Turner-Smith and Cox team up as journalists investigating a presidential candidate. But there is none of the insider authenticity of director Amy Rice’s earlier Obama documentary
Film-maker Amy Rice spent two years on the campaign trail with Barack Obama to make a 2009 fly-on-the wall documentary. So it’s massively disappointing that her new fictional political thriller is so insipid and unsatisfying, and completely lacks any kind of authentic insider knowledge of Machiavellian political skullduggery. It’s as generic as they come, though British actor Jodie Turner-Smith is brilliant as a rookie reporter for the fictional Washington Chronicle who uncovers a scandal with the potential to blow open the presidential race.
Turner-Smith’s character, Eli James, is increasingly frustrated at having to write clickbait lifestyle articles such as “college dorm must-haves”. But when she uncovers a lottery scandal, she teams up with the paper’s Pulitzer-winning columnist Nicholas Booker. Their relationship is nicely played,...
Film-maker Amy Rice spent two years on the campaign trail with Barack Obama to make a 2009 fly-on-the wall documentary. So it’s massively disappointing that her new fictional political thriller is so insipid and unsatisfying, and completely lacks any kind of authentic insider knowledge of Machiavellian political skullduggery. It’s as generic as they come, though British actor Jodie Turner-Smith is brilliant as a rookie reporter for the fictional Washington Chronicle who uncovers a scandal with the potential to blow open the presidential race.
Turner-Smith’s character, Eli James, is increasingly frustrated at having to write clickbait lifestyle articles such as “college dorm must-haves”. But when she uncovers a lottery scandal, she teams up with the paper’s Pulitzer-winning columnist Nicholas Booker. Their relationship is nicely played,...
- 2/21/2023
- by Cath Clarke
- The Guardian - Film News
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You can’t fault Peacock for its timing, dropping The Independent just a week before the all-important 2022 midterm elections. Nor can you quibble with the thriller’s grounding in our contemporary political reality, in which an inexperienced celebrity candidate can vault from long shot to frontrunner simply by offering a seemingly viable exit from America’s entrenched two-party stasis, with one side fueling the country’s rage while the other “sits on its hands and whines about it.” Whether election-fatigued audiences will have an appetite for this slick but superficial depiction of moral elasticity in politics and beleaguered truth in journalism remains an open question.
This first narrative feature from documentary director Amy Rice (HBO’s By the People: The Election of Barack Obama) is sturdy enough by the standards of most direct-to-streaming movie premieres. But that’s admittedly not a high bar to clear.
You can’t fault Peacock for its timing, dropping The Independent just a week before the all-important 2022 midterm elections. Nor can you quibble with the thriller’s grounding in our contemporary political reality, in which an inexperienced celebrity candidate can vault from long shot to frontrunner simply by offering a seemingly viable exit from America’s entrenched two-party stasis, with one side fueling the country’s rage while the other “sits on its hands and whines about it.” Whether election-fatigued audiences will have an appetite for this slick but superficial depiction of moral elasticity in politics and beleaguered truth in journalism remains an open question.
This first narrative feature from documentary director Amy Rice (HBO’s By the People: The Election of Barack Obama) is sturdy enough by the standards of most direct-to-streaming movie premieres. But that’s admittedly not a high bar to clear.
- 11/1/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
If George Clooney were to make a movie in which all he did was read the manuals to household appliances, it's a fair bet that people would buy tickets to watch.
That same sort of brand loyalty works with theaters, particularly off-Broadway houses. The Mint Theater Company, upstairs in an office building, just down the street from the Broadway theaters, has repeatedly proven itself to pick interesting, forgotten plays and bring them to life.
"Rutherford & Son" opening Monday (Feb. 27) is a little-known play that had its debut Feb. 12, 1912. Unfortunately, it doesn't stand the test of time.
At two hours and forty minutes, with two intermissions, the drama is very long. It drags enough that in my row alone, I saw three people nodding off. And patrons of the Mint are serious theatergoers.
The play picks up after the slow first act. Fine points are made while it relentlessly hammers how...
That same sort of brand loyalty works with theaters, particularly off-Broadway houses. The Mint Theater Company, upstairs in an office building, just down the street from the Broadway theaters, has repeatedly proven itself to pick interesting, forgotten plays and bring them to life.
"Rutherford & Son" opening Monday (Feb. 27) is a little-known play that had its debut Feb. 12, 1912. Unfortunately, it doesn't stand the test of time.
At two hours and forty minutes, with two intermissions, the drama is very long. It drags enough that in my row alone, I saw three people nodding off. And patrons of the Mint are serious theatergoers.
The play picks up after the slow first act. Fine points are made while it relentlessly hammers how...
- 2/28/2012
- by editorial@zap2it.com
- Pop2it
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