Filed under: Movies | Tags: Catherine Keener, Jamie Foxx, Jr., Los Angeles, Movies, newspaper, Robert Downey, Soloist
The Soloist is the true story of LA Times writer Steve Lopez’s chance encounter with the talented, yet homeless, musician Nathaniel Ayers. The story sheds light on the heartbreaking and scary homeless population in Los Angeles, but it also gives hope that sometimes good things can happen from bad situations. Robert Downey, Jr. convincingly performs the role of a natually curious newspaperman who struggles committing himself to anything but his story. Jamie Foxx as the homeless and mentally-impaired Julliard drop-out is hard to watch, only because your heart breaks for him. While the story is ultimately uplifting, it is simultaneously depressing. The film experience is comparable to that of The Pursuit of Happyness: we just don’t like to see people in a situation that we could just as easily find ourselves in one day.
Music plays a significant role in this film. Nathaniel Ayers is particularly fond of Beethoven, and it is this music that floats throughout the movie. In one particular scene, however, the music overpowers the film: Ayers and Lopez are attending rehearsal for the Los Angeles Orchestra and what I can only assume is an effort to display the impact of the music on Ayers for the movie-going audience, we are treated to a light show. The lights dance to the beats of the music. This particular interruption takes away from the movie and continues much too long. It seems unnecessary. In a later scene, Lopez is explaining to his ex-wife and editor, played by Catherine Keener, the experience of listening to the music with Ayers. In his explanation, we understand the power of the music much better than the light display attempted to portray.
The Soloist tells us that one person can make a difference in another’s life with curiousity, the power of the written word and a little persistence.
Filed under: Movies | Tags: Ben Afflect, blogging, Helen Mirren, media, Movies, news, newspaper, online, print, Rachel McAdams, reading, Russell Crow, State of Play, Technology
In our new media world where everything is accessible online and we are seeing a decline in printed newspaper readership, State of Play has perfect timing with a character who is a blogger teaming up with a character who is a tried and true, hardcore newspaper man.
Russell Crow is our grouchy, sloppy and anything but sophisticated print edition guy. Rachel McAdams is our young, hip, yet not very experienced online girl. The initial interaction between the two characters plays to the animosity generally felt between bloggers and print writers. But after that meeting, the differences fade into the background of the movie and they become two reporters working together: one experienced and one still learning. In the end, the print edition is declared the superior medium for a tantalizing news story with a line from our young blogger that is something to the effect of, “I think people need to have newsprint on their fingers when they read this story.”
I have to call BS on that conclusion. Don’t get me wrong: I am an advocate of newspapers. I don’t want to see them die. But, the life of newspapers is not dependant on continued printing on paper. It is content that rules in this crazy world of changing media behaviors. A great story will always be great, whether read on a screen or on paper.
Forgive the digression, but I would have liked to see more play of the print versus the online throughout the movie rather than making it about experience versus inexperience. However, I applaud the movie for even bringing the issue to the forefront.
State of Play was a fine movie that kept me engaged during its entire run time. Politics, murder, corruption, affairs and the pressure of newsprint deadlines make this movie entertaining and interesting.
