Cold Copy

Cold Copy tells the story of mousey try- hard journo student Mia ( Powley) who is desperate to succeed and impress her hard nosed teacher/ mentor ( Ellis-Ross). A chance encounter with a 15 year old boy gives Mia the chance to come up with something juicy- but she will have to lie and edit the truth to make it happen. The film is quite tense as you sense the desperation in Mia. It also dissects the morals of journalism- starting out with the pursuit of truth v "what it takes" to get a story. The film does have some holes that is not addressed - such as the backlash from the falsity of the story. Stay patient till the very end as there is a final " punch in the gut" that is both satisfying and fitting to the idea of " whatever the cost" Whether you will be engaged completely to see out the ending will be subjective. Some have criticised the performances but I thought Powley was pretty convincing. Definitely worth your time.

In dramatic thriller "Cold Copy" journalism student Bel Powley (strong rising star) scratches a place in the class of her idol Tracee Ellis Ross (slightly over the top) - a hard-hitting interviewer at the height of her game & fame. To stay, learn & thrive tho, Powley must take tough advice, especially on the story she's on about her teen 'friend' Jacob Tremblay (meh) whose famous author mum died some years earlier. It follows a predictable path, but with little tension and scant twistiness, ending somewhat satisfyingly yet still with many loose ends untied. Debut writer / director Roxine Helberg aimed for a "Wall Street"-lite... and just about made it... albeit VERY litely. Mediocre.

Cold Copy is categorised as a crime/thriller/mystery but in my opinion it's just a drama, not even a good one. Watching this was like when you start reading a book and after hundred pages you start to realize that this is going nowhere, but you started the book, so you want to finish it, in case it got better but you have no high hopes. This movie is the same, the story is weak but you hope it will get better. I found everything very predictable so no mystery for me, nor any thrilling. Maybe a crime if you could call that a crime, it's more infantile behaviour. Writer/director Roxine Helberg didn't convince me. I watched Cold Copy because of Jacob Tremblay, that shined in Doctor Sleep and Room. He also played the young Tandy in the excellent comedy series The Last Man On Earth. He wasn't bad in Cold Copy, the story was just boring to watch. The other characters were annoying to watch. Time waster in my humble opinion.

This movie certainly wasn't intent on doing any favours for the journalism industry. Every character is an absolute monster and it's not even all that subtle about it. I get that it's a cut-throat industry and what this film is portraying probably isn't all that far from accurate. It doesn't change the fact that it makes for a pretty tough watch though.

Even still, the movie feels very flat. I never really felt like I'd been given a reason to keep watching or to stay invested. The story just kind of ticks along and then there's a decent, if quite cliche, ending and that's that. It's all very forgettable stuff.

I don't know, I just didn't feel like the film had enough to offer. I'm not going to remember this one a week from now. 5/10.

The movie is quite interesting for a directorial debut. The third act was quite rushed since there are a lot of things that was seemingly skipped between Mia and Igor.

Despite not getting to show full potential, Jacob Tremblay made another great performance. His character Igor has a pure heart and you just want to fill the void he has living mostly alone.

Mia is like Thanos in her own movie. When you see how much lines she cross, you will know how journalistic integrity start to not exist anymore in this movie.

If ever there is a director's cut for this movie, I'm expecting more Jacob scenes as his final scene could have had a heavier impact. But overall, the movie was good enough, and of course Jacob's performance was great!