u/NYRangers1313

If you grew up really anywhere in the tri-state area from NYC up to Upstate NY to CT to Jersey a Sicilian Style pizza is usually a large square pizza. And of course Long Island takes this one step further by making an even bigger pie called the Grandma Pie or the Grandma Slices. (Which is the better version).

I was watching old clips of Anthony Bourdain's part unknown where he is in Sicily. The thing I noticed is that the pizza in Sicily looked like thin crust NYC style pizza more than the Pizza in Naples.

I didn't see square pizza at all. The pizza looked identical to NYC slice pizza.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwfGwjgbaVk

Same with this other video from Lost Boarders. Not as thin crusted but the pizza (and the pizza places) look a lot like NYC pizza joints: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLZXURt66co

I get it. A lot of European foods got Americanized over the years due to what was locally available. But how did the square pizza come to be? And specifically become known as Sicilian Style?

I've been on a Michael Mann kick. I've rewatched Thief, Heat, Collateral, Miami Vice and now Blackhat. I've always loved this movie and loved it when it came out. I remember watching it in circa 2016, I believe on netflix with a group of friends in my mid 20s. I remember most of them fell asleep not even half way and insisted it was boring. As where me the then IT student (now Cybersecurity Professional) loved it. I feel like this is Michael Mann's most misunderstood movie (besides Miami Vice). If you enjoyed Miami Vice (2006) this almost feels like a sequel.

Basically the movie is honestly, fairly simple and the villians motivates are almost Craig era Bond like. Basically a Nuclear Power Plant in Hong Kong gets hacked and causes it to go into meltdown (sadly no Homer Simpson to save the day) and the Chicago Stock Exchange gets hacked and the Soy futures get manipulated.

The Remote Access Tool used in both hacks was co-written by Captain Chen Dawai a Cyber Warfare Officer in the Chinese Military and Nicholas Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) an MIT drop out turned criminal doing time in Federal Prison. Due to the Chicago and Hong Kong hacks, the US and Chinese Governments team up to try and find the hacker who caused this mess. Captain Chen needs Hathaway's help, so Hathaway makes a deal with the FBI. If he captures the hacker, he is let free from prison. If he fails, he serves the rest of his 15 years. He teams up with the FBI (Agent Barrett played by Viola Davis), his US Marshal Handler/Watchdog (Marshal Jessup played by Holt McCallany) and Captain Chen's sister Chen Lein played by Tang Wei as she is a fellow Network Engineer, one that Captain Chen trusts.

The Good:

Honestly, the technical skills, the tech jargon and lingo and use of computers is probably the most realistic ever in a movie. Only the TV Series Mr. Robot does it better. Some criticised the display of Tech as overly simplistic as during one point, both Hemsworth and Tang Wei remark how their suspect is using TOR to hide his location. At other times characters mention VPNs, the dark web, phising, keyloggers and other basic things. But they use all of the terms correctly. As someone who works in Cybersecurity more often than not, hacking is 90% phising and using simple tools like TOR or VPNs. It's not always writing highly advanced worms and malware. More often or not, like a burglar breaking into a house, the tried and true tools are the best tools.

The Cinematrogphy as usual from Mann is excellent. No one shoots night time scenes as well as Mann. He does such an excellent job of making the same locations feel different at night. One thing I loved about this movie. The first half of the movie largely takes place in the US. It is spent almost entirely indoors. The second half, when we move to Hong Kong and later Indonesia. During our time in Asia, we truly get the Mann skills. Busy nightime streets, moody lighting, beautiful city scapes, people and festivals filling the screen. It's busy, it's alive and it's great.

The first half gets criticized for being a little slow (it kind of is) I feel like this was a stylistic choice as I believe Michael Mann wanted to really show off Hong Kong and Indonesia rather than show off LA again. So the LA scenes really only take place inside of a motel room and inside of a Korean Restaurant. I would have love to see more of Koreatown LA but it was kind of glossed over. I get what he was trying to do.

I feel like everyone does a good job acting here. I love Viola Davis as the "badcop" FBI agent. Though not a ton of screen time, Holt McCallany is good as the US Marshal, he's always good as a tough guy. Hemsworth is much better than people give him credit for. I even thought him and Tang Wei have good chemistry. Wang Leehom is also good but much like McCallany he doesn't get a ton of screen time.

The shootout scenes are great and classic Mann. Especially the street shootout in Hong Kong. It reminds me a lot of the dock shootout in Miami Vice.

The Bad-

The movie honestly does feel a little generic. It almost feels like this is the movie someone else would make, if they were trying to make a Michael Mann style movie rather than Michael Mann itself. Like this is almost a parody/tribute to Michael Mann rather than being a true Michael Mann movie. All of his hallmarks are there. From moody and cynical characters, excellent cinematography, night time scenes, location shoots, etc. But it just doesn't feel original or new. It almost feels like the most stereotypical Michael Mann movie. It's a comfort film but not new or groundbreaking. Kind of like how Eraser is the most stereotypical Arnie fill and it's not overly original? Blackhat is the same way for Mann.

The first 25 or so minutes are a little slow. Not the worst in the world but I think it's where a lot of people checked out and so many for the last 11 years have labeled this movie as boring. Once Hemsworth gets out of prison and they get to the Koreatown restaurant, it picks up a lot.

At times the move does feel rushed. The main villain doesn't have a lot of screen time at all and shows up with less than 30 to go. I know the movie is part mystery of trying to "hack the hacker" and track the villain down, so I can forgive this. The villain's motive though is similar to Le Chiffre from Casino Royale in that he wanted to cause disasters to manipulate the stock market. He wanted to hack cooling pipelines of a tin mine to flood the mine, a village and a valley in Indonesia. To cause a Tin shortage and manipulate the stock market. Problem is, unlike Le Chiffre the villain barely gets any screentime and it's hard to find him interesting for that reason. I think with the low screen time, it would have been better if he simply was a terrorist with an anti-west ideology rather than money being his motivation.

I dont' feel like there is a ton of character development for anyone. I know many have critiscized Hemsworth's character for the last act being good at fighting and stabbing people to death (he stabs two people). But in his defense he has been in prison for several years. I guess he had to defend himself inside.. But he was sent to prison for hacking several banks. More than likely he would have been in Camp Fed rather than a maximum security prison. But it's a movie...

Overall, I've always enjoyed this one. If you like Thief, Heat, Collateral and Miami Vice. This is an excellent epilogue to those movies.

So a few weeks ago, it was frequently popping up on r/outoftheloop that James Franco had started to upload videos on his official YouTube claiming that he has seen an alien and that an alien has been on his property. Also he later uploaded videos of him visiting NYC claiming that he was being followed.

People noticed that he was always wearing very ripped and worn clothing. Some have speculated that he is going crazy and is mentally ill.

More than likely this is his attempt at an ARG-Lite and he is doing it as a promo for an upcoming movie or tv series.

The most recent videos especially (with the Alien actually shown) are full blown 2000s comedy. Feels very inline with Pineapple Express and that era. Just no Seth.

Some ARG-Lite Notes from the series.

James Franco's channel is titled JamesFranco2319. He has also mentioned the numbers 2319 in a few videos. Noticably this one: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MwKgOx5njlo

and this one https://www.youtube.com/shorts/pQLKVKAOO1M

Also this video is very LonelyGirl15 like in the way it's edited. I mean very very very LonelyGirl15 like. From the text and the matrix inspired background, to the use of an indie pop song, to the 3rd person views of James Franco. I was waiting for Bree, Daniel and Jonas to show up. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/iJGeztw-kYg

My guess though based on this video that shows the Alien, it's clearly a movie or tv show promo for an upcoming comedy: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fcDpESDtvd8

My personal take. James Franco has been out of the spotlight for several years now after a sex scandal just before COVID. He wants to act and do projects again. Being bored, he's watched a ton of LonelyGirl15 and other classic ARGs. I also feel like he's watched a ton of McJuggernuggets. He decided, why don't I try my hand at one and have a little fun as a promo for a new series on Hulu, Amazon, Netflix, etc. So we got this.

I'll give him credit. There are some good ARG elements there, with the code. The stalking video of him in NYC. But most of them are kind of bland and too goofy. I'm not even convinced yet if the 2319 has any true meaning or it was just random and it sounded cryptic enough so he included it.

Part of me wonders if he liked the concept of ARG's/YouTube series and got some of the elements right but didn't full understand what actually makes one good. Almost ironically enough, kind of like Tommy Wiseau not fully understanding what makes a good drama movie.

This movie only has a 6.7 fan rating on IMDB and a 69% fan rating on RT. So I do say it's underrated. Some of you may have heard of this movie because Tarantino himself is a huge fan of it. I think based on the trailer, influences from this movie are likely going to be in Cliff Booth.

I've heard of this movie a bit over the years. Both from being a car guy and a film buff, namely a Tarantino fan. This movie is well known among hot rodder and muscle car circles. Especially among old boomer fans/racers. From what I know this movie was essentially a low budget drive-in feature. Made on a very shoe string budget with no real big names. It's basically the last of the 50s hot rod drive in features like Hot Rod Girl, Dragstrip Girl, Hot Rod Rumble, the Choppers and The Wild Ride (which has Jack Nicholson) just made 10 years later in 1969.

However, it has a slightly deeper plot, much better directed racing scenes and really captures the car culture of the late 60s well. Almost is a time capsule like Two Lane Blacktop except it's in black and white and the cinematography is nowhere near as good.

Basically, the movie was made for only $75k which even in 1969 was nothing for a movie. It was executive produced by Roger Corman and directed by Jack Hill. Jack Hill himself liked the movie but was disappointed they couldn't afford color film (by 1969 most movies were now in color compared to just a few years earlier) and felt the black and white hurt the release.

The film stars Richard Davalos an up and coming drag racer Rick who gets involved in a street racing, racing against a racer backed by local business man ok Mob Boss Grant Willard. Police quickly show up and that causes the car backed by Grant to crash and Rick to run in a police chase. Rick eventually gets caught but gets balled out by Grant. He likes his cojones. Grant makes money by baking racers in a newer form of racing that is becoming the fastest growing called figure 8 racing.

For those that don't know. Figure 8 racing is basically stock car racing meets demolition derby. It's fast, it's very dangerous and wild. Unlike street racing, the races are at a track and legal. However, due to the high crash rate, Rick is hesitant to pariticpate even with Grant's backing. That is until he sees the local circuit champ Hawk (played by a young Sid Hag aka Captain Spaulding) be a total big shot showboater and all around sore winner. Basically be a Kenny Powers but without any ounce of charisma. This inspires Rick to get involved and want to beat him.

Rick has to start in the lower circuits and work his way up. Throughout the film we slowly find out that Grant seems to have his fingers in everything involving the local car scene. He seems to have a controlling business interest in everything. From the junkyards where Rick buys his parts and cars, to the diner/bar where the racers hangout to even a husband and wife stock car racing team/shop that Rick thought was independent. But he quickly finds out even they have business dealings with Grant. Not only that but it's implied that Rick's love interest Ellen has history with Grant. As Rick tries throughout the film, to get away from Grant. He can never truly escape him. Grant seems to have a way of manipulating everything to his advantage/preferred outcome. Basically once you get involved with Grant, he owns you for life.

For this reason, what seems like a teen drive in b-movie basically becomes a hot rod version of On the Water Front. Organized Crime Corruption is the true moral of the story (though their is a tiny message about hot rods driving recklessly getting them killed. It's still the 60s after all...).

Based on the scenes of Cliff Booth driving Figure 8 in the trailer and Tarantino loving this movie, I have a film it will have some influence on The Adventures of Cliff Booth.

I'm a fiend for Michael Mann and this is one of those movies I rewatch at least once a year if not every other year or so. This was 3rd Michael Mann movie I ever saw (behind Last of the Mohicans and Collateral). I was born in '92 and didn't grew up with Miami Vice at all. My Dad was never a big Miami Vice fan but remembered it being on during his late college/early working years. As where my Mom actually loved the show and was really excited for this movie.

My 14 year old self and my dad walked out of the theater loving it. My mom hated it and said it was nothing like the show she remembered. I never watched an episode until about 7 or so years ago. I actually did make a post on r/television at the time about how Miami Vice was a lot darker/gritter than I thought it was going to be. Largely because when this movie came out everyone it seemed like who grew up in the 80s hated this movie and said it was nothing like the show! I heard this for the next few years when this movie was on USA/cable a lot in the late 2000s.

But at least in the first 2 seasons, the show is a lot darker than people remember. Crockett and Tubbs rarely win and never catch the bad guys. Fellow police often get killed and nothing goes right and unlike the A-Team plans never come together. I think people just remember the stylishiness of the clothes, music and cars but forget the actual plots of the episodes.

Anyway, over the years I have mostly rewatched the Director's Cut which I feel is the better version over the theatrical Cut. I love the boat racing intro (that's usually the one criticism people give the director's cut) but I feel like it does a good job of world building and ties back in later to the drug smuggling plan. The director's cut is only ten minutes longer but it adds a lot of little dialogue that adds weight to Crockett and Tubs' decisions/actions. It helps scenes transition better compared to the theatrical cut. It basically makes the movie make a little more sense to why everyone does what they do.

One thing I have grown to love about Mann's movies as an adult is that most of them it feels like the settings themselves are characters. This could be said for LA in both Heat and Collateral. Asian in Black Hat. Chicago in Thief. And Miami/the Caribbean in Miami Vice. The setting is very much the 3rd main character of the film. Throughout the movie you can feel the heat, the intense humidity, the nightlife and the excess of it all.

And Michael Mann for who is essentially an action movie/crime movie director, his cinematography is always top notch. His cinematography rivals that of art house/indie directors. With this movie I love that everything feels very dream like and very liminal. I love that besides night time, a large portion of the movie takes place at dawn and dusk. The horizons of the sky/ocean kind of blend and it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins. Everything also at times feels very distant and far away with tons of zoomed outshots and over the head helicopter shots. Often again at dusk and dawn. All of this adds to the dream like atmosphere. What is essentially a story of undercover cops turns into a very wild dream. One of the best shots is early in the film, Crockett, Tubbs and the rest of their unit. Are playing hardball with a CI in his fancy penthouse apartment that's basically a giant glass room. You can't really tell whether it's dawn or dusk outside. Also the sky/ocean looks kind of purple. During what is basically an interrogation and several cops playing bad cop. Sunny gazes out the window. Seems almost out of place in an action film but adds to the liminal style of the movie.

One of the other best shots in the film is the scene where Crockett being the fiend for mojitos that he is, is on his go-fast boat with Isabella going to the Keys Cuba. The entire scene of them cruising in the open ocean just feels like a dream. Open ocean, a hot girl, fast boat and purplish sky with the sunseting. It's a dream. It's a liminal space before there was the concept and it's sythnwave complete with Moby playing in the background.

Then I always loved the ending shot, where Crockett lets Isabella go and kind of just stares off into the distance, again during dusk. It adds to the dream like state of the film. Almost like the dream is coming to an end.

One of the reviews of this movie from circa 2006 critised it at the time and said the movie felt too Pimp My Ridish or Cribsish. Being that this movie was made in 2006 not 1986, the Pimp Ride and Cribs style fits the characters. Little details I noticed. The cars have separate CD players/head units in the backseats, every car seems to be on Dubs, homes are big, gaudy and McMansionish. Do I like any of this stuff personally? No. But it fits the 2006 world of the film. It fits Miami well.

The only criticism of this movie I have is that I feel like Crockett and Tubs themselves even in the directors cut, don't have enough screen-time together. Also I feel like Gong Li was a bit of a miscast and didn't have enough chemistry with Colin Farrell. I lot of that I feel like because she was not fluent in English and simply phonetically pronounced all of her dialogue and didn't really understand it. I'll give her credit she did a good job and it had to be a hard task. Also the other cops really don't get a lot of development or screen time either.

Maybe I am wrong but I have a gut feeling, this movie will kind of go through a rival or a small boost in popularity once GTA 6 finally releases. Kind of like Heat did during GTA 5's release (not that Heat was some hidden gem or underrated. Just GTA 5 was compared to it a lot back in 2013).

Anyway, "What the hell are you waiting for?"