Game Change (2012, TV movie) - Moore and Co. shimmer in Roach's dynamite political retelling

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Julianne Moore sparkles as Sarah Palin on this near-symmetrical poster for Jay Roach's Game Change

2008: Republican veteran John McCain is gaining in on his opponents and becomes the GOP candidate for the presidential election. But to have a better shot against the crowd-pleasing novelty of Democratic nominee Barack Obama, he  needs a game-changer for his vice presidential running mate. Attention befalls Alaska's female governor...

Game Change is written by Danny Strong (Recount (2008, TV movie)), based on the same-titled 2010 book by journalists Mark Halperin (The Way to Win: Taking the White House in 2008 (2006)) and John Heilemann (Pride Before the Fall: The Trials of Bill Gates and the End of the Microsoft Era (2001)), and directed by great New Mexican filmmaker Jay Roach (Zoo Radio (1990)).

It is a terrific, darn exciting TV movie for every one with an interest in America, politics and/or just great acting performances in an intense drama about family and power. Julianne Moore (Gloria Bell (2018)) is fantastic as Alaskan governor Sarah Palin: We may not get under her skin, but we get to know her a lot better, for good and bad, in Game Change. Her getting trapped inside a campaign that had not vetted her sufficiently prior to selecting her, (if they had, they wouldn't have chosen her), which ends up changing her life, is an at times heartbreaking tale.

Ed Harris (Radio (2003)) as McCain, as well as Woody Harrelson (2012 (2009)), Sarah Paulson (The Spirit (2008)) and Peter MacNicol (Recess: School's Out (2001)) are also outstanding. The film is extremely well-made. An excellent time.

 

Related posts:

Jay Roach: Bombshell (2019) - Toxic US culture laid bare in Roach's great drama 
Trumbo (2015) - Good actors and a thrilling true story make this biopic work 
Dinner for Schmucks/Dinner with Schmucks (2010) - Carell carries Roach's flawed but utterly hilarious comedy  

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Meet the Parents (2000) - Roach, Stiller, De Niro and Co. make comedy gold 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: Unknown

Box office: Unknown - mainly a TV movie

= Uncertain

[Game Change premiered 28 February (Chicago) and runs 118 minutes. Strong and Roach had also considered a film about the Democratic primary race, where Obama beat Hillary Clinton, but left that, reportedly due to the length and complexity of that story. Strong said that he interviewed 25 people related to the McCain/Palin campaign to write the script, aside from reading the book and Palin's book Going Rogue (2009). Shooting took place in New Mexico, Delaware and Baltimore, Maryland around April 2011. The film opened to 2.1 mil. in ratings in North America, HBO's highest rating for a TV movie since Something the Lord Made (2004). It won 3/5 Golden Globe nominations, 5/12 Primetime Emmy nominations, an AFI award and many other honors. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Real-life McCain and Palin took offense with the film but also both refused to watch it; Steven Schmidt, the McCain/Palin campaign strategist, Harrelson's character, on the other hand watched Game Change and called it "the truth of the campaign." Roach returned with The Campaign (2012). Moore returned in Being Flynn (2012); Harris in Sweetwater (2013); and Harrelson in The Hunger Games (2012). Game Change is fresh at 67 % with a 7.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomateos.]

What do you think of Game Change?

Angels in America (2003, miniseries) or, Dying in the 80s, of AIDS, at L-E-N-G-T-H

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Emma Thompson is the visiting angel on this dramatic poster for Mike Nichols' Angels in America

Tony Kushner (Munich (2005)) wrote a Pulitzer Prize-winning play set in the 1980s on AIDS, politics, religion, sex and homosexuality, which premiered in 1991. Adapting it was attempted first by master filmmaker Robert Altman, who ultimately didn't secure the necessary funding. Kushner tried adapting it into a single film but failed. He then started adapting it to miniseries format, and HBO agreed to finance the effort, directed by German master filmmaker Mike Nichols (Catch-22 (1970)) which was released in two versions: You can either see Angels as two roughly 3 hour movies, or as six episodes of around an hour. This review is based on the latter option.

New York in the 1980s: A young, Jewish gay couple are struck by tragedy, when the one part is diagnosed with AIDS. SPOILER The city's shark-like lawyer and Republican, Roy Cohn, dies equally slow from the disease at the same time. Meanwhile the healthy Jew leaves his sick sweetheart and has sex with Cohn's secretary, who has a wife. Next his Mormon mother enters the story, and later; angels.

Angels in America has a stellar cast that includes Al Pacino (The Godfather (1972)), James Cromwell (Owd Bob (1998)), Jeffrey Wright (Lady in the Water (2006)) and Emma Thompson (Beautiful Creatures (2013)). But the stars that really stand out and distinguish themselves here are Meryl Streep (The Manchurian Candidate (2004)) as the Mormon mother, a conflicted part she plays perfectly; and Patrick Wilson (Fargo (2015, TV-series)), who plays the closeted, married gay secretary coming out with lots of charm and intensity.
After the angels enter the story, the metaphysical elements get out of hand in a rainbow of pomposity and self-importance. The limit for this audience member's engagement in the tale gets crossed somewhere between the ethereal, the political, the racial politics and all the dramatic gays, but many others slurp it all up with a quivering smile.
Pacino is Cohn, the dying big-shot lawyer in denial, and he is almost so sick, feeble and skeletal here that you feel physically ill yourself by just watching him, (which you'll do at length in Angels in America).
The ending is excessively lengthy, so in spite of the series' qualities, it is far from being the gemstone that it is hailed as. Better AIDS-themed works include Philadelphia (1993), How to Survive a Plague (2012, documentary), Dallas Buyers Club (2013), The Normal Heart (2014, TV movie), BPM (Beats Per Minute) (2017) and more.

Related posts:

Mike Nichols: Closer (2004) - Nichols and Marber's intelligent film of love and infidelity 

2003 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]

Biloxi Blues (1988) or, '45 Army Camp Confidential   
Catch-22 (1970) - Nichols wages war on war with ensemble cast in absurdist satire 

Watch a 4-minute clip from the miniseries here

Cost: 60 mil. $
Box office: None (TV miniseries)
= Uncertain
[Angels in America was first broadcast from 7 December - 14 December (HBO) and runs 352 minutes. Shooting took place for 137 days in New York and in Rome, Italy from March 2002 - January 2003. It was reportedly the most-seen TV movie of 2003, - whether this made it profitable also is regrettably unreported. It won 5/7 Golden Globe nominations, 11/21 Emmy nominations, an AFI award, a National Board of Review award, was nominated for a Grammy and several other honors. Nichols returned with Closer (2004). Streep returned in Freedom: A History of Us (2003, documentary TV-series) and theatrically in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)); Thompson in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004); and Pacino in The Merchant of Venice (2004). Angels in America is certified fresh at 92 % with a 9.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Angels in America?

Behind the Candelabra (2013, TV movie) - Soderbergh's commanding exercise in restraint and extravagance

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It's hard not to break into a smile at least, when you look at Matt Damon and Michael Douglas on the glitzy poster for Steven Soderbergh's Behind the Candelabra

Behind the Candelabra dramatizes the last ten years of the unique piano-playing entertainer's life, as seen from the perspective of Liberace's 40 year younger lover Scott Thorson, while the star publicly denied his obvious homosexuality. 

The film is written with great ability by Richard LaGravenese (The Comedian (2016)), based on Scott Thorsen's memoir, Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace (1988) (written with Alex Thorleifson), and directed by Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh (Traffic (2000)). It is a story of pomposity, excess, narcissism, love and betrayal. If Liberace has any family left, - or fanatic fans perhaps, - it cannot be much fun for them to watch this unflattering portrait of their capricious Lee. In any case, the man's material success, if not his private, is astounding. And both of them are displayed here.
Michael Douglas (Ant-Man (2015)) as Liberace shies away from nothing in another great turn of his, achieved some time after the months when we all thought that we were going to lose one of the screen's best to cancer, - this marks a triumphant comeback. And as Scott Thorson we get Matt Damon (Syriana (2005)), an actor who is always professional, but rarely as engaging and liberated in his acting as he appears here. - They together make the movie soar high.
Soderbergh continues the restrained directing style apparent in his latest projects like the Che films (both from 2008) and Haywire (2011); a very sober and contained tone and portrayal, though far from bereft of style. The music in Candelabra is withheld mostly to a few concert performances, and the cinematic expression is far from the extravagant biopic approach one might have expected. Soderbergh, as often before, acted as his own cinematographer.
In supporting roles, Rob Lowe (A Perfect Day (2006), TV movie) and Dan Aykroyd (Whitecoats (2004)) do well as Lee's crazy plastic surgeon and his deft manager, and Debbie Rheynolds (Singin' in the Rain (1952)) makes a great dignified Polish mother to Liberace. If you are the type who gets excited about costumes and extravagant decor, you can also enjoy the movie for these qualities alone; Howard Cummings (Magic Mike XXL (2015)) - production design, - Barbara Munch (Milk (2008)), - set decoration, -  and Ellen Mirojnick (Cloverfield (2008)) - costume design, - are to thank for this considerable job.

Related posts:
 
Steven Soderbergh: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] Magic Mike XXL (2015) - Lots of fun and skin but still no gay as Mike goes to the convention (cinematographer, editor)   
2013 in films - according to Film Excess 
Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller
Magic Mike (2012) - Soderbergh and Tatum score big with cheeky male strip romp 
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]  
2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I] 
2011 in films - according to Film Excess 
Contagion (2011) - Soderbergh's global pandemic creep-out    
Haywire (2011) - Soderbergh's taut, stylish ensemble actioner is a masterpiece
Che Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution 
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark 
Erin Brockovich (2000) - Roberts, Soderbergh and Grant's triumphant biopic 

For a look at the movie, watch this trailer, although it gives away a little much in my opinion

Cost: 23 mil. $
Box office: 13.3 mil. $
= Small theatrical performance + good TV movie performance (North America); should likely count as a success
[Behind the Candelabra premiered 21 May (Cannes, in competition) and runs 118 minutes. Soderbergh wanted to make a Liberace film, and talked to Douglas about it during Traffic in 2000. In 2009 he and Damon signed on to star in the film, which took further 3 years to finance, as Hollywood studios thought it "too gay". Shooting took 30 days in California and Las Vegas in 2012. As an HBO TV movie in North America, it premiered there on 26 May, 5 days after its Cannes debut. It was initially viewed by 3.5 mil. on its first two runs, HBO's highest rating for a TV movie sine 2004. It was released theatrically in several foreign markets. The 3 biggest were the UK with 5.2 mil. $ (39.1 % of the total gross), Australia with 2.3 mil. $ (17.3 %) and Germany with 2 mil. $ (15 %). Overall, the movie should certainly count as a hit. It was nominated for and won a slew of awards: 2 wins out of 4 Golden Globe nominations, 11 out of 15 Emmy nominations, 5 BAFTA nominations and many more. Soderbergh announced his retirement from directing following the film, but then directed The Knick (2014-15) and returned theatrically with Logan Lucky (2017). Douglas returned in Last Vegas (2013), Damon in Elysium (2013). Behind the Candelabra is certified fresh at 95 % with a 8.1/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Behind the Candelabra?