"I'm Mad As Hell and I'm Not Going to Take This Anymore!!" [Network, French Connection]

Originally Posted 2/5/08:

My first two Netflix movies, as suggested by Dan.

Network
Network is one of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Now, I haven’t seen too many great movies in my life (I’m working on that), but Network has to be in my top 5-10 in quality. It’s also, I think, a movie that looks better today than it probably did back in 1976 because of it’s startlingly accurate prediction of the path of television (like someone said on IMDB, UBS might as well be FOX).

Most people would probably tell you that Network is about Howard Beale, a Dan Rather-type news broadcaster who basically goes crazy on the air when he’s told he’s going to be fired and then becomes the most popular person on television. That wouldn’t be wrong, but I think it would be more accurate to say that it is about Max Schumacher, the old-school television executive, and Diana Christensen (Faye Dunaway), the new-school one. Schumacher is the most interesting character, an emotionally complex man who somehow falls in love with the gorgeous but icy Christensen (the scene of him leaving his wife is particularly fantastic).

(Oh, and God, when you see this movie, please talk to me about how hilarious that scene with the Ecumenical Liberation Army arguing about overhead costs is. I can’t explain it now.)

I think there is a little too much blaming television for the loss of sensitivity of modern generations (it’s a little chicken-and-egg isn’t it?), and I’m skeptical that the 50s man was more emotionally intelligent than the late-70s man, but the point of the superficiality of modern culture, which seems to have only increased, is well-taken, as well as well-delivered. (Oh, and I think this should prove once and for all that I can still love a depressing movie—it’s just has to be fucking amazing.) A+

The French Connection
I actually really can’t say that much about The French Connection because, for some reason, I was having a really hard time focusing when I watched it. I didn’t love it, but I still thought it was good for what it was. It’s kind of a very rich man’s Departed (or I guess I should say, Departed is a poor man’s French Connection) in that it really explores cop and criminal as not really being fundamentally all that different. In 2008, that’s a tired idea (In the words of Charlie Kaufman: “ ‘[Your script explores] the notion that cop and criminal are really two aspects of the same person. See every cop movie ever made for other examples of this.’ ‘Mom said it was “psychologically taught.”’”(Did you see how many quotation marks I just put next to each other?!?)). But, in 1977 (or whenever it was) that may have been very original, so it’s hard for me to judge that part of it one way or another.

The only other thing I have to say is: that’s the freaking car chase I’ve been hearing about my whole life?!? That?! Fucking Julia Roberts movies have more exciting car chases than that nowadays. Well, at least we’ve come far in one regard. A-/B+ (with a special right reserved to change my mind if I see it again)

The Super Bowl
I don't want to talk about it.

Coming Soon...
Rushmore Part Tois (maybe this time I can make myself like it) and Goodfellas or The Savages.