Category Archives: Movies

The movie “Fighting” is likable in a small-film-kind-of way. It’s not great, nor perhaps the most believable of plots, but it is still entertaining and attention drawing. It involves 20-something Shawn MacArthur (Channing Tatum) from Alabama who lives in N.Y.C. selling wares on the street until he bumps into hustler Harvey Boarden (Terrence Howard) who introduces him into the underground world of fight clubs as a way of making money. If you’re expecting “Fight Club,” from 1999, you’ll be a bit disappointed. It’s not exactly like that, nor does it have as creative a screenplay, or feature as many fights. In fact, there’s only four in “Fighting.” But they seem pretty good. The actor, Channing Tatum, apparently broke his nose filming one of the fight scenes. So the sequences seem fairly realistic and suspenseful, but not overly scary. The film, after all, is rated PG-13, not R. Terrence Howard is quite good in his role as the kid’s fight manager. And Tatum, whose career seems to be on the rise, looks just fine as the hunky Alabama brawler with a troubled past. There are some nice shots of N.Y.C. (though mostly skyline types) and an upbeat soundtrack that keeps things moving. The filming is not perfect (the boom microphone appears in at least one of the scenes at the top of the screen), but by the end, “Fighting” does manage to throw a small, enjoyable punch. Continue reading →

The political thriller “State of Play” couldn’t be missed for its journalism perspective and its shots of D.C. And come on, a cast of Russell Crowe, Helen Mirren, Jeff Daniels, Ben Affleck, Robin Wright Penn – it couldn’t be too bad right? A pudgy (okay fat) Russell Crowe plays Cal McAffrey, an old-school print reporter who teams up with online rookie columnist Della Frye (Rachel McAdams) to cover a string of murders, including the death of a congressman’s mistress. So far so good, but as time goes on, the plot gets wackily convoluted and preposterous amid scenes of corruption, mercenaries for hire, and cover-up, not to mention those having a conflict of interest for Cal in reporting on his old college pal, Congressman Stephen Collins (played by Affleck). Pretty soon you just have to go with “State of Play,” crazy or not, and enjoy it for what you can. Its angle on the newspaper biz remains interesting for those nostalgic for the heyday of print journalism. Perhaps Ann Hornaday of The Washington Post touched on that best, when she wrote:

“State of Play’s” final montage, a loving valentine to old-fashioned newspapering with its clanging presses … plays like a sepia-toned anthropological documentary about a vanishing indigenous people. But, at least for members of that bloodied and battered tribe, it’s impossible not to be touched. In some distant future, when newsprint has long disappeared and people get their news and movies by way of a biologically embedded chip, at least they’ll know that attention, once, was paid. On behalf of ink-stained wretches everywhere: Thanks for caring, guys!” Continue reading →