Ramblings on politics, film, music, literature, current events, pop culture, lists, dirty words, trapezoids, birds, cartoons and any other damned thing that strikes my synapses. A 39ish-year-old freelance journalist and writer living with his wife and baby daughter in the hardscrabble environs of Oklahoma, Chase McInerney now spends much of his time frozen in stark, cold sweat-inducing, gut-percolating fear. For it will be soon .
.. yes, very, very soon.
Stop the Presses! Another Movie List!
Murrow, CourtTV recently compiled its lists of the .
The usual suspects are included: Woodward and Bernstein (Redford and Hoffman) from , Howard Beale (Peter Finch) from , etc., etc.
It's all kinda silly, of course, but it's kind of a fun read, if you like that sort of thing.
Nevertheless, speaking as a journalist and an insufferable movie geek, there are some noticeable omissions I feel compelled to add, since, as any regular reader of this blog knows, I care about the most piddling and trivial shit you could ever imagine.
Chuck Tatum ( ) from (1951)
Director-writer undoubtedly drew upon his own experience as a Vienna reporter in this acidic tale of a former New York tabloid writer, Chuck Tatum, trapped in a dusty New Mexico town.
When a miner ends up trapped in a collapsed cave, Tatum contorts the imminent tragedy into a media carnival of epic proportions (after the movie tanked with audiences, studio execs tried the less hard-boiled title of The Big Carnival). Tatum's diverging obsessions, the desire to break a big story and his concomitant self-loathing, encapsulate the dilemma of many a reporter -- and human being, for that matter (not that the two are necessary mutually exclusive, mind you).
Stephen Glass ( ) from (2003)
The fascinating, twisted tale of a real-life journalist wunderkind whose too-good-to-be-true stories for The New Republic turned out to be just that.
had a terrific ride until his fabricated scoops caught up with him; this movie brilliantly captures his rise and subsequent fall from grace. has never been better (hell, you might argue he hasn't even been good since) as the sniveling, insecure, affirmation-starved Glass ("Are you mad at me?" is his mantra), with every bit his equal as then-TNR editor .
J.J. Hunsecker ( ) from (1957)
Supposedly based on , Hunsecker is one of the great monsters of American cinema.
In a career-defining moment for one of the great actors of his generation, Lancaster is astounding as the icy, arrogant, power-hungry king of New York who thinks nothing of destroying lives ("You're dead, son; get yourself buried," he tells one of his many victims) and wants to get jiggy with his little sister. In another lifetime, he could've been a star on .
Lowell Bergman ( ) from (1999)
A bit of a glorified portrait of the crusading TV news producer, 's The Insider nevertheless accurately captures the ongoing tug-of-war between journalistic integrity and corporate realities.
Pacino is somewhat more controlled than usual as the "60 Minutes" producer who latched on to tobacco industry whistleblower ( ). While the problem of corporate America leaving its fingerprints on the news media is as old as journalism itself -- Good Night, and Good Luck reminds us of that -- that doesn't make The Insider any less riveting.
Suzanne Stone ( ) from (1995)
In this overlooked -directed satire, Kidman plays a beautiful, vapid and vicious wannabe TV news reporter willing to do anything for fame and fortune.
Aside from being funny and nasty, what makes To Die For and its anti-heroine so memorable? Well, there's this ..
.
'Nuff said.
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