Hacker Cinema
Manhunter
1986 · Film · 120 min
Directed by Michael Mann
FBI Agent Will Graham, retired after catching notorious cannibal Hannibal Lecter, returns to duty to engage in a risky cat-and-mouse game with Lecter to capture a new killer.
2 positive2 neutralfrom 4 commenters
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4 comments on Hacker News
Not sure if you are including Manhunter in the blowing chunks category, but consider checking it out. Quality Michael Mann movie.
I have gotten more enjoyment out of watching some silent-era movies than modern release movies. Particularly, the 1916 20,000 Leagues is great. In general I don't think there is any real relationship between the age of a movie and the quality of a movie; quality movies are more or less evenly distributed through time. Sometimes film makers strike gold through some fortunate coincidence of inspiration, talent and luck, and most of the time they don't. And yes, that means most old movies aren't good; but most new movies aren't good either.
The passage of time doesn't play a role, because even though individual directors/actors get more experience with age, they also age out of the industry and get replaced with new guys. And besides, it is very often the case that movies get worse as a director ages. Compare The Godfather to anything Francis Ford Coppola has made in the past 30 years. Or Michael Mann's Thief and Manhunter to anything he's done in the past 20. Or Ridley Scott's filmography. There are many examples like this; experience counts for something but old men often lose their edge.
I don't recall if it was in the book, but the 1986 "Manhunter" film (an adaptation Thomas Harris' "Red Dragon") featured Hannibal Lecter abusing a phone with no dialing mechanism by way of shorting the switchhook to dial an operator by flashing. It was a neat thing to know how to do.
blackhat had some problems (when Helmsworth apes the "you son of a bitch!" scene from Manhunter I groaned in pain) but overall is, if only for the type of person that might browse this site, worth watching.