TRENDS
Wednesday, October 26, 2005
✯Star Comics The Cat Bird Seat
By Jeffrey Cole
The University Star - Page 9
Distinctive voices Strutter season coming to an end
Prop Dance Repeat We performed our prop routine again for the game against Northwestern State University because we decided weeks before that it would be a little too hectic to learn a dance on Monday and have it “performance ready” by Saturday. Since we were doing the same dance, last week’s practices were quick and productive, so we swapped Saturday morning practice with the band for a Saturday morning team picture.
Erin Leeder
Random Acts of Violence
ABBY MINICA
cidents happen, and that just sucks, but then there was the other part of me that had to wait in the semi-cold (I get cold easily!) for half an hour longer than I was expecting. In the end, the picture was snapped with everybody in it, and that’s what matters.
Entertainment Columnist
Team Pictures and Sub Arctic Temperatures Each year, the team picture is taken at some spot on campus with all of us in our uniforms, and this year, our team picture was taken in front of The Fighting Stallions on campus. It was a little cold outside — well, chilly enough to wear our uniform jackets for the picture, but with how short our skirts are, the jackets don’t make much of a difference as far as warmth goes. What was supposed to take about 15 minutes actually lasted about 45 minutes due to some new girls accidentally sleeping in. A part of me felt bad for them because ac-
End of Football Season Approaches So we showed up to the stadium Saturday evening in our shiny turquoise tops, prepared for halftime and excited for the game — and what an exciting game it was! I am so proud of our football team this year. Sometimes, I’m more excited about the game than performing at halftime. On Saturday, there is no home game, so we already have Friday practice marked as “NO practice!” and this means a free weekend. Only two more halftime performances are left for the Strutters in 2005; football season sure is flying. We will be following Abby as she high kicks as a Texas State Strutter every Wednesday.
ONLINE: www.txstrutters.com.
Good Night fails to show audience the true emotion of Red Scare Good Night and Good to help bring down Luck, the new Red Scare film McCarthy at the height docudrama from direc- review of the Red Scare. That’s tor/writer/star George ✯✯✯✯✯ it — that’s the premise. Clooney is a film that Good Night and It’s deceptively simple, is easy to admire but Good Luck considering how much nearly impossible to Dir.: George Clooney crams into love. the film. Clooney It’s well-intentioned, Stars: David It doesn’t take a geto be sure, but some- Strathairn, Robert nius to see a parallel thing’s missing from Downey Jr. between McCarthy’s the film; the whole pro- Rated: PG tactics and the manner duction feels a little bit in which the Bush adtoo tidy — a little bit ministration silences too choreographed. There’s no critics. Clooney is a liberal, but real excitement here. As a civics he’s too smart to use the film to lesson, it’s a success. However, as advance his own political agena drama, Clooney’s film leaves da. He’s much more interested something to be desired. in examining the power of good The movie is a competently journalism, and, by extension, executed, if overly reverential, pointing out that it no longer valentine to the bygone era exists. when the American newsman It would seem that a film was a shining beacon of integri- about an icon like Murrow ty. Yes, it is obvious Clooney has would be a slam-dunk, especialpassion and knowledge about ly in this era of irresponsible (or his subject. His father, Nick, was just plain disinterested) televia newsman in Kentucky, and sion journalism. While exposing George grew up in the news- our modern media irresponsiroom, and it shows. Clooney’s bility is a noble goal, Clooney’s script (which he wrote with tone is so damn solemn it nearly Grant Heslov) knows the ca- derails the entire thing. dence and shorthand of how We are treated to innumernewsmen speak. It lends the able scenes of journalists doing dialogue a remarkable air of the right thing, even though authenticity. Clooney has stated what they are fighting for is publicly that Edward R. Mur- somewhat vague. Clooney never row, the crusading CBS journal- elaborates on the threat that ist at the heart of this film, was McCarthy poses and the power one of his boyhood idols, a true that he wields. When we see American hero who was willing Tailgunner Joe, he looks like to take an unpopular stand. On what he was: a tired, old drunk this score, Clooney is correct; screaming from a soapbox, a Murrow was arguably the great- common bigot driven by haest American journalist, televi- tred and loathing. We never get sion or otherwise, of the 20th any sense of the power he held century, and a man who enlight- over the media. People unfamilened and informed America iar with McCarthy’s power will during our time of need. From likely be wondering why a mahis infamous rooftop broadcasts jor network is so afraid of a man during the Battle of Britain to who, at least in the movie, looks his on-air battles with Sen. Jo- like an easy target to take down. seph McCarthy, Murrow estabThe cast is good, but they lished himself as television’s don’t help Clooney convey the conscience during its infancy. fear and desperation their realHe was an eloquent man who life counterparts must have been was never afraid to prod au- feeling. Strathairn, an introspecthority to try and get a rise out tive character actor I have long of the establishment. He wasn’t admired, hits all the right notes a muckraker, but rather, an in- as Murrow. As written, though, quisitive mind who believed in the Murrow character may be the principles upon which this a little too reserved, a bit too country was founded. introspective. Admittedly, he Clooney’s film focuses on the was supposed to be a beacon of latter series of events, showing us strength and a calming force in the chronology of how Murrow the CBS newsroom, but Cloo(David Strathairn) and his loyal ney takes things a bit too far. We team of CBS reporters managed never get to see the man behind
the icon. Was he scared of McCarthy? Did he want this fight? Was he at all motivated by his own liberal politics? The answer to all these questions is yes, but you’ll have to read a Murrow biography to figure it out. The movie makes token attempts at answering these questions, but it never satisfies our curiosity. The supporting cast is impressive, but they aren’t put to good use. Patricia Clarkson and Robert Downey Jr. are largely wasted in a useless romantic subplot. Only Ray Wise, in an Academy Award-worthy performance as CBS correspondent Don Hollenbeck, manages to make you feel the devastation McCarthy’s words could inflict. On a technical level, the movie is a triumph. Clooney and director of photography Robert Elswit made the wise choice to shoot the film in stark black and white, which only adds to the documentary feel of the film. The atmosphere is claustrophobic; nearly every scene takes place in the stark CBS newsroom, cloaked in shadows and smoke. Clooney uses suffocating close-ups to further heighten the tension. Much has also been made about how Clooney chose not to hire an actor to play McCarthy, instead relying on the archived footage of McCarthy, effectively letting the senator hang himself. It is during these scenes that the real horror of McCarthy’s actions come out. We also get riveting footage of Arkansas Sen. John McClellan and attorney Joseph Welch famously standing up to McCarthy in hearings, effectively dooming the senator. This stock footage has more impact than anything in Clooney’s script. For all of its narrative shortcomings, the film deserves to be seen, if only because it will show an entire generation raised on the talking heads of cable news what a real newsman looks like. It’s a simple, straightforward retelling of how an American hero stood up and did the right thing during a time when nobody wanted to take a stand against evil. Sometimes, that’s all it takes to be a hero. — Ray Gustini Badger Herald
Tuesday’s solutions:
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Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. David Strathairn stars as broadcast legend Edward R. Murrow in Good Night and Good Luck.