Broadcast News is a truly excellent movie, funny and light, yet with serious arcs and integrity to the world in which it plays out - the pacing of the behind the scene moments in the newsroom shudder with the urgency of the real thing. Currently on our television screens there is a show called The Newsroom, it is impossible to imagine that there ever could have been The Newsroom without Broadcast News and the success it was in its time - if you don't watch The Newsroom, give it a go - fast-paced, serious, hysterical, brilliant!
Holly Hunter is freakin' awesome (and I mean that for all movies and every role she is in - personal taste of course) - a firecracker of an actress if there ever was one. She commands attention like she is doing exactly what she was put on this earth to do - her brand of feistiness in a slight frame is always entertaining, and her simply sexy drawl and delivery demand appreciation. But she never completely absorbs or detracts attention from her counterparts, her brand of uniqueness contrasts well to her co-stars so as to enhance their performances - in this case those benefiting from her presence are William Hurt, Albert Brooks, Joan Cusack and a particularly loathsome Jack Nicholson (teaching us all what a cameo should look like, a cameo-asshole if you will).
My very first post on this blog was about the movie Defending Your Life, an Albert Brooks film, I am a fan of his self-deprecating brand of humour, always entertaining. In Broadcast News he plays the seasoned field reporter and best friend/confidante to Holly Hunter's character. His character is in direct contrast to that of the William Hurt's dashing former sports caster, a fast rising but novice new kid on the block, a suave bumbling buffoon. Throw into the mix a love triangle and what you have are three Oscar nominated performances in a movie nominated for the Best Picture Oscar - they, and it, are just that good.
At two hours long, the movie plays in that time so easily that it almost flies by, and you find yourself in moments forgetting just how dated it actually is. Yes there is 80's hair, 80's fashion, 80's technology, 80's car, 80's America, but all-in-all, it is pretty damn timeless.
One of my enduring gauges for how well I enjoy a movie is how I feel at the end, am I so invested in the characters and film that I wish it would just carry on? I loved this movie in the variety of extreme muchness - if I were to give it a rating, and I don't do that on this blog, it would be a nearly perfect, if not perfect, score.
It's 13 Oscar Movies watched at this point, time to get some sleep! Would love to hear your thoughts on the movies, have you seen any of them, are you going to watch any of them, do you agree, do you disagree, Hey, it's all for the love of movies!
nuff said...
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