carissaphillips

I love history and actually one of those people that rent documentaries for fun (and not just the ones that are famous or win Oscars). Nevertheless, I was disappointed by "Good Night and Good Luck." Perhaps it is because I first heard about the movie when I listed to an NPR interview with Joe & Shirley Wershba (who are portrayed in this movie), and it sounded like it would be an intellectual discussion and investigation of the period, along with character development of those involved. While the cinematography was beautiful--I loved the black & white and the jazz--and there were some good scenes, I felt like the movie was stripped down to a bare-bones documentary with very little character development. It was decently clear who everyone was, but, beyond that, very little was done to explore why characters chose to do what they were doing. Sometimes words are enough, but I felt that this movie didn't seek to explain or put what was going on in any sort of context. The use of actual footage was great, but I thought the story of the movie was lacking. I know I should probably care about what's happening in the movie (and I do care in real life), but nothing is developed enough to really cause that. For a movie commenting on the fate of American television (and journalism), I thought Network was far more thought-provoking. All in all, a movie worth renting, but not outstanding.

Listen to Me is, quite frankly, spectacularly bad, which makes it hard to rate. It was, quite unintentionally, hysterical at moments, and I love such great debating advice as, "We're not going to win with facts, so let's go for drama!" and suggesting that a new plan should be run in the 2AR. As other reviewers have noted, it does NOT represent debate very accurately at all, and is highly melodramatic and overwrought. However, as a debater (policy for 2 years in high school, now into my 3rd year of parliamentary in college), I enjoyed watching it, at least once, because it was so unintentionally funny. My coach last spring had us watch it during a meeting and we all laughed nonstop because of its inherent stupidity. My advice: if you're a debater, you might think this hilarious. If you're not, you might not enjoy it. Additionally, don't for a moment think that's how REAL debate is done. Just to pick one example, I cannot even begin to imagine my coach advising me to make up stories in order to win rounds. Side note of interest to debaters: Tom Miller, who is a debate official in the film, is an actual college debate coach at UCLA.