Bolstered by the best script of 2015 and masterful performances from Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet, director Danny Boyle’s propulsive character study is a fascinating glimpse at the evolution of a cult icon.
Director Danny Boyle (Trainspotting, 28 Days Later) divides this character study of contentious public figure Steve Jobs (Michael Fassbender) between three product launches, focusing on key pressure-cooker moments of his career that portray him at his most capable and least compassionate.
Cate Blanchett is signing on to play a comedy legend by portraying I Love Lucy comedienne Lucille Ball in an authorized biopic written by Aaron Sorkin. The Wrap exclusively reported today that the film centered on Ball’s 20-year marriage to her I Love Lucy co-star and cohort Desi Arnaz. The two were married between 1940 …
UPDATE 10/23: Aaron Sorkin confirmed via an interview with Bloomberg that Christian Bale will take the role as Steve Jobs, saying he’s “going to crush it”. Sorkin went on to say that Bale will appear in every frame of the film and has more dialogue than most actors have in three films. “We needed the …
The Newsroom, Season 2, Episode 9: “Election Night Part 2″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Alan Poul Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO While the first season of The Newsroom focused on the idea of a news organisation that eschewed ratings for journalism, a lot of the show’s forward momentum seemed to …
With the exposure of News Night’s major story of chemical weapons use by the American army turning out to be a complete fabrication last week, the team as a whole, and Will and Mackenzie in particular, face a long road ahead in rebuilding what they had before the Genoa report, despite the surprising vote of confidence from Leona Lansing. This week’s episode focuses on the aftermath of Leona’s unexpected decision on the news team, examining the toll the story takes on the emotional state and decision-making capabilities of various members of the team, in a well-done setup to the end of the season.
The possible story of illegal chemical weapons being used by the US against enemy combatants has been a looming issue over the ACN team over the second season of The Newsroom, particularly as the discussions with Rebecca Halliday and her team indicate a massive failure. The first signs of the breakdown became visible in the closing moments of last week’s episode, and this week explores the full scope of the fallout from the discovery of the story’s falsehood, delivering an episode that, while not necessarily divulging any new information, nonetheless is a fascinating one that leaves several characters in interesting places by the end.
The US military’s apparent use of chemical weapons has been a looming story over much of The Newsroom’s second season, with the story of the Genoa mission and its implications not escaping anyone who learned of the case. Previous episodes have indicated that something goes terribly wrong with the story, necessitating the presence of a high-priced lawyer to clean up the ensuing mess, casting a shadow of dread throughout the developments. The story comes to a head this week, with the ACN team going live with the news of Genoa as the final pieces click into place, leading to a compelling episode that explores the idea of bending small truths to get to a larger one.
To date, the only female character to receive significant screentime but not get embroiled in a major personal life storyline is financial expert Sloan Sabbith. While this has made the character a breath of fresh air, and allowed actress Olivia Munn to excel in the role, it was only a matter of time until her out-of-work life infringed in some way. This episode sees the infringement occur in an interesting manner that unfortunately sees the show pull itself back from meaningful character development in an area where it is sorely needed.
One of the more intriguing aspects of The Newsroom’s second season premiere was the physical transformation of Maggie Jordan. The change, along with hints of a traumatic event, promised to pull the character out of the romantic triangle subplot she was mired in for most of the first season, and add some more dimensions in the process. This week’s episode dives into what led to the change, in a promising episode that also saw the team face their own inability to communicate well, correcting many of the downsides of last week’s episode.
One of the big weaknesses of the first season of The Newsroom, alongside the poor characterisation of many of the show’s women, was the often preachy tone that would accompany storylines, as the writers often struggled to balance the show’s depiction of a fearless news team with an ability to humanise the opponents to the debate, or a portrayal of the core cast as three-dimensional characters rather than simply mouthpieces. The exploration of real-world consequences and conscience attacks suffered by the team at ACN did a lot to mitigate this issue, and while the second season premiere showed promise in further exploring this storyline, this week’s episode manages to fall down the rabbit hole once again, taking a few steps backward from a lot of character progression the show has made, and delivering an unpleasant episode this week, where the bad qualities outweighed the good.
The second season premiere of The Newsroom last week hinted at a major catastrophe that engulfs the station, but buried amidst the discussions of the events that led to lawyerly intervention was the question of why Will McAvoy and the news crew would take on such a volatile story in the first place. This week’s episode dives deeper into the psyche of the individuals who comprise the news team, and their emotional and psychological state leading up to the Genoa revelation, in an episode that unfortunately brings back large chunks of previously problematic storylines, but nonetheless gives a better idea of what makes certain characters tick.
With shows such as Sports Night and The West Wing under his belt, many people were excited to see Aaron Sorkin return to television, particularly after finding big screen success with The Social Network and Moneyball. Tackling journalism, Sorkin’s The Newsroom premiered in 2012 on HBO, with a cast that included Jeff Daniels, Emily Mortimer, Alison Pill, and Dev Patel, and ended up receiving uneven reviews throughout the season, with most of the audience qualms coming down on his portrayal of Mackenzie and Maggie, the two key female characters on the show, who often acted out of character when engaged in romantic entanglements, which dominated much of their storylines in the first ten episodes.
While Aaron Sorkin has recently found success in the film world with movies such as The Social Network and Moneyball, he has left his mark on television with highly acclaimed shows Sports Night and The West Wing. His return to television came in 2012, this time with HBO, as he tackled the world of journalism in …
House of Cards, Season 1 Premiered Friday, Feb. 1st on Netflix Only a few years removed from an acclaimed collaboration with Aaron Sorkin on The Social Network, David Fincher has dipped his toe into the realm of serial storytelling with the first Netflix original series, House of Cards. A cynic’s alternative to Sorkin’s monumental series The …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 10: “The Greater Fool″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Greg Mottola Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO Season finales are difficult to pull off for any show. The final episode is meant to resolve season-long arcs while still progressing along, or starting, enough story threads to intrigue …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 9: “The Blackout Part 2: Mock Debate″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Alan Poul Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO Two-part episodes are never easy to pull off; on one hand, they can be freeing, as writers now find themselves with twice the amount of time to …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 8: “The Blackout Part 1: Tragedy Porn″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Lesli Linka Glatter Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO The question of ratings versus quality is something that has hung over News Night 2.0, and The Newsroom in general, since the beginning of the show. …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 7: “5/1″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Joshua Marston Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO News, perhaps more than anything else, cannot exist in a vacuum. The importance of news is largely determined by how people react to it; occasionally, some news pieces unexpectedly become important based …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 5: “Amen″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Daniel Minahan Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO Journalism can be a dangerous profession. Trying to cover the news in, or tell the story of, volatile or war-torn regions, especially, can be downright fatal, the most obvious example in recent …
The Newsroom, Season 1, Episode 6: “Bullies″ Written by Aaron Sorkin Directed by Jeremy Podeswa Airs Sundays at 10:00 PM ET on HBO One often overlooked peril with a no-holds-barred approach to journalism is that it takes no prisoners, and often leaves those with the unfortunate task of answering the questions between the unyielding forces …
The BAFTAs is one of those award ceremonies you can count on the go against the norm. Always the one to celebrate more independent films and the actors, actresses and directors snubbed by the Academy Awards have a chance of a nomination. In light of the forthcoming awards ceremony on Sunday 12 February, here are …
Among the very few criticisms that surround the highly rated film The Social Network are comments on how the film portrays women. /Film found Aaron Sorkin’s, the writer of the screenplay, response to one specific comment found in the comments section of a review of the film by Ken Levine. The comment, posted by a …