Watched Dave. This one was too optimistic for me, but it was a cute romantic movie that, once I suspended disbelief and just sat back, had lots of cute moments. The bit parts were really what shined for me, with Hunt and Linney being two of my favorite actors.
It was a very 90s movie, but there were nice moments of “what if people cared” that I enjoyed, even if the concept didn’t go very deep on any particular parts.
Watched A Face In The Crowd. Pretty wild to see Griffith as a villain. Kazan sure knows how to direct an engaging film and at no point was I ever able to look away.
Neal is pretty impressive as “his girl Friday”. All of the acting stands up though! I generally hate movies without anyone to root for, but this was a rare one where the screenplay and acting carries it so well.
Watched Bulworth. Lots of uncomfortable in this one. It was weird to see a more modern version of Network that felt like it was about Black America both by and for White America.
Truth spoken through great acting (by tons of people I love!) but a very strangely written script that left me wishing it had more voices of color in the room. Still the best that could be in 1998, so I’ll take it as a beautiful aberration of its time and searing indictment of Clinton.
Watched In The Loop. I walked in with not much optimism but this was pretty fun, as a clever combination of Veep and The Newsroom.
Gandolfini steals every scene he’s in, and seeing Capaldi in his element is fun too. The minor quips are really what sell this as a comedy, otherwise it is basically exactly like every government job I’ve had.
It leaned more on cursing than I’d like, but there was solid political humor here too.
Watched The American President. Indisputably a #romcom and also a #AaronSorkin drama, it is less than the sum of its parts. #TheWestWing is so much better and the cognitive dissonance trying to not see it with the casting mixture hurt my brain.
Still a fine 90s movie I guess, but just watch any episode from the first 4 seasons of West Wing instead.
“It’s not our job to appeal to the lowest common denominator, it’s our job to raise it.”
-Bartlett/Sorkin
katerberg
hannah westphall