Now forgive me for the side note:

I joke about the Crowe-Scott connection because it is starting to become as famous (or infamous) as the pairing of John Wayne-John Ford or Tim Burton-Johnny Depp, and that can be a successful collaboration or a disaster. Gladiator remains in my top three favorites of Russell’s movies and of course it just so happens, Scott directed it, but it deserved the best picture of 2000 and gave us the now iconic Maximus Decimus Meridias, a hero and a real man. It was several years before the two men came together again to make A Good Year, which had its’ moments (how can one resist Provence) and revealed that Crowe has a nice comic timing…but that Scott does not; and on top of that, there were some hints of anti-Americanism that were very unnecessary (the scene has Russell’s character, Max Skinner, waiting tables to help at the busy bistro owned by the woman he has his eyes on, and an obviously touristy American couple come in to be served. It is so incredibly stereotypical, that I nearly groaned in the theater). Then along came the more powerful American Gangster which paired Russell and Denzel Washington for the first time since Virtuosity, and was of course the true story of New York cop Richie Roberts and gangster/drug lord kingpin Frank Lucas. Better. But in 2008 we saw the painful mess that was Body of Lies, another of those in the long line of ‘America sucks and the War on Terror isn’t real’ flops that had narrow appeal. It is also the only Russell movie since Gladiator that I have not seen at the movies; and when I rented it, I watched until there were 45 minutes left and then said “Forget it!” Leonardo’s silly and often hysterical boy-agent was getting on my last nerves, and my one hope is that if he was tortured by the Al-Qaida or whatever, they made it good! Russell – who is supposed to be playing a character we should hate – actually has a few moments as the CIA supervisor who manipulates every twist and turn. He spends most of his screen time on a cell phone with DiCrapio DiCaprio, giving orders and other things. And one of my favorite lines of his Ed Hoffman is when he tells some paper pushers that the United States must continue to keep their foot on the neck of the terrorists if we’re to keep them down. (Amen). That Crowe-Scott mess was just that – a box office disaster that not even Russell’s fans turned out for. We can only hope that their Robin Hood will be better.

Back to State of Play and I'll link to some photographs from the movie right here: http://movie-girl987.livejournal.com/1209.html

State of Play is directed by Kevin Macdonald, the Scottish director who also gave us The Last King of Scotland (which earned Forest Whitaker a deserved Oscar for best actor). I am not certain if anyone will garner an Oscar from his newest movie, but if an adult is looking for a mature, well-performed, smart movie before the onslaught of the summer ‘popcorn’ fare, this may be it.

I watched the 2003 BBC miniseries – on which this movie is based – a few months ago so that I could get some ideas of what was going on, and then hope I could go to the Americanized version and not do constant comparisons. Many of the things that were done in the six (or was it eight) hour series are of course missing in Russell’s movie, and they were matters that perhaps would not have translated well as they are more predominant in English society than they are here (especially social status). The miniseries was near brilliant, although I had trouble thinking that the Cal of it (played by a smaller and slimmer John Simm) would be the source of sexually attraction of most any woman.

I’ll give credit to this new version though. What they decided on leaving out did not matter in the end, and while I had (as a woman LOL) hoped to see some hot love scenes between Russell and Robin Wright Penn (the wife of his good friend, the Congressman played by Ben Affleck), those are missing and I really did not mind. Whereas we witnessed the growing romantic relationship between Cal and Anne Collins in the miniseries, it is a thing of the past in this new movie, and I could understand why the screenwriters went with this angle. After all, we barely have time to catch our breaths with all the political intrigue let alone follow some love affair between a married – and hurt – woman and the journalist investigating all the things going on.

So what is it about in a nutshell? The movie begins with a fast paced scene in which a young man is running…but running from what? We soon discover the reason when he is literally executed by some mysterious figure, and then watch that same individual shoot a witness to his crime. We are then thrust into the madness that is Washington, D.C. at rush hour, and the camera follows an attractive young woman as she hurries to work…only to find death. This woman’s death ties into the earlier shootings…but it is only through the investigation of newspaper reporter Cal MaCaffrey (Crowe) and the paper’s lovely blogger (Rachel McAdams) that we find all the links. The woman was the assistant to rising Congressman Stephen Collins (well played by Ben Affleck – not a favorite of mine) and as you probably figured by now, he had an affair with her, but that is not all. By the time the movie is over, you not only have adultery, but a test of character, of friendships, of hiding and telling the truth, conflicts of interest, and American patriotism.

It is in the latter that I found myself occasionally rolling my eyes and shaking my head. In the BBC version, the corporations being investigated and brought to their knees was the ‘evil’ oil companies. In the American version, we have some shadow organization (of course) made up of a certain faction of individuals that would have Janet Napolitano jumping in glee – and I will say no more without giving away a load of plot points…weak and not so LOL All I can say is that – as was said by another blogger – the guys on State of Play must have had lunch with some of the folks over at 24!

We are also witness to something that is very topical: the death of the newspaper and in today’s world, one is nearly tempted to say: What’s a newspaper?! (Editorializing here: considering how poorly most are currently run; considering the biased slant that many have taken until they are the personification of the yellow journalism of the Hearst days, I will not mourn when some destroy their last tree).

We see Cal the veteran reporter at odds with the paper’s young blogger – he hates her and she doesn’t think much of him. He accuses her of jumping to conclusions at times just to get it on her blog, but she sees that Cal may be going beyond journalistic integrity with some of the tactics he takes. But they eventually work together to solve all the movie’s mysteries and become quite a couple – and although at the end, they walk away from the camera like a modern-day Bogart and Claude Rains on the tarmac at the conclusion of Casablanca, you kind of have a feeling that they won’t end up in bed together once the movie is over. Theirs relationship is not romantic. They are true colleagues, although young Della’s career will likely skyrocket in the blogosphere and Cal…well, we’re not sure. We just know that they respect one another more.

But the movie’s highlight is the performances. Russell notwithstanding, he is surrounded by some wonderful costars. Rachel McAdams is a favorite of mine – I adored her in The Notebook, and she is a nice spar for Crowe’s sloppy Cal. Ben Affleck – who I have mentioned is not among my favorite stars – is actually quite good as Congressman Stephen Collins: part “good” guy as he battles this shadow organization and part bad guy as he had an affair. Robin Wright Penn does not have a lot of screen time but is still quite good when she is, both as torn political wife and former lover to Cal. Helen Mirren – whose role was played by Bill Nighy in the miniseries – is the tough editor of the imaginary Washington newspaper that has fallen on hard modern times and she pretty much captures what Nighy managed to do, only the movie stresses more the downfall of the print media than the BBC production did. Jeff Daniels is slimy and memorable as one of the leadership of whatever political party of which Ben Affleck is a member. But the one that nearly steals the movie is Jason Bateman (whom I will always remember as longsuffering Michael Bluth of Arrested Development); his is a character you love to hate but so typical of the all-too-similar worlds of Hollywood and beltway Washington: ugly, slimy, drug addled, power hungry.

As far as politics? Well, it is set in Washington DC after all. As mentioned, we have no idea what political party Affleck’s Collins belong to, but we can sort of guess. He is an alleged crusader against an evil organization out to destroy the United States in a stealthy manner. When he has to answer to the leadership, he is informed that the party ‘takes care of its’ own.’ Hmm….Since they didn’t throw him under the bus in the first 72 hours LOL (as might have been done with Republicans) we figure he may be a Democrat – and it matters not that Jeff Daniels’ piece of crap wears a flag lapel pin! The evil organization? Oh well. I can’t say more without giving it all away, but there is a scene between Russell’s Cal and an informer that reminded me eerily of the scene between Kevin Costner and Donald Sutherland in JFK – and if you saw JFK you know exactly what I’m talking about. It is a scene which manages – in less than a few minutes – to layout everything our hero needs to make (we hope) the bad guys answerable.

Otherwise, it’s a pretty decent thriller and one that a person of any political persuasion should be able to watch and enjoy. The conclusion is a tad different from the BBC miniseries and we walk away with the satisfaction that crusading newspaper journalists still exist. But of course this is a fantasy on the silver screen, not reality.

A belated Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to each and every one of you!

And it is again my great pleasure to bring you my answer to Dirty Harry’s Place Daily Hubba-Hubba. The other week (and thanks to all who gave props) I was thrilled to present my all favorite actor/movie star, Russell Crowe, in the role that made him a star in the United States: Bud White of LA Confidential.

He was the original Tasmanian Devil, years before his studio, Warner Brothers, created the hyperactive animated one. He was the original sexy Australian bad boy, decades before the tabloids christened Kiwi Russell Crowe with that moniker, and he was born over fifty years before New Zealand gave the world the future Gladiator.