Film Socialism
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Post by Film Socialism on Jan 9, 2020 20:34:31 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. to be fair here this movie supposes that people will go in having sympathy with fox news hosts as well, which like, lol what were you expecting
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Post by alexanderblanchett on Jan 9, 2020 20:58:31 GMT
It was a decent film about power, the abuse of power and regaining power out o different perspectives. It is a shocking true story out of the "Me too" era. But here is the problem. The film is a true story and from th very beginning states that a lot of it is changed for dramatic reasons. Well, the thing is many of the scenes feel exaggerated and even cartoonish at times, and so appear some of the characters, mind you not the leading ones, thank god (although Nicole Kdman's Gretchen is coming close to that). I mostly blame director Jay Roach for that as I feel he was not the right person for that job. There are strengths in the screenplay but the execution was kind of poor at times. Also there were just too many stereotypes walking around (and yes this also applies now to the leading characters ) . Peformance wise Charlize Theron is without any doubt the most outstanding one. She had so much strength, self confidence and power in her role that she commanded every single scene she was in. Also it is one of the most charismatic performances of the year. Kudos for Theron who is finally back with an amazing performance. I already mentioned that I didn't like the way they presented Nicole Kidman's character, and I am honest here, even as a big Kidman fan, I felt that part of that was also her performance which I didn't like too much. In fact I thought she was the weakest link in the cast. Margot Robbie is also good but a tard little bit overrated. She had one sensational scene though which undoubtely stays in my mind. Also she was extremely charismatic like Theron, but played too much with that innocent and ignorant girl stereotype. Still Robbie is memorable and deserves most of the love she is getting. I really loved John Lithgow and dont understand he is not getting more attention for his performance as Roger Ailes. He nailed it. Nice support by Allison Janeny and Kate McKinnon. Good soundtrack and costume design. Wished it had a better direction in general.
Nominations for:
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Charlize Theron
Rating: 7/10
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Post by stephen on Jan 9, 2020 21:23:38 GMT
Kudos for Theron who is finally back with an amazing performance. Finally? She's been kicking ass this whole decade.
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Post by JangoB on Jan 10, 2020 22:20:49 GMT
Pretty standard stuff - surface-level generalizations, very Hollywoodized dialogue where people often speak in talking points, a general sense of trying to avoid anything truly appaling and unpleasant. It's exactly what one would expect from a Jay Roach movie about Fox News. And to think he did such a good job with the Austin Powers movies...
Anyway, the word that seems best as a descriptor here is 'watchable'. Nothing more, nothing less. Certainly worth a look for the performances: Robbie pulls you in emotionally, Lithgow does a robust job of making you hate him and Theron, the MVP here, fascinates with a terrific impersonation in which she really nails Kelly from all perspectives. And unlike some left-leaning viewers I do appreciate that the movie is not just shitting all over the Fox people but that it tries to give them a sense of humanity. But it's all just pretty bland.
Oh, but the makeup is quite incredible. Not only on Theron but very much on Lithgow too, not to mention tons of little 'appearances' by other Fox people.
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Post by getclutch on Jan 10, 2020 22:29:09 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. Yeah, pretty much agree with this. The acting was the only reason it worked for me. Not really sure if the film will get much buzz outside of Theron/Robbie’s performances, time will tell. Have not seen much of Rob Delaney’s work though he provided a good presence with his scenes. A little above average for me though. However, the films story really makes want to give it a lower rating. It just dragged at so many levels where it could have been better.
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Post by stabcaesar on Jan 11, 2020 8:38:05 GMT
Just saw it and yeah, the whole thing was really flat beyond Robbie and Theron.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Jan 11, 2020 23:42:44 GMT
God bless Theron and her jaw. She nailed the imitation. Otherwise this was pretty messy. Don't know exactly how to feel about it because it sends so many mixed messages and has come under fire from Kelly herself (not much, but she did point out that it was clearly written by a man, and yeeeeeeah that's a whole kettle of fish). As a film about sexual harassment and the way it victimizes and makes women unsafe, it's a decent film and thank god respectful. I was worried it'd be something much more self-congratulatory but Roach & Randolph's intentions appear to be good. This wasn't Vice or The Big Short. It wasn't good, but it wasn't that bad.
Now, as a film about sexual harassment particularly at Fox, I really have no idea what to think but that's partly because the film's examination of this issue in that particular context rang extremely hollow, and the movie even has the nerve to suggest that slightly more woke young evangelical conservatives are going to usher in a new era of non-shitty conservatism and take control back from the boy's club, which... ummmmm, really misunderstands how conservatism as an idealogy empowers these kinds of men in the first place and is basically just a load of horseshit. The film examines sexual harassment at Fox News in a vacuum. It does nothing to examine it in that context. 5/10 is about where I'd put it.
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Drish
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Post by Drish on Jan 12, 2020 7:44:24 GMT
Wow I didn't expect this to be so vanilla. The trailer was so exciting. Also, Nicole > Margot but I don't think anyone is worth nominating tbh.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 12, 2020 23:09:50 GMT
Megyn Kelly and others portrayed in the film respond:
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Post by alexanderblanchett on Jan 12, 2020 23:55:46 GMT
Kudos for Theron who is finally back with an amazing performance. Finally? She's been kicking ass this whole decade. Rather last decade than this decade Imho
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Post by stinkybritches on Jan 13, 2020 16:50:01 GMT
this movie was terrible, utterly toothless. the kind of movie that a pete buttigieg supporter would like.
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Post by Johnny_Hellzapoppin on Jan 17, 2020 19:15:46 GMT
Such a strange way to deal with such a serious subject and one of the biggest news stories of the last decade. From almost start to finish it just keep making all these strange choices, and taking misguided turns; so much so that even its stellar cast could barely hold it together. It was just tonally all over the place, and I kept expecting it to get real and say something in a powerful or valuable way, but it never did. Oddly though, I was reasonably entertained by it and the cast did their very best despite a script and director working against them.
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Film Socialism
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Post by Film Socialism on Jan 17, 2020 21:17:50 GMT
God bless Theron and her jaw. She nailed the imitation. Otherwise this was pretty messy. Don't know exactly how to feel about it because it sends so many mixed messages and has come under fire from Kelly herself (not much, but she did point out that it was clearly written by a man, and yeeeeeeah that's a whole kettle of fish). As a film about sexual harassment and the way it victimizes and makes women unsafe, it's a decent film and thank god respectful. I was worried it'd be something much more self-congratulatory but Roach & Randolph's intentions appear to be good. This wasn't Vice or The Big Short. It wasn't good, but it wasn't that bad. Now, as a film about sexual harassment particularly at Fox, I really have no idea what to think but that's partly because the film's examination of this issue in that particular context rang extremely hollow, and the movie even has the nerve to suggest that slightly more woke young evangelical conservatives are going to usher in a new era of non-shitty conservatism and take control back from the boy's club, which... ummmmm, really misunderstands how conservatism as an idealogy empowers these kinds of men in the first place and is basically just a load of horseshit. The film examines sexual harassment at Fox News in a vacuum. It does nothing to examine it in that context. 5/10 is about where I'd put it. this is kinda what i had figured would happen here, kinda sad bc that's a somewhat under explored topic in film (victims of sex crimes who wholly advocate for sex criminals politically) but toothless lib shit is what i expect w the oscar bait
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Jan 21, 2020 16:46:04 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........ But Trump voters ARE pathetic dupes, and Fox IS the most misinforming propaganda bigoted news source in America. Why should they not tell the TRUTH for the sake of a more (ugh, you're actually gonna make me say it) "fair and balanced" story??
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Post by RiverleavesElmius on Jan 21, 2020 16:53:51 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. Kelly and Carlson WERE enablers of bigotry and (even if they didn't know about the harassment) a culture of misogyny, not to mention blatant rank PROPAGANDISTS, for a very loooong time. They deserve credit for eventually doing the right thing, but their past complicity is something that should also be talked about openly and it's NOT "victim blaming."
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Post by bob-coppola on Jan 21, 2020 16:54:26 GMT
In a perfect world, everyone involved in Succession would've made this movie and it would've been a poignant, acid black comedy political satire that feels cinematic. It wasn't, but at least the movie we get does a good, serviceable job in portraying how silencing operates in the work environment.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jan 21, 2020 16:58:50 GMT
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........ But Trump voters ARE pathetic dupes, and Fox IS the most misinforming propaganda bigoted news source in America. Why should they not tell the TRUTH for the sake of a more (ugh, you're actually gonna make me say it) "fair and balanced" story?? Well you know there's movie truth and there's real truth - make a documentary then. Or at least weave it into the fabric of your piece .......I have no doubt that scene never happened and Robbie's speech was written by someone completely entirely in a political bubble - the film's job of course is to make me believe they happened or could have.......
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avnermoriarti
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Post by avnermoriarti on Feb 6, 2020 7:11:06 GMT
Actually I saw this movie about two weeks ago but its existence has haunted me since.
I mean, I saw it because oscars and the main trio but honestly I don't see how can this be attractive to average viewers -let's see the Fox scandal movie, c'mon!- lel. Who wants to go and be taught a lesson about how bad sexual harassment is ? Late Night is equally nasty in that regard but better not talk about that thing. The total of five people in the auditorium I saw it with maybe serves as some sort of proof.
The most frustrating thing is that Theron is quite fantastic here, finishes the decade on a high note ! , even with the tone of voice and make-up, hers is subtle work and gives way more understanding of Megan than the movie ever could ( Carlson and Kelly are elusive figures here ), unfortunately the performance never lands because the movie has no ambition, it's so easy to read that kept me at arms lenght, maybe the ideology got in the way, the idea of presenting likable and reliable characters, especially in this kind of movies, is getting old ( someone pointed out Succession, rightfully so ), what about an expose on all the main characters ?
Maybe the movie was so bland that didn't even stimulate any kind of controversy but I thought the "revelatory" scenes were so earnest that become somewhat problematic, and the McKinnon/Robbie subplot was the best for me, I think reveal the problem in less obvious ways and yet the movie gets away with Kayla sleeping with her superior, Jess, in the workplace, and by the end they're both crying over the phone on a rainy day, a la Joker, uhhhh...
It is a bit unfair to compare it to The Morning Show but that one does the job way better than this. Leason learned, never trust a glorious teaser ever again....
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Feb 6, 2020 7:45:59 GMT
In a perfect world, everyone involved in Succession would've made this movie and it would've been a poignant, acid black comedy political satire that feels cinematic. Anyone not named Jesse Armstrong or Armando Ianucci has any business writing political satire.
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Zeb31
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Post by Zeb31 on Feb 19, 2020 22:54:48 GMT
I'm 30 minutes in and I want to murder everyone involved with this.
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