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Thursday, April 23, 2009
State of Play starts with the typical premise of two supposedly not related cases – the double murder being investigated by seasoned reporter Cal and the torrid political affair revealed post-suicide being investigated by young Della. Della and Cal initially cross each others paths because the young suicide victim Sonia was aide to Senator Stephen Collins, Cal’s college roommate. Cal refuses to deal with Della’s story until he uncovers evidence that might link his story to hers and uncover an even deeper conspiracy. Cal and Della get caught up in a web between their editor, the police, the paramilitary organization Collins is investigating, Collins and their own desire to get to the truth of the story.
State of Play is based on the BBC mini series of the same name, and I can tell you it makes an excellent movie. While I found the very tail of the conspiracy a tad predictable, State of Play is taut, suspenseful, well acted, and thoroughly entertaining to watch. From Cal’s first appearance on screen I was pulled into his world and by the end of the film I was feeling just as much passion for Della and Cal’s commitment to their art as they were.
I love Ben Affleck and have been very happy to see him get more dramatic roles. I thought he did a great job in State of Play, but I had the same problem with him in this movie that I had with Matt Damon in The Good Sheppard - age. For State of Play we have to believe that Affleck is old enough to have had Russell Crowe as college roommate and Robin Wright Penn as college sweetheart turned wife. The man was a teenager when she played Buttercup!
I greatly enjoyed State of Play and highly recommend the movie. I left the movie feeling two things: 1) Rachel McAdams needs to be in more movies, 2) I really need to see All the President’s Men.
Director: Kevin Macdonald
Writers: Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, Billy Ray
Cal McAffrey: Russell Crowe
Stephen Collins: Ben Affleck
Della Frye: Rachel McAdams
Cameron Lynne: Helen Mirren
Anne Collins: Robin Wright Penn
Dominic Foy: Jason Bateman
Della Frye: Did we just break the law?
Cal McAffrey: Nope. That's what you call damn fine reporting.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Ray & Claire are spies that are tired of the game; they meet on a chance assignment and continue to pursue each other afterwards until they come up with an idea – the decide to get out of the government game and get into the corporate one – they are going to play a mega corporation and sell one of it’s secrets. All Claire and Ray have to do is find the right company and set up the con, all while trying to learn to trust each other because they’ve fallen in love.
Tony Gilroy quickly came onto my radar with Michael Clayton, and Duplicity is a spectacular follow-up to the Oscar nominated film. It is easy to make a complicated film, but it is hard to make a complicated film that actually makes complete sense and Duplicity makes sense. The film is smart, witty, quirky and utterly planned & effortless.
As I watched Duplicity I kept thinking that something in the film wasn’t clicking, that for all the complications and turns the plot was making that it just wasn’t what it should be. I should not have doubted Tony Gilroy. Everything that I thought was missing, everything that I hoped might be in the movie was in the movie – but it wasn’t revealed until the end. This is a movie that is going to rise higher in people’s esteem on repeated viewings. The last five or so minutes of the film not only give the film an entire other level, but the banter between Ray and Claire is some of the best in the film – while a bit more subtle the lines for me carried much the same importance as the last lines in Some Like It Hot. The ending of this film distinguish it from any heist movie that has come out in the past few decades.
Director & Writer: Tony Gilroy
Ray Koval: Clive Owen
Claire Stenwick: Julia Roberts
Howard Tully: Tom Wilkinson
Richard Garsik: Paul Giamatti
Duke: Denis O’Hare
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