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.…

Filmmakers that bring controversial, even uncommercial subjects to the screen should be commended for their bravery. If you're a seasoned professional with a proven track record it's much easier, but still a risk with more at stake than simply a reputation. Liza Minnelli stated that "money makes the world go round" in Cabaret back in 1972, and it still applies when studios finance films nowadays, they want to make money to spend more money on their next endeavour. Michael Mann's The Insider garnered 7 Oscar Nominations, won none, and lost money following its box office run against its budget, but few films released in the final year of the 20th century had as much class, intelligence, or such a compelling…

Fame has a fifteen minute half-life, infamy lasts a little longer.
- Mike Wallace

In my review for Heat I criticise Mann for not keeping 'every story arc as tight as we would've liked' which is something that retrospectively sounds ridiculous especially looking at his handling of the interpersonal relationships in The Insider. The attempts at family drama are mostly ineffective and unconvincing and Crowe doesn't exactly have any chemistry with Venora, not to mention the fact that her acting is pretty painful (I don't think Crowe's is great either but that's an unpopular opinion). Of course, this is, first and foremost, an exposé of the powerlessness of the individual in a society controlled by men who don't care about…

A mesmerizing and deeply personal story about the consequences that integrity and principle can have on a person’s life.

After watching The Insider one of my first impulses was to draw a comparison between it and a more recent movie of analogous subject matter: Spotlight. Both movies are about journalism, both dramatize real events, both focus on the conflict surrounding the publishing process, and both are concerned with the role that news and insiders play. But it is Michael Mann’s distinct style of direction which elevates The Insider well above Spotlight. Spotlight’s procedural approach robs its story of the kind of humanity that Jeffery Wigand and Lowell Bergman evoke so strongly in The Insider. The shot of Lowell slowly wading…