'The Insider' absorbs audience with direction
By Don Weberg
Daily Forty-Niner
Something strange happens to an audience
sitting before a film directed by Michael Mann. They listen, they watch,
they absorb.
Mann's work, however, magically involves
the audience with the plot -- something only a few filmmakers can claim.
Mann's latest release, "The Insider," complements his abilities as a director.
Don Weberg
Starring Al Pacino as "60 Minutes" producer
Lowell Bergman, Russell Crowe as ex-tobacco executive and scientist Dr.
Jeffrey Wigand and Christopher Plummer as "60 Minutes" anchor Mike Wallace,
the film has an unstoppable cast.
Wigand becomes an ex-tobacco scientist-executive
when the company he works for, B and W Tobacco products, fires him for
poor communication skills, false grounds for his termination.
Bergman is working on a story about cigarette
smoking and the dangers associated with smoking. Needing clarification
of the terms in the government report, Bergman is referred to Wigand.
Finally, through a series of fax messages,
both meet in a hotel lobby.
The audience, and everyone else in the
movie, is brought into the picture when Wigand tells Bergman why he has
to be so elusive when it comes to answering questions. It has to do with
the confidentiality contract he has with B and W.
When word gets out that Wigand is talking
with a CBS producer, the plot spirals, making Wigand the target of death
threats and the central focus of conspiracies. The entire time, Wigand
had held up his end of the contract, until B and W infuriated him.
In the meeting, several under-the-table
threats were made and during the meeting's heated end, he storms out and
calls Bergman.
Telling him that he wanted to do an interview,
that would blow the lid off the tobacco industries, Bergman arranges the
on-camera interview at the studios with Mike Wallace.
The interview would be "60 Minutes'" most
important in years.
Everyone is excited about the interview
and appears to be behind it. Cut and ready for air, as soon as a few legalities
are out of the way, CBS corporate officials get nervous about the legal
muscle behind tobacco companies and kill the story.
According to the CBS lawyers, a new law
can, in a roundabout way, muzzle the First Ammendment rights of news organizations.
Despite Bergman's efforts to keep the story
as-is, he loses and is told to re-cut the segment into a watered down version.
While Bergman is fighting legalites at
corporate CBS, Wigand finds himself in the eye of the storm when a smear
campaign is launched by the tobacco companies. Stress mounts and tension
builds as Bergman and Wigand become "two ordinary men in extraordinary
circumstances."
Pacino's work in the film cannot be beat.
There is also no denying the talent of
Mann. His use of super-quick edits, realistic locations and lighting situations
that can only be described as Mann-isms, make his work stand out. Though
most of his work has been done for television, his track record speaks
for itself.
For sheer thrill entertainment value, "The
Insider" is sure to deliver. The movie's hot acting, cutting edge directing,
terrific camera work and true storyline make it a must see.
Movie picks include auto racing and hitmen
Now that the Halloween trick-or-treaters
have left massive quantities of small consumables around the pad, it's
time to watch some fun films.
The first weekend video pick has to go
to "Cannonball Run," starring Burt Reynolds, Sammy Davis Jr., Dom DeLuise,
Roger Moore, Dean Martin and many other top-performers. This 1981 20th
Century hit was not a box office smash by any means, but it's a lot of
fun to watch.
The movie entails an illegal, cross-country
race from Darien, Conn. to Redondo Beach. Few people know that the Cannonball
was an actual race that took place in the '70s. Masterminded by Brock Yates,
of Car and Driver magazine, Yates not only started the real race, but wrote
the screenplay for "Cannonball Run."
The movie is exciting from the start, opening
with a shot of a black Lamborghini Countach screaming along a two-lane
stretch of blacktop in the blazing desert. Police cruisers soon find out
they are no match for the Italian supercar, with surprises around every
corner.
Dom DeLuise plays Victor Princi, sidekick
to J.J. McClure (Burt Reynolds), who suffers from an alter-ego, or identity
crisis. Captain Chaos is Princi's alter-ego, complete with cape and mask,
and when he's at the steering wheel he can make any car go faster.
Roger Moore stars in the film as Seymour
Goldfar Jr, heir to a girdle company fortune. But, instead of spending
his time learning the business, he prefers wearing tuxedoes and driving
around in a silver Aston Martin as Roger Moore.
Yes, this movie is twisted.
"Cannonball Run" is a great movie to turn
your brain off with for a while and relax. One tip, keep an eye and an
ear for certain under-the-table jokes.
The second weekend pix has to go to a film
that requires a little more brain work and a lot less laughs than "Cannonball
Run." Jan Michael-Vincent and Charles Bronson team up in the 1972 cult-hit,
"The Mechanic."
No, the film has nothing to do with fixing
mechanical things. The title is a term used by underworld figures as a
person who fixes situations that can make important people uncomfortable.
A mechanic can also be referred to as a hitman.
Bronson plays mechanic Arthur Bishop, an
independent contractor hitman. Steve McKenna (Jan Michael-Vincent) joins
with Bishop to take care of certain troubles within the organization, making
an unstoppable duo.
Filled with terrific, old areas of Los
Angeles, camera angles, sound effects and one-liners that can't be matched,
"The Mechanic" is a movie that delivers a twist and a twist. The movie
leaves most with a weird feeling.
Trivia-time; last week's question, "Return
of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" saw the introduction of one of today's
hottest, male TV stars: who is it? The surprise answer is George Clooney.
For this week, what was the name of the dog in "Back to the Future"?
Don Weberg is a print journalism major |
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