Weekly Theme

Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

"I like thinking about the red dress and the television and you and your father. Now when I get the sun, I smile." - Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn) from Requiem for a Dream.

So, this week I'd like to talk about television in the movies. There is actually a lot to choose from.

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - George Clooney directed Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of Chuck Barris' (ehem) autobiography.... How could you go wrong? I remember when the book came out. I read some excerpts from it and thought how crazy it could be if the right people got involved to make the film. 

Audition - Lest we forget, the central plot of this film is about an audition for a television show. I think I would have completely fallen in love with this Takashi Miike film had I come into it knowing a lot less about it and Miike's reputation.

Quiz Show - I like to mention this film about as much as I can. I think it's Redford's most underrated film and it's my personal favorite. It's about a scandal involving a game show but it was all of the intellectual banter scenes between Ralph Fiennes and Rob Morrow made this film so memorable. Also, John Turturro's performance was brilliant.

Well folks, that's all I got for the moment. As I said before, there are a ton of films about television. So let's here about them.

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

A few come to mind:

Network - At the time, Paddy Chayefsky tried to imagine the most ridiculous and absurd things that could happen on TV news... Frighteningly, it doesn't seem as ridiculous or absurd these days.

Groundhog Day - TV weatherman caught in a space/time loop.  Great movie.

The Truman Show - Jim Carrey in a semi-serious role?  Decent movie, though I'm not sure it's aged that well...

The Insider - Or, how everyone lost faith in 60 Minutes.

Anchorman - I have many leather-bound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany.

And some horror TV films:  Poltergeist, Ringu, and Videodrome

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

The first movie I thought of for this theme was Videodrome. It is one of my favorite early Cronenberg movies. If you see it, skip the R-rated version and go for the director's cut. It make everthing much clearer, well as clear as Cronenberg gets.

I heard that someone is talking about re-making this. Not sure who or if it is beyond the rumor stage.

To Die For is an uneven but enjoyable film about the merger of fame, television and obsession.

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

That one movie about a kid in India on a gameshow that came out this year was all about his experience on a TV gameshow in India. I forget what it's called. Apparently it's pretty good.

Oh yeah! Slumdog Millionaire. (Once again, I cannot figure out the link feature)

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

leeroy711:

Quiz Show - I like to mention this film about as much as I can. I think it's Redford's most underrated film and it's my personal favorite. It's about a scandal involving a game show but it was all of the intellectual banter scenes between Ralph Fiennes and Rob Morrow made this film so memorable. Also, John Turturro's performance was brilliant.

mciocco:

Network - At the time, Paddy Chayefsky tried to imagine the most ridiculous and absurd things that could happen on TV news... Frighteningly, it doesn't seem as ridiculous or absurd these days.

These are two I would defintely mention as favorites.  Network however is probably the quintessential film about television and what it has become from my viewpoint though.

The most hilarious movie about television though - "Weird Al" Yankovic's UHF.  It even has a little spoof of Network.

Although Death to Smoochy is a hilarious film about children's television which I think features Robin Williams' greatest performance of his carreer.

leeroy711:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - George Clooney directed Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of Chuck Barris' (ehem) autobiography.... How could you go wrong? I remember when the book came out. I read some excerpts from it and thought how crazy it could be if the right people got involved to make the film. 

I also just realized that this is only one of two movies that George Clooney has directed about television.  The other one being Good Night, and Good Luck.

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

I can't remember these kinds of things to save my life. Imagine if you did have to remember these kinds of things to save your own life. Now there's a reality show we haven't seen yet. heheh

uhh how about Bruce Almighty? I think he plays a news reporter who is down on his luck until God loans Bruce God's power. 

There's also Mrs. Doubtfire, where Robin Williams has that television show, and he ends up using the character he created to deceive his wife on the show in the end of the film.

Well, there are always televisions in films, but I just can't seem to think of ones that haven't been mentioned already where television is the main focus. 

Well, good night and good luck. (har har)

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

A great movie that doesn't get a lot of attention in Series 7: The Contenders. It came out during the height of reality shows like Survivor and was about a faux new television show in which seven unsuspecting people are picked by a lottery and only the last one standing gets their freedom. At the time, it seemed like an Americanized version of Battle Royale, but Series 7 focused more on the television aspect and just how ridiculous it was becoming.

I know it's mushy and preachy, but I still love Pleasantville. Watching modern day kids trying to survive in a black white Leave It To Beaver like town; and it was when Reese Witherspoon was still in her slutty bad ass girl Freeway stage which is always hilarious to watch.

Bolt fits the theme. A dog raised believing it is a super enhanced cyber puppy on a television show gets lost and must learn to live in the real world was decent enough.

Hairspray was about a bunch of kids vying for a coveted spot on a local tv dance show.

Halloween III: Season of the Witch revolved around kids putting on cursed masks and watching a television commercial that would kill them. Fun times.

Galaxy Quest was about a group of washed up Strek Trek like actors that find themselves transported to a real intergalactic war and must try and imitate their faux television personas to survive.

I'll have to watch it a dozen more times, but I'm fairly kinda sorta maybe almost certain that Inland Empire had something to do with television.

Natural Born Killers was more or less an indictment of the horrors of television on our society.

I didn't really care for The Nines because I thought it was a little too too; it was trying to convey something about losing ourselves in the false reality of television. Or maybe not, I don't know.

Bamboozled is one of my favorite Spike Lee movies about a television executive that tries to get fired by programming a horrifically racist minstrel show but is shocked to learn that it becomes a sensational hit.

Soapdish was a stupid fun look at all the ridiculous bitching and backstabbing that goes on behind the scenes of a daytime soap opera series.

Edtv came out right after The Truman Show and was pretty much trying to say the same thing.

The Cable Guy. Doesn't get the credit it deserves and is probably one of Jim Carrey's best performances.

American Dreamz was just __________. I don't watch American Idol so maybe I wasn't cool enough to enjoy it.

Stay Tuned was one of those movies from my childhood where most of the comedy went straight over my head. Something about a family getting sucked into a sadistic television and must survive all the twisted versions of popular shows at the time. Need to watch it again.

Re:Weekly Theme for July 20: Television

Oh yeah.. I guess we should call this the Walter Cronkite memorial week. Right?? I'll just pretend that I thought of that all along.