StarCastle99

Once a picture is on the screen the role of the director is subtle. For example, Spielberg uses a lot of crane shots, but only in advancing the picture. Michael Mann, the director of Miami Vice, seems to be shouting: "Look at Me - I'm the Director". Well, some advice: Just because there are cameras that can be hand held, it doesn't mean they should be used beyond all reason. Second, dialog is meant to be heard. Unless you read lips, half the dialog in this picture is fuzzy or inaudible. I know that's not an accident. The director is there while doing the re-recording mix. Somehow Mr. Mann thinks it's more suspenseful when you don't know what's going on. Actually it's more confusing.

My final gripe is the film is too long by at least 20 minutes. Mann is known as a director who doesn't take kindly to advice or criticism. If I were making a movie tomorrow, he'd be the last on my long list. The short list is for those who can tell a story.

Having written a three part novel, it is my firm belief that before the writer begins the first novel, he or she should have a firm idea of how the third novel will end, as well as the connective tissue that holds the three together. I don't care what the Warschawsky's Press Agent would have you believe, but when the first Matrix was completed and awaiting release, nobody was thinking sequels - and it shows. There are some movies that deserve to stand up as one time only. The first Matrix was a ground breaker in look and f/x. The next two were boring high budget films which require a cheat sheet to keep track of the plot.

The best that one can say, is if given the choice of producing large scale crowd effects, the job should go to WEDA. Their software is positively awesome. As for the Reloaded and Revolutions, they are clinkers, pure and simple. A good rule of thumb: if a movie relies on special effects more than cinematic story telling, it means there is no story, and the movie isn't worth your valuable time.

Usually I don't expect much out of movies made for TV. They're seven acts, instead of the traditional three, which makes plotting difficult. They work on miniscule budgets, and usually use actors on their way up or their way down. Not to be compared with theatrical motion pictures - apples and oranges. However, the exception proves the rule.

This is an epic telling of the Melville story. Okay, most of you probably had a bad experience reading the novel. You end up asking why Ahab was prepared to give his life for catching or killing the great albino whale. The answer is that Ahab and the Whale are inexorably bound in life. The whale is Ahab's grab for the eternal brass ring, one that eludes him time and again.

First: Best motion picture score I've ever heard for a TV Movie. Second: This picture is filmed like a theatrical, meant to be projected on a large screen. Third: My dear friend, Patrick Stewart who doesn't know how to give a bad performance. Patrick, like the whale is a force of nature, not to be denied. I've directed Patrick on a number of occasions and there's none of the nonsense you hear about the whims of great actors. Patrick comes to work prepared and when he makes a suggestion you take it very seriously.

I don't care about the other online reviews putting the knock on Melville or his story. What have any of us done recently that will live for more than a century and a half. That my friends is the mark of greatness. It's an elusive butterfly that anybody who gives their life to the creative arts covets and strives to achieve. I give it a ten and defy any reader of this review to tell me why it deserves a scentila less.