George Clooney

Given the violence of the war, I was impressed by Clooney's restraint in that area. The film is mostly successful at telling a quiet story respectfully, without capitalizing on the blood and guts. Subdued and thoughtful acting as well. A good ensemble cast. The story really deserved a longer film.

An okay movie. It’s hard to get excited about reformists…. (dryly) Reformists are heroes; they really are. And one thing you can say about them with eyes wide open: they’re always on your side, you know.

The jazz singing is decoration, and the communists are mists and rumours; but I guess it shows in a relatively superficial-factual-accuracy-correct way, the bluster of the reactionaries, and the sort of central-normal-dysfunction of the reformists and the society’s philosophy, right; show more though we are asked to make some strange conclusions about these normal things: a little fact-checking, a little individualism; pretty soon we’ll have our fifteen minutes of paradise, right. They’re not hateable people, the main guys, though they’re perfect poster boys: the guys on the edge of the elite, trying to live out the society’s philosophy, more consistently than anyone else ever bothered to…. (dryly) And always on your side, too.

Some of the historical detail is curious, though: the repression put against people for being related to a communist, supposedly; the community lines of punishment organized around rumour and gossip, character-by-association, you know. Though today they would have said, you know, His father’s a communist? Splendid; he must hate his father: he’s his son. Let’s make him a spy; send him to Moscow.

It’s an okay movie. I don’t trust it, but it’s interesting.

…. It can make you think strange thoughts, about America, right. What do we mean by freedom, just that the government won’t fire our sibling for our opinions; which doesn’t add up to much, nor is it, realistically speaking, necessary to work out that way. (Networking, right. Who do you know?) And it can lead to us saying strange things, like, “my political opinions are private”, because we’re just so afraid, you know.

Till one day, a fact-checker; a hero, right: “Let’s fight with communism and defeat it. But remember: defeating communism need not involve suppressing non-communists.” So good. We’re safe, with such people about. 🎈

We’re free. 🙂

…. Because I watch each section multiple times, before going on; this is a simple movie, in a way, it’s not like a busy “Annie Hall” type movie where the scenes are many-layered and very brief; so say 30-minute sections or so: and then it’s only an hour and a half…. I’ll be done quick; not like “The Ring” (2002); excellent movie; divided it into 30-minute sections; about 4; but I got to about 1h39min (not 1hr30min or 31; that was fine….) out of 2hrs; I’m like: no. No no no…. Okay; I can finish this is a few months, right; what’s my next movie…. Life is kind of like that, though….

But yeah: back to the beginning sequence; I’d call it; “when class enemies…. Had class”. It’s such so interesting, looking back at the midcentury years, from the 2020s: when things were so good—really, that, good…. It was actually kinda horrible, right.

Anyway.

I also can’t explain it; but I like Jeff Daniels much more than he has actually earned by learning and doing acting, lol. Jeff Daniels is a supporting character = THIS IS AMERICA bro; and I’m clapping; I’m earnestly clapping; and then I’m like; why am I clapping; I hate this country. But we’re all here, we’re clapping because Jeff Daniels is here laying down covering fire from behind the Rue St. Mere Chapel…. Pretty soon; Hero Man will be on the move…. Hitler will be dead! (clapping) (cheers)

I legit love Jeff Daniels for giving kinda average predictable performances, you know; ~’cause that’s what we need~…. That’s who he is. You think I’m mocking him, but I genuinely love to see his middle-friendly face, lol.

…. I wonder if I like him, the hero. He’s right, in the opening scene, that getting up and calling people mentally lazy doesn’t change the flow of ad dollars. Words are in this indefinable way important, but being right in speaking, isn’t what ends wars in victory, right. Calvin is important to history—somebody found him important, useful—but he begins his Institutes book with an appeal to King Francis I of France; I looked him up. He had been tolerant of Protestants in the past but at the time the Calvin book was coming out, that was changing; the book with the personal appeal came out, with the result…. That King Francis formalized his “opposition” to Calvin and his friends ☠️.

The power of words, right. If you’re right, (or equal to everyone else in being right, but also a genius in prose and writing and stuff), and the armies aren’t on your side….

Hope that the authorities will allow you to harbour dissent as a sort of private dream, right. The empire will work better; you’ll feel better.

It’s the evolved way, right.

…. Is defending the dissent’s right to his private dream of fairness, while not being persecuted if he keeps showing up to work: is that just less shameful than being “weak” and talking to a pianist about his relationship with his mother, right?

It’s better than Adam Sandler; I’ll give you that.

…. Although it is a very male movie, right; not very visual. It’s not even Woody Allen. You can almost just listen to it, not feel like you’re missing much.

…. I guess it could have been worse, but it’s hard to like him: guard-rails for both sides; ‘you, do what you’re told; and you, don’t hit him. I’m watching both of you.’ Liberalism.

In that tacky documentary way, ‘I learned how it was’—people get behind something, just because it WAS like that…. But yeah, certainly it has interest.

…. I’m not sure what’s going to happen with that one character, Robert Downey Jr’s, but it’s a good line: ‘If you like McCarthy, you hate the piece.’ That’s kinda the unexamined underbelly of all political journalism: ‘but I LIKE immoral thing X’, right….

…. Another thing that’s kinda glossed over in liberalism—the sort of ‘ineffective in defending freedom’ thing—is that the 1930s ~were~ open to leftism in America, and the 1950s were ~not~…. They were repressive. McCarthy wanted to help make America more repressive and rightist, and although in terms of his personal career he was eventually bruised in the fight, and although it wasn’t a one-person story…. But he was largely pretty successful. The 50s were largely what he wanted them to be.

…. It really is an interesting comment on how ‘they’ think; you really don’t have to read it the way that they’re suggesting you do so. In that sense, it is factually reliable, if you like. (The rules of life when talking to your boss; the rules of life, in general.)

…. He really wasn’t a hero; he was just a class enemy, with class.

Style does matter; I learn languages, here and there, as a hobby: style certainly matters. But I think it’s an intelligible statement, that the movie is classy, but not of unusually high quality, really.

…. I realize that the actual philosophical truth, isn’t the point of news-acting away the worst lies out there, but the Shakespeare line, ‘the fault is not in our stars, but in ourselves’ = rationalism is the way, is a curious support for ‘the junior Senator from Wisconsin’s investigating has turned into persecution’, i.e. information as the dangerous thing = rationalism is not the magic bullet, which agitates against the Shakespeare acting.

But in 1953 or 54, rationalism is THE way, right. Be rational: be loyal to the system; make sure it works….

…. Bill Paley’s, Goddamn it, I AM entitled, type speech, and the hysterical conservative peer-bullying-backlash to quoting Shakespeare; it’s really a fascinating movie, although not a good one, you see….

…. It almost makes you like McCarthy, at least as an enemy. He was a liar, a bully; he was on the wrong side; he was small-minded, if not disgustingly so, to be honest, if you compare him to contemporary life…. But, although a liar, he was so…. Without guile, you know…. He was exactly what he pretended to be; a little Irish alcoholic from Wisconsin who didn’t like communists. He didn’t lie about THAT, about ~himself~, right….

It is also interesting: he wasn’t really a racist, in a public sort of way, at least, to Annie Lee Moss—he just was a guy who bullied the Black lady who worked in the wrong place at the wrong time, because that was what he did; he bullied people, and he wasn’t at all above bullying the little people, in the cause of anti-communism, right.

But there’s no racist name-calling, no dog whistles or racial coding that I could discern, either, nothing really close to any sort of personal insult, at all…. He was just a small-minded little bully, who sometimes grew embarrassed on his own account, when he wasn’t quite good enough at bullying, to come off with it; him being a man without guile, whatever his views of truth and utility….

…. Joe McCarthy was the lumpenproletariat, given a Senate seat, you know.

…. America has a strong historic commitment to democracy, personal liberty, and human rights; that is to say, in this country, we don’t like bullies, who lose, you know.

…. Class & pro-normality bigots should have the strength of their convictions, you know. I like McCarthy, myself. It didn’t work out for him, but it worked out for me—my property taxes went down, we got those schmucks like MacAdorey and Cohen off our municipal councils and out of our unions, and things were good for me; the poor were up the creek without a paddle, which is not only not my fault, but makes me look good by comparison…. You know, who cares, it didn’t work out for McCarthy. It worked out for me: Tom Smith, of Warblebird, America; Jesus probably gave McCarthy a medal, after he died of alcoholism, Jesus looks after the little losers, if they’re useful. Go make me a sandwich.

…. Most of the climaxes in the last third of the film were a little flat and obvious; plot points for the sake of tying things up…. The part at the end of ‘good television vs successful television’ was good; although the actual speech at the end was a little self-contradictory. Everything else is just these common metals, and probably our dirty bodies, too, eh, Ed? Well, good night—and good luck, indeed.

…. I don’t dislike the character Don. Although it is hard to actively like him. It is curious that what happens to him happens, “before social media”, as I must express it, right.

…. Because otherwise: it’s just wiring. Nasty stuff, wiring. Metallic.

~Meet the materialists who don’t like their bodies, or the physical world. That’s right up there with, Meet the racists who don’t like their kids: logically speaking, in my book…. People would benefit, from learning to use their minds, but…. I don’t know.

…. Grandfather America, Columbia Broadcasting Systems News, being the last one to find out about marital status updates, almost makes the whole thing worth it, right. What a funny thing the mind is…. Pinch yourself, so I know you didn’t die halfway through the interview without me noticing, Murrow…. It’s not just PR. That person never really learns the truth, since that’s not the goal. Avoiding life is, right.

…. “You wanna know why: because Ed Murrow is a loyal American; he’s a patriot.”

I wonder how a drama about a bunch of Chinese guys sitting around, debating who was most loyal to China, would be received, right. It’s a new world, they tell me…. Although yeah, the new state motto is, China is China, America is America, freedom, normally 4.79, is 3.79: all this week, right. All. This. Week. (I keep up on these things.)

Although forgiveness is free, Fred; forgiveness is no charge forevermore; and it’s the key to happiness, Friendly; it’s the key to joy and peace. The spirit of the Lord has put a good word on me, that; ah, (fuck!); if that isn’t my tennis elbow again. I need to go home, take a…. Sleep. We’ll do this some other time, Fred.
You do look tired, Ed; that’s a good idea: go home, get some sleep.

…. (Joe Biden, confused grandpa) Why is, is Hyna, is China, still out there, somewhere—why? Why? (buckling down) There is no reason—No Reason—why China should still be out there. No reason at all! Why, China, why? Why exist, even? (clapping) (grandpa is getting emotional, he might cry) I’m not saying that Hienie, ah, China, that we need the nukes. I’m just saying: let’s not forget our values. We’re America. We exist. Here we are. Here we all are. We’re America. We exist. Why does China get to exist? We like to exist, right here in America! (clapping) That’s right, you know, in Pennsylvania, even if you’re not rich, you can buy a hamburger, with cheese: cheeseburger. You don’t have to be wealthy, at all. That’s the magic of America. We exist. People say there are other countries: but are there, really? People from both of the political parties that rule the vast American universe should investigate this issue and come to a fair decision: does China exist; and why? Why?
(heckler) Traitor! Traitor! Oath-breaker! You would destroy us all! This cultural assault, will not stand, this day, bitcoin help us, in America!

Do you ever find yourself walking into your kitchen, like the heroes of Masters of Fate III: Cultural Assault, while drinking an all-American Sprite-Cola-Pepsi, doing your yoga moves, and walking the dog, checking up on your mental health, greeting the neighbours, when you ask yourself, What music do I like? Can an app decide that for me? There is! This AI-fueled new app, Diffused Groupthink, will give you all the blather you need, to pick up an axe or a really primitive gun, and resist, the Cultural Assault!
“What is this ad trying to sell me? None of this is typical, like it thinks, or even, like, normal or okay.”
(Childish model) Its selling me, Jessica! I’m a whore! Buy me, from my corporate masters!
(Camera guy) You’re an owned toy, Sarah; not a whore; you smile: we send you checks. That’s all that’s going to happen. That’s all that’s going to happen. No one loves you.
(Model) (screws up face) Fooey!
(camera) Did I not tell you to smile? (destroys something) I can’t work with this girl—stupid! (destroys) All women—stupid! Women must be destroyed! (rampage)

But yeah: capitalism and America and being loyal to your owners—the ultimate flex….

The people who are loyal to America and capitalism are part of the private club that owns the whole thing, right.

…. You stay loyal to America, you’ll get weak. You’ll get sick, inside; you know?

…. The style of television advertising was pretty different in 1954; they actually talked about the product, I guess.

And government official rhetoric in 1954; again, often dishonest and basically authoritarian, but, so different from now—it’s almost hard to characterize the difference….

Jazz, so to speak—class enemies with class, right—didn’t make the world a fair or an honest place; but one wonders if it wouldn’t have been better if jazz had continued to evolve under the sun, rather than having been shoved into the shade by Messrs. Lennon, McCartney, Clapton, etc…. by the nervous necessity capitalism has for change, right; always change, right…. What’s the line from “Grapes of Wrath”? “Lead the people round and round, round in a circle—lead ‘em anywhere”; however it’s said….

…. With Murrow vs Paley at the end, it’s amusing trying to figure out who’s more wrong. Murrow is closer to being explicitly (or definably) wrong, in his attitude; you don’t really talk like that, to people. (Right?) Polite; but completely wrong. But Paley represents something wrong, even though he masks that, with perfect propriety and complete politeness.

…. And nobody even briefly considers communism; it’s all jockeying for the position of the greatest loyalist to the American Crown, you know: nobody considers communism, even though money and markets are constantly fucking things up, for them. And the married couple have their little moment of, As loyal Americans, don’t we have to nurture private guilt, for not being reactionaries?…. ~Yes, dear; but we have our own unique way, of jockeying for position….

…. The world, as a system, was better back then: but wow…. You really don’t talk to people like that; I’m sorry, but no. (The machine worked better: smoother and cleaner; but the people were deader—even deader than now….)….

…. We assume politeness is a personality trait, you know; it’s gotta be three-quarters the quality of an environment, wouldn’t you say? show less

Set in the mid 1920s, this football adventure chronicles a possible way pro football got it's start. When Dodge's team folds he gets the idea to get the popular college player Carter Rutheford to come play for his team and keep the game alive. Enter Lexie Littleton who is trying to get the scoop on Ruthefords military past. In the end, Dodge has to face off against Carter in the 1st game under a new commissioner and with new rules.

A great slapstick comedy.

Presidential campaign staff are mean to each other.

A strange mix of tedious tropes, moralizing, and relatively-well-crafted misery. It has it's moments, I guess. It also has a little something for everyone to hate. As if real campaigns aren't depressing enough.

Concept: D
Story: B
Characters: C
Dialog: B
Pacing: B
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: B
Acting: B
Music: C

Enjoyment: C minus

GPA: 2.4/4