Karen Doyle2 said:🙂 well, I suppose I’m allowed to say what’s on my mind...
come on, give me one single intelligent reason to spend two hours staring at that? It’s tedious, slow, unconvincing—just a pretentious historical drama that feels more like an advertisement for cigarettes or maybe some hair gel... if you get to attack, then I certainly can too...
I wasn't attacking you at all—I was really just speaking as someone who appreciates a good joke. 🙂 Furthermore, I would be more than happy to defend my stance on this film. First and foremost, let's address this issue of "pretentiousness," which I assume is your way of critiquing the black-and-white cinematography. To be perfectly honest, I had those exact same reservations before sitting down to watch it. But once I finished, I realized there simply wasn't another way to shoot it—it was the only way to truly heighten that paranoid atmosphere surrounding the whole situation. George Clooney is incredibly precise with the facts here—everything from the constant smoking on air to the use of actual archival footage of McCarthy's attacks on Edward R. Murrow. For me, the subtext is what makes it fascinating. Beyond being excellent in terms of acting, directing, and writing, it offers such a compelling look at the dawn of the mass media era. You can see the embryo of today's sycophantic media—media that bows only to advertising and serves merely as a distraction from the truth. Because today, much like during the McCarthy era back in the fifties, Bush's America—and indeed the entire world—exists within a facade of democracy. This is an outstanding, intelligent, and layered film; beyond being technically brilliant, it carries a message that very few Hollywood films today have the courage to tackle. In my view, it is a vital historical drama that resonates deeply with the current climate in the USA. The land of the free, right? Which, much like back then, isn't exactly so free. And if that movie looks like a "cigarette commercial" to you, you must be watching some particularly nasty cable networks where cigarette ads are actually that well-produced. I am certain you'll find some merit elsewhere—if nothing else, perhaps because of you and me and Everyone WE know. 🙂
checking out Narantxin might provide a bit more context for these views 😁
