The Insider

Rating:
Summary: Typical Hollywood Pus-Job
Review: I watched this movie as part of my research for a paper on "whistle-blowing" that I did for a graduate class last fall. I must say that the film is very unobjective and far too long. Propaganda is an apt description. For starters, the film goes overboard in trying to portray Wiegand as a victim. It starts with him being fired from his job, but it never really explains why he was fired! The film's makers make a big point of demonizing tobacco companies, calling them "bozos who never lose" and rich enough "to spend you to death." But later in the movie, the companies are apparently reduced to placing "bullets" in Wiegand's mailbox and sending him threatening e-mails. Incidentally, an FBI agent later claimed in an affadavit that he suspected Wiegand of fabricating the threatening message. There is also the case of Wiegand claiming that coumarin was rat poison and his company was adding it to cigarettes. I confirmed that coumarin was not carcinogenic. In fact, I talked with a purchasing specialist with Brown & Williamson and he told me that coumarin was basically vanilla flavoring! I could go on and on with items of interest that I uncovered during my research and other peculiar items from the movie but my point is to say that this film is absurd. Russell Crowe, who plays the "hero" Jeffrey Wiegand, was on the cover of GQ magazine long before this movie's release with a cigarette in his hand! Avoid 'The Insider.'

Rating:
Summary: Good point, great acting but...way way too long
Review: I loved this movie........at least I thought I would love this movie. It started out with lots of intensity and kept me interested for the first hour and half, but after a while I was like..."Okay", let's get to the point. I understand the whole point of telling the whole story and getting all the points across, but when you're wanting a movie to end that's not good. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, it was one of the best last year, I just thought it was horrible.

Rating:
Summary: What? No Best Picture Oscar?
Review: I did not have the opportunity to watch this movie in theaters when it came out, but later I rented it and found myself surprised that this did not win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. The Insider, based on a true story, is a powerful (and somewhat cliched) tale of a man risking everything to do what is right.

The story focuses on Dr. Jeffrey Wigand (Crowe), a former vice president of research and development at Brown and Williamson, and 60 Minutes producer Lowell Bergman (Pacino), who tries to get him to violate his confidentiality agreement and expose his former employer. The acting is excellent, with Crowe almost flawlessly performing his role as a "regular guy" caught in the crossfire, and Pacino is perfectly suited for the role of the journalist doing everything he can to get the exclusive that would bring some of the highest ratings ever for a news show.

Combined with the brilliant performances is the extraodinary cinematograph, which features filming with a hand-held camera, which adds greatly to the atmosphere of the movie.

If you're one of the many people like me who missed this spectacle in theaters, do yourself a favor and rent this movie now. You won't regret it.

Rating:
Summary: It's about much more than tobacco.
Review: I saw this film in August on VHS. I loved "The Insider". It was so good, I watched it three times. There are many excellent elements in this film that I must share with you. The production values were excellent, the screenplay was very well-written, the acting was of great caliber, the cinematography was great, the film score was superb,and the pace and tone of the film were in the right spot. The widescreen format and the film's running time were no problem for me. I'm excited by this film as a work of art and as an example of what to do when one must make a choice. A lot of people used the film as a discussion to trash the tobacco industry, but what jumped out at me was what Mann was trying to say about the character of Wigand and Bergman. The credits hit and I was exhilirated by what I had seen: an excellent film about two men who stayed by their convictions. I'm definitely treating my friends to this film, so if you saw this film, too, don't sit in it: show it to your friends also. For those of you haven't seen it, the acting is great and the film score is superb, but watch it with someone who knows the events rather well. Thanks for movie, Michael Mann.

Rating:
Summary: disturbing
Review: Real story. Real people. Mann's intense movie will catch your breath for nearly 2,5 hours. Veteran Al Pacino as an overnervous mogul producer of 60 minutes challenging the tobacco industry. Young Russell Crowe, overweight and aged for the part, in one of his finest role. After seeing it, it won't let go. A must have.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully Done, and, um...Long.
Review: There are few directors whose work I enjoy as much, and can identify as easily, as Michael Mann's. He's a master at making the ordinary into something dramatic and seductive. And he really does know how to make the most of a soundtrack. This human docudrama follows the emotional destruction of a man caught between his conscience and a corporation trying to silence him, and of the journalists who drew him out and then are pressured to abandon him. (I will make the comment that I find it ironic that a movie about journalists wiggling away from the truth, has itself altered the real story.) Russell Crowe did an excellent job as the beleaguered tobacco executive, as did Al Pacino as an assertive television producer. Actually, all the performances are great. Bruce McGill enlivens one scene considerably in his role as a Mississippi lawyer. It maintains an edgy pace though-out its length, which is best described as really, really, long. Eventually I felt the way I do when I've spent too long in an art gallery. I became jaded, and began to wish that something else - anything - would happen to change the pace. Still, the length does allows us time to get to know the characters, and after all, it is a Michael Mann film, and that's all that matters.

Rating:
Summary: Mann repeats quiet intensity of Heat
Review: Mann's intense use of silence for suspense creates a great backdrop for the allstar performances of L.A. Confidential's Russel Crowe and the man who needs no introduction Al Pacino. Although you often wonder how historically accurate this film is you cannot deny the brilliant use of wide aspect ratios and silent anticipation. Although it's not Heat, it's a great film.

Rating:
Summary: Exceeding my expectation
Review: I didn't go to the cinema to watch this movie because I thought it's 3 hours length would have put me to deep sleep. Then, I reasoned the imposssibility of a director to dwell on an issue for 3 hours when we already knew beforehand that smoking is bad for you. Well, I will have to put my hands up in air & admitted defeat as this movie is compelling to watch. It could be the tightness of the script, the intensities of the main characters; played so well by Al Pacino, Russell Crowe (with his new found American accent), Christopher Plummer (a far cry from his Sound of Music day); brilliant directions by Mann; or semi documentary format of the movie. I had watched his previous offerings such as The Last of the Mohicans, Heat but The Insider would have to be my all-time favourite. I admired Wigand's bravery for standing up against the big giant corporation amid losing everything that he's owned, the loyalty of the Producer of 60 minutes for not hanging out Wigand to dry. Whilst it's true that in real life, that might not be the whole truth but the ideal is definitely worth reminding. One thing that niggled me would be Mann's usage of same actor & actress in his other movie such as Al Pacino (who could fault him?) & also the lady who played his wife in Heat, who played Wigand's wife in this movie. Highly recommended. Wide screen format is an extra bonus.

Rating:
Summary: Of Smoke, Mirrors...and Truth
Review: I enjoy a well acted and well written movie, especially if it's a true story, and most especially if the story is based upon a newsworthy event. For me, "The Insider" delivers on all accounts! I found myself completely captivated by this film from start to finish. It combines a compelling true story, sparkling performances by an all-star ensemble cast, an outstanding screenplay filled with sharp, crackling dialog, a beautifully haunting musical score, and cinematography which is darkly brooding. All add up to a taut and suspenseful real-life thriller.

This is the riveting tale of how the lives of two men - Jeffrey Wigand, the famous tobacco industry "whistleblower," and Lowell Bergman, a producer for CBS News' "60 Minutes" - become suddenly entwined in the maelstrom of one of the most controversial political and social issues of the mid-1990s: the conspiracy by American tobacco companies to enhance the addictive properties of cigarettes, and then cover up that conspiracy. It is the story of how one lone "whistleblower" publicly exposed the secret actions of the tobacco industry, and endured his enemies' public vilification for his efforts. It's also the story of how one of America's greatest and most respected news organizations, when confronted by the truth of that "whistleblower's" information, betrayed its own journalistic principles in the face of a threatened lawsuit by the tobacco industry.

This film abounds with superlative acting. Al Pacino delivers yet again a stunning performance as Lowell Bergman, the self-assured, still idealistic-after-all-these-years CBS News producer. Russell Crowe, nominated for an Academy Award for his portrayal of Jeffrey Wigand, richly texturizes his character - in part a tormented soul, in part an easy to dislike cynical tough guy, and in part a dreamy idealist. Christopher Plummer brings a perfect blend of shirty arrogance and pomposity to the character of Mike Wallace. Other performances of note include Diane Venora as Liane Wigand; Philip Baker Hall as CBS News boss Don Hewitt; and Michael Gambon as Brown and Williamson CEO Thomas Sandefur.

If you enjoy an intelligent, fact-based movie, one that is unafraid to confront real and controversial issues, and one delivers a powerful message, you will most definitely enjoy "The Insider." It is a movie that I will view and savor...over and over again!

Rating:
Summary: Saved My Life
Review: Dear reader, I was a 5 packs a day man when the insider moved my insides and thus forced a desion from within my soul barren to quit this awful fart inhalation. Well I didn't quit but I changed from a Brown and Williamson product to a Philip Morris product and I now smoke the great Marlboro Reds(recommend by me).

But in our hazen discovery of the truth lest us not neglect our shakeperian duty to rise and fall like an empire of sand, liquid sand. dissolving me and you and the constipation and lts us have our deeply desired laxative, yes dear reader, a laxative is what THE INSIDER reminded me of and it is the best laxative of 1999. But crowe has acne, but I dug venora you know.