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Good Night & Good Luck

GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
edited February 2006 in Strut Central
has there been a thread about this film.Lots of ongoing buzz that started damn near 6 months ago.I saw a few weeks back and was entirely underwhelmed by the lack of emotion. Everyone was far too proper and calm and many characters werent explained and just hung around. I'm kinda bothered by the fact that I felt I should of loved this and just didn't

  Comments

  • CLabCLab 76 Posts
    syriana eats this film for lunch.

    clooney means well but so far can't direct for shit.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    maybe you should hang out in the dogshit thread. then you might be able to better appreciate some fine film making when you see it. constant gardener got shafted by oscar's cronies. what ever happened to that rap/message on my voicemail?
  • tuneuptuneup 586 Posts
    syriana eats this film for lunch.

    clooney means well but so far can't direct for shit.

    Really... I thought that Chuck Barris "gong show uncovered" type ish (name of film escapes me at the moment) was pretty good..not earth shattering, but pretty good. I think clooney is working his way to being a fine director.
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts

    clooney means well but so far can't direct for shit.
    didn't you like confessions of a dangerous mind?
  • erewhonerewhon 1,123 Posts
    Interesting story, boring movie. Seems like Clooney's M.O. thus far.
  • tuneuptuneup 586 Posts

    clooney means well but so far can't direct for shit.
    didn't you like confessions of a dangerous mind?

    thank you magic for having a brain when i didn't...that's the name of the film...that shit was bugging me...
  • BeardedDBeardedD 770 Posts
    Cosign, his heart's in the right place but this dude has absolutely no idea what he's doing. He's surrounded himself with very talented people and the guy is so good at talking that he's totally convinced himself that he's got something to say. Confessions was an uninspired pastiche of Scorsese and PT Anderson type effects and managed to mangle a great story into an uninvolving, dull movie. Good Night is almost surreal in its complete lack of purpose.
  • d_wordd_word 666 Posts
    First off I agree that Syriana was a far better film. One of the best this year.

    But Good Night and Good Luck was an intentionally quiet, pensive movie that behaved like many movies of the era in which it is based. Little music, distanced emotion, etc. Critics like it cause it acheived it's modest aims. To Clooney's credit, it is what it was supposed to be.

    Speaking of movies (and speaking as someone who doesn't like many recent Woody Allan films) MATCHPOINT is THE SHIT. Don't read any reviews that'll spoil it, just she them shits with your girl or main dude.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    Good Night and Good Luck was an intentionally quiet, pensive movie that behaved like many movies of the era in which it is based.

    interesting perspective, can you give an example of some of these films?
  • d_wordd_word 666 Posts
    "Look Who's Coming To Dinner"
  • SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
    Good Night and Good Luck was an intentionally quiet, pensive movie that behaved like many movies of the era in which it is based.
    best description of this film i've read... d_word you're on point.

    how come constant gardener was mostly overlooked?
  • d_wordd_word 666 Posts
    "Wild Strawberries" or most of Ingmar Bergman's other films. Good ones to see replayed in an old theatre if they are shown in your town. TV don't do any of these justice.
  • mandrewmandrew 2,720 Posts
    First off I agree that Syriana was a far better film. One of the best this year.

    But Good Night and Good Luck was an intentionally quiet, pensive movie that behaved like many movies of the era in which it is based. Little music, distanced emotion, etc. Critics like it cause it acheived it's modest aims. To Clooney's credit, it is what it was supposed to be. [/b]

    THE TRUTH. listen up folks.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    Guess Who's Coming to Dinner caught my attention a little more than this. There was also a quesiton of who some of these characters were and why is there so much time given to their story. I had no idea what Jeff Daniels role was supposed to be, and Robert Downey Jr's character and his wife served as a rather pointless sidestory.

    I liked Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and just expected more from Clooney I guess
  • goatboygoatboy 371 Posts
    I actually thought Good Night and Good Luck was a quiet but extremely relevant and on-point movie for our day and age. Much more than anything Michael Moore could have put out. A story about what fear can do to a country and the media's responsibility in reporting the truth - two topics I couldn't help pondering as I grew angrier and angrier at my TV watching the "Say It All Over Again But Don't Mean Any Of It W!" nightmare last night.
  • d_wordd_word 666 Posts
    Thanks.

    Good question about Constant Gardener. I'm assuming that with the British connections folks over there felt more connected. Plus I think it was just complicated. I consider myself up on politics of pharmaceuticals in Africa, but it wasn't until I saw it twice that I really understood every character's role in it.
  • edith headedith head 5,106 Posts

    But Good Night and Good Luck was an intentionally quiet, pensive movie that behaved like many movies of the era in which it is based. Little music, distanced emotion, etc. Critics like it cause it acheived it's modest aims. To Clooney's credit, it is what it was supposed to be.

    i completely agree. i was really glad it wasn't heavy-handed and it had an appropriately understated level of tension and fear which is since this is the 50s were talking about here. i actually was surprised because i actually thought clooney's directing was pretty masterful and seemed experienced. i was kinda shocked because this dude is supposed to be a hunk according to people mag and isn't this the first thing he's directed? he must be getting a lot of good advice from soderbergh

    maybe i am just biased because i think david strathairn is one of the most badass and underrated actors around and i'm glad he is finally getting some recognition after like 20 years of acting in indie flicks
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    I actually thought Good Night and Good Luck was a quiet but extremely relevant and on-point movie for our day and age. Much more than anything Michael Moore could have put out. A story about what fear can do to a country and the media's responsibility in reporting the truth
    the difference in a Michael Moore documentary and this is that Michael moore tries to shake you. This was much more subtle but I think it was too tame in its delivery. But
    Clooney and Moores last 2 projects were so different its practically apples and oranges
  • Pistol_PetePistol_Pete 1,289 Posts

    clooney means well but so far can't direct for shit.

    I don't agree at all.

    As far as Good Night and Good Luck - I liked it - I thought Clooney captured that moment in time so well. It's very straight forward.
  • goatboygoatboy 371 Posts
    I actually thought Good Night and Good Luck was a quiet but extremely relevant and on-point movie for our day and age. Much more than anything Michael Moore could have put out. A story about what fear can do to a country and the media's responsibility in reporting the truth
    the difference in a Michael Moore documentary and this is that Michael moore tries to shake you. This was much more subtle but I think it was too tame in its delivery. But

    Clooney and Moores last 2 projects were so different its practically apples and oranges

    I agree - Apples and Oranges.

    I suppose what I liked about GN&GL is that it used historical events to get at the underlying philosophical issues which can sometimes affect how I think about things much more than numerous facts from the current world. Something about that level of abstraction makes the emotional impact more powerful for me.
  • d_wordd_word 666 Posts
    Speaking of 'modest films' an "Unfinished Life" by Robert Redford with Morgan Freeman and Jennifer Lopez is real good, and seemed to go under the radar this year. Real simple and quiet, but good.
  • canonicalcanonical 2,100 Posts
    I celebrate Clooney's entire directing catalogue.

    I liked Good night and good luck a lot. In fact, that dryness and lack of emotion is what appealed to me the most.
  • goatboygoatboy 371 Posts
    If we're speaking of modest films (and with the current interest in Boogie Nights and PT Anderson in another thread) has everyone checked out Hard Eight?



    Although it has a few action spots I thought this movie was amazingly entertaining in its simple story telling. The repeated slightly haunting melody throughout, the acting, all good in my book - and much much different than his (and I know I'm going to get shit for this) bloated later movie Magnolia. Everyone I know loved Magnolia but I just didn't feel it. It suffered from a complete lack of thoughtful editing in my viewpoint - something Hard Eight had in spades.
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