Amph 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die: Now Disc. "Heat" (1995)

Heat would be a good one for the casting director thread, though we probably already talked about it there. Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Jon Voight, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Ashley Judd, Mykelti Williamson, Wes Studi, Ted Levine, Dennis Haysbert (totally forgot he was in this!), William Fichtner (of course), Natalie Portman, Hank Azaria, Danny Trejo, Henry Rollins, Tone Loc, Jeremy Piven (forgot him too), Xander Berkeley. I mean, whoa. It's like every character is a familiar face; it feels like one of those old studio pictures where every character that turns up is being played by a great contract studio player that you've seen in a dozen other movies.

But the film isn't just great because of its cast. Mann was on top of his game and he's got a cracking good script. The central dynamic of Pacino and De Niro and their characters is masterfully done. Kilmer is particularly great; it's one of his most restrained, emotionally resonant performances. And that gun fight? Yeah, you know the one. Best gun fight in cinema history? Quite possibly. Great movie. I mean, great.