He’s a Bad Newscaster. He’s the…
Vidiot
Week of March 10, 2011
Anyone can read off a teleprompter. First up…
Morning Glory
If television morning shows want to reach a younger audience than they need to change their broadcasting hours to the late afternoon.
And while the morning show in this romantic-comedy continues to broadcast before sunrise, it did manage to hire a youthful producer.
After she’s laid off from being a local morning news producer, Becky (Rachel McAdams) lands an executive producer gig with a struggling national morning show.
As one of her first acts, she fires the co-host and hires gruff veteran newsman Mike Pomeroy (Harrison Ford) to co-anchor the show alongside Colleen (Diane Keaton).
However, Mike’s refusal to cover soft news puts the jocular show in jeopardy.
Telecasting a trove of titters as well as topical, yet terrifying, tête-à-têtes on the transition of information into infotainment, Morning Glory blossoms.
In fact, like current news stories, its merits should be discussed ad nauseam by a panel of semi-experts and Twitters. 0
The Next Three Days
The worst thing about being married to someone who is in prison is that when they get out they’ll be more educated and in better physical shape than you.
However, it’s unlikely that the motives of the desperate husband in this thriller have anything to do with his incarcerated spouse’s brains or brawn.
After his wife, Lara (Elizabeth Banks), is sentenced to prison for the murder of her boss, college professor and single father John (Russell Crowe) hatches a plan to break her out.
Obtaining pertinent escape intel from a successful jail-breaker (Liam Neeson), as well as from Youtube, John carries out the desperate act over an extended period of time.
With a flat romance and a plodding plot that culminates in an underwhelming ending, The Next Three Days is a tepid caper.
Besides, the easiest way to break in and out of women’s prison is on the tampon delivery truck. 0
Jackass 3D
The best thing about performing stunts with your buddies is that if you’re seriously injured, you can count on them to get your footage to YouTube immediately.
Unfortunately for the extreme exhibitionists injured in this comedy, their antics were shot in 3D, so their footage needs to be sent to a lab.
Besides a preamble provided by Beavis and Butt-head, Jackass 3D opens in the same over-the-top fashion as its predecessors.
From there the Jackass cast (Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Preston Lacy and Wee Man) adhere to their usual agenda of self-abusive stunts, including a game of beehive tetherball and porta-potty bungee.
Based on the groundbreaking MTV series, Jackass 3D pulls out all of the stops; unfortunately, the penis pranks and sleazy sketches detract from the boys more ingenious gambles.
As for other three dimensional jackasses, you can usually find them walking around or driving cars everywhere. 0
***Past Its Prime Time***
Network
Since the majority of the television viewers are brain-dead lummoxes, having low ratings is actually a compliment.
Unfortunately, not attaching the drooling masses to your network can lead to layoffs, or worse.
Getting wind he’ll be canned from the evening news due to disappointing numbers, veteran newsman Howard Beale (Peter Finch) snaps, announcing his on-air suicide in one week’s time.
Causing a spike in the ratings, network executives permit his tirades, even going so far as giving Beale his own show.
Meanwhile, his boss (William Holden) tangles romantically and theologically with a young producer (Faye Dunaway) who’s keen on amalgamating news and entertainment.
A satirical stab at the heart of television and the subversive spell it casts over millions, Network is as much a dark-comedy as it is a relevant rally cry.
Fortunately, its prophecy of pap news broadcasting never came true, or at least that’s what Billy Bush reported.
He’s a Constant Infotainer. He’s the…
Vidiot
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