Chris Todd

I never really liked Michael Mann's "Heat." Yeah, the climactic shoot-out is a pretty amazing piece of work, but otherwise -- eh. The much vaunted face-off between Pacino and DeNiro is a non-starter, Pacino's "great ass" speech just makes me embarassed, and the rest of the film is strangely inert while the air of existential ennui that seems to permeate everything never really coalesces into anything meaningful. It's a great looking movie -- I'm not sure Michael Mann is capable of shooting a bad looking frame of film -- but not one that ever connected with me, despite the praise lavished on it.

For my next trick: Why "Broken Arrow" is a better film than either "Speed" or "Independence Day."