doctor's office from the Chicago Tribune where the guy praised the "inky blacks" in some scenes, saying that the effect could not have been achieved on celluloid.

That is bullshit.  The "inky blacks" he's talking about weren't inky nor black - they were riddled with video artifacts, especially video noise, which meant the blacks had a layer of red, green, and blue noise all over them.  And anytime a character moved against a dark background, you could clearly see trails left behind.  It's just hideous.

I think part of it is that Mann was going for a grimy film look, but if that's the case then why the fuck did he use video?  I know it can look decent - look at Zodiac.  That was (mostly) shot digitally, and it looks halfway decent.  Not fantastic, but not awful.

And I used to have roughly equal respect for Depp and Bale ... now, as you said, what happened to Bale?  Depp's consistently fantastic, but Bale ... eh.  Hit or miss.

I love Road to Perdition, and think Hanks did a great job.  I'm a huge fan of Sam Mendes (the director) and Thomas Newman (the composer) - which reminds me, the music in Public Enemies irritated the shit out of me.  Way overbearing most of the time, and there were a lot of very bad music fades.  The sound editing in general was very poor.

Now, back to the state prison thing - for the hell of it, after my doctor's appointment today, I drove by the prison to compare the landscape to what I saw in the film last night.  I was correct - trees and hills everywhere, whereas in the film it was a dry, flat grassland with a dirt road and a gas station.  But I no longer wish they shot it in Michigan City at the actual prison, because after looking at its current state, that would have been impossible.  The prison itself now has a great many chain-link, razor-wire fences, huge parking lots, many CCTV cameras, there are always cars parked around it ... it just wouldn't have worked at all for the period.

But they could at least have gotten the landscape right ...

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Was completely taken aback after walking into the film. No one said anything about digital video or shaky camera! Was this some halfhearted attempt at semi-documentary style? The whole thing just felt too hollow to me-no deep characterization or any attempt to get under their skin. Very dissappointing.

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ChainsawAsh said:

Just got back from the midnight showing of Public Enemies - I thought it was pretty good, though Christian Bale's character had no depth whatsoever.

But what really made me start this thread is this:

The movie opens at Indiana State Prison in Michigan City, Indiana.  I live in Michigan City (unless I'm at school, in which case I live in Chicago), and the location is very inaccurate.  I know it's supposed to be 1933, but even then it wouldn't have looked like that at all.

The movie depicts the prison (note that I have no way of knowing whether the prison itself is inaccurate or not, but I don't think it's right) as sitting in the middle of a wide open field of grass with a very straight dirt road in front.  In reality, the road is curved by necessity, and the surrounding area is not very flat and is more of a forest than a grassy field.  This completely ruined my suspension of disbelief, since this clearly was not Michigan City, Indiana.

Has anyone else here seen a movie where a scene or multiple scenes take place somewhere you're very familiar with, but it doesn't look anything at all like where it supposedly is?  And when this happened, did it take you out of the movie?  Because it sure took me out of this one.

Oh, and one important thing to note - this movie looks awful.  It really reminded me of what I hate about digital filmmaking.

Pearl Harbor.  There's a scene of "Roosevelt Field, Long Island, NY", an air field...the one Charles Lindbergh took off from for his famous trans-atlantic flight.  Now, I live right here on LI and I've been going to Roosevelt Field, now a shopping mall, virtually all my life.  Plenty of trees, but I don't remember seeing those giant California mountains anywhere around here.  The highest point on LI, the north shore where the Sound is, is maybe 300 feet ASL, tops.  Roosevelt Field is in Garden City, about halfway between the north and south shores.  The majority of the island is around 100 feet ASL.

 

My outlook on life - we’re all on the Hindenburg anyway…no point fighting over the window seat.

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The entire Hoth sequence of The Empire Strikes Back is pathetic. It looks nothing like the real Hoth.

4

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Thank goodness F.F.C. did not film "Apocalypse Now" at Malibu Creek State Park, Los Angeles.  Then it might have looked too much like Korea, or Ape City, or Walnut Grove...

 

And he also used real N.Y.C. streat locations in his Godfather films.   When the film makers try to use locations that are as autentic as posible, I feel it makes the film a bit more special.  It adds a great deal of verisimilitude to the piece.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison

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Hoth was cool in Empire.  The ripoff by JJ in Star Trek was not cool.

Original idea=good

copy=shit

The use of Finse Norway was also brilliant.

Today Lucas would just shoot it in an old abandoned rolls royce factory with greenscreen, and have cgi snow,lol.

“Always loved Vader’s wordless self sacrifice. Another shitty, clueless, revision like Greedo and young Anakin’s ghost. What a fucking shame.” -Simon Pegg.

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skyjedi2005 said:

Hoth was cool in Empire.  The ripoff by JJ in Star Trek was not cool.

Original idea=good

copy=shit

The use of Finse Norway was also brilliant.

Today Lucas would just shoot it in an old abandoned rolls royce factory with greenscreen, and have cgi snow,lol.

 

I thought Nick Meyer ripped it off first in "Star Trek VI"?

J.J.'s ice planet is a copy of a copy, and that makes twice as shitty.

“First feel fear, then get angry. Then go with your life into the fight.” - Bill Mollison