Reading Journal

Meredith Pollack
Reading Journal

After such a heavy news week (so soon after the news and media frenzy not so long ago with Egypt and the unrest in the Middle East) the media is now prepared for this sort of big news. However, with nearly ever article in the New York Times world section related in some way to Osama Bin Laden, Americans are all aware that they are being bogged down with facts and possibly too much information. It appears that every article I read contradicts the next, and there is little hope that even if someone tells me exactly what happened and how, I probably wouldn’t be able to sift through the mess of news to find it. Many short hard news articles about the Bin Laden raid describe the unrest of the people wanting to learn more. Including an article by _ with a headline that reads U.S. Still Waits for Access to Bin Laden Widows. He writes, “Some information given by intelligence officials appears intended to cast doubt on the account of the raid as presented by American officials; none has been independently verified.
Initial reports indicated that 12 women and children were in the compound; it now appears that there were 17.” In many articles it appears that the journalists themselves are stumbling through the facts, and basically saying that no one really knows the answers.

So, in order to escape the over reported Bin Laden death in the last week as well as to do a little extra research for my blog, I turned to reading many different kinds of film magazines. Some, including Entertainment Weekly (which surprisingly has some good movie reviews), tends to focus more on the Hollywood aspect of film making. These articles often describe the actors themselves, money, and box office numbers. Other magazines like FILM monthly go into great detail about plot and the general quality of films. However, I find that they are a little too nice, giving most movies more than 3 out of 5 stars. While, following weekly reviews by well respected film critic Leonard Maltin, I enjoy his direct criticism of movies without being incredibly harsh. He says what he has to say quickly and with the fewest words possible it seems. My favorite line from his THOR review explains a strong opinion, but without telling the reader how to feel. Leonard writes, “ I was also put off by the utter artificiality of Asgard. It’s hard to imbue a set of characters with credibility when they’re play-acting on such clearly computer-enhanced sets. 3-D added nothing to the experience, I’m sorry to say.”
I’ve most enjoyed keeping up with the New York Times movie articles. I like that they often have current and timely aspects. Also, each article explores a different side of the movie business, as opposed to certain magazines which tend to all write about the same thing. An article in the times published last week by Michael Cieply wrote a very interesting article about a movie in the making set to release next summer called “Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter)”. His article was very coy, and not an op-ed piece at all. However, he wrote quite cleverly and arranged his facts in a way that told the reader subtly that the movie was both a ridiculous idea from Fox, and after Avatar, this movie is destined for failure. However he describes this by saying “A box-office slump finds theater attendance down by 15 percent from a year ago, and Fox is last among the major studios after an impressive showing in 2009 with its innovative “Avatar.” But “Vampire Hunter” is one of a handful of projects from Fox and other studios that promise to shake things up. No picture in the works is quite as audacious, however.”