Movies Sell Papers (or Vice Versa)
STORIES STILL SELL SILVER SCREEN STYLE: As usual, when times are tough I end up behind the air-conditioned closed doors of some second-run comfy haven - and these two weeks have proven pretty good for all that’s fit to print in motion pictures, literally! As such I visited my favorite neighborhood triple-screen, The Academy, to see both State of Play and The Soloist. They have “Monday Movie Madness” (see two consecutive films for a total of $6!!!) and “Twofer Tuesdays” (admits 2 people for a total of $4!). That’s the absolute best deal in town people! Plus they offer good eats from their amazing neighbors, the BiPartisan Cafe and Flying Pie Pizza - not to mention sensible prices on all other goodies as well.
DEADLINES: Both films gave a sensitive inside look into the drama of an everyday newsroom. One in the east (DC) and one out here (LA). State of Play was a bit of an action packed political thriller with secret twists, all slowly unknotted. The well plucked cast, including a fuller-bodied Russell Crowe and the always stunning/amazing Helen Mirren were great characters. The supporting cast includes the whipsmart Rachel McAdams as Crowe’s sidekick saavy blogger, a carboardy Ben Affleck (though necessary for this role) and bit parts by great actresses like Viola Davis and Robin Wright Penn. Cast as Rep. George Fergus is Jeff Daniels who I’m usually mezza-mezza about - but if this were a more meaty role he would have stole the screen, I like him as a subtle badass.
EXTRA EXTRA: The movie sort of traces a story and relationship between a reporter (Crowe) and his college roommate (now state Rep, played by Affleck). There’s a love tryst outside his marriage and the intrigue begins with a mysterious murder on a subway platform. Governmental agencies and big power/$$$ relationships are at stake and it takes the news crew to retrofit the facts before the police, who they p-o in the process. There’s a lot going on here, so you have to pay heed to the action. What makes this movie pop is the exploration of how important and impactful the front page is, and its weighty struggle against the change of the guards (ie: recycling vs. the pixel).
IN BLACK/WHITE: Both of these stories certainly romance the power and passion of the poison pen. Well, its not all poison, it’s what they do - report first hand accounts, even getting directly involved in the action. Of course I write this wondering, hoping, wishing that arts writing were as full of such passion - but if it were all simply drama that could drive one to delusions and/or martinis. But further explored in The Soloist is a true story of an LA Times writer’s penchant for getting close to his subject in the streets of the big city. Whoa Nelly! Robert Downey Jr. as journalist Steve Lopez and Jamie Foxx as the homeless virtuoso Nathaniel Ayers are perfect foils for each other, their acting is exquisite in a riveting, moving story. Aside from Sunshine Cleaning (which I think is the flick of the year thusfar) this comes close and is one of the best I’ve seen about a difficult relationship built on the basis of respect for defining/understanding human difference (and its core struggles). This more defines a look at humanity outside the basic human interest story.
Talk about double features!
IT’S A TRIPLE….To escape the heat of the night one evening recently it was to the Laurelhurst to see Alan J. Pakula’s The Parallax View (1974) w/Warren Beatty. This one gets closer to home as Beatty plays Joe Frady, a local correspondent for a Portland OR newspaper. He’s following up on a story in which he was present when a Presidential candidate is assassinated during a fundraiser speech at Seattle’s Space Needle. Many scenes with a tint of Kubrick and a wholesome dollop of 70’s color, hair and paced cinematic timing ensue as Frady learns of the mysterious Parallax Corp. While rummaging through a sherriff’s domestic belongings he comes across a sorta mail-order intelligence/hitman agency after being nearly shot during an undercover investigation of another related murder. He enrolls in said corporation and things start to become a series of scearios of ‘who dunnit’, where implicating said reporter might not be outta range (especially after his editor/boss, played by Hume Cronyn, is mysteriously murdered after a late night snack in his office). The intriguing paranoia and shifting plot turns the viewer’s head in the direction of misguided fingers to the left and right. It’s most definitely an odd film, though I enjoyed the (drug) trippy interogation Frady withstands with its montage/brainwashing of images (good vs. evil) that is something ala Willy Wonka meets Clockwork Orange (two of my all-time favorite flicks).
Tags: Bi-Partisan Cafe, Flying Pie Pizza, Helen Mirren, Jamie Foxx, Jeff Daniels, Nathaniel Ayers, Robert Downey Jr., Russell Crowe, State of Play, Steve Lopez, The Academy Theater, The Solist