Dreadfully Boring

A different way of telling a story

Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Yet another big budget, Hollywood movie about the wild, fast paced world of journalism. It is not exactly an exciting premise but Hollywood keeps romanticizing this profession. Don't expect All the President's Men, Absence of Malice, or even the Pelican Brief here. This is just Ron Howard stockpiling a bunch of big names much like the Yankees do. I read reviews where this is a realistic look at news...yada yada...so what? That doesn't make good cinema. There is much shouting, arguing, fighting including a fistfight between Close and Keaton to show just how much convictions their characters have. I don't find anyone or anything particularly likable or interesting in this tedious piece.

I was disappointed in Ron Howard's 2006 "The Da Vinci Code", but "The Paper" is everything the overblown "Da Vinci Code" is not, namely exciting and suspenseful with well-rounded but solidly interesting and highly believable characters, plus lots of quite breathtakingly imaginative use of real locations. Despite Howard's equally adroit use of actual city streets and buildings in "Da Vinci", the over-all effect was boring rather thrilling, ho-hum rather than "Wow! Let's see that scene again!" Of course, "The Paper" is more down to earth. Its plot and characters are far more convincingly realistic – and the players really do them justice. Even minor roles – such as Spalding Gray's "Paul Bladden" and Jason Robards's "Graham Keighley" – are so cleverly integrated into the plot that they hold the viewer spellbound and keep him or her – especially him – asking for more. As the hero, Michael Keaton, does a really first-class job and keeps the viewer rooting for the character even when he over-steps the mark by his verbal badgering of the other characters and even his out-and-out stealing. Fortunately, the screen writing Koepps provide him with an important principal – "As far as I'm aware, the paper has never ever gone to press with a front-page story which we knew was wrong!" – and the Keaton character's adherence to this principle tips the scales in his favor when Alicia Clark (superbly enacted by Glenn Close) decides against halting the print run and Keaton's Henry Hackett sets out to attack her both physically and verbally. Yes, it may be a bit over the top – I haven't even mentioned another ten or twenty gripping incidents – but "The Paper" is so fast-paced, so enthrallingly plotted, so charismatically directed and so brilliantly enacted by the entire cast – there's no time to stop and think that maybe all these wild incidents strain credulity just a little, here and there! Available on a really excellent Universal DVD.

The Paper, another good film by Ron Howard, is a well-acted comedy that proves why Ron is such a good filmmaker and how he makes his movies interesting. Ordinarily, the 24-hour cycle of a newspaper company would be pretty boring to watch on the big screen, but here we have a clever story with well-developed characters, a great score, and a fine mixture of well-timed comedy mixed it with some dramatic, realistic incidents.Howard's film is about an editor named Henry Hackett who likes his job working at the Sun, but he is facing pressure from his pregnant wife to find a better job so he is contemplating on working for the Times. Meanwhile, his publisher Bernie White is facing financial and family problems while his second-in-command is imposing not-so-popular cutbacks.The acting is pretty darn good. Michael Keaton delivers a balanced comedic role. Robert Duvall is always good so there are no surprises here. Glenn Close is worth a mention because she and Keaton have some very good scenes with each other especially near the end. I also liked Marisa Tomei as the incredibly moody wife.Overall, this is a solid, well-acted film that is way better than it should be. I wasn't expecting much, but with a Ron Howard film here, I had to check it out. While it's not the best journalism-related film out there, it's still worth a watch. I rate this film 8/10.

There are not too many solid Newspaper stories which ever make it to the silver Screen. Occasionally one does comes along and if it's message is important with respect towards the audience, it deserves attention. Such a movie is, " The Paper ". The star of the movie is Michael Keaton who plays Henry Hackett a city editor who's boss is Bernie White played by noted actor Robert Duvall. Jason Robards is the Publisher, Graham Keighley. Their newspaper is about to print a story about a local derailment, when a small item arrest in Williamsburg NY, inspires Hackett to risk his position and a promotion with 'The Sentinal'' a prestigious uptown Newspaper. There are a number of hurtles to following up on the Williamsburg murder of three prominent bankers who lost several million dollars of the Mafia's money, primary of which is Alicia Clark (Glenn Close) an envious supervisor who is more interested in saving money than the reputations of two black youths. She explains that without more information on the dead men, additional corroboration or a quote by the tight-lipped police, she is running the subway derailment story. Confident he is right, Hackett pulls out all the stops to beat a four hour deadline, attend his wife's (Marisa Tomei) social life, protect his top reporter (Randy Quaid) from a gun-toting parking official (Jason Alexander) and file the story by press time. The movie possess all the exciting impetus of a modern front page story including the daily problems confronting the staff and the personal lives of all concern. The film is powerful in it's direction and will in time be seen as a Journalistic Classic. Easilly recommended for all. ****