Capote A brief review

Ok, even though I really don’t like Phillip Seymour Hoffman (is there another Phillip Hoffman that he is concerned about being confused with? I mean what the hell is the requirement for using his middle name of Seymour?) I did see Capote on Friday night, and I have to admit it was a good movie and that he did a great job of acting in it.

Basically the film is about Capote’s researching and writing of In Cold Blood. After seeing the film, I did a bit of follow up to answer a few questions I had, like who was Capote’s "long time companion"? Well the guy was Jack Dunphy, writer of several books that I have never read or for that matter even heard of. Another question I had was to find out if Harper Lee had ever written another book after To Kill A Mockingbird. The answer was no. Then again Capote never wrote another book after In Cold Blood although unlike Harper Lee, he had previously written novels.

I enjoyed Capote and if it beats out Brokeback Mountain at the Academy Awards tonight that’s ok. Just as long as Good Night and Good Luck, Crash and Munich (for what it’s worth I cannot get the Munich web site to open in Opera!?) don’t win squat I will be happy.

Good Night and Good Luck had a good story to tell but it didn’t work. Unless you totally understood the McCarthy era, this film simply did not work. As for the nomination for Best Actor for David Strathairn, I just don’t see it. Sitting stiffly and smoking cigarettes didn’t seem to me like much of an acting job.

Crash came off to me as just another cheap “let’s try to toy with the audience’s emotions” kind of films. No real acting in it either, at least not to the depth of Heath Ledger or Phillip Hoffman.

Munich was just fictionalized bullshit. The book the film was based on, Vengence, was written by a guy who claimed to have inside knowledge of the Mossad’s payback assassination teams, but it turned out that he actually knew nothing about it. Since the release of the film some of the actual Mossad members have come out and said that 1. They didn’t feel any angst about killing terrorists linked to the Munich killings, and 2. That several teams were involved, unlike the film portrays.

Well anyway it will be beer, pizza and chili tonight while we watch the Academy Awards.