Bombshell (2019) Review

"It's a visual medium."
-Roger Ailes



Bombshell focuses on three female employees at Fox News and how they handle being sexually harassed by the founder, Roger Ailes (Jonn Lithgow).  It's based off true events.


What Works:

Bombshell tells a very engaging story.  We have three different protagonists and each of their stories is very interesting.  It was fascinating and horrifying to watch as all of their stories came together and was surprisingly intense.

Margot Robbie is the best part of the film.  She plays an amalgamation of real-life people and her character is our window into how bad the harassment was.  What starts off as an interesting scene of Robbie and Lithgow discussing politics and media turns very uncomfortable very fast.  It's a really well done scene that made my stomach shrivel up.  Later, she breaks down in the middle of a phone call.  It's excellent acting from Robbie and a powerful performance.

Nicole Kidman also does a great job as Gretchen Carlson, the woman who got the ball rolling in taking down Ailes.  Kidman's anger is palpable even when she's trying to hold it back.

The other really interesting aspect of the film is getting to see the dynamic of Fox News.  We learn a little of Ailes' backstoty and see how he ran the place.  It's a really intriguing and I just wanted to see more of the working conditions at Fox.

The movie does a good job of mirroring the real life reactions to people coming forward about being sexually harassed.  We get a wide variety of characters behaving in a variety of ways, from supportive, to outright disgusting.  It sucks to watch and makes you lose some faith in humanity, but rings true to reality and makes its point well.

Finally, I appreciate that Bombshell didn't go after much low-hanging fruit in regards to Fox News.  I was nervous this movie might go the route of Vice, but that wasn't the case.  There were maybe two jokey jabs at Fox and we saw both of them in the the trailer.  The rest all came from actual clips from their shows.  The filmmakers stayed focused on telling the story.


What Sucks: 

My only real complaint is surprisingly about Charlize Theron.  Her accent was wildly inconsistent and she never really sounds like Megyn Kelly.  She looks the part, for sure, but she took me out of the movie with most of her dialogue.


Verdict:

Bombshell is a very important movie with a fascinating story in a great setting, excellent performances, and a timely message.  Chalize Theron's accent needed some work, but this movie has still got it going on.

 9/10: Great 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more