Archive for the 'Journalism' Category

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Published
by
Chalupa
on March 9, 2009
in Based on a book, Based on a true story, Comedy, Journalism and Romance
. 0 Comments

Based off Toby Young’s book, How to Lose Friends and Alienate People is the story of a magazine editor from the UK coming to New York to work for a more successful company.  Sidney Young, played by Simon Pegg, definitely isn’t your classic “charming” Brit like a Colin Firth or a Hugh Grant.  He’s loud, crass and offensive.  He seems to have a knack for saying the wrong things at the wrong time and taking the party to a “whole notha level” and embarrassing himself to no end.

Clayton Harding, played by Jeff “The Dude” Bridges, started the magazine Sidney came from and we get the hint he might see a little of himself in Sidney.  He does a wonderful job playing the hard nosed boss who gives interesting advice and rarely passes up a chance to put his employees in their places.  Rounding out the cast are a lot of recognizable faces including: Gillian Anderson, Thandie Newton, Danny Huston, Miriam Margolyes, and Kirsten Dunst.

This is another one of those movies that received raves reviews from some and awful reviews from others.  While I wouldn’t say this movie is going to win any awards, it’s kind of like how Sydney describes Con Air as being the best film ever.  There are a lot of good elements, hilarious scenes, and it’s just plain fun to watch.  Pegg’s character is a bit grating and not very likable.  I think the film makers were banking on Pegg just being so likable that he would counter-act the character he was playing.  I think that might work if you’re already a fan of the guy and know some of his previous work.  Overall, Sidney doesn’t really have any epiphanies or have any major change.  He just is who he is.  Part of this is probably sticking to the original source material.

One aspect I really loved were the Lebowski references in the film.  Watching the “making of” featurette Jeff Bridges mentions being good friends with the director, Robert Weide.  At one point Sydney mistaking calls his landlord “Mrs. Lebowski” while mispronouncing her name.  In another scene Sydney calls his boss, played by Jeff Bridges, “dude” to which Harding replies, “I am not the dude.” It was also great seeing two actors, Chris Dowd and Katherine Parkinson, from a British show I just started watching, The IT Crowd.

This is definitely something to check out if you’re a fan of the actors in this.  I wouldn’t say  you absolutely have to rush out and rent it for tonight though.  I enjoyed this much more than Pegg’s last film I saw, Run Fatboy Run, and Bridges gets much more screen time than in Iron Man.  Be aware of the R-rating though.  After seeing Watchmen yesterday and watching a fanboy father bring in his three, under the age of 13, children in, I’ve once again become aware of the importance of not sitting children down in front of inappropriate material.

Rating: ★★★½☆

Good Night, and Good Luck

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 20, 2008
in Cold War, Communism, Docudrama, Drama, History, Journalism, Politics and War
. 0 Comments

Good Night, and Good Luck is a film about a very fearful time in American history.  It takes place during the Cold War and the Red Scare.  You might remember those from history class.  It was a time when Senator McCarthy was given a free hand in accusing whomever he pleased of being a communist.  Sounds kind of crazy, right?  In a way I think that kind of fear and aggression can be translated into how people of Middle Eastern/Arab descent, as well as anybody looking “ethnic”, can be labeled as terrorists and be detained until proven they are not.  Sounds kind of crazy, right?

I heard a lot of people describe this movie as slow and boring.  To borrow a superb line from Office Space, “Ooh, uh, yeah. I’m going to have to go ahead and sort of disagree with you there.“  I really liked it.  I found it very interesting, especially since it was based off of actual events.

This was both written and directed by George Clooney.  Even though Clooney has done a lot of producing, this is the first movie he has written and the second one he’s directed.  I think he did a fine job.  In our Michael Clayton review, we talked about being somewhat disappointed in Clooney’s recent work.  This would be one of those movies that stands out for me.  I highly suggest this one and hope you’ve already seen it.

Rating: ★★★★☆

Capote

Published
by
Chalupa
on July 13, 2006
in Based on a book, Based on a novel, Biography, Crime, Drama, Journalism, Murder and New York
. 1 Comment

I was going to see this three separate times while it was still in the theaters, but none of them worked out, so I guess the 4th time is a charm. We watched this last night for Movie Night.

If you didn’t know, this movie is about Truman Capote, who was an actual author. Some parts of the movie might make more sense to you if you didn’t know this earlier. Parts of it can be a little slow and some of the things that Capote does and says just don’t seem to fit. At least not for a ficticious character. This movie happens to be about his most famous publication, In Cold Blood. It’s about a family in Kansas that was brutally killed in their home. The movie chronicles Capote befriending the killers, all the while trying to get research for his book. It’s amazing to watch him manipulate people and situations while trying to get information. It reminded me a bit of The United States of Leland and The Chumscrubber in how a character is “befriending” someone just to get a story. In the same way, Capote pretends to be friends with the killers, while at the same time wishing they would just be executed so he could finish his book.

The part of Truman Capote is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who I have always found to be just amazing. The two killers are played by Mark Pellegrino (The Big Lebowski) and Clifton Collins Jr. (Tigerland, The Last Castle, Replacement Killers). Chris Cooper is also in here as the police chief and Catherine Keener as Harper Lee, Capote’s friend.

The movie can be a bit slow in parts, but it’s really good if you can stick it out til the end. I personally, had never realized how influential Capote was. I want to read some of his books. After the movie, Adrienne brought up that Capote was mentioned in the movie 10 Things I Hate About You. In the classroom somebody says, “Capote” with a long ‘o’ sound and the teacher corrects them with the proper pronunciation. I had completely forgotten about that. I guess there’s a movie I need to re-watch.

The movie also ended with some general information about Capote and the rest of his life following the book. There was one quote I really liked - “More tears are shed over answered prayers than unanswered ones.”