★ 8 / 10
**When journalism becomes limbless!** A surprisingly good film
Reno
**When journalism becomes limbless!** A surprisingly good film, you can compare it with the Oscar winner 'Spotlight'. But it was not popular as that one…
**When journalism becomes limbless!**
A surprisingly good film, you can compare it with the Oscar winner 'Spotlight'. But it was not popular as that one, because it was about the American politics, so seems the world did not care much. However, going down in the domestic market was a very sad. It was directed by the newcomer and he did a wonderful job, even for penning a good screenplay. But it was based on the memoir by Mary Mapes called 'Truth and Duty'.
It's a journalism theme, sets in during the months before the 2004 presidential election. It was focused on the CBS's famous news series '60 Minutes Wednesday' where its episodes reveals some of the copy documents how George W. Bush altered them get into the military in the 80s. Soon the producer to the host, everyone who involved in that show receive a backlash. In the remaining parts, it aims to disclose how the claimer decides to fight the issue and would they succeed?
Cate Blanchett was never attracted to me, but I never doubted her performances. So in this, she was amazing and quite physically looked beautiful. One of her great character display, and it should have nominated for the various awards, but I don't understand why it was discarded totally. The other actors too were awesome, Especially Robert Redford was superb as a news anchor. He's a bit old, otherwise I would have expected him to play Don Trump in a movie, maybe a biopic or comedy.
Like the film revealed what happened to Mapes, I think those invisible and powerful men made this film does not get into the spotlight. But as I've seen, I say it's a must see film of the year, if you're interested in the US and its politics. How the story ends is sad, but I've seen other journalism films that highlights their strength, whereas this one was opposite. I loved the lines Cate delivered at one of the final scenes. I hope you watch it at least after reading my review.
8/10
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★ 7 / 10
Giving CBS the middle finger
moonspinner55
Powerful non-fiction drama about the modern-age tactic of tearing apart someone else's news story for fear of its validity--or rather, finding a vulnerable…
Powerful non-fiction drama about the modern-age tactic of tearing apart someone else's news story for fear of its validity--or rather, finding a vulnerable link in that story and attacking it, dissecting it in the public eye, until nobody remembers anymore what the point of the actual story was supposed to be, only that a flaw was found and therefore it's a crock. Cate Blanchett is excellent as "60 Minutes" producer Mary Mapes who, just prior to the 2004 presidential election, thought she found a tasty piece for the television news program on CBS: questioning whether President George W. Bush received preferential treatment during his time in the military. With hard evidence in the form of letters and documents that Bush did skate by (going AWOL for one year), Mapes and her team beat a five-day clock to produce the story news-anchor Dan Rather (Robert Redford) reported on the air. All appears to be fine after the segment airs, but when pro-Bush camps go after the accuracy of the documents--perhaps smelling a liberal bias--Rather, Mapes and her crew are all called on the carpet by nervous network executives. An investigation of journalism, of television news and its ethics, of politics in the business of TV news and the internal workings of breaking a story about a story all come to the fore here, in generally grand fashion. Redford, initially, seems a curious choice for Rather; he looks nothing like the legendary television personality, though he does have Rather's cadence down and you come to believe in the performance. Blanchett and her support, Dennis Quaid, Topher Grace and Elisabeth Moss, are all terrific. Director James Vanderbilt, who also co-produced and adapted Mapes' book, "Truth and Duty: The Press, the President and the Privilege of Power", does fluid, engrossing work. While the theatrical film faded fast at the box office, it plays very strongly on cable or home video. This might have been the perfect HBO event movie, the intimate medium of television a better fit for the material. *** from ****
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Democratic Propaganda for the brain washed sheep. Keep believing these left wing news outlets :)