* Spotted

Michael Mann

Kvoi Vinh, Subtraction.com: Minimalism, Michael Mann and Miami Vice: “Over the course of his career, Mann has produced a taut, stylistic and often brutally impersonal filmography that seems most interested in the concept of work. His movies are preoccupied with how men (almost always men) of extraordinary skills practice their craft — and the price they must pay for doing so.”

Via John Gruber, who notes: “I’m a huge fan of Mann’s work, and agree with Khoi that Miami Vice is underrated. In Heat, Al Pacino’s character, a police detective in the midst of a crumbling marriage, says, ‘All I am is what I’m going after.’ That’s the core theme of all of Mann’s best films, and, I suspect, an apt description of Mann himself. And so while most people would describe Mann’s films as impersonal, they are in fact deeply personal — reflections of his own obsession with his craft.”

(Color me intrigued: I’m watching “Miami Vice” as I’m writing this. UPDATE: Mann is a fine director, but this movie was definitely below average.)