Film Log

BROADCAST NEWS (1987)

Criterion #552

OSCARS 1987

BEST PICTURE (1/5)
BEST ACTOR (1/5)
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR (1/5)
BEST ACTRESS (1/5)
BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY (2/5)

Getting my 1987 film credentials up to par with this one, when I original had only Woody Allen's Radio Days and Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket in the docket as the Oscar-nominated films from that year.

Despite my general annoyance with As Good As It Gets, I knew that James L. Brooks was known for sharp honest dialogue and this is an incredible movie full of characters whose depth and complicated personalities don't belong in the eighties. Holly Hunter was in Raising Arizona the same year and her sweetness takes on a whole new shine in Broadcast News. You are in awe of her aggressive newsroom personality in once scene and you just collapse when the career mode is taken away and she becomes an emotional wreck. The tension is great because the love triangle takes place in parallel to the battle over journalistic integrity, strengthening both conflicts.

All I've got for now.