Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Goodnight, and Good Luck...

...at some random NY theater, right after screening Ben-Hur.

Yeah, same day. That is a lot of movie. I just posted two reviews here tonight, and I'm not really up for another one, but anyway, yeah, I enjoyed it. It seemed a little slight, really, even though I knew it would only be 90 minutes. And while I was fine with it only being 90 minutes (I had just sat through 3.5 hours of Ben-Hur!), the short running time seemed to lessen the impact a bit. Like, how much could a film really do for me in only 1.5 hours?

Strathairn was great, and the ensemble work was terrific, but I can't muster up much enthusiasm for the film as a whole. It seemed like almost half of it was made of stock footage, and I felt at the end like I didn't get much out of actually viewing the film than I'd gotten already from just hearing about it. But them's the breaks when one waits till the last minute to see movies. There was just a kind of "been there, done that" feeling in it for me. Like I was just watching a history lesson, or a "stick it to McCarthy!" sermon. Which is fine. But hardly groundbreaking. It actually seemed like it might've been the 2 hour pilot to a TV show or something. A new news show, perhaps? Hmmm...

But regardless, it's a good film, and it's timely. Definitely worth a look.

My grade: B

6 Comments:

Blogger Glenn Dunks said...

That's a shame. GN&GL is my #3 of the year atm. I thought it was all so fascinating.

And the 90minute runtime was great. So many movies are just too long these day, don't you think?

6:47 AM  
Blogger adam k. said...

Yes, many movies are too long, but 212-minute Ben-Hur is not one of them.

I'm sure my "eh" reaction to this film had a lot to do with the fact that it had to follow Ben-Hur. No easy act to follow, that one.

11:31 PM  
Blogger Glenn Dunks said...

I'm not saying Ben-Hur is too long (never seen it) but considering the story Clooney had to tell, it wouldn't have been necessary to make the film much longer.

We don't need to know about Murrow's private life or such. The movie isn't about that.

I still heart GN&GL.

2:40 AM  
Blogger adam k. said...

I just meant that after something that actually holds your attention for a full 212 minutes without even seeming long, a 90 minute film feels tiny. I know it didn't need to be longer. I just didn't love it is all... found it a tad dry. I generally prefer big epic posturings, romantic longing, etc. Or if not that, then insightful neurotic banter. GNaGL didn't hit any of my real soft spots... not that it wasn't good.

4:04 AM  
Blogger Glenn Dunks said...

I think I had the same feelings you had towards GN&GL today towards Capote.

Will post later on it.

8:41 AM  
Blogger adam k. said...

Yeah, I think they are of approximately equal quality. Not sure which I enjoyed more.

7:59 PM  

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