Am I Wrong About Murrow Movie?

Yesterday I wrote about “Good Night and Good Luck,” George Clooney’s new movie about Edward R. Murrow, CBS and Senator Joseph McCarthy. Neither Helaine nor I thought it was particularly good. That probably guarantees it a best picture Oscar!

Friends and acquaintances have written to tell me how much they disagree. Was I the only person to pan the picture?

I went “googling” to try and find a legitimate negative review. Interestingly, the first I found (the vast majority of reviews were very positive) disliked the movie for many of the same reasons I did.

I have no clue who the reviewer, Phil Hall, is – but here’s his review.

This whole thing reminds me of a Mary Tyler Moore episode. Murray gets involved with a play, which opens to a horrendous review in the paper. After some research, Mary finds this guy also panned My Fair Lady, among others.

Recently, we have also disliked Lost in Translation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Both of those were warmly embraced by ‘real’ critics.

Atlantic City and the Weather’s Awful

I’m writing this midday Sunday. There hasn’t been any sun or even the glimpse of the nighttime sky since we’ve been here. Sort of depressing.

As opposed to Las Vegas, this isn’t a good place for Steffie. The hotel, beautiful as it is, is very kid unfriendly. We are removed from the Boardwalk and midtown Atlantic City, though that would make little difference.

Helaine took Steffie to the Boardwalk yesterday, but they stayed only a short time. She was disappointed by the whole honky tonk, sleazy, scene. Of course that’s what Helaine and I like about it. More than anything, we enjoy the people watching, because there are characters of every sort.

We had dinner at the buffet at The Borgata with my friend Peter. I first met him in the early 70’s when I was working in Cleveland. He was the first person I ever met who owned a calculator! He still has it. Later, Peter became my boss – the program director at WPEN radio in Philadelphia. We have been very good friends for 30 years.

The buffet is definitely a Las Vegas contender. There were carving stations and lots of interesting, well prepared, dishes.

A chef was making some spaghetti sauce, I believe using vodka. I tried to take a photo, but was too late. So she put some vodka in a pan so I could have a photo op. Very appreciated.

Unfortunately, she was on the high end of service employees who don’t reach the same level as in Vegas. I’m sorry to do all these comparisons, but it’s only natural. And, time-wise, from where I live in Connecticut, Las Vegas isn’t that much farther away.

We had tickets to the comedy show at the hotel for 9:00 PM. I figured, since it was crowded, that I’d go down and register for poker before we went. That way I wouldn’t have to wait as long. As it turned out, my name wasn’t called until 11:30!

The comedy show, in the same room that Helaine and Steffie saw Rick Springfield the night before, was pretty good. There were three comics, “The Coach,” Jack Fontana, and Pete Correalle.

We all agreed Pete Correalle was the best. In some ways he was reminiscent of Seinfeld. He was in control and laid back.

I thought Jack Fontana, an ‘old school’ joke teller ,was better than “The Coach,” but I was alone in that impression. Either way, both were worse than great, better than bad. Entertaining, but not special.

Last night, the casino was as crowded as any casino I had ever seen. And the crowd was younger than any casino crowd I’d ever seen. Many of the women were dressed in that tawdry, slutty way that’s OK for women, as long as they’re not in your family.

I headed down to the poker room to wait out my table. When I say down, I really mean it, since the room is in the basement.

Like the main casino floor, the poker room was astoundingly crowded. I did get a chance to see what the floor people were carrying. They each have some sort of HP PDA with 802.11b access to the poker room system. So they can work the lists and do nearly everything that can be done from the podium.

I sat at a $6/$12 Hold’em table and slowly began to lose money. It wasn’t long before I was down $100. But I was playing decently (though not as tight as I’d like)&#185, so I figured I’d be OK.

My losses stabilized for a while and then I went down again. I had lost $130 or so when things began to turn. I won a few small pots. At least two times everyone laid down their cards to my bet on the river. I think I won because of my earlier semi-tight play. Then I won a few bigs hands.

By the time I went to cash in my chips, I had won $176. So, three sessions for $96, $5, $176. I’m happy.

As I walked through the casino, after 2:00 AM, things were still jumping. In the elevator, yesterday’s Rear Window had given way to Lost in Translation.

&#185 – It’s reasonable to ask, if you know you’re not playing right, why not just do it? The brief answer is, while you’re at a table, you’re always looking at the hands and evaluating them. But you’re also there to play, which is what you don’t do when you lay your cards down. This is less a problem on-line. Even though I can intellectualize the problem, I don’t always act with my intellect.

Lost In Translation

Steffie had plans tonight and needed to be in Trumbull. With the thought that roads might not be in great shape later in the evening, Helaine and I decided to drive her (instead of her driving herself) and spend the evening out.

We had dinner at Bennigans at the Trumbull Mall (French Dip and Chicken Noodle Soup, it’s an exciting life!) and then went to Fairfield to see Lost in Translation.

Neither Helaine or I know our way through Bridgeport, but I assumed going down Main Street would lead us to I-95. At some point, we became lost. Luckily, there was an electric company crew working on some project. I asked for directions, and one worker gave them.

“Go over that bridge that looks like it’s closed.” It was closed! Thanks.

I have not read anything but raves about this movie and so I wanted to see it. I could not have been more disappointed.

Though beautifully shot and well acted, the movie never got off the ground. I’m still not sure what it was about.

I find Bill Murray much more likable than I did when he first broke out on Saturday Night Live. Though the part he played wasn’t based on him, the character he acted sure seemed it. That’s not bad. As I said, he’s likable.

Scarlett Johansson, as a woman questioning her two year old marriage, was fine. Good acting in a dark role.

She is more attractive than she is beautiful. I’m not sure if that sentence makes total sense other than to say, I find physical beauty only one part of being attractive.

When all was said and done, Helaine complained that the movie had been very slow (though she enjoyed it more than I did). I concur.

There is one thing this movie left me with. I would love to go to Japan. In fact, I’d like to visit Asia in general. I don’t think Helaine wants to go, so this will be something that will only happen if there is another reason for going, and seeing Japan is secondary.

Interestingly enough, this was another movie with an all adult audience. At age 53, I was much younger than the median.