It works surprisingly well, giving every scene so enhanced the superficial intensity of a church-mandated declaration of love. Read the rest

Remember those bygone days when certain stores would decorate their walls with movie titles for us to pick through? Well, just imagine a magical place that cuts out the celluloid chaff and delivers only what we really want to see.

Last weekend I stumbled upon the finest collection of cinema classics I‘ve witnessed since the early 2000s.  It was stocked with everything I needed to scratch my entertainment itch for drama, romance, and even sports flicks.

And the place I’m talking about ONLY carried the classic Jerry Maguire movie and get this… it was all on VHS tape! Read the rest

Michael Mann's Collateral has one of the simplest and most startling shootouts in movie history. Even though it's short and unvarnished—every bullet fired in a single stationary camera shot interrupted only to see Jamie Foxx's reaction—actor Tom Cruise gets every motion just right.

In this video, Larry Vickers, a retired special forces veteran, carefully recreates the scene moment by moment, explaining the rationale behind each action. It's striking how much care Mann and Cruise took to get it right, given Hollywood's usual cartoon gunplay. [via]

Here's the original for reference:

(I also like how Collateral was shot digitally just as the technology matured, giving it a weird, evocative look that's reminiscent of both VHS and 16mm, and now seems perfectly mid-2000s) Read the rest