Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Clooney salutes investigative journalism with honorable, good movie

4/19/2020

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Clooney salutes investigative journalism with honorable, good movie

♥♥♥♥

+ Best B/W Movie of the Year + Best Huge Hit Movie of the Year

David Strathairn looks keen in the bottom of this untraditionally composited poster for George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck.

In 1953-54 Edward R. Murrow changed broadcasted news reporting at CBS News, when he abandoned strict recounting in favor of investigative journalism, which put a break on senator Joe McCarthy's free-wheeling communist witch-hunt.

Good Night, and Good Luck. is written by co-writer/producer/actor Grant Heslov (Suburbicon (2017)) and co-writer/director/co-star George Clooney (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002)).
This is Clooney's black and white salute to Murrow, who comes off as an important pioneer in American history.
Good Night, and Good Luck. is an interesting, good and intellectual movie which nevertheless doesn't lift the task of making the victims of the 1950s era's McCarthyism and political and behavioral alignment palpable. The prevalent fear in the public at the time also goes largely unexplained. But the film does create a compelling portrayal of office paranoia with sharp performances.

Related posts:

George Clooney: Hail, Caesar! (2016) - The Coen brothers serve a whimsical, flashy letdown (co-star)
The Monuments Men (2014) or, George Clooney's The Lecture (co-writer/director/actor)
Gravity (2013) or, Survival in Space: The Ride (co-star)
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2011 in films - according to Film Excess
The Descendants (2011) - Payne and Clooney score with a Hawaiian story of heartbreak, loss and family (star)
The Ides of March (2011) - Clooney's political thriller looks at the cynical downside of modern politics (co-writer/co-producer/director/co-star)
The American (2010) - Corbijn and Clooney's paper-thin, boring, pretentious hitman outing (star)
Fantastic Mr. Fox (2009) - Anderson's technically, visually admirable but a bit tiring animation (voice star)
Burn After Reading (2008) or, Idiocy 2008 (co-star)

2005 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel (co-star)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (director/co-star)
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark (star)
From Dusk till Dawn (1996) - Tarantino, Rodriguez and chums' enjoyable Mexico vampire extravaganza (co-star)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 7 mil. $
Box office: 56.5 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 8.07 times its cost)
[Good Night, and Good Luck. premiered 1 September (Venice Film Festival, Italy) and runs 93 minutes. Clooney was attracted to the story due to his major in journalism and TV journalist father. He accepted a salary of 1 $ for each of his 3 duties on it to minimize the budget size. Due to an injury incurred while making Syriana (2005), Clooney was not able to find insurance for himself and instead mortgaged his Los Angeles home to make the film. Wealthy men Mark Cuban and Jeff Skoll invested money in it. Shooting took place in Los Angeles. The film opened #21 to a 421k $ first weekend in 11 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #7 and in 929 theaters (different weeks) and grossed 31.5 mil. $ (55.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 4.4 mil. $ (7.8 %) and Spain with 4.3 mil. $ (7.6 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars, winning none. It lost Best Picture to Crash, Actor (David Strathairn (Speakeasy (2002))) to Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote, Director to Ang Lee for Brokeback Mountain, Original Screenplay to Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco for Crash, Cinematography (Robert Elswit) to Dion Beebe for Memoirs of a Geisha, and Art Direction also to Memoirs of a Geisha. It was also nominated for 4 Golden Globes, 6 BAFTAs, won an AFI award, was nominated for a David di Donatello award, won a European Film award, 1/4 Independent Spirit award nominations, 2 National Board of Review awards, 5 prizes in Venice and several other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to 2 notches higher than this one. The film reportedly made also made in excess of 20.9 mil. $ on domestic video sales, which, if taken into the equation, would change its status to that of a mega-hit. Clooney the filmmaker returned with Leatherheads (2008). Strathairn returned in American Masters (1993-05, documentary TV-series) and theatrically in The Notorious Betty Page (2005). Good Night, and Good Luck. is certified fresh at 93 % with an 8.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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4/19/2020

Good Night, and Good Luck. (2005) - Clooney salutes investigative journalism with honorable, good movie

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