 December
2005
This month's reviews:
Moe: Hi Joe, you old movie buff you. Seen
any good movies lately? Anything you can recommend?
Joe: Well, sure. There are good things out there. Do you
want serious, or comic, or family stuff … or what?
Moe: How about something serious?
Joe: OK, if it’s serious you’re after, see Good Night,
and Good Luck. It’s about as serious as they come. It’s about
Edward R. Murrow’s work on the CBS news program See It Now,
back in the 50s when the Army / McCarthy hearings were going on.
It’s really a great movie in many ways.
Moe: What’s so great about it?
Joe: Lots of things—it’s in black and white, which is rare
these days. It never slows down. Great acting. And it feels real.
Moe: Would the kids like it?
Joe: I doubt it. And there’s another thing—it’s
provocative and asks a lot of interesting questions, but I wouldn’t
necessarily take it as history. It’s pretty sympathetic to liberal
causes—after all, it was directed by George Clooney, and you know
what his politics are. How likely is he to make an objective film?
Clooney sets Senator McCarthy and his side of the issue up as a
straw man …but there was more to the situation than that. Even so,
it’s a fascinating movie.
Moe: What do you mean by “straw man”?
Joe: An argument where you make the opposite viewpoint
from yours weak and easy to knock down. It’s been fashionable for
years to show McCarthy as a buffoon type of villain. McCarthy
probably wasn’t a very good guy, but not everything he said was
wrong.
Moe: Hmm. What about something that would
appeal to the family?
Joe: Try Dreamer. It’s about a race horse that
breaks her leg. Everyone wants to put the horse down, but her
trainer buys the horse for his 10-year-old daughter. No one thinks
the horse will race again, but the daughter has other ideas.
Moe: Sounds kind of predictable, like something I’ve seen
before.
Joe: In a way it is; it’s a little like Seabiscuit,
and you can pretty much figure out what’s going to happen. It works,
though, and it’s really touching. I was tearing up at the end.
Moe: I’ll bet my daughter would like it.
Joe: Yeah, she probably would. Just about everyone in the
family would. It’s heartwarming; the good guys do honorable things.
The only negative happens when the daughter, who becomes the owner
of the horse, says she’s mailed a race entrance fee in when she
hasn’t. But overall, it’s worth it.
Moe: Not that I’m particularly into ratings, but what
would you give these movies?
Joe: I’d say 2 ¾ stars
for Dreamer and 3 ½ stars
for Good Night, and Good Luck.
Moe: Sounds good. I’ll take the family to Dreamer.
Want to see Good Night, Good Luck again?
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Index of movie
reviews...
(2003 reviews through present)
Jay Maurer, a member of West Side Presbyterian Church, is
a long-term movie buff and former college teacher of The Film as
Literature. He has written movie reviews for The Good News
(West Side newsletter) since 2002.
If you have comments or questions
about the movie (or play) reviews, please contact Jay at
dramachap@msn.com.
Ratings are expressed in
increments of ¼ star.
A rating of 2 ½ stars or higher is meant to be a recommendation.
1 star: poor
2 stars: minimally satisfactory
3 stars: quite good
4 stars: superb
Criteria for determining the ratings:
- Reflection, either explicit or implicit, of Christian values,
including suitability of language and lack of gratuitous violence
- Quality of the acting
- Originality
- Unity of the entire picture
- Substance, or in the words of C.S. Lewis, weight
Other Christian movie review Web sites:
Plugged In Online
ChristianityTodayMovies.com
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