Popcorn 'N Roses

The double bill from HELL...

As I ended last night, I mentioned that Kim and I were going to check out a couple DVD's as there was nothing on TV last night...

First, it was time to watch the other painful DVD she purchased the other day. As you know by now, we're both gluttons for the bad movies.  So when she found a twin pack at Borders (I think) offering King Kong Vs Godzilla and King Kong Escapes, she couldn't resist.

Surprisingly, unlike KKvG, which is unwatchable as a whole, King Kong Escapes is actually pretty watchable, as a MST-type victim.  It's effects are less than perfect, the villain is cartoony (does the BBC know Japan has their own Dr. Who?), the heroes (for lack of a more precise description...perhaps 'dullards' would suffice) were bland, but it was a lot of fun making fun of the movie, making bad jokes, bad references to the TARDIS, and more...it was a good way to kill a couple of hours.

After watching this piece of cinematic dreck, Kim decided she didn't want to watch another movie and went online so I dug into my latest Netflix arrivals, and pulled out another movie.

I've been using my Netflix account to get movies I should have seen but never did, things recommended by other people or other sites (about 1/3 of my queue is filled with movies recommended at one time or another by Filmspotting, another  podcast I listen to), or movies I've read about somewhere.

Last nights choice was one I remember reading about somewhere, about what a brilliant film it was for it's particular genre...but I'll be DAMNED if I can remember WHERE I read something about it. I THOUGHT it was Kevin Murphy's book, but I couldn't find it in there...so maybe it was from Filmspotting or from one of my other books, but the praise it got for it's technique, well, I thought I'd better take a look at it, to see what all the fuss was about...

So I went from King Kong Escapes straight into the Nazi propaganda film Triumph Of The Will.

Like I said, the double bill from hell.

Made by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, it was coverage of the 1935 Nuremberg Nazi Party rallies, the one where Adolf Hitler solidified his power as the German Fuhrer. It's supposed to be a masterpiece of propaganda, and it is, I suppose...

I watched it with the commentary track on, from Dr. Anthony Santoro, and it made things make a lot more sense. It is easy to see, watching this film, why Hitler captivated the hearts and minds of the German people.

Just don't ask me to sit through it again. Fascinating as it was, it was rather a disappointment after the buildup that whatever I had read had given it. It plays like a bunch of old-time newsreels, and although well made, and strikingly photographed, it's still Hitler and his Nazis...never a good thing.

Hopefully, I'll be on to brighter and more positive things as the next few days pass...

REVIEW: "Good Night and Good Luck" shows George Clooney as a brilliant director

GOOD NIGHT AND GOOD LUCK

RATED: PG

STARS: DAVID STRAITHAIRN, GEORGE CLOONEY, JEFF DANIELS, RAY WISE, ROBERT DOWNEY JR, FRANK LANGELLA, ROSE ABDOO, PETER BORSTEIN

DIRECTOR: GEORGE CLOONEY

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I have little patience with movies made in black and white these days, but I wanted to see this movie when it came out due to it's subject matter, but I didn't get a chance. Thanks to Netflix, I recently had  a chance to catch up with it on DVD, and I am very glad I did so, for this Oscar-nominated movie is worthy of each one of the nominations it recieved.

George Clooney co-wrote, directed, and co-stars in this fictionalized historical account of the feud between Senator Joseph McCarthy and popular 50s television anchorman Edward R. Murrow. Having never seen one of Clooney's movies as a director up to this point (still planning on eventually catching Confessions of A Dangerous Mind), I was stunned at how truly brilliant he is in the role. Clooney's sense of cinema is evident as his thoughtful photography indicates. Indicative slow pans, quick cuts, and use of somewhat abstract lighting make the movie - as I said earlier, shot in black and white - as visually stunning as the brightest colors in a regular color feature. I have to admit, Clooney took me completely off guard; I didn't know what to expect in him as a director, and I must say, i'm intensely interested in seeing some of his earlier work as a director now having seen this one.

Clooney also shines in his supporting role as Fred Friendly, news producer for Edward R.Murrow (David Straitairn in an riveting, Oscar-nominated performance) as their early TV news program SEE IT NOW turns its focus on investigating the questionable tactics being used by  Senator Joseph McCarthy (seen as himself in archival footage) and his House UnAmerican Activities committee.  Clooney probably should have recieved his Supporting Actor Oscar for this and not for Syriana - i've never seen him better than he is here.

Straithairn, whom I have to admit has always been one of my favorite "I Know That Guy!" actors, is absoultely perfect as the taciturn, chain-smoking Murrow, who is the driving force behind the show's investigation into McCarthy, and the tactics he used in his Communist witch hunt.

Another "I know that guy!" favorite, Ray Wise, turns in a fervent performance as a New York anchor and recent subject of gossip in the New York press about being a leftist. Robert Downey Jr hands in another terrific performance as research staff member Joe Wershba. And an almost unrecognizible Frank Langella steps in as the head of CBS, Bill Paley. An excellent ensemble of actors pull together to make the story as believable as it can possibly be. Since it's based on real events, it no doubt made their jobs easier, and the cast makes you feel as though you're a fly on the wall watching the events unfold before your eyes.

With an outstanding music score and Dianne Reeves' incredible vocals driving each scene transition, the movie grabs you from the opening moments. Its 94 minutes of story - a surprisingly scant length for a Best Picture nominee, actually - fly by very quickly.  You easily become so engrossed in the story as CBS News is presenting it, and the way their investigation is having an effect on events on a national stage, that it's hard to believe it's over so soon.

I will soon be adding this movie to my personal DVD collection, and it's highly worthy of yours as well. It's truly a shame that it didn't win the Oscars it was nominated for; in a less competitive, less Brokeback-oriented environment, it just may have sneaked in to grab Best Picture. 

You can't find much better than this one, folks. Well worth a glance.

***
SCORE: 4 1/2 (out of Five)