NETWORK
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring William Holden, Peter Finch, and Faye Dunaway.
Today is the day that Uwe Boll's new film “Postal” comes out. I'm not bringing this up to promote his movie. In fact, I think that people had the choice of getting herpes or seeing it, they should give strong consideration to the former choice. No, I bring up “Postal” because my boss and I had a mini-argument today about movies much like it. Every now and then a movie is released that is such a horrible idea that it's amazing it ever got green lit. A lot of the time these movies are nothing more than the same tired stories we've seen hundreds of times before about high schoolers (Who usually look to be about 35) who are from the wrong part of town overcoming huge obstacles to prove themselves to other classmates. Often times this involves some kind of sport or martial art or dance. Uwe Boll's films rarely involve dance, but they're always so horrible that they fall into this category of horrible ways to spend a couple hours.
The thing about my boss is that he's always interested in seeing these movies. He told me today that he believes there's nothing wrong with tuning out with a popcorn movie that doesn't make you think too much. Now we have taken the scenic route to the topic of this review—Sidney Lumet's 1976 masterpiece “Network”. It concerns the news division of the failing UBS television network. Through a series of manipulations, the control of the news division is taken out of the hands of veteran newsman Max Schumacher (William Holden) and put under the care of entertainment programming head Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway). In order to boost ratings and turn a $9 million deficit into a moneymaker, Christensen sensationalizes the news, doing anything to attract an audience, including having a host (Who was once removed for repeated swearing live onscreen) act as a “modern-day prophet” ranting about hypocrisies in the world.
The gamble pays off. Soon the evening news is the 4th most watched program on television. It's devoid of any actual, in depth, serious news coverage, but host Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has the masses at his feet, commanding them, in one of the most thrilling scenes in any movie anywhere, to stand up, march to their windows, stick their heads out and yell “I'm as mad as hell! And I'm not going to take it anymore!”
Here's the irony. Back in 1976, this kind of newscast was so extreme that it was comically-grotesque. Now, in an era of talking heads, punditry, and “No-Spin Zones” the info-tainment presented in this movie doesn't seem too far fetched. We are in an era where news programs DO perform publicity stunts to gain audiences. It's an era where the lead story on the Today Show is about the episode of American Idol from the night before. The cable news networks hire talking heads and pundits to chew up the news and spit it back out to us. We are all baby birds who eagerly accept the regurgitated stories they feed us.
Returning to my argument with my boss: The motion picture industry is just the same. We see the same stories told over and over again with only slight variations, as if some giant machine was writing, directing, and producing. The days of movie makers having something meaningful to say has ended. No one can even tell an original story anymore. Sure, there are the occasional bright spots on the dismal Hollywood landscape, and there are still very good storytellers working in the industry, but it seems that the majority of movies made now are re-tellings of re-tellings of stories that weren't all that great to begin with.
“Network” discusses these topics brilliantly. It is an indictment of both current news and current Hollywood! There is nothing in this movie that is less than stunning. It is thrilling, thought-provoking, romantic, cautionary, funny, and illuminating all at once. It's one of the most perfect movies ever made. All of the performances are top-notch. The directing is spot-on. The dialogue snaps with freshness.
“Network” was nominated for 10 Oscars. It won four. Peter Finch won Best Actor for his amazing performance as Howard Beale. His decent into madness is captivating. William Holden was also nominated for Best Actor for his performance as news chief Max Schumacher. Also nominated were Giancarlo Giannini in “Seven Beauties”, Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky”, and Robert DeNiro in “Taxi Driver”.
Faye Dunaway won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Diana Christensen. She beat Liv Ullman in “Face to Face”, Sissy Spacek in “Carrie”, Marie-Christine Barrault in “Cousin, Cousine”, and Talia Shire in “Rocky”.
Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Louise Schumacher, the angry wife of William Holden's character. She beat Jane Alexander in “All the President's Men”, Piper Laurie in “Carrie”, Jodie Foster in “Taxi Driver”, and Lee Grant in “Voyage of the Damned”.
Paddy Chayefsky won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The other nominated films were “Cousin, Cousine”, “The Front”, “Seven Beauties”, and “Rocky”.
Ned Beatty was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Corporate CEO Arthur Jensen. He has one really good scene, and for that scene he absolutely owns the movie. He lost the Oscar to Jason Robards in “All the President's Men”. Also running were Laurence Olivier in “Marathon Man”, Burgess Meredith in “Rocky”, and Burt Young in “Rocky”.
Owen Roizman was nominated for Best Cinematography. He lost to the movie “Bound for Glory”. Also nominated were “King Kong”, “Logan's Run”, and “A Star is Born”.
Sidney Lumet was nominated for Best Director. He lost to John G. Avidsen, who directed “Rocky”. The other nominated films were “All the President's Men”, “Face to Face”, and “Seven Beauties”.
Alan Heim was nominated for Best Film Editing. He lost to the film “Rocky”. Also nominated were “All the President's Men”, “Bound for Glory”, and “Two-Minute Warning”.
“Network” was nominated for Best Picture. It lost to “Rocky”. Also nominated were “All the President's Men”, “Bound for Glory”, and “Taxi Driver”.
This review was written on May 23, 2008
Directed by Sidney Lumet
Starring William Holden, Peter Finch, and Faye Dunaway.
Today is the day that Uwe Boll's new film “Postal” comes out. I'm not bringing this up to promote his movie. In fact, I think that people had the choice of getting herpes or seeing it, they should give strong consideration to the former choice. No, I bring up “Postal” because my boss and I had a mini-argument today about movies much like it. Every now and then a movie is released that is such a horrible idea that it's amazing it ever got green lit. A lot of the time these movies are nothing more than the same tired stories we've seen hundreds of times before about high schoolers (Who usually look to be about 35) who are from the wrong part of town overcoming huge obstacles to prove themselves to other classmates. Often times this involves some kind of sport or martial art or dance. Uwe Boll's films rarely involve dance, but they're always so horrible that they fall into this category of horrible ways to spend a couple hours.
The thing about my boss is that he's always interested in seeing these movies. He told me today that he believes there's nothing wrong with tuning out with a popcorn movie that doesn't make you think too much. Now we have taken the scenic route to the topic of this review—Sidney Lumet's 1976 masterpiece “Network”. It concerns the news division of the failing UBS television network. Through a series of manipulations, the control of the news division is taken out of the hands of veteran newsman Max Schumacher (William Holden) and put under the care of entertainment programming head Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway). In order to boost ratings and turn a $9 million deficit into a moneymaker, Christensen sensationalizes the news, doing anything to attract an audience, including having a host (Who was once removed for repeated swearing live onscreen) act as a “modern-day prophet” ranting about hypocrisies in the world.
The gamble pays off. Soon the evening news is the 4th most watched program on television. It's devoid of any actual, in depth, serious news coverage, but host Howard Beale (Peter Finch) has the masses at his feet, commanding them, in one of the most thrilling scenes in any movie anywhere, to stand up, march to their windows, stick their heads out and yell “I'm as mad as hell! And I'm not going to take it anymore!”
Here's the irony. Back in 1976, this kind of newscast was so extreme that it was comically-grotesque. Now, in an era of talking heads, punditry, and “No-Spin Zones” the info-tainment presented in this movie doesn't seem too far fetched. We are in an era where news programs DO perform publicity stunts to gain audiences. It's an era where the lead story on the Today Show is about the episode of American Idol from the night before. The cable news networks hire talking heads and pundits to chew up the news and spit it back out to us. We are all baby birds who eagerly accept the regurgitated stories they feed us.
Returning to my argument with my boss: The motion picture industry is just the same. We see the same stories told over and over again with only slight variations, as if some giant machine was writing, directing, and producing. The days of movie makers having something meaningful to say has ended. No one can even tell an original story anymore. Sure, there are the occasional bright spots on the dismal Hollywood landscape, and there are still very good storytellers working in the industry, but it seems that the majority of movies made now are re-tellings of re-tellings of stories that weren't all that great to begin with.
“Network” discusses these topics brilliantly. It is an indictment of both current news and current Hollywood! There is nothing in this movie that is less than stunning. It is thrilling, thought-provoking, romantic, cautionary, funny, and illuminating all at once. It's one of the most perfect movies ever made. All of the performances are top-notch. The directing is spot-on. The dialogue snaps with freshness.
“Network” was nominated for 10 Oscars. It won four. Peter Finch won Best Actor for his amazing performance as Howard Beale. His decent into madness is captivating. William Holden was also nominated for Best Actor for his performance as news chief Max Schumacher. Also nominated were Giancarlo Giannini in “Seven Beauties”, Sylvester Stallone in “Rocky”, and Robert DeNiro in “Taxi Driver”.
Faye Dunaway won the Oscar for Best Actress for her performance as Diana Christensen. She beat Liv Ullman in “Face to Face”, Sissy Spacek in “Carrie”, Marie-Christine Barrault in “Cousin, Cousine”, and Talia Shire in “Rocky”.
Beatrice Straight won Best Supporting Actress for her role as Louise Schumacher, the angry wife of William Holden's character. She beat Jane Alexander in “All the President's Men”, Piper Laurie in “Carrie”, Jodie Foster in “Taxi Driver”, and Lee Grant in “Voyage of the Damned”.
Paddy Chayefsky won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. The other nominated films were “Cousin, Cousine”, “The Front”, “Seven Beauties”, and “Rocky”.
Ned Beatty was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Corporate CEO Arthur Jensen. He has one really good scene, and for that scene he absolutely owns the movie. He lost the Oscar to Jason Robards in “All the President's Men”. Also running were Laurence Olivier in “Marathon Man”, Burgess Meredith in “Rocky”, and Burt Young in “Rocky”.
Owen Roizman was nominated for Best Cinematography. He lost to the movie “Bound for Glory”. Also nominated were “King Kong”, “Logan's Run”, and “A Star is Born”.
Sidney Lumet was nominated for Best Director. He lost to John G. Avidsen, who directed “Rocky”. The other nominated films were “All the President's Men”, “Face to Face”, and “Seven Beauties”.
Alan Heim was nominated for Best Film Editing. He lost to the film “Rocky”. Also nominated were “All the President's Men”, “Bound for Glory”, and “Two-Minute Warning”.
“Network” was nominated for Best Picture. It lost to “Rocky”. Also nominated were “All the President's Men”, “Bound for Glory”, and “Taxi Driver”.
This review was written on May 23, 2008
1 comment:
Network is one of the greatest films of all time. Although, I don't think Dunnaway deserved the Oscar over Spacek in Carrie, but Dunnaway is brilliant! Also of note, Peter Finch won his Oscar posthumous. He gives an astonishing performance! Great review!
Post a Comment