Stephen Gyllenhaal, father of the actors Maggie and Jake and best known for his television work, has made a fine job of directing this refreshing real-life political story of two eccentric journalists from the alternative press, the investigative reporter Phil Campbell (Jason Biggs) and the rock music writer Grant Cogswell (Joel David Moore) who find themselves at a loose end and go into local politics.
The year is 2001, and without any previous experience the quietly ironic Phil becomes the wild Grant's campaign manager to challenge the complacent professional politicians of Seattle with a single-issue policy of improving the city's neglected public transport system, most significantly the under-developed monorail net.
They are an attractive if at times infuriating pair, and their political education is handled with wit and insight, especially their dealings with their chief opponent, the town's only major black politician Richard McIver (Cedric the Entertainer), and the result resembles...
The year is 2001, and without any previous experience the quietly ironic Phil becomes the wild Grant's campaign manager to challenge the complacent professional politicians of Seattle with a single-issue policy of improving the city's neglected public transport system, most significantly the under-developed monorail net.
They are an attractive if at times infuriating pair, and their political education is handled with wit and insight, especially their dealings with their chief opponent, the town's only major black politician Richard McIver (Cedric the Entertainer), and the result resembles...
- 11/11/2012
- by Philip French
- The Guardian - Film News
Are the first stirrings of the Occupy movement visible in Stephen Gyllenhaal's true-life ballot-box saga?
It sank without trace in the States, yet this true-life ballot-box saga proves very likable, if a little Sorkin-lite. At its heart are two young men trying to reclaim Seattle politics from the pros: Grant Cogswell (Joel David Moore), a self-righteous, somewhat bratty lefty gradually transformed into a sincere-sounding alternative, and Phil Campbell (a thoughtful Jason Biggs), the ex-journo who raised a small volunteer army to help staff the campaign. Adapted from Campbell's memoir Zioncheck for President, it's alert to both the romance of the stump (like-minded, passionate souls on late-night flyposting missions) and the political nitty-gritty: crucially, Cogswell's genial opponent (Cedric the Entertainer, unusually subtle and effective) was the city's sole black representative. Stephen Gyllenhaal crafts a couple of rousing election-night sequences, but can't quite make the ending resonate – unless we see Cogswell's story as the first,...
It sank without trace in the States, yet this true-life ballot-box saga proves very likable, if a little Sorkin-lite. At its heart are two young men trying to reclaim Seattle politics from the pros: Grant Cogswell (Joel David Moore), a self-righteous, somewhat bratty lefty gradually transformed into a sincere-sounding alternative, and Phil Campbell (a thoughtful Jason Biggs), the ex-journo who raised a small volunteer army to help staff the campaign. Adapted from Campbell's memoir Zioncheck for President, it's alert to both the romance of the stump (like-minded, passionate souls on late-night flyposting missions) and the political nitty-gritty: crucially, Cogswell's genial opponent (Cedric the Entertainer, unusually subtle and effective) was the city's sole black representative. Stephen Gyllenhaal crafts a couple of rousing election-night sequences, but can't quite make the ending resonate – unless we see Cogswell's story as the first,...
- 11/9/2012
- by Mike McCahill
- The Guardian - Film News
Washington Post/Getty Images Mike Daisey, the creator and star of “The Agony and the Ectasy of Steve Jobs.”
When I first encountered “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” the episode of “This American Life” featuring monologuist Mike Daisey on Apple and the practices of its Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn, I resisted passing it along.
Dozens of people sent it to me and urged me to share the link with others. I’d listened to the show; I thought it was enormously compelling.
When I first encountered “Mr. Daisey and the Apple Factory,” the episode of “This American Life” featuring monologuist Mike Daisey on Apple and the practices of its Chinese contract manufacturer Foxconn, I resisted passing it along.
Dozens of people sent it to me and urged me to share the link with others. I’d listened to the show; I thought it was enormously compelling.
- 3/17/2012
- by Jeff Yang
- Speakeasy/Wall Street Journal
The winners of the ‘Glee’ Give a Note campaign — which awards 73 schools nationwide grants ranging from $10,000 to $50,000 to help save struggling music programs — were announced today by Twentieth Century Fox Television, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment and the National Association for Music Education. School submitted videos in September, which were posted online for public voting in October. More than 1 million votes were cast to help a panel of NAfME members in their final round of judging. The winners are:
$50,000 grants
Phil Campbell High School, Phil Campbell, Al
P.S. 48 Joseph R Drake, Bronx, NY
Clark Montessori, Cincinnati, Oh
$25,000 grants
Phil Campbell Elementary School,...
$50,000 grants
Phil Campbell High School, Phil Campbell, Al
P.S. 48 Joseph R Drake, Bronx, NY
Clark Montessori, Cincinnati, Oh
$25,000 grants
Phil Campbell Elementary School,...
- 12/15/2011
- by Mandi Bierly
- EW - Inside TV
The sounds of the 70s are back with the 20th studio album of Motorhead. The legendary rock and rollers are set to release The World is Yours on February 8th and we think it would make a perfect Valentine’s Day gift for just about any music lover of any age. The World is Yours is written and performed by Motorhead’s Lemmy Kilmister, Philip Campbell and Mikkey Dee and produced by Cameron Webb, who also took part in the production of Motorizer. Lemmy is well into his 60s, but from the looks of it in the band’s video for the lead single, “Get Back in Line”, he can tear just about any 20 [...]...
- 1/28/2011
- by lonnie
- ShockYa
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