“Vice” Book Delay
A very curious decision has been made by the people at Taschen, at the request of Miami Vice director Michael Mann , to delay the release of what that big Taschen book about Mann’s career until sometime in the fall, instead of releasing it concurrent with Miami Vice‘s 7.28 opening, which is what the plan apparently was a few weeks ago.
What could Mann’s motive possibly be? Does he want the Taschen book coming out at the same time as the Miami Vice DVD, which I presume will street sometime in November? The only other fall-release motive would be to goose awards consideration, but Miami Vice is not being seen, good as it may be, as an awards-level thing. What a shame, in any event. For me Miami Vice is the Big One to watch for, and I was so looking forward to leafing through this book (and through F.X. Feeney’s essay about Mann) sometime next month as a kind of anticipation exercise.
Sounds like more micro-Mann-aging to me.
I may be alone on this, but I am not eager to see Miami Vice. I didn’t like the TV show, and lately Colin Farrell has been very annoying. Unless this thing gets superlative reviews, it will be a rental.
Mann’s a hard-working artist, smart and passionate. He’d prefer his career to be gauged as a whole, apart from any single accomplishment or error. (I adore “Mohicans,” admire “Heat,” and question the outlandish budgets spent on non-popcorn-tentpoles Insider and Ali, both of which could have been worthy yet affordable HBO projects instead of pricey multiplex fizzles). From what we’ve heard about the history of the MV movie, it’s been out of control and off target from the get-go, thus book sales would be minimized (and Mann’s prestige embarrassed) if this latest Mann movie tanks per Colin habit.
Malick’s flawed flop New World is destined for better reception in the full-length DVD rather than the abortive theatrical cut, and so too Miami Vice will fare better on vid, thanks to a longer window for Mann’s editing and arrangement of deleted scenes.
Will Malick’s original “NW” cut ever see the light of day on DVD?
I think the version that finally hit theaters was brilliant on its own, but I’m skeptical whether Malick will revisit that first cut (if it’s still lying around somewhere) with the studio’s blessing.
Now, a 6-hour “Thin Red Line”–*that* would be something!
Yeah! Where the hell is that 4 hour version of Thin Red Line we’ve been hearing about for years. If Costner & Branagh can jerk themselves off to a 4 hour Dances With Wolves & Hamlet… how about a Malick!
By the way… good one Sanfred!
It’s strange, Alfred. Both The Insider and Ali strike me as uniquely un-HBO in every way. Whereas they’re both ultra-stylish, ultra-cinematic widescreen epics, HBO specializes in making compact, style-free exercises in easily-digested tastefulness (with a bit less compromise than the major networks). As good as many of their shows are, it’s certainly not the place to go for uncompromising artistry of the highest order. There are no auteurs at HBO. HBO is its own auteur.
Mann is an aggressively personal artist who works best on a large canvas and, while I agree that he tends to scale his films all out of proportion with their potential to find an audience, I’m certainly not complaining about this. My only concern is that, far moreso than Martin Scorsese (who gets the following rap a lot), his desire to work with the most expensive cinematic toys (and the resulting need to reach a large audience) may be taking the edge off his work. You certainly can’t get much more middle-brow than Collateral. At least I doubt Mann can. Of course, there’s always Miami Vice…
Sanfred wrote: HBO specializes in making compact, style-free exercises in easily-digested tastefulness >>>
You meant to add “‘The Wire’ and ‘Deadwood’ excepted,” of course. Right?
“Will Malick’s original “NW” cut ever see the light of day on DVD?”
ArchiveGuy–
The “original”(limited theatrical release) cut you refer to might be seen as a work in progress to abide by a requirement of sorts; the requirement of a given running time for an intended theater run/audience. Instead, it appears a near 3-hour cut is currently prepared for DVD (fall?)release. I would guess this cut represents, arguably, the original version in the eyes of Terry, if we are to speculate beyond requirements as the above mentioned.
Mallick has already driven New Line nuts with his demands and the very little return on The New World – on both theatrical and DVD sales. I asked a source at New Line about a Winter release on the three hour cut and their response was “Why do I want to be unemployeed for Christmas?”
As for Mann’s Miami Vice – why? I watch the trailer and it misses everything that made the TV show great – the colors, the attitude and the give and go between Crockett and Tubbs. It’s like everyone in the film is Castillo. And where’s Switek & Zito? So was it Mann who blocked Universal from putting out season three of the season so folks won’t decide to skip his film and spend the weekend watching the show they enjoyed?
Where have you people been? It was released several
weeks ago that New Line is going to put out a DVD
of the 150-min. cut this coming March. NOT the
three or six-hour long version that we’ve all been
dying to see. Sorry, guys!
Patrick–
You’re right on the fact that several DVD sites claimed The New World to be released in the 150-min. cut, “likely to see release later this year or early next.” Suffice it though to state that the version currently being prepared by Mi Casa Multimedia(audio mixing only) is a 172-min. cut, and NOT the aforementioned one.
There has existed no 6-hour version of TNW, other than a rough cut at some point, which bears little(i.e.: none) resemblance to a finalized edition of the movie. Perhaps you are referring to the alledged 6-hour cut of The Thin Red Line?