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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2019 5:26:43 GMT
While the film is always interesting and entertaining, it does too little with too much - a very able cast who all turn out strong performances* and a fascinating (if horrifying) premise are ingredients for a great film, but Bombshell's strengths are often belied by its "cutesy" screenplay. I don't think "dark comedy" was the route this should have taken - there really isn't anything funny about sexual harassment, and compounding the problem is the film's unwillingness to dig deeper than its sensationalistic surface. There are also constant "attention-grabbing" side details that feel quite cheap and unnecessary. Perhaps this is intentional - it could be emulating Fox News' approach in this way, but I think the complicated women at the center of the story deserve better.
B-
*My one issue here is with Lithgow - I don't necessarily dislike his performance, but I think he reads too jolly as Ailes, a man who by all accounts was very menacing - I did prefer Crowe's more sinister take in "The Loudest Voice."
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Post by quetee on Dec 20, 2019 6:01:36 GMT
So does charlize deserve nod? Ummm, who is that guy in avatar?
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wattsnew
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Post by wattsnew on Dec 20, 2019 8:50:04 GMT
Ummm, who is that guy in avatar? This.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2019 11:31:56 GMT
Theron is very good - she absolutely nails Kelly's husky cadence. I certainly wouldn't begrudge her a nomination even though she's been better elsewhere. She's overdue for her third.
It's Sam Claflin!
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Post by pupdurcs on Dec 20, 2019 12:23:28 GMT
How was Kidman? Been reading some comments from people who've seen it this week outside this forum saying her performance has been underrated and she might actually be their MVP of the film.
Can't say for myself as I haven't seen it, but it may increase Kidman's Oscar nomination chances if she does leave a bigger impact than advertised.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 20, 2019 13:16:05 GMT
pupdurcs - She is quite good although this is nowhere near her best or most inspired work. Theron and Robbie have much more to do; the film is definitely more focused on their characters' experiences than Kidman's character's. SAG obviously loved the film - I wouldn't read too much into her nomination from them.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 20, 2019 21:16:53 GMT
just watched The Nightingale and I think it ruined him forever for me
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2019 0:54:46 GMT
just watched The Nightingale and I think it ruined him forever for me
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2019 2:33:38 GMT
Theron is very good - she absolutely nails Kelly's husky cadence. I certainly wouldn't begrudge her a nomination even though she's been better elsewhere. She's overdue for her third. It's Sam Claflin! I thought it was you! Well thank you! That is certainly very flattering. I wish though.
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avnermoriarti
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Post by avnermoriarti on Dec 21, 2019 5:41:01 GMT
It has a 5.8 rating on imdb... lol
I think dark comedy done well can be effective in any subject ( Elle says hello ) but the way you describe it, and for a few tweets I've read is of a very clumsy handling of the material / tone, Theron is good at that, her and Robbie are the only reason I'm watching this because otherwise is like 1 ( Game Change ) - 7 with this director for me.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 21, 2019 6:09:03 GMT
It has a 5.8 rating on imdb... lol not that I'm expecting it to be much good but I'm pretty sure any movie critical of Fox News was going to get at least a few hundred 1-star ratings by default. If was more relevant or more widely praised by the critics/media, I'm sure its score would be lower.
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Post by TerryMontana on Dec 21, 2019 14:04:24 GMT
65 on RT, 64 on Metascore.
I don't think it will get much higher than that...
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Post by Deleted on Dec 21, 2019 14:05:19 GMT
Have any of you guys seen the film? Let's discuss!
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 24, 2019 20:01:31 GMT
6/10Hey what's the best sexual harassment movie you ever saw? Right, none because that's not actually a subject for a movie. This film completely shoots itself in the foot by articulating every minor thought or viewpoint instead of shutting up and letting you see it or allowing any drama to unfold. The trio of performances range from good (Kidman, Robbie) to great - Theron is far better and smarter than the movie, like Tom Hanks this year she goes far beyond mere mimicry - she's better than Hanks is too - you believe her playing a human, a not on the air Kelly too. John Lithgow is closer in conception than Russell Crowe's ridiculous one note monster but not exactly in performance which I found trite and makes me want to defend Crowe (!) - Lithgow's later scene here where he says "I paid for the food that one of you eats" sure seems a lot like a childish falsehood and posturing rather than what a guy who created something bigger than himself would react. I'm not saying he should be nice but his smarts should serve another purpose - again they can't stop writing dialog, even his The device of hearing characters internal thoughts is maddening - "I hate 2nd base" Kidman says at one point, thereby summing up her character so she doesn't have to act it. The Fox viewer (and Trump voter) is treated with utter contempt in a way that doesn't seem believable too. That's an awfully lot of Oscar bait movies this year that got less than 7's from me btw.........unimpressive to say the least.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 24, 2019 20:25:57 GMT
6/10Hey what's the best sexual harassment movie you ever saw? Right, none because that's not actually a subject for a movie. This film completely shoots itself in the foot by articulating every minor thought or viewpoint instead of shutting up and letting you see it or allowing any drama to unfold. The trio of performances range from good (Kidman, Robbie) to great - Theron is far better and smarter than the movie, like Tom Hanks this year she goes far beyond mere mimicry - she's better than Hanks is too - you believe her playing a human, a not on the air Kelly too. John Lithgow is closer in conception than Russell Crowe's ridiculous one note monster but not exactly in performance which I found trite and makes me want to defend Crowe (!) - Lithgow's later scene here where he says "I paid for the food that one of you eats" sure seems a lot like a childish falsehood and posturing rather than what a guy who created something bigger than himself would react. I'm not saying he should be nice but his smarts should serve another purpose - again they can't stop writing dialog, even his The device of hearing characters internal thoughts is maddening - "I hate 2nd base" Kidman says at one point, thereby summing up her character so she doesn't have to act it. The Fox viewer (and Trump voter) is treated with utter contempt in a way that doesn't seem believable too.That's an awfully lot of Oscar bait movies this year that got less than 7's from me btw.........unimpressive to say the least. I don't think this is true. It lets them know that they're misinformed, but doesn't really blame them for it.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 24, 2019 20:36:53 GMT
I don't think this is true. It lets them know that they're misinformed, but doesn't really blame them for it. In the first 10 minutes maybe a man says to a vomiting Kelly something like (paraphrasing) "Roger has been supporting Trump's ridiculous conspiracy theories because he believes them." That's an employee speaking to another employee in the first 10 minutes - the "positive" side of Fox comes in Robbie's speech a bit later which sounds like religious propaganda/zealotry - isn't it possible just for the sake of this film's runtime at least that Trump voters are not presented as dupes and Fox aren't misinforming anyone more than say MSNBC is and they just have - gasp! - a different, legitimate political POV? Even if they didn't it would make for far better drama........
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Post by Billy_Costigan on Dec 26, 2019 23:45:49 GMT
Robbie is clearly the MVP. I wouldn't mind seeing her win for this. Theron is good but the rest of the film is painfully average.
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Post by IceTruckDexter on Dec 27, 2019 18:17:41 GMT
6/10Hey what's the best sexual harassment movie you ever saw? Right, none because that's not actually a subject for a movie. This film completely shoots itself in the foot by articulating every minor thought or viewpoint instead of shutting up and letting you see it or allowing any drama to unfold. The trio of performances range from good (Kidman, Robbie) to great - Theron is far better and smarter than the movie, like Tom Hanks this year she goes far beyond mere mimicry - she's better than Hanks is too - you believe her playing a human, a not on the air Kelly too. John Lithgow is closer in conception than Russell Crowe's ridiculous one note monster but not exactly in performance which I found trite and makes me want to defend Crowe (!) - Lithgow's later scene here where he says "I paid for the food that one of you eats" sure seems a lot like a childish falsehood and posturing rather than what a guy who created something bigger than himself would react. I'm not saying he should be nice but his smarts should serve another purpose - again they can't stop writing dialog, even his The device of hearing characters internal thoughts is maddening - "I hate 2nd base" Kidman says at one point, thereby summing up her character so she doesn't have to act it. The Fox viewer (and Trump voter) is treated with utter contempt in a way that doesn't seem believable too.That's an awfully lot of Oscar bait movies this year that got less than 7's from me btw.........unimpressive to say the least. I don't think this is true. It lets them know that they're misinformed, but doesn't really blame them for it. Do you think MSNBC or CNN viewers are misinformed?
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Post by IceTruckDexter on Dec 27, 2019 18:20:23 GMT
It has a 5.8 rating on imdb... lol not that I'm expecting it to be much good but I'm pretty sure any movie critical of Fox News was going to get at least a few hundred 1-star ratings by default. If was more relevant or more widely praised by the critics/media, I'm sure its score would be lower. So you're saying IMDB users are mostly right wing?
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Dec 27, 2019 18:48:36 GMT
not that I'm expecting it to be much good but I'm pretty sure any movie critical of Fox News was going to get at least a few hundred 1-star ratings by default. If was more relevant or more widely praised by the critics/media, I'm sure its score would be lower. So you're saying IMDB users are mostly right wing? not at all but certain films are targeted for review-bombing. No one rates a movie 1 star before seeing it without having an agenda or a massive chip on their shoulder and that usually happens most with movies starring POCs or have political narratives surrounding them. The more visibility, the more review-bombing. Bombshell isn't super relevant which has shielded it to an extent, but I guarantee most if not all those 530 1-star votes are from people that haven't seen the film and probably never will. Also, I don't think the imdb userbase is mostly right-wing but it's definitely become more right-wing over the last few years.
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Post by IceTruckDexter on Dec 27, 2019 19:04:03 GMT
So you're saying IMDB users are mostly right wing? not at all but certain films are targeted for review-bombing. No one rates a movie 1 star before seeing it without having an agenda or a massive chip on their shoulder and that usually happens most with movies starring POCs or have political narratives surrounding them. The more visibility, the more review-bombing. Bombshell isn't super relevant which has shielded it to an extent, but I guarantee most if not all those 530 1-star votes are from people that haven't seen the film and probably never will. Also, I don't think the imdb userbase is mostly right-wing but it's definitely become more right-wing over the last few years. Movies starring POC's? Now you're saying they're racist.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 28, 2019 12:35:19 GMT
not at all but certain films are targeted for review-bombing. No one rates a movie 1 star before seeing it without having an agenda or a massive chip on their shoulder and that usually happens most with movies starring POCs or have political narratives surrounding them. The more visibility, the more review-bombing. Bombshell isn't super relevant which has shielded it to an extent, but I guarantee most if not all those 530 1-star votes are from people that haven't seen the film and probably never will. Also, I don't think the imdb userbase is mostly right-wing but it's definitely become more right-wing over the last few years. Movies starring POC's? Now you're saying they're racist. Part of the problem - and aside from Theron it has a bunch - is the film courts review bombing. There is no way that anyone would feel negatively about CBS' and their journalistic intent from The Insider (and this is not, in any way, The f'n Insider ) merely that the corporate structure encouraged dangerous compromises - that's dramatically sound. But Bombshell links the network itself and their intent to their journalistic purposes and these events......it was a bad artistic choice, even dramatically it doesn't make sense and encourages cynicism too - even if its true and I'm not saying it is - well if you can't actually write that......then you can't really film it either.
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erickeitel
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Post by erickeitel on Dec 31, 2019 3:02:26 GMT
It's more or less everything bad about awards season cinema: a true story reduced to a dramatization, performances that rely too much on imitation without enough content for the actors to work with, and (as of late) mockumentary/Office-style filmmaking, complete with close-ups and frequent handheld cameras. (Please let this trend die.)
It's The Iron Lady by way of Vice: A movie that treats its subjects as if they're any other people, with no acknowledgement or understanding of the controversies surrounding them. Randolph's neutral approach to the politics couldn't be more off-base, especially in a time like this. It's also why the movie is so disjointed, and ends having said no more than it did when the movie started. (Worst of all, Ailes's firing was either edited out or not even in the screenplay, when that should be the most satisfactory moment of the movie itself.)
But at least the actors wear their makeup nicely.
3/10
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Post by Pavan on Jan 3, 2020 14:19:10 GMT
Handheld camerawork, close ups, random assistant saying random things, way too much name dropping.. this is busy storytelling but not an effective one. Trying to cover with theatrics when there is no drama but the actors were aces especially Robbie. Theron is pretty good and even Kidman who looks like a ghost, is decent. Couple of funny one-liners too- 6/10
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Post by stephen on Jan 9, 2020 20:23:29 GMT
I thought it was pretty decent. I expected it to be a lot more smug and self-important like Adam McKay's movies tend to be, but Jay Roach actually did a fairly good job about keeping the tone "fair and balanced" (pun obviously intended). I feel like in anyone else's hands, it would've come across as so tonally aggressive that it would wind up indicting the victims like Kelly or Carlson because they signed up to work for such a harmful enterprise such as FOX News and, thus, they would reap what they sowed. I'm glad that the film didn't try to pigeonhole the real-life figures just because of their political leanings, but instead did their due diligence in giving them humanity. (Well, most of them -- you really can't do anything with Jeanine Pirro, can you?) The acting was pretty solid across the board (Theron best in show, Robbie so much better here than her other offering this year, Kidman good with what little she had, Lithgow less one-dimensional than I expected), and I liked the little side-conversations with figures like Geraldo and Bret Baier and Neil Cavuto. I see why people didn't care for it, but I found it less odious than Vice and less try-hard than The Big Short.
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