Broadcast News

Today, our news shows can be comprised of stories that aren’t news at all, depending on the events of the day.  Just look at the Today show.  The local news usually gets the big stories out first.  A crash on the highway, a building on fire, a robbery, then a segment about the local YouTube star or someones pet raccoon.  This trend in news becoming cheap entertainment, rather than facts on important events, is exactly what the serious reporters in Broadcast News had feared.

We first meet your three main characters as young teens.  Jane is obsessively writing at her typewriter and freaks out at her father when interrupted.  Aaron is the fifteen year old valedictorian high school graduate who just keeps getting beat up for being smart.  And Tom is the good looking boy who tries hard, but just isn’t good at school.  “What can you do with yourself if all you can do is look good?”  They all end up working together in a television news program and form a love triangle.

From their teenage introductions, we understand where each of them will end up.  Jane (Holly Hunter) is the workaholic writer and producer who loves it when everything is in her control.  Aaron (Albert Brooks) is the dedicated, educated corespondent who doesn’t have the looks to hold the world’s attention on TV.  And Tom (William Hurt) just keeps moving up the ladder because he is handsome and a voice that can sell the news.  Tom knows he’s unqualified for his job, sometimes he doesn’t even understand the news he’s reading.  He openly admits these faults, but still runs stories that aren’t real news and gets promoted, leaving Jane and Aaron perplexed and unhappy.  And when the station has to cut the budget, it’s surprising who gets the ax and who is promoted.

On a personal level, Tom is a good guy, and wants to do better at his job, so he tries to learn from Jane and Aaron.  The more Jane and Tom work together, the closer they become.  But Aaron has always had feelings for Jane, yet the two are just very good friends.  As the film progresses, Jane is pulled more and more between the two men and the stress of her job.

The most memorable scene from this film has to be when Aaron gets the chance to anchor the Saturday evening news.  After gaining some confidence using some tips from Tom on how to look good and sounds good, there is one thing Aaron didn’t see coming.  Sweat.  Once the camera goes live, he begins sweating in huge thick drips from his curly haired head.  What’s more hilarious is that every moment the camera is cut away from Aaron, a swarm of people run in to dab his head and have to run off before the camera is back on Aaron.  With all the mayhem, someone bumps into the big hanging map behind the desk, and it’s swinging in the background on live TV.  The whole scene is perfectly hilarious, one of the best moments in the entire film.

You may find Broadcast News under the romantic comedy genera, but it doesn’t feel like one.  It is a surprisingly intelligent film full of witty dialogue and complex characters.  The performances from all three leads are wonderful and worthy of their Oscar nominations, even though Albert Brooks was nominated under supporting actor.  There’s even Jack Nicholson who has a small role as the station’s head anchor who won’t reduce his salary, where in the film he requested not to be paid for the role.  This is the last film James L. Brooks made before The Simpsons started up and it feels like a smart springboard straight into his animated franchise.  At the least, this film was some fuel behind the character, Kent Brockman.

“A lot of alliteration from anxious anchors placed in powerful posts!”

Terms of Endearment

The summery on this little Netflix slip began with something cheesy like daughters are from Mars and mothers are from Venus.  I groaned, realizing I was in for mother-daughter weepy feelings time, where most people reach for the tissues, I grab a bucket.

Aurora (Shirley MacLaine) and her daughter Emma (Debra Winger) are very close.  The father died when Emma was still a little girl, so they’re instantly closer than your average only child family.  In those first few minutes where we watch Emma grow up, it seems that Aurora is sometimes more of a friend than a mother, but maybe that’s just what happens as a single parent.  The night before Emma is going to marry Flap Horton (Jeff Daniels) Aurora puts her mother face back on and tells her straight that marrying Flap will be a mistake.  “You are not special enough to overcome a bad marriage.”

Well, with that whole Mars-Venus thing Emma doesn’t listen and the main story is her and Flap’s married life from kids, Flap’s crappy job moving him across the country, money problems, marriage problems and all the juicy stuff Emma shares on the phone to her mother every day.  Emma’s life makes for some good gossip, if it were less quirky and didn’t have any good hearted laughs it would be daytime television material.

Jack Nicholson plays the retired astronaut who lives next to Aurora.  The character’s name is Garrett or something like that, but it doesn’t matter because this is Jack’s usual character and he quickly became the entire reason I started to enjoy the film.  He enjoys getting drunk, hitting on inappropriately young girls and driving too fast in his silver Corvette, so obviously prim and propper Aurora thinks he’s horrible.  One day Jack asks Aurora out on a casual lunch date, but doesn’t accept it until a few years later, during her third 50th birthday party.  Sounds to me like Jack is just a little lonely and Aurora wants to feel young again.  These two are much more interesting than Emma and her pile of dumb decisions.

So that’s basically it; mother-daughter long distance relationship, issues with their men and then some tragedy.  Throw in some laughs and Jack Nicholson to keep those who don’t sponge up the dripping estrogen entertained and this movie isn’t half bad.  I wasn’t moved or enlightened and no, I did not cry.

Even before considering the slew of Oscar noms (11) and five wins (Jack Nicholson, Shriley MacLaine, and James L. Brooks for Director, Writing and Picture), I understand how this film can work into one’s heart and into the Best Picture slot.  But it just felt too conventional to me.  Maybe it’s a generational thing where I found the music cheesy and reminiscent of an afternoon special.   Perhaps I’m just a cold-hearted fool who thought Emma was an idiot for marrying Jeff Daniels in the first place.  And I couldn’t believe that there was anyone in the world who wouldn’t enjoy getting drunk with Jack Nicholson and driving that Corvette along the beach.  Seriously, I’d put a brick on that pedal and climb up top with him.

I think you can tell what my favorite scenes from Terms of Endearment were:

“-You’re just going to have to trust me about this one thing. You need a lot of drinks.
–To break the ice?
-To kill the bug that you have up your ass.”