Film Public Enemies

[mariacallas]

What a passionate discussion I think I'll be watching this soon...

 

[aznaznazn]

This movie was terrible. It was too long and slow paced. I almost walked out also..

 

[Walks]

Overall it was pretty entertaining. Most of the time it bothers me when movies are inaccurate but I came in to the theater not expecting much since I have read a couple books about John Dillinger and crime in the 1930's for a class I took. If I had to rate in on being accurate and every detail I think I would of rated it a bit lower. 4 of 5 Stars.

 

[Larr_E]

Do you have nutts? Great! Ask this movie and it will happily suck them...

 

[EA-1475]

I kept waiting for Flava Flav to show up.

 

[mariacallas]

Watched it in the cinema tonight, not my choice. It was okay, twas entertained despite some of the scratch yer head loopholes in the story....

I cannot believe you honestly think Dillinger went into the police station, specifically this magical division with his name on it, asked the score of the Cubs game, had people (who are on this alleged force separate from the rest of the police department) talk/look at him and NOT get caught. I've talked to 4 people who have seen this movie apart from you who all, independently, were super annoyed at the ridiculousness of the scene. Perhaps it's possible that if he went in there he wouldn't get caught but why the fuck would he do that? For shits and giggles? He was a smart man, he wouldn't do that.

Agreed!! The audience was actually chuckling at the dumbness of it all hahaha

Also....

NSFW:

When they apprehend Billie as she enters the bar in the daytime , nobody even SAW or noticed JD walking around in broad daylight? NOBODY??? gimme a break

Marion Cotillard is an interesting sort of beauty but the lighting and camera angles gave her horrible dark circles under her eyes ...not flattering at all I give it 3 stars!!

 

[alasdairm]

i think people are taking the police station scene too literally. i don't know but, to me, we're not intended to believe it actually happened.

the scene, to me, was shot in a rather surreal manner - perhaps it was simply an imagining intended to convey dillinger's (all too human) vanity in a way an audience can easily understand.

alasdair

 

[mariacallas]

Now that you put it that way, mmmm...got me thinking.
On another note, I'm really digging the soundtrack and will be getting that soon.

 

[AmorRoark]

Even if it was intended to be surrealist, I don't dig movies with like one or two surrealist shots that aren't (IMO) well-shot to be surreal. There needs to be a theme for them to be good, again, IMO. Even if I agreed with your perspective (I can see it), I still think it was a dumb scene.

 

[2oclockbeanfiend.2]

Just watched this again and I actually liked it better the second time. Pretty incredible considering the first time I watched it was at the theatre and this time a bootleg telesync on my laptop. I wasn't bothered at all by the romance that seemed so boring the first time I watched it.

Anyway, about the police station scene:

Dillinger did not enter the offices of the Dillinger Squad, but rather another state police department. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Enemies_(2009_film)#Historical_Inaccuracies

And about the scene where Billie was arrested:

Billie was actually arrested before Little Bohemia, not after as depicted in the film, though otherwise the scene is very accurate. - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Enemies_(2009_film)#Historical_Inaccuracies

The source is Wikipedia of course, but who knows.

 

[captainballs]

^There is more than just that the directors and producers pulled out of their asses. The thing is, a lot of the truths about Red, JD, etc are all speculation. These guys are basically folk heroes and so much hype surrounded their entire lives. I thought the movie was good and I've watched it about 5 times. The ending sequence where JD is in the movies has a fairly magical appeal as far as people in a film watching a movie so you can watch a movie while you watch a movie sequences go. It felt very surreal and I've watched that sequence many times because of its dreamlike quality.

I don't think any part of it was done incorrectly, and the pacing was fine. Then again, I had close to zero preconceptions about the film because I assumed it would just suck. The acting was fantastic and the characters were strong and fairly accurately portrayed as far as these kinds of characters go. Babyface Nelson's character was ridiculous in the film, but he was batshit crazy in real life too.

 

[L2R]

yeah, i don't fault the film, but i didn't enjoy it much. the story didn't capture me, but this is no fault of the production. i really dug the subtle cue that the girl pissed herself during the interrogation.

good film, but i was checking the time throughout it. forgettable 2/5.

 

[captainballs]

Just wanted to bump this with a new thread post I accidentally made:

When this came out, it got a pretty lukewarm reception from critics in general. I thought it was great, though. I'm watching it right now for maybe the tenth time. There's something fascinating to me about the way they make the characters' different philosophies shine through. A lot of people didn't like Melvin Purvis's character as played by Christian Bale, but to them I posit that this film is not a star vehicle - Christian Bale is playing a caricature on purpose, because Melvin Purvis was forced to play a caricature of a law enforcement agent in real life to spearhead the FBI campaign.

My real reason for liking this movie is that it has a lot of sentimental value for me, mostly because of John Dillinger's relationship with the girl and the women in his life in general. The way he communicates honestly with his girlfriend from the very beginning about what he does, simplifying the idea of bank robbing, somehow just puts a huge grin on my face. I really feel it, too, when he tries to console her several times throughout the movie with promises of a better life in the future, and you see that even though she understands the odds, she believes in him more than anything. And I get the feeling that if John Dillinger knew that his Romanian companion turned him over under threat of deportation, he would crack a smile from beyond the grave and give her a wink.

The orgasm part of the movie for me is when John Dillinger is watching Manhattan Melodrama at the end. The reactions he has pretty much mimic my own reactions to Public Enemies. That part of the movie really sends chills through my spine, when Johnny Depp is reacting to different standardized parts of the gangster movie as though he knows it's generic yet somehow not devoid of the truth that really speaks to people who understand. I love the way Johnny Depp Plays John Dillinger. He just makes me smile the whole time.

 

[AmorRoark]

Though I thought the film overall was so-so, the score was awesome. I really enjoy the lines:

"What do you want?"
"Everything. Right now."

 

[captainballs]

The way he picks her up, and the lines he uses on her, and her reactions, are exactly the way I like to picture myself when looking in the mirror after a shower.

 

[Tommyboy]

I thought it was alright, but I felt like it repeated itself. Like from going from robbing banks, to getting robbed, to breaking out, it all happened twice. It aired on HBO a lot so I have caught it a bunch of times at different parts of the movie, and I can never tell how far through the movie I am since it repeats itself so much.