#movies about journalism

[disappointingyet]

Between The Lines

Director Joan Micklin Silver Stars Lindsay Crouse, John Heard, Jeff Goldblum, Jill Eikenberry, Bruno Kirby, Gwen Welles, Stephen Collins USA 1977 Language English 1hr 41mins Colour 

Classic indie ensemble piece – before that was a thing

If you’d seen this at the time, which of the male actors do you think you would have picked out as the future movie star? The obvious thing to say is one of the rectangular-headed blonde guys, especially because John Heard is sort-of the male romantic lead here. But then again, this is the 1970s, the era of Al and Bobby, so maybe you go for Bruno Kirby – the short Italian guy who had actually shared scenes with De Niro in The Godfather Part II.

Watching in 2023, we know it's the tall, weirdly magnetic Jewish dude who seems all limbs who would become much more famous than the rest. The film ends with the camera locked on Jeff Goldblum and he’s fully formed here – the day after I saw Between The Lines, I watched an episode of Search Party from last year that he’s in, and if the mannerisms are a little more extreme now, they were certainly already there. 

It’s a formidable cast of then up-and-comers. It’s not quite a 1970s equivalent of Short Term 12, but almost all of these people went on to have good careers: Kirby and Heard as beloved character actors and Jill Eikenberry and Stephen Collins as leads on hit TV shows (as was Marilu Henner, who has a memorable few scenes in this film). Maybe I think of Crouse as bigger than she is because House Of Games was a very-much-talked-about film back in the day and she was a Columbo villain, which puts her in the company of Donald Pleasance, Janet Leigh, Rip Torn and Johnny Cash. (She’s also in the worst Buffy The Vampire Slayer storyline, but that’s not her fault.)

Never imagined John Heard and Lindsay Crouse as a cute couple

And it’s Crouse who gets the most screen time in this packed ensemble. She plays Abbie, a photographer working the Back Bay Mainline, an alternative weekly newspaper in Boston. Heard is Harry, one of the paper’s star writers and her sometime boyfriend. Goldblum is Max, the rock critic. Collins and Gwen Welles are Michael and Laura, both writers, but he’s the one working on a pompous-sounding book and she’s struggling with being in his shadow. Kirby (27 but looking much younger) is the newly joined boy reporter and Eikenberry is the long-suffering office manager. 

In a lot of ways, this a classic American indie movie about a bunch of bright young folk (eg, the already mentioned Short Term 12). Only that wasn’t really a thing yet in 1977. There were plenty of  films at the time, though, shot in scruffy, believable locations with sprawling casts (indeed, a few of the stars of this had been in Robert Altman pics). It was in the 1980s, I guess, that things started to separate out again. It was shot in only two weeks so I’m assuming the budget was pretty low – there are a couple of aerial shots that feel designed to make you sense this is proper movie.

And it’s a good example of the ensemble movie, a movie that makes us feel immersed in this little world, a very likeable film, funny in places, sharply written. And I don’t think it wrong to say Joan Micklin Silver is clearly bringing a woman’s perspective here – it’s easy to imagine a film that would have indulged and glorified Harry and Michael, rather than exposing their fragile egos. (There’s also a couple of good exchanges between Laura and Abbie that pre-figure the Sally/Marie ‘I don’t think he’s ever going to leave her’ riff in When Harry Met Sally.)

Between The Lines treads fairly lightly in boomer regret and nostalgia – there’s a bit of stuff about the passing of the counterculture, references to the early days of the paper as part of the underground press and the idealism of that moment, contrasted with the mid-1970s when it’s professional enough to be the target of a takeover by a guy who in that earlier moment would have been described as a breadhead.  But that never becomes the main theme — this isn’t the Return Of The Secaucus Seven or The Big Chill. Maybe it was a bit too early for that, and that's probably a good thing.

What feels like it was maybe intended as the movie’s marketing trump card is the presence of Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes, who were famous as Bruce Springsteen’s mates. They are on the soundtrack, mentioned in the plot and then play at a party. Never really been a fan – they represent the brassy bar band side of Springsteendom that I like less – but it’s kind of fun to have them here. 

At the time I write this, MUBI have a bunch of Joan Micklin Silver films up, aiming to get a serious consideration of her career. This is the first one I have seen, and I’m fully sold. 

[queersolaris]

I watched Flow (2024) a few days ago and I have been itching to get my thoughts out in some kind of way!! So don’t mind me gushing/ psychoanalysis this absolutely amazing movie—

This post will probably be all over the place cause I am still processing everything; forgive the jumbling thoughts

I think this movie had so many angles to see it from~ I totally got the found family (MY BRAND) and climate change perspectives buuuut what got me tearing up was interpreting it as parts of a person processing trauma

“oh this feels like it should be a video game” was actually my first thought

From the silence, style, hell even the boat steering felt like a game mechanic-- it kept coming to mind that this was similar to games like Brothers: a tale of two sons or When the past was around (kinda)?

It seemed obvious that there is trauma going on; how could there not be with an event like that? The theme that got me thinking it was more so about parts was 'reflection'

Obviously it starts and ends with a scene of the cat looking at itself in the water; but there was also our lemur friend being obsessed with their reflection in the mirror. From the angle of it being about parts dealing with trauma here is my dump of thoughts— I know its not that deep but I JUST GOTTA GET THIS OUTTA ME

The stags running represents the trauma event itself and the water felt like the overwhelming feelings that come afterwards-- something you can’t control it’s depth and suffocated by as it keeps rising no matter how much you try to escape/ignore it

The cat being in a house that is already run down feels like it’s clinging onto anything that is familiar but the feelings won’t let the cat survive— feelings will create the need for change and that’s is unavoidable (especially with trauma) The run down house could also have represented the way the cat has settled in poor conditions with time, old memories from a simpler time, and that can lead to isolation

Cat = representing resilience/self sustainability through situations which is why it is the main POV; it can lead to overwhelm and helplessness when isolated but it is the adaptability that is needed to progress (throughout the movie or trauma)-- the statues at the house could also be seen as almost versions of that; moments that it was bigger, smaller, more mobile but always is the same form

Dog = it was interesting that this character was introduced at the start but not along the journey the whole time right? I thought they were a representation of surviving through socializing— there is childishness and innocence but it is mainly always seen with others or serving others

Maybe the dog even could represent a child self ; something always willing to trusts others and help selflessly They do jump in to protect but in a way that is not rejecting

Capybara = survival by freezing or floating thru the situation— which is why we get to see them already on the boat, their focus is to nurture itself for the next day… taking it one day at a time and doing what it could but not worrying too much about the things it can’t help

Bird = the opposite of our doggy friend— we meet it as the one of the first to be around others of its kind but there is a self sacrificing nature to it. Giving its food to fighting for the cats safety... it has a protective role; however in a way that reject risks of the groups survival/comfort (with the pack of dogs) yet when that over protectiveness leaves… the situation ends soon after

I wondered before the bird disappeared if it was meant to be a older self— still juxtaposed to the dog— something with more trust issues because of experience, it looks after the other parts, even steers the others in the right direction... the connection to the cat also felt right ya know?? The parts of you that are willing to adapt usually come out the most in adulthood or when you need to be your more 'mature' self

There is also the concept of the flight response it could represent; which is why they did not want to be around the pack of dogs— almost showing it wanting to run/keep away from others

It disappearing felt like maybe there was something else— like this is meant to represent passing on a part or habit that kept healing at bay but was necessary to move through the trauma

Lemur = obsessed with material and it’s own reflection— it seems to be the part that tries to survive with status and the approval of others; of course being self destructive…

Maybe representing rumination, clinging onto things that are apart of the familiarity (which is why the movie kept the ball from the house as a reoccurring object), and even masking since the mirror was something that gave it company later before realizing it wasn’t the kind of company it wanted

The foundations crumble suddenly, the overflow of emotions (water) starts to sink in; leaving things different and the same (it seems like the same forest/area). We see the stags again running like before-- which almost indicates that something similar could happen. Then the cat waits for it all to happen again; the worst. When nothing does it runs after them almost looking for an answer, I think we've all been there; trying to figure out why our responses vary or what is was about us that has changed from before that makes things easier. That's when the cat gets to see our final part:

Whale = this thing made me cry for sure because throughout the story it felt like this represented old coping mechanisms (like from childhood); something that kept you a float or going no matter how dire things became—when rock bottom would hit in the middle of floating/navigating so many feelings-- it ensured survival. Even when the cat finally learned to fish for itself (which now i wonder was meant to be like naming emotions or processing things bit by bit) the whale shows up once more almost to be a reminder that it was still around even when not fully needed. At the end when foundations crumbled, the whale is no longer able to survive… and the cat is able to thank it for its help.

The water was there the whole movie but there was little times when the cat seemed to look at it's reflection. When it did it again at the end of the movie but with whole group being together-- I was obviously crying because dammit undertale you’re right despite everything it is still you

OH about the video game thought— looking at this from the lens of a trauma response; it did make more sense to be told as a movie; I mean with a game I can pause… I can take myself out of their experience and feel in control with a situation that is meant to not let us feel any

So being a movie instead is actually perfect

[rexscanonwife]

What's more appropriate for this new crush than a kiss under the mistletoe? ☺️💖

Taglist♡: @me-myself-and-my-fos @tiny-cloud-of-flowers @sunstar-of-the-north @dearly-beeloved @adoredbyalatus @changeling-selfship @crushes-georg

@cherry-bomb-ships @rosieshipper @rejaytionships @in-true-blue-love @tropicalgothships @little-miss-selfships

@cupiidzbow @frozenhi-chews @limey-self-inserts @candyheartedchy @space-sweetheart @halsinkisser @clancykisser

[shanklin]

Stanford never became friends with Fiddleford.

Instead he got himself a different small friend group who cares a lot about him. At least about the Ford he pretended to be in college.

A kind, soft spoken formerly bullied genius who researches very dull stuff in Oregon and definitely not anything weird. Their Ford would never break any rules or ignore safety measures [unlike that other student they heard about during their college years.]

And then Ford stops answering their calls and loses his grant. 

It’s time for an intervention and they start pestering Ford with letters and calls until he finally agrees to meet them at a science convention, but he’ll take his brother with him.

They’re relieved! Ford is with Shermie! They like Shermie! It's a good thing that Ford still has one brother who isn't a good for nothing selfish criminal who destroyed his entire future!

If they ever get their hands on Ford’s evil twin they’ll make sure he’ll regret ever messing with their friend. Ford is too nice for revenge. They aren’t.

Meanwhile at the not-yet Mystery Shack, the Stans freshly survived their own angsty canon divergent tale of two stans AU and locked Bill out of Ford's mind like a week ago.

Stan: I don’t know how long Ford will keep me around but this will be good for him. He needs some friends to take care of him after I inevitably get kicked out again!

Ford: I only agreed to this because Stan insisted and I still haven’t found a way to thank him and apologize. I hope all my “friends” die in a fire.

[20001541]

I like to think that pre canon both AFO and Izuku visited the same online forums where people came together to discuss quirks and often debated with each other about pro hero quirks lol. Their first conversation ever was arguing over aspects of All Mights quirk because AFO said something insulting about him.

Izuku finds AFO abrasive, but creates some of the most fascinating analysis he's ever read that he wonders if AFO is some kind of quirk counselor or doctor who specializes in studying quirks in real life.

AFO finds it refreshing to see someone share the same enthusiasm about quirks like he does and enjoys reading and challenging Izuku's own theories at times.

I wouldn't call it friendship.... but more like two people finding common ground in sharing a hobby that almost no one else cares for.

[moonymercutio]

Currently reading the "True Lives of The Fabulous Killjoys" comics as I got my hands on them at the bookstore (finally!!!) and GOSH the amount of inspiration I'm getting is crazy. The thing that makes the Killjoys and just Danger Days in general so cool/amazing is the fact that its so universal. Anyone can pick up a lasergun (metaphorically) and fight for what they believe in. Anyone can turn on the radio and listen to the world burning around them then laugh and turn the dial and hear their favorite song playing. Anyone can mourn and love and party and anger. As a LGBTQ+ teenager in America, with friends who are queer, poc, disabled, children of immigrants, and so many other things that are constantly being attacked and debated, there's something comforting (??) in knowing that change can happen, and that I can do something to help enact it, even if it's just donating $5 to a GoFundMe or hopping on a weekend train to the city and taking part in peaceful protests and rallies for the things I believe in.

in short... I am scared. But it's amazing how art can comfort, isn't it?

[usedtobeathrowaway]

how much do you think it weighed on Eggman's mind learning his grandfather, whom he based some of his life and ideology on, in the end wanted to destroy all humans, destroy the earth... that, Eggman, his own grandson was on?

[bmpmp3]

sorry to be a bit of a hater but i do wish youtubers weren't so scared of making their videos just like, "reviews", whys everything gotta be a "video essay" all the time. every day my recommendations are filled with 40 minute videos titled "_____: An Underrated Masterpiece" where the first like five minutes are reading the wikipedia definition of "masterpiece" in a somber voice with dramatic themed text on screen. please just tell me how good or bad you think something is and use the rest of the runtime to explain why. you dont need to put on all these airs

[aquickstart]

do you guys ever think about how out of them all farleigh was the next real thing. felix haunted the hallways of saltburn with his electric rays of light of naiveté, not malicious but borne of wealth and shelter, and oliver reached for that light like it was the sun. the cattons were adjacent, fantastical islands of that pool of light, and oliver was a drying plant that never saw the real thing and mistook a lamp for a life. an insidious parasitic vine, it's his nature. he offered felix the attention, the quiet adoration, he offered the other cattons the stares, the touch, the longing. and felix was a fantasy, a ghost since day one, a promise of warmth.

but farleigh was there. he was real. he was burning with anger and rage and boiling just beneath the skin. and it irritated oliver, it made him feel something that he couldn't control, and he couldn't control farleigh because he had nothing to offer him: not attention, because farleigh could see right through that front, not control, because you cannot control a 20-year-old incessant fire, not the surrender of it because power and wealth has been a low-hanging, spoiled fruit for farleigh, he yearns for and despises it, he has no desire for it.

killing off a lamplight is painfully reversable, mundane, easy; switch on and off at will, you will not feel a moral dillemma. it is in oliver's nature. but farleigh was real. and what can you do, accustomed to imitation of heat, when met with the raging warmth of life? do you guys think that alive and angry, farleigh was the next real thing. do you think he must live because oliver must know that there is a life at all. do you think

[mikimeiko]

Mo | Season 2 (2025), Mo Amer and Ramy Yussef

[in-tua-deep]

had a funky asgardian dream last night lol

the premise was that loki fucked around and basically an amnesiac version of loki ended up back in time with so many holes in his memory but enough knowledge to be like "odin is my dad"

and odin looked at this kid and was like "aw he looks like hela, this tracks" and, importantly, does not know that loki is a frost giant and just assumes loki is his full blood kid lol

all that to say that loki and thor grow up with big brother!loki who is actually?? a good big brother?

rather than hide hela's existence, older loki makes odin nostalgic and he ends up telling them that hela is their big sister who was "lost to the war" or some bullshit, which most people assume to mean she died in the war, right?

older loki sees like, one picture of her, notes the similarities, and then for some weird reason feels profoundly uncomfortable so he decides not to unpack all that and just avoids mention of her lol. kid thor doesn't really care that much about her bc she's not in their lives so why should he? kid loki LOVES learning about her and actively seeks info about her out, mostly because he thinks a big sister would probably be better than two older brothers (he also is young enough that lost to the war means that he could probably find her, right?)

importantly, kid!Loki grows up very differently in this dream world. instead of being the weird outcast prince, everyone looks at him and is like "awww look he's like his big brother <3." he's also like, 8 so at the moment he is very much the baby of the family

anyway so the main plot of this dream was big Loki (imagine like a 19/20 year old) plus thor (like 12) and Loki (8ish) manage to find where Hela is sealed away. idk where they are or where the king and queen are, it's implied they're not in asgard right now and this was a Very Unplanned Field Trip that is giving older Loki an ulcer. They have to look at little Loki to confirm this weird fucking ceiling portrait is Hela bc the older two are not the Hela Experts in the room

at the same time, older Loki is starting to get some flashes of the future and begins to suspect that he's from the Bad Timeline

through accident, they manage to unseal Hela, who is met with three whole younger siblings - and let me tell you it is a very different welcome when you have a very enthusiastic 8-yr-old sparkling at you and very excited to have found his lost sister and a 12-yr-old who thinks girls kind of have cooties rolling his eyes

so hela makes a split second decision to not tell her baby brothers about the whole "dad sealed me away for being warful" thing (it will be a fun surprise for odin later <3) and also embrace being a big sister (it is now her legal job to pick on older loki and make fun of thor for being the odd one out)

anyway while they're figuring this out, older Loki is continuing to get flashes of the future but is now somehow joined by thor also getting flashes of the future. what they manage to glean makes them suspicious, and hey if they're both getting future visions or whatever then logically baby loki should also be, right??

so they start to like. suspiciously spy on little loki. except idk maybe the universe decided that one loki having knowledge was fine? i don't think older loki actually fully knows about the time travel thing or that he IS little loki tbh

so anyway they're spying on an eight year old who has a strict bedtime of nine o'clock.

meanwhile hela starts getting flashes of the future and is like "wait. do i destroy asgard?? why would i do that? where would my brothers live? ):"

the only other thing i remember is there being a dramatic scene where hela is trying to reject her fate and someone tells her that she cannot escape it, and she's actually getting teary eyed because she's gotten attached to her weird shitty brothers now

then i woke up and was like "huh"

[micahdotgov]

hot. who said that

[vanillacakez]

₊✩‧₊˚meet me! ˚₊✩‧₊

hi all!

my name is z ♡ (she/her) i've been off tumblr for a while but decided to come back because i miss the community and sharing interests with others

i lovvveee lana del rey, horror movies, plants, matcha, thrifting, video games and journaling to name a few things. i collect cds, calico critters, and vintage cameras. currently im shooting on a 90s nikon point & shoot

i do NOT/will NOT ever post anything ed/sh related, my blog is a safe and healthy space for all

i'd love to follow some moots who are 18+ pls! (i don't wanna be a weirdo). will be posting more soon hopefully some photography, thoughts, music recs and moodboard/aesthetic stuff!

⊹₊ ˚‧︵‿₊୨୧₊‿︵‧ ˚ ₊⊹

[rexscanonwife]

Now that Christmas is officially over, I wanna say that I hope you guys don't expect Arthur to leave anytime soon ☺️💖 just because it'll be a whole year until next Christmas doesn't mean my feelings for him will go away!

I don't mean to get too sappy but I was going through a bit of a depressive episode where I didn't have any strong feelings on any f/o and wasn't focused on anything. Then randomly for the season my partner and bff and I decided to watch the movie and he clumsily swept away my heart! 💖💖💖 all he's ever wanted was to make everyone happy, and I'm no exception, he made me happy when I needed it the MOST and I wanna make him happy too by loving him for everything that he is.

[lego-ninjago]

It will ALWAYS be cool to draw yourself as one of your favorite characters and then put stickers around it. I should have been the green ninja for real...!

[fisherrprince]

another thing abt arr/hw alphinaud. Maybe current alphy. Just while I’m looking backwards at cutscenes. he has a tendency to look at a situation that’s gone topside and go ‘well this is wrong’, which I think says something about how much he plans in advance, how often things just do go according to his smart little plans because he’s good at them, and something about how thrown off he gets when things do not go according to the ten step plotline he made up in his head