Saturday, October 25, 2008

Brave Hollywood

Hollywood once again proves its bravery by taking on yet another controversial subject, ripped straight from the headlines. That's right, Ron Howard directs a stunning look at...the Watergate hearings!

More specifically, it's a movie about an interview between British talk show host David Frost and Richard Nixon. Pointless, because you can watch the real-life interviews on You Tube for free. But what would Hollywood be without heroic talk show hosts from bygone eras?

This movie may remind you of another brave foray Hollywood made a couple of years back. Good Night and Good Luck was the breathtakingly bold look at McCarthyism in the 1950's. Again, it showed the travails of a heroic interviewer as he attempted to question the system.

This is what passes for brave filmmaking these days. Looking back 30 - or 40, or 50 - years to subjects that have been done to death. Gimme a break. I'm still waiting for the movies about terrorism that don't deal with American torture, or a life story of Muhammad (death threats over a movie would probably make the death threats over cartoons look like nothing; Spielberg would soil his silk drawers), or a biopic about the slaying of Theo van Gogh. Then I might hang a "brave" label on one of these clowns.

Here's one part of the original David Frost interviews. Watch them and save yourself some cash.

No comments: