Cinderella Man
Starring: Russel Crowe, Renee Zellweger, Paul Giamatti
Rated: PG-13 for intense boxing violence and some language
Throwing technical skills and storytelling aside, Cinderella Man is a purely emotional film and experience. Russell Crowe and Paul Giamatti give terrific performances in the biopic of depression-era boxer Jim Braddock, who turned his career around when he returned to boxing, simply to try and make ends meet for his family. While some may scoff at the cliché nature of the story, lack of real technical value, or even it’s emphasis on man’s control over destiny, one can’t deny it’s beautiful themes of masculinity, integrity, taking responsibility for one’s life, and emphasis on family, making it a champion of a film.
Network
Starring: Faye Dunaway, William Holden, Peter Finch, Robert Duvall
Rated: R (my unofficial reasoning would be: for strong language and sexuality)
Sidney Lumet’s famous satire Network is a critical favorite, winner of three acting Oscars in 1976, and is AFI’s Top 100 Films list. Why is it popular? Because it played into the national paranoia of the mid-to-late 1970s, realizing the world the media was presenting was built on rating and popularity, and not on truth. Don’t get distracted by it’s content, story, subplots or performances; this movie is all about its message, a narrative version of Neil Postman. Network, through it’s terrific cast (including the lovely Faye Dunaway and Robert Duvall) and intriguing plot echo TV anchor Edward Murrow’s famous warning that, if the television is only a means of entertainment, than it’s just a box of flashing lights. And, when the world refuses to tell us that, it makes people mad…
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