Watching Heat – Lovely Movie

(Recommended by SI reader mihi_rex and slammed by jay)

Just returned from Blockbuster.

Picked up the Heat Special Edition DVD (two discs).

Written and directed by Michael Mann (remember Collateral and Miami Vice), Heat features two of our favorite actors – Robert De Niro and Al Pacino.

The movie debuted on December 15, 1995.

According to Wiki:

Heat was a critical and commercial success, grossing over $187 million worldwide.

We’ll update this post later today or tomorrow after we finish watching the movie.

Update:
OK.

Can someone please identify the schmuck who wrote the following drivel in the comments section a few days back:

Heat is so over rated. It is an embarassment.

Heat, an embarrassment?

Are you one of those idiots that take a contrarian stand on issues just to stand out. If so, you succeeded.

Hear us, folks – if Heat is an embarrassment, it’s an embarrassment of riches or as the French would say embarras de richesse.

A lovely ensemble of a fine story, solid acting and a talented director (Michael Mann) makes Heat one of the must watch movies for all film buffs.

Director Michael Mann is an accomplished storyteller (by the way, he’s also the writer of this movie) and it shows all through the film.

The so-many different threads of crime, emotional distance, love, law, marriage, money, violence and revenge are all neatly woven together in this gripping movie.

Al Pacino plays a LAPD police officer and on the opposite side of the law stand the bad guys Robert De Niro and his cohorts. That’s all we’re gonna tell you.

The contrast between the hyperkinetic Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) and the cool cat Neil McCauley (Robert De Niro) is a delight to watch.

Although you kinda know how it’ll all end, Heat is so well executed that it still holds your attention throughout.

Apparently, Heat is the first film in which the two Hollywood legends Robert De Niro and Al Pacino share screen time.

Nice Lines

When I think of asses, a woman’s ass, something comes out of me.

– Lieutenant Vincent Hanna (Al Pacino) in one of the funny moments in the film.

SearchIndia.com strongly recommends Heat. If you live in the U.S., you can rent this movie from Blockbuster (mind you, not all locations carry it) or Netflix.

19 Responses to "Watching Heat – Lovely Movie"

  1. satya   May 7, 2009 at 5:30 pm

    Amitabh bachan and dilip kumar starrer Shakthi (1982 ) had exact same climax as Heat !! I still wonder if for once the hollywood copied from bollywood ?!. please see for yourself to confirm.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Will do.

    Now, wouldn’t that be something – a Robert De Niro/Al Pacino movie being a lift of a Bollywood film.

  2. kreacher   May 7, 2009 at 9:13 pm

    There was talk of copying a 2002 movie called Aankhen (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0306434/) into something called “Three Blind Mice” – too bad it didn’t happen. This Aankhen, not to be confused with the Govinda movie featured Amitabh Bachchan and Akshay Kumar and was quite an engrossing tale, like some movies that I think you liked (Manorama Six Feet Under, Johnny Gaddar). Try it out if you can.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Sorry for the delay in responding. We were watching Heat.

    Unfortunately, Netflix does not have Aankhen.

  3. kelambu_kaathu   May 7, 2009 at 10:57 pm

    Actually there are many Tamil movies which Hollywood copies… shamelessly… I wonder how they understand Tamil. May be subtitles?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Yeah, right.

    Where would Robert Di Nero, Julia Roberts, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Al Pacino, Johnny Depp, Chris Nolan et al be without you Cooumwood guys.

    Now we know why you ‘guys’ walk so tall – It’s because Cooumwood feeds so many hungry mouths in Hollywood.

  4. kreacher   May 7, 2009 at 11:30 pm

    Al Pacino and De Niro shared screen time in Godfather II before Heat, BTW.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    The following from Wiki:

    Heat marked the first time that Pacino and De Niro appeared together onscreen, garnering much anticipation from film fans. Although both actors starred in The Godfather Part II 21 years earlier, they were not in any scenes together. Pacino and De Niro appeared together again in the 2008 film Righteous Kill.

  5. mihi_rex   May 8, 2009 at 12:40 am

    Hey, great review (as usual)! 🙂

    I was actually thinking of recommending Heat, before the ‘crap show movie’ Righteous Kill came out. No hindsight bias, but for some reason,after watching the trailer, I knew that Righteous Kill was going to be a mediocre/crappy movie!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Here’s the Righteous Kill Review.

  6. kelambu_kaathu   May 8, 2009 at 9:07 am

    Not that they copy all the movies from Kollywood but most of the good movies. Few of their movies are good and original….

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Looks like Happy Hours started early for you.

  7. boopalanj   May 8, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    Btw, 13 B (Yaavarum Nalam) movie’s hollywood remake rights were bought by The Weinstein Company [Source: Wikipedia]

  8. 1012900   December 29, 2009 at 4:48 am

    SI,

    Have u watched 13 B(Yaavarum Nalam , in Tamil)?

    It was a decent movie.

    Horror movie which isn’t so frightening but still manages to hold ur attention.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    That fella Madhavan is himself like a horror show. 😉

    No, we haven’t seen 13B, 14C or even 15D.

    We’ve seen only 3D Avatar.

  9. 1012900   January 2, 2010 at 12:23 am

    Too bad. Yavarum Nalam (13 B) is one of the decent movies to come out of kollywood.

    It was one of the super hit films of 2009.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: It was one of the super hit films of 2009.

    What rubbish. Time you bought a dictionary.

    The description ‘Super Hit’ is something you use for movies like 3 Idiots not for the likes of Yavarum Nalam.

    13B Box Office – Madhavan’s Real Horror Show.

  10. 1012900   January 2, 2010 at 5:51 am

    Where i live,

    Yavarum Nalam was a super hit.

    I wasn’t talking about the US box office.

    And Pls don’t judge a movie by its BO results.

    Anbe Sivam(which was an awesome movie) was a flop here.

    ACC to the US BO, even craps like Dostana and Singh is Kinng did quite well. Now this doesn’t mean those movies were worth watching!!!

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    1. You write: Where i live, Yavarum Nalam was a super hit….And Pls don’t judge a movie by its BO results.

    What is the meaning of ‘super hit’ in your language? That you, your thambi (younger brother), thangachi (younger sister) and three other podiyans (kids) liked it?

    2. You write: I wasn’t talking about the US box office.

    Even if you are referring to the Indian box office, you must provide credible links to back up your claims lest you be considered just another fawning acolyte of a star (Madhavan in this case).

  11. 1012900   January 2, 2010 at 11:12 am

    Acolyte? me? Not in my life.

    I ain’t a blind fan of anyone.

    I called this a super hit not because me, or my brother or my sister liked it but because it did do well here.This doesn’t have anything to do with whether i liked YN or not.

    Saw this in the theater about 2 and a half months after its release. The theater was full.

    http://movies.indiatimes.com/News-Gossip/Regional-/Tamil/Yaavarum-Nalam-completes-100-Days/articleshow/4667236.cms

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    Thanks.

    We’ll try to watch 13B one of these days and review it here too (hopefully soon).

  12. 1012900   January 2, 2010 at 11:18 am

    Check this out too.

    Hollywood has decided to buy the remake rights of this movie.

    http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/45578.html

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ll believe it when it happens (when the Hollywood version releases).

    BTW, who writes/talks this kind of junk (excerpt from your link):

    One of the sources from Reliance Big Pictures says, ‘There isn’t much any exultation for us than this glad tiding. Doubtlessly, we could predict that the film would look for unexpected resplendencies prior to its release.’

    Ha ha ha…’isn’t much any exultation’…’unexpected resplendencies’…God, please save us from such phrases. 🙁

  13. 1012900   January 3, 2010 at 8:43 am

    “We’ll try to watch 13B one of these days and review it here too ”

    Looking forward to it 🙂

    I haven’t seen the Hindi version 13B, because of unfamiliarity with the language.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    We’ll have to watch the Hindi film because that’s the only version Netflix has.

  14. 1012900   January 5, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Oh.

    I watched some clips of the Hindi version.

    Didn’t understand a thing though. 😀

    And i noticed you didn’t review Blood Diamond too.

    Can u review it?

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: And i noticed you didn’t review Blood Diamond too.

    Once we finish our Clint Eastwood trip.

  15. 1012900   January 5, 2010 at 9:26 am

    Have u watched any movies starring Jackie Chan?

    I know u can’t expect good acting in a movie starring JC but still, the stunts are so amazing.

    SearchIndia.com Responds:

    You write: Have u watched any movies starring Jackie Chan?

    We’ve seen one or two Jackie Chan-Chris Rock movies.

    • rama dasa   August 18, 2011 at 6:02 pm

      his (jacky’s,yes that’s how they originally spelled his name) old ones are way better than the 90’s and 21st century ones.

      Get “Snake in the eagle’s shadow(my personal jacky chan favorite!)” “Drunken Master”‘s one and two,”Wheels on Meals” and “Dragon’s Forever”, you cant go wrong with those!

      And anyone that says JC is a bad actor is either a fat lazy slob who doesnt know the meaning of the word”acting” or is Jet LI angry about losing several chinese/Hong Kong movie awards that JC got for his role in “Crime Story”(1993)

      SearchIndia.com Responds:

      Here’s an excerpt on Jackie Chan from SI’s review of Karate Kid:

      Jackie Chan – A Delight
      And to all Jackie Chan fans, we say that the 56-year-old actor’s charms are intact.

      With his shuffling gait and calm demeanor (except for that single breakdown), Chan is a fine contrast to the ebullient, chatty Dre.

      By the way, Tamil actor Kamal Haasan is the same age and what a world of difference exists between the two.

      Jackie Chan makes it all look effortless, as if he’s not acting. Kamal Haasan, in contrast, often appears to be straining for the right effect and ends up melodramatic.

      http://www.searchindia.com/2010/06/11/karate-kid-review-jaden-smith-beats-srk-aamir-hrithik-akshay-hollow-in-the-acting-dept

      • rama dasa   August 18, 2011 at 9:25 pm

        that’s the americanized clone jacky chan,Im talkin; about the REAL jacky chan(see links)

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqKBvdv_wXw

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXVp9938Uq4

        http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cujbXzXEjo

        hollywood destroyed the true chan,it’s time to for him to either retire or return to HK and make movies like he used to,i appreciate the above review but it’s still based on what the american audience has seen via hollywood and NOT his true movies.compare the above videos with that american crap he’s been doing for the last ten years and tell me if you notice anything different(other than his age!)

  16. iamthechampion007   August 18, 2011 at 10:39 am

    Recently watched the tamil version of ‘Hey Ram’…..i liked the movie…if possible, pls review it on SI……….Also watched the lovely movie Stanley Ka Dabba..

    Its simply amazing…Its been written & directed by Amole Gupte(the one who wrote Taare Zameen Par)…….Here’s the wiki link…..http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Ka_Dabba

    Pls try 2 watch both n review them.

  17. iamthechampion007   August 18, 2011 at 10:40 am

    Hey i just now saw the review of Hey Ram on SI……didn’t know it was already there….Sorry………….

You must be logged in to post a comment Login