Wonderful Movie

Thanks for the memories!

Better Late Then Never

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

Both Ben Afleck and Russel Crowe are bald. Afleck, I have great respect for, despite that he tries to hide this. Crowe has a reputation for being a smug asshole to everyone from his fans to his exes. In this movie, Crowe has on one of his more ludicrous wigs. As a result, I find it very hard to take this movie seriously, despite its quality content. If they can go to all the trouble of pasting on silly wigs, they could just as well do it with crappy CGI. At this point, I'm not sure what bothers me the most with these juvenile movies today: the nauseating shaky camera, the increased annoying volume when playing soundtrack music, the horrible CGI, or the baldies in bad wigs. In any case, they all detract from a movie that might otherwise be very well made. I long for the days of Paul Verhooven, his marvelously built physical sets and props, and the lack of crappy CGI.

State of Play (2009): Dir: Kevin Macdonald / Cast: Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Ben Affleck, Helen Mirren, Jason Bateman: Decent thriller about channelling manipulation and facts. It may remind viewers of All the President's Men despite falling short of that film's structure and craft. Russell Crowe plays a newspaper journalist investigating a double homicide that may link to a political conspiracy. Directed by Kevin Macdonald with numerous plot turns. Crowe holds strong as he unravels truths that he will not want to face. Rachel McAdams is solid as another journalist who works alongside Crowe in seeking answers. What is truly great here is that she is not reduced too the standard sexual tease. In fact, she discovers much of the plot turns. On the other end however is the casting of Ben Affleck who plays a congressman caught in adultery and stranded within the investigation but the role is too obvious. This leads to a conclusion that is more predictable than it needed to be. Helen Mirren is also reduced to the standard role of an editor demanding the deadline met. Jason Bateman is also present but he seems to excel better in comic roles as oppose to dramatic roles. It gives insight to journalism while presenting the pressure to meet the demands It is a well made thriller but for superior and more insightful viewing check out All the President's Men. Score: 7 / 10

This movie, although good watching, has more holes than a box of cheese graters. 1) My biggest grouch is why the murderer (Bingham) is allowed to walk around the place in perfect freedom when everybody knows he killed Sonia Baker and tried to assassinate Cal and shot up a car full of people causing a major collision with another car etc. etc. ..... and yet the newspaper, who have his photo, don't put his photo on the front page of their newspaper and the police are not searching for him.2) Why would a bag-snatcher (Deshaun) keep a meeting with a guy who's obviously into blackmail or stalking and has a gun and special killing bullets in his briefcase, surely he would have had enough street-smarts to know when not to follow through with his MO. Even his girlfriend had enough reasoning to work out the case owner was a nutter. And how was he going to sell back the briefcase without the contents anyway, surely Deshaun's method calls for the case and contents to be returned for cash?.3) Who actually called for the killing of Sonia Baker, was it Stephen who found out she was working for PointCorp (but he was supposedly in love with her). Was it PointCorp because she had stopped supplying information (surely killing her was going over the top, just stop paying her $26,000 a month would have sufficed). Was it Bingham who took her assassination into his own hands.4) Why was Bingham allowed to sit in the hospital corridor (without an identification label) outside the comatose Pizza Guy's room (which is guarded by a policeman who is also sat in the corridor alongside the murderer) when we see Della have to go through ID check to be allowed in to the hospital and has to wear an ID badge....... by the way, it was good of the policeman to walk up to the murderer and then speak on the cell phone that "He's coming round", which signed the death warrant for the Pizza Guy.I could mention several more silly loopholes that make 'State of Play' what could have been a first class movie into a muddle of a thriller.

The base premise is just one notch above any average scandal and conspiracy story. But I must admit the later twists are great. The look like they are downplays but they are not. The characters are not so deeply developed, though. And the focus is not so deep on the rest of the characters beside Cal and Stephen. I personally like the stable fast pace of how the mystery unfolded.Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck did a great job here, while McAdams provided just enough for her character. Helen Mirren was able to give this movie some added toughness, even from a not so significant character, which is nice. A 7 out of 10 is solid from me.