Movie Reviews: 'Public Enemies,' 'Whatever Works' are genre must-sees

I wonder if movies 50 years hence will look back on the gangsters of today and romanticize them the way Bonnie and Clyde, the mafia and now John Dillinger have been. Who knows?

What I do know is Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" is an entertaining film, filled with action, great scenery, a compelling script and the acting chops of as good an actor as has ever graced the screen, Johnny Depp.

The movie is based on "Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34," a book that covers everyone from Bonnie and Clyde to Baby Face Nelson to Machine Gun Kelly. Mann, who is no stranger to crime drama ("Heat," "Manhunter," "Thief"), has chosen to focus on the Dillinger story, although there are nods to Pretty Boy Floyd and the expansion of organized crime. Mann also includes the story of the rise of the FBI, and we see J. Edgar Hoover working his publicity machine. Christian Bale as agent Melvin Purvis is the second most important character in the film behind Dillinger (Depp).

The film opens with a daring and bloody jailbreak as Dillinger springs some of his buddies he recently spent time with in the penitentiary. From here, "Johnny" - as he is known to his friends - and the boys start planning some jobs - as in bank robberies.

Dillinger was released from the pen in May 1933, and the crime spree that began shortly after was blazing hot and burned out relatively quickly, 14 months later. This isn't a spoiler, it's a matter of well-known history, and although most viewers (most older viewers, anyway) already know the how, when and where of Dillinger's ultimate demise, foreknowledge never spoils a finely crafted film (think "Apollo 13"). And "Public Enemies" is a finely crafted film.

The action flips from Dillinger, his gang and personal life, to Hoover desperately trying to increase the status of his agency and Purvis putting together a crack (and eventually brutal) team of agents with but one goal: Catch John Dillinger. One fellow gangster laughs to Johnny, "I heard you were wanted, dead ... or dead."

Dillinger meets hatcheck girl Billie Frechette, played by the disarmingly beautiful Marion Cotillard, and convinces her they were meant for each other. She comes along for the ride.

One reason Dillinger was such a folk hero was the fact that this was the Depression and he robbed banks, not people. It was a great public relations move to let the people in line at the banks keep the money they were clutching.

The most operatic scene is the shootout at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin. Mann and cinematographer Dante Spinotti pull out all the stops.

From here, we know the end is near, and several times the camera catches a look in Johnny's eyes that tells us he knows as well.

"Public Enemies" can proudly reside in the same part of film history as "The Wild Bunch," "Bonnie and Clyde" and other modern classic gangster movies.For many years, Woody Allen didn't set foot outside of the New York City area to shoot a film.

In 2005, I saw a preview for a film called "Match Point." Had the voice not mentioned it, I wouldn't have ever guessed it was an Allen film. It was set in Europe and the color tone was not in Allen's usual style. The director, who averages a film a year, followed "Match Point" with three more non-NYC films.

With his latest, "Whatever Works," he's back on his home turf and back to the comedy that has marked much of his best work.

Written in the 1970s and updated for today, the film was originally written with Zero Mostel in mind for the starring role. As it stands, Allen has chosen the perfect surrogate for the "Woody Allen" role: Larry David, the real genius behind "Seinfeld."

That character is Boris Yelnikoff, a brilliant quantum physicist with a worldview that makes Kierkegaard seem almost rosy. Stricken by panic attacks and hypochondria, he attempts suicide and fails, obviously. He divorces his wife, quits his job and moves to Greenwich Village to teach chess to elementary school-aged kids. Not a perfect job for him.

Boris meets a 21-year-old runaway from Mississippi and agrees to let her stay in his apartment for a few days. He constantly berates her intellect but her outlook is so sunny, she doesn't even recognize sarcasm.

To make a long story short, they get closer (his personality remains intact) and soon marry. Things are going great, until first her mom - a deeply religious woman from the South - and her dad, who has recently dumped mom for her best friend (it didn't work out), show up in the Village.

The second half of the film revolves around the changes everyone (except Boris) goes through.

Allen has used the "break the fourth wall" technique effectively before, especially in "The Purple Rose of Cairo." He does so here with great success. Boris begins the film addressing the camera/audience, and the film ends with a scene directed at us wherein we see that, while Boris may not have changed, his world view may have a softer side to it than we realized.

Attention Woody Allen fans: "Whatever Works" is a must see.