Al Pacino in David Lynch's Blue Velvet instead of Kyle MacLachlan.

The detective (Al Pacino) in Insomnia (2002). You can literally see Pacino on-screen playing it tough but struggling to hold it together inside as he's in a jeopardizing situation and inadvertently placed himself under the control of the criminal he's supposed to go after.

That's a good one. Just watching Eight Mile, I felt parts of it resonating with the things I saw in lower-class urban towns. I wasn't necessarily a street hood growing up, but even in my limited experiences I could feel 8 Mile resonating.

> A city is so multi-faceted it would be impossible to show it all and feel authentic. There are movies that show you slices of it and do a good job.

You can say this about anything.

Detective movies can't possibly capture what a real investigation is like, so they can show you only slices of it. Movies about families can't possibly show you all the dynamics that go on, only slices of it. Movies about wars can't possibly show you what war is like, only slices of it. Etc.

If I were you, I'd give Andrei Rublev a chance. I would say it's arguably Tarkovsky's most beautiful film. It's more action packed, lots of battles and deaths, yet deals with a lot of philosophical themes like individualism, mortality, and religion.

So what were your favorite movies by Eisenstein?

My mind can't wrap around the idea of someone who enjoys Ivan The Terrible but had trouble getting into Andrei Rublev.

Well, people praise these movies and claim they're great. I can't go around offering handicaps for political environment. I felt like they were so wooden and lacking any true life. Nevsky was very interesting sometimes at least, but I stand by my opinion on Ivan.