State of Play - Capitol Punishment
Kevin Macdonald (The Last King of Scotland) helms a gritty political/media thriller that is both above-par and engrossing yet exposes the inside scoop on gritty Capitol Hill maneuvers. Ben Affleck is back on point with this one and his turn as director (Gone Baby Gone) must have taught him a thing or two about the business, as we have almost all but forgotten his cinematic faux pas.
His credibility is propped up by Russell Crowe (American Gangster, Gladiator), who plays a reporter for a leading broadsheet newspaper who's belief in "real news" is under threat from young blood hired to turn the newspapers readership around by taking it online and making it easily digestible . This young blood, played with zest by Rachel McAdams (The Notebook), represents new media, the rise of the blog.
The sharp-tongued editor of this seething paper dragon is not a fat, balding man with braces but the very astute and suitably forthright Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen). Her spitfire dialogue is every bit as gutsy as the man you might have expected her to have been, and Rusty's character even refers to her having her "balls cut off". She is more hard line with her staff than with her content, as she wishes to please the new owners of the paper by printing sex lies and anything that sells in order to raise revenue, and reels at the prospect of a rival rag getting said scoop.
My surprise in all this was Jason Bateman (Juno). A cameo performance, but a memorable one. I won't reveal too much but he isn't just a seat filler and certainly steals his major scene.
This is a brilliant piece of film making and a serious take on the dirty business of politics. There's murder, betrayl and even some videotape.
What's your scoop?
4.5/5!
His credibility is propped up by Russell Crowe (American Gangster, Gladiator), who plays a reporter for a leading broadsheet newspaper who's belief in "real news" is under threat from young blood hired to turn the newspapers readership around by taking it online and making it easily digestible . This young blood, played with zest by Rachel McAdams (The Notebook), represents new media, the rise of the blog.
The sharp-tongued editor of this seething paper dragon is not a fat, balding man with braces but the very astute and suitably forthright Dame Helen Mirren (The Queen). Her spitfire dialogue is every bit as gutsy as the man you might have expected her to have been, and Rusty's character even refers to her having her "balls cut off". She is more hard line with her staff than with her content, as she wishes to please the new owners of the paper by printing sex lies and anything that sells in order to raise revenue, and reels at the prospect of a rival rag getting said scoop.
My surprise in all this was Jason Bateman (Juno). A cameo performance, but a memorable one. I won't reveal too much but he isn't just a seat filler and certainly steals his major scene.
This is a brilliant piece of film making and a serious take on the dirty business of politics. There's murder, betrayl and even some videotape.
What's your scoop?
4.5/5!
