Tuesday, January 11, 2005

Network (1976)

Bleak, riveting look at the bottom-line world of television and where it's going. What once must have seemed satirical now feels prophetic -- if anything, this film's themes of exploitative 'reality' television and the globalization of the economy feel more relevant today than it did 29 years ago. The acting is stagy and overbearing much of the time (what exactly did Beatrice Straight win an Oscar for anyway?, though I liked the way that Ned Beatty's scene flipped that tendency on its head, and I suppose it was to be expected with Paddy Chayefsky holding the pen. The closing scene makes for a nicely bilious cherry.

Grade: B+

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