Cold Copy

When we first decided to watch this it had a score of 7.0 and no reviews, and indeed not much information about it at all. The trailer looked ok though. By the time we did watch, a week or two later, the score had dropped to 5.8.

The characters of Mia and Diane aren't all that believable, but the story is quite strong and moves along pretty well. It's all about how far Mia is prepared go down Diane's recommended approach that the story is more important than the truth, because what's truth anyway. Enjoyed it for sure.

There's also quite a strong ending, which is a solid achievement because a lot of movies just sort of fade away at the end. Good work.

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.

...the characters and acting weren't good

The film delves into to competitive world of journalism, following a (seemingly) sweet and timid grad student as she pursues her dreams, and gets accepted into a class taught by an "alpha dog" of current events news, a forceful anchor of a "Hard Copy" type show. We come to learn that our timid lead is not a shrinking violet at all, but a little cutthroat who will do anything to be seen and heard by her professor. There's the makings of a good story here, and while it is somewhat explored in the 90 minute runtime, it has gaps and holes that make it less than believable.

Neither of the two lead female characters... are terribly appealing, and the actors playing them seemed stiff and fake. Our student (Mia) is portrayed as too fearful to become the wretch she turns into (almost overnight), and the professor/anchor is an almost non-human caricature of vindictive success. 16 year old Igor (Jason Trembley) does better as the subject of Mia's story... I wish they'd have done more with wrapping his storyline... would love to know what happens next for him. We're teased, but then no.

With a tighter story, and better characters, this could've been an improved film. Instead it becomes (pun intended) "nothing to write home about." Meh.

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.