When The Insider was released in 1999, I was fifteen years old, literally half my life ago. At the time I didn't really understand the many aspects of true film appreciation, but on a purely straightforward basis of embracing entertainment I had fallen in love with this work about thirty minutes into my first viewing. Those feelings continued to blossom until the very last frame. After about a decade since my last revisit of the film, I needed a reminder as to why I still held it in such high esteem. I vividly recalled certain sequences that felt important, but I couldn't quite put the pieces together as to why they still lingered in my mind. Tonight, with this viewing,…

Film #10 of My Definitive Ranking of Michael Mann

And Jeffrey Wigand, who's out on a limb, does he go on television and tell the truth? Yes. Is it newsworthy? Yes. Are we gonna air it? Of course not. Why? Because he's not telling the truth? No. Because he is telling the truth. That's why we're not going to air it.

Terrifying and uncompromising, Michael Mann's The Insider is a harrowing tale of domineering corporate superpowers clashing with multinational media distributors. Journalistic integrity, fiscal responsibility, questions of morality and civic duty. At the root of all this is one man who had his life ruined for simply standing up to the powers that be. This film is perhaps even more…

There was a small but powerful segment recently on Charlie Brooker's New Years Wipe by the always scarily informative documentarian Adam Curtis (which will be expanded upon in a full length piece called Bitter Lake on the BBC iPlayer later this month). In it he talks about the power of political confusion, briefly discussing the role of President Putin's aide, Vladislav Surkov. Curtis suggests that he was the modern 'innovator' of our political apathy, building a template that every other powerful nation has followed since. Everything looks and feels the same, meaning no-one can determine the difference and be galvanised to care anymore.

Now the reason for starting the review with such a long, meandering paragraph is the similar feeling…

Tell me what to watch for a week: The Rejects

My father loves 60 Minutes and Russel Crowe and is generally a hard man to pick movies for, so I decided to give this a try with him. He is also a man to fall asleep during movies, but despite The Insider's long runtime he managed to stay awake through the whole thing. That's some pretty high (unspoken) praise right there, so when I say stupid things like "I'm not a huge fan of Michael Mann," it's probably important to understand that I still think he makes really solid movies.

As far as Mann's filmography goes, The Insider is a pretty daring installment because of its general lack of action.…

Es geht um Dr. Jeffrey Wigand ( Russell Crowe ) , Ex-angestellter einer Firma, die ihren Tabak mit mutmaßlich karzinogenen Zusatzchemikalien versetzte, wodurch die Gefahr größer wird, süchtig zu werden. Für die Firma ist dies super - für die Menschen natürlich nicht. Wigand möchte diesen Skandal ans Licht bringen und kommuniziert dafür mit dem CBS-Reporter und Produzenten Lowell Bergmann ( Al Pacino ) für ein Interview. Crowe und Pacino agieren in dieser Realverfilming gewohnt großartig, zudem ist die Spannung an der Umsetzung dieser Story auch sehr gelungen, nur geht meiner Meinung nach ab Mitte des Filmes der Faden der eigentlichen Story verloren, so geht es ab da eigentlich nur noch um die Probleme zwischen Bergmann und seinen Vorgesetzten, und in…

It's a testament to Michael Mann's directorial abilities and the strength of the cast here that a thriller that is over two and half hours long and with absolutely no action sequences, gun fights or car chases can be so consistently riveting and utterly absorbing.

The colossal amount of research that must have gone into making The Insider is evident in every aspect. Every detail is meticulously put under the microscope for examination via a sharp script, the performances are totally honed in to the point where the actors disappear into their roles entirely. This is Russell Crowe and Al Pacino as you've never seen them before, both performances are nuanced and understated though we do see hints of the…