State of Play
URGA MOTW
State of Play
Considering this movie isn't sci-fi, action, or animation, it isn't usual URGA fare... however the trailer maked it seem interesting, and it was probably the best choice to see this week (above Angels and Demons and My Year without Sex).
State of Play is a story of political machinations and centres on the reporters who investigate - in this way, it is very reminiscent of "All the President's Men" (based on the true Watergate Scandal) but this particular story is fictional - apparently based on a BBC series which I've not seen.
Washington Globe reporter Cal McAfferty (Russell Crowe) and novice/blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) are investigating two apparently unconnected stories - two random people shot dead in an alley, and the female aide to Congressmen Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who allegedly jumped in front of a train. McAfferty and Collins used to be roommates at college and are distant friends, and there's a bit of a love triangle there with Collins' estranged wife Annie (Robin Wright Penn). Of course, Collins has is own personal problems when it becomes public that he was sleeping with his aide prior to her death. When it is discovered that one of the victims from the alley has called the "suicidal" aide, the two stories collide, and Cal thinks there's a big corporate conspiracy involving the private military contractor Pointcorp that Collins is currently investigating.
As the story unfolds, there's more twists and turns as the reporters try to find out the truth - with Cal also
attempting to protect his friend Collins from too much negative press. Quite a few surprises in store!
Great performances all round, especially from Crowe, McAdams, Helen Mirren and Jeff Daniels. The cleverness of the plot and writing kept me involved in the story the entire time, and there were no huge leaps of logic that weren't just part of Crowe's character making guesses. The film is a little heavy on the expositionary dialogue, and there's not much action - but that is not a negative point - this is a political drama story after all, and dialogue is what it's all about! There are some interesting choices of direction in a few scenes, mixing a montage of images with voice over of a characters exposition speech/interview - but I suppose that was done to make it a little more visually interesting than actually just focusing on the character who is talking for several minutes (it probably also means they trimmed that scene and that was just a better way to edit it to make the cut less obvious/jarring).
All in all quite an intriguing drama, and well worth seeing if you like that sort of thing :)
8.5/10
State of Play
Considering this movie isn't sci-fi, action, or animation, it isn't usual URGA fare... however the trailer maked it seem interesting, and it was probably the best choice to see this week (above Angels and Demons and My Year without Sex).
State of Play is a story of political machinations and centres on the reporters who investigate - in this way, it is very reminiscent of "All the President's Men" (based on the true Watergate Scandal) but this particular story is fictional - apparently based on a BBC series which I've not seen.
Washington Globe reporter Cal McAfferty (Russell Crowe) and novice/blogger Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) are investigating two apparently unconnected stories - two random people shot dead in an alley, and the female aide to Congressmen Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) who allegedly jumped in front of a train. McAfferty and Collins used to be roommates at college and are distant friends, and there's a bit of a love triangle there with Collins' estranged wife Annie (Robin Wright Penn). Of course, Collins has is own personal problems when it becomes public that he was sleeping with his aide prior to her death. When it is discovered that one of the victims from the alley has called the "suicidal" aide, the two stories collide, and Cal thinks there's a big corporate conspiracy involving the private military contractor Pointcorp that Collins is currently investigating.
As the story unfolds, there's more twists and turns as the reporters try to find out the truth - with Cal also
attempting to protect his friend Collins from too much negative press. Quite a few surprises in store!
Great performances all round, especially from Crowe, McAdams, Helen Mirren and Jeff Daniels. The cleverness of the plot and writing kept me involved in the story the entire time, and there were no huge leaps of logic that weren't just part of Crowe's character making guesses. The film is a little heavy on the expositionary dialogue, and there's not much action - but that is not a negative point - this is a political drama story after all, and dialogue is what it's all about! There are some interesting choices of direction in a few scenes, mixing a montage of images with voice over of a characters exposition speech/interview - but I suppose that was done to make it a little more visually interesting than actually just focusing on the character who is talking for several minutes (it probably also means they trimmed that scene and that was just a better way to edit it to make the cut less obvious/jarring).
All in all quite an intriguing drama, and well worth seeing if you like that sort of thing :)
8.5/10