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Sunday, October 20, 2013

'NYT' Review Hits WikiLeaks Flick--Which Is Bombing

Update:  NYT on Sunday refers to it as a "bomb" and part of "weekend wreckage"--with equal bomb, that Stallone-Arnold S. flick.


Variety late Friday says the film is tanking, at the box office, with the 2nd worst Friday opening for any major film all year.  But it seems to be helping the Gibney doc, viewed by many reviewers as better.

A.O. Scott's review just posted and it's not exactly a rave, not a good sign for a movie that may be  box office (not to mention factually) challenged to begin with.  UPDATE: As more reviews pour in, Rotten Tomatoes has it with very poor 31% favorable rating.
This version of the WikiLeaks story, directed by Bill Condon from a script by Josh Singer, is a moderate snoozefest, undone by its timid, muddled efforts at fair-mindedness....
As we zoom from squatter apartments to newsrooms to government offices (where Laura Linney, Stanley Tucci and Anthony Mackie worry about their jobs and their diplomatic contacts), the picture grows fuzzier, and the vital questions it wants to raise about privacy, transparency and security grow muddier. 
Of course, the Times is part of the story--but that's an old, and long, story.    See my two books on WikiLeaks and Manning over on the right rail of this blog.

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