State of Play

Capsule: a smart, well-paced thriller which also reminds us that, yeah, Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck are good actors, too.

D decided we should take Monday off and go see a movie in the afternoon. She gave me a choice of three local theatres and two movies at each venue; I chose State of Play at Cinetopia, because it is the best movie house in the Portland area, and I'm researching thrillers at the moment (the novel I'm currently rewriting is a near-future techno-thriller). I'd also heard good things about the BBC miniseries on which this American remake is based.

Though D had little interest going in (she was sure I would pick Monsters vs. Aliens instead), afterwards she had no complaints except for the obscure title (a chiefly British phrase meaning "state of affairs" or "the current situation"). The trailer is pretty info-rich, but it actually doesn't give too much away:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHziENfOX34

And now I've added the BBC series to my Netflix queue. Nothing against the American filmmakers, who produced a great picture, but I fully expect the British original to be superior:


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EL9AMuVvqMI

~CKL