Good Night, and Good Luck. Reviews

Kuuluu varmasti 2000-luvun elokuvien parhaimmistoon. Minimalistisesti ja kaikkea grandiosamaista Hollywood-skeidaa vältellen Good Night and Good Luck toimii samalla tavalla kuin Kaikki Presidentin Miehet, dramatisoitu dokumentti Amerikan ehkä synkimmistä ajoista keskellä kylmää sotaa. Näyttelytyö on hillittävyydessään mestarillista, tunnelma jäytävää ja tunteiden purkaus elokuvan lopussa lähes taattu. Clooney, lopeta näytteleminen ja tee enemmän niitä elokuvia!"

This movie has a decent message, if you strip it of its self-righteous I'm-in-the-News-Division-Tell-The-Entertainment-Guys-To-Go-To-The-Back-Of-The-Bus angle.

But it's not a great movie, and, in fact, it's really more of a sermon than a real movie.

I thought this movie was great when I first saw it, but thankfully that little piece of my own personal history has been usefully and helpfully compartamentalized.

P.S. I hate to be snide, but it is funny how the actor who plays Murrow (excuse me--The Great: Edward. R. Murrow., le haut signore) also played the crooked pitcher in "Eight Men Out"...as well as a wife-killer on a random episode of "Monk". A wife-killer who played chess, actually--***way too much***.

{cue for Billy Joel, "Shades of Grey"}

"These days it's harder to say, 'I know what I'm fightin' for', my faith is falling away, I'm not that sure anymore..."

"Shades of Grey, wherever I go, the more that I find out, the less that I know--Black And White is how it should be--but Shades of Grey are the colors I see."

"At one point in every review--Fight Till The Other Man Falls, Kill Him Before He Kills You. These days the edges are blurred, I'm old and tired of war--I hear the other man's words, I'm not that sure anymore."

'You know I've never said no to you, not once.'

'Well, stfu, I'm the News Division, and never saying no isn't the same as never censoring.'

(And it's not--it's considerably more generous.)

"Shades of Grey wherever I go, The more I find out, the less that I know, There ain't no rainbow shinin' on me, Shades of grey are the colors I see."

"Save us all from arrogant men, and all the causes before. I won't be righteous again! I'm not that sure anymore..."

"And the only people I fear, are those who never have doubts."

After all--I used to be a Christian like you.

Then I took a hammer to the head.

........

*shrugs* It's true though.

And: the more time that goes by, the more that I come to despise George Wi--! George Clooney. The more that I come to see him as a despicable phony, and as a really selfish bastard, *who would stop at nothing*, to make himself look good at everybody else's expense! And that's all that he ever does-- the bastard!

And, you know, if I can look at a movie that *Natalie Portman* was in-- "V for Vendetta"-- and say that it's basically just propaganda and not art-- then you can be pretty damn sure that that's also *exactly* what I think of "Good Night, And Good Luck", and "Syriana", and all that drivel and dross like that that he does....

Because fuck knows that George Clooney can't dance, and, to be honest, I've given up waiting for him to try....

(6/10)

A brilliant depiction of a controversial chapter of American history. Wonderful direction quick script and an excellent performance by David Strathairn. Contains tiny little flaws such as; parts of the plot are a little unclear-other than that well worth the watch.

Before Ben Affleck surprisingly became the hottest actor-turned-director at work nowadays, it seems at some point that George Clooney would get this prestigious title. Indeed, with this movie, he was apparenly becoming a director to reckon with in the future. Unfortunately, his follow-up would be the really underwhelming ‘Leatherheads’ and it has been a decade since we have been waiting for something brilliant coming from this director. Anyway, coming back to our main feature, even though I still have a preference for his debut ‘Confessions of a Dangerous Mind’, this follow-up was still quite impressive. Indeed, the directing was just top notch, they really managed to nail the time period and the story was rather fascinating. On top of that, David Strathairn displayed his acting talent all over the screen and it’s a pity that he has done anything really amazing in the following decade. Even though you might argue that the whole thing was probably not accurate, it did feel really accurate to me and, above all, I thought it was a really important story which is not something that you can’t say about most movies. To conclude, I really liked this flick and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested by this subject.

Good Night, and Good Luck concerns Edward R. Murrow's decision to expose the McCarthy trials and the Government's hunt for Communists as outrageous and unconstitutional. As Murrow and CBS were up against very powerful people, this was quite risky. The movie is beautiful, taking full advantage of what Black and White can do, and enjoying the stylishness of the 1950's. It's a very smart movie, using rich vocabulary and not leading the audience around by the nose. And the music is not only excellent, but truly adds to the feel of the movie. With all that said, I have to admit to feeling let down by the story. I found it dry. It's as if they reshot a documentary, with fabulous film, sound and editing. I wish I had liked this sparseness, but I just never got involved with the characters, and didn't care how the movie ended.