This was a pretty excellent show, 7 episodes. The absolute best was the acting by Russell Crowe. It so happens that I was fairly familiar with how Roger Ailes (whom RC depicts) looked and acted physically, and I was amazed by how good a job RC did, he really got it down to exactlng detail, gestures, way of walking, the angle at which Ailes would hold his head and so on. Just outstanding. Btw. the fat suite was pretty good too. Many of the other actors were excellent too. The writing was a bit hit or miss - I don't want to get into politics, but let's just put it this way, it was simplified a bit too much and Fox News was depicted a bit too negatively without necessary nuance IMHO, but opinions may differ (to me, it definitely felt to have a liberal bias). But man, the acting was so, so outstanding. Sienna Miller - brilliant. Alexa Palladino - brilliant. Simon McBurney - brilliant. Annabelle Wallis - brilliant. Naomi Watts - excellent. As I've said many times, we live in a golden age of acting, pretty good age of writing - maybe silver age or bronz age (pun intended, ha!).
Unfortunately, we also live in a rotten age of directing. Good directors are few and far between. Yuck. What I found interesting is how much difference the directing seemed to make here too. The best episodes by far IMHO, were the first two, directed by Kari Skogland. Steven Frears and Scott Burns were ok-ish. The garbage fire of directing was Jeremy Podeswa - episodes 3 and 4, both of which were by far the worst - this is where everything lacked subtlety and every point was hamfisted, scenes were mis-timed and flat. What a letdown. The other more general question for me, was how well the razmatazz snazzy graphics throughout will age - they're fine here, more or less, I enjoyed them, but I think there's potential that X years from now, it'll seem somewhat dated - or maybe it'll seem a legit sign of its time.
In any case, it seems like many series based on real life or events are winners these days - Chernobyl, Escape from Dannemora, The Loudest Voice etc.
Recommended!
Unfortunately, we also live in a rotten age of directing. Good directors are few and far between. Yuck. What I found interesting is how much difference the directing seemed to make here too. The best episodes by far IMHO, were the first two, directed by Kari Skogland. Steven Frears and Scott Burns were ok-ish. The garbage fire of directing was Jeremy Podeswa - episodes 3 and 4, both of which were by far the worst - this is where everything lacked subtlety and every point was hamfisted, scenes were mis-timed and flat. What a letdown. The other more general question for me, was how well the razmatazz snazzy graphics throughout will age - they're fine here, more or less, I enjoyed them, but I think there's potential that X years from now, it'll seem somewhat dated - or maybe it'll seem a legit sign of its time.
In any case, it seems like many series based on real life or events are winners these days - Chernobyl, Escape from Dannemora, The Loudest Voice etc.
Recommended!
