Shoot 'Em Ups

While not my favorite movie genre (that would be comedies of course!), while watching the NBA Finals I see the trailer for a movie that has made me soooo excited and giddy. Based off of my favorite era in American History comes what is bound to be a box office smash hit: Public Enemies.

Reasons this movie will be Amazing:
#1: Directed by Michael Mann - director of Last of the Mohicans, Ali. Collateral, Heat, The Aviator, and The Kingdom...just to name a few...actually, I think he's written, produced, and directed most of his movies, has at least 6 Emmys and Academy Awards = 'Nough said!

#2 Starring 3 of my favorite Hollywood men: Johnny Depp, Christian Bale, and Channing Tatum.
So, Christian Bale plays the famous, handsome FBI agent (Purvis) that is established by good ol' J Edgar Hoover to run up (i.e. kill) all the Public Enemies (mainly midwestern bank robbers, bandits, moonshiners...remember, between Prohibition and The Depression people were resorting to crime to answer problems). Depp plays the sauve, cunning bank robber Dillinger who robbed numerous banks with (at the time) "clever" tactics, and even broke out of jail a few times. Both Depp and Bale are phenomenal actors - Depp clearly beats Bale at this point, based on his extensive and diverse repertoire, however, Bale is on the rise! I suspect that this pairing with produce phenomenal results. And while the young actor Channing may not headline the movie, nor be in the same skills class as Depp or Bale, he is too fine not to mention! He plays another cohort of Dillinger, named Pretty Boy Floyd, also rounded up by Hoover via Purvis. Eh, whatever the case, this piece of eye candy nicely rounds out the trio. (Some girl is listed as the third headliner - I don't know her, nor does she make my list of reason I want to see this movie. If you care, here she is: Marion Cotillard, sorry!)

#3: Who doesn't love a good action movie with some sexy leading men?!? While this might have been implicitly stated previously, it's important enough to mention twice! (I mean, who else saw X-Men Origins: Wolverine, thought the plot was ehhh, but then saw Hugh Jackman's fine self and was just a-ok?!? haha). Testosterone pumping full-throttle...as a woman, you gotta luv it!


#4: It's from my favorite American History Era. Why is this? Personally, I think the rest of American History is rather bland. Really, tell me something interesting that happened in the US outside we came, rebelled from England, enslaved people, freed them, and began opening our borders and allowing people to flock in as we became #1 (some would argue that I could tack on that now we're falling). Even the more "interesting" parts (i.e. The Civil Rights Movement) were rather bland and two-dimensional compared to this brief period that really made America come alive. Anywho, outside of Prohibition and the Depression, the whole bank robbing, moonshine, mobster business has a lot of personality. If I was born a poor, white man at that time, Whew Boy! Actually, there were quite a few tough broads in the bunch too, guess I could've been one of them. I would have had a field day in the Midwest!!! Secretly, I've always thought that if I didn't make it great at something legit, I'd probably be an amazing criminal...a mastermind, if you will...explains a lot, right? Good thing I'm completely on the right track ;) But back to this era, aka the Public Enemy Era of the FBI (1931-1935ish), Hoover declared an all-out nation-wide war on crime, individually naming people on his "list" of public enemies. The List included: John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, Prety Boy Floyd, Bonnie and Clyde, and Al Capone and crew. Aside: most were killed in '34...good job, FBI/Purvis (though quietly, I always root for the criminals, but shhhh!). If you want the good guy's approach to this period, you would probably love it because it helped push the FBI to grow and develop into what it is today.

And, I'm admittantly not even a history buff (easily, my least favorite subject growing up), I just really love this era when the US wasn't all goodie-two-shoed and was down getting nitty gritty!


OMG, I am stoked!!!

Random/interesting asides:
- J Edgar got jealous over the attention Purvis got during this time and somehow got him pushed out of the Bureau.
- This lil' time period (specifically, Dillinger's Death) is where the term "Lady in Red" comes from. To summarize: foreign broad working in a whorehouse was going to be deported. FBI promised to help her stay in America if she helped capture Dillinger. They agreed she'd wear an orange dress (which looked red in the lighting) so the FBI could spot her and get Dillinger. The FBI got him, and she still got deported...serves her right, no one likes a traitor! Anyways, beware of ladies in red...
- People aren't even sure if Dillinger is dead...lol. Of course he's dead by now, but there's a great deal of controversy surrounding whether or not it was Dillinger or a poor guy who's name matched Dillinger's alias. Let's see...Dillinger had grey eyes, the corps had blue... Dillinger was healthy and played sports growing up (baseball), while the autopsy showed the corpse had some major heart problem that would have prevent such strenuous activity... I'm going with another government screw-up!