Truth<\/em> and Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> both raise questions about political power and our process political. Writer\/director James Vanderbilt\u2019s Truth<\/em> recounts the events of \u201cMemoGate\u201d which took down Dan Rather (Robert Redford) and Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and changed investigative reporting, according to the film. Director David Gordon Green\u2019s Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> sheds light on how campaign strategists spin their candidates for the ultimate goal of settling their own personal grudges. While Truth<\/em> has Oscar-worthy performances and extremely high production values, Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> doesn\u2019t live up to its potential, but still has a perspective that will hopefully make voters think twice about what they are hearing about and from candidates.<\/p>\n Based on Mapes\u2019 book about her search for details of George W. Bush\u2019s service in the National Guard during the Vietnam War, Truth<\/em> is Mapes side of the story. While primarily a revealing inside look at TV news production, Truth<\/em> also claims that the events of MemoGate lead to a shift away from true investigative journalism to newsertainment. By 2004, questions about Bush\u2019s service during the Vietnam War began to surface especially after the military service of presidential candidate Al Gore became issues in the election. Mapes had begun chasing the story of Bush\u2019s military service in 2000, but had been waylaid by the loss of her mother.<\/p>\n Then an informant, the ill and aged Retired Lt. Col. Bill Burkett (Stacy Keach), and new clues to Bush\u2019s possible sketchy service and preferential treatment in Texas\u2019 National Guard surface, and Mapes goes for the story and assembles a crack team to chase the clues. Her team includes former Marine straight arrow Lt. Colonel Roger Charles (Dennis Quaid), Lucy Scott (Elisabeth Moss), an academic, and Mike Smith (Topher Grace), a young, wild card researcher. While Andrew Heyward (Bruce Greenwood), the new head of CBS News, offers some leadership, Mapes works hard to provide solid news which will meet Dan Rather\u2019s standards. Rather, a father-figure to Mapes, trusts and supports her. A joy to watch, the stellar cast bring the real-life people to life. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The focus of the MemoGate was whether some memos which lead Mapes to other evidence were faked or not, but the discussion of whether the said memos were fake distracts from the real evidence regarding Bush\u2019s service. Meanwhile, the shift-boating of Al Gore provides a background comparison for how the politicians and pundits played faster and looser with the truth than Mapes or any journalist would. Vanderbilt\u2019s powerful adaptation of Mapes\u2019 book aims to make viewers yearn for true investigative journalism and, hopefully, question the value of news programs whose only purpose is higher ratings and revenue-generation fluff. Truth<\/em>, a Sony Pictures Classics release, runs an efficient 121 minutes and is rated R for language and a brief nude photo. Truth<\/em> is in theaters now.<\/p>\n While Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> doesn\u2019t have as strong performances or high production values as Truth<\/em>, the film does raise questions regarding how and why political strategists spin candidates and campaigns. Sandra Bullock stars as Jane Bodine, a former campaign strategist lured back into the business when approached regarding the 2002 Bolivian presidential race by campaign consultants Ben (Anthony Mackie) and Nell (Ann Dowd). Jane doesn\u2019t believe Castillo (Joaquim de Almeida), the candidate she\u2019s hired to help, can win the election because he\u2019s too far behind in the polls amoung other reasons. Jane\u2019s campaign super powers don\u2019t kick in until she figures out that her old nemesis, Pat Candy (Billy Bob Thornton), also a political strategist, is working for the leading candidate.<\/p>\n Dirty tricks abound mostly because Jane and Pat have fought this battle more than once. It\u2019s not about the candidate, the good of Bolivia, or an honest, fair election; it\u2019s about settling personal grudges. Jane puts words in Castillo\u2019s mouth and designs a campaign around a fabricated crisis. Since all the political strategists involved in the Bolivian election are Americans and all are heading from Bolivia\u2019s election to other countries for the same purpose, this type of political marketing seems to be an American export. Eddie (Reynaldo Pacheco) who works for Castillo\u2019s election, and his skeptical brothers, Pepe (Octavio G\u00f3mez Berr\u00edos) and Abraham (Luis Ch\u00e1vez), offer the perspectives of the Bolivian people regarding their country\u2019s politics and problems. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Based on Rachel Boynton\u2019s documentary of the same name, Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> provides an interesting insight into the machinations behind getting candidates elected no matter the country. The point of Green\u2019s adequate direction and Peter Straughan\u2019s uneven screenplay seems to be that believing anything a candidate says is pointless. Bullock foregoes the powerful tenue of her performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side<\/em>, channeling instead the tongue-in-cheek attitude of Gracie Hart in Miss Congeniality<\/em>. Thornton reprises his role of Bill Clinton\u2019s campaign manager James Carville in everything but name even though Carville was the subject of Boynton\u2019s documentary. The Jane Bodine character, however, is invented and was originally written for George Clooney. Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em>, a Warner Bros. release, is rated R for language including some sexual references and runs a fairly fast 107 minutes. Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> is also in theaters now.<\/p>\n Cynicism about the political process isn\u2019t anything new, and these two films may add to the dissolution; however, both Truth<\/em> and Our Brand Is Crisis<\/em> bring additional prospectives although not comforting ones. ###<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Sandra Olmsted Truth and Our Brand Is Crisis both raise questions about political power and our process political. Writer\/director James Vanderbilt\u2019s Truth recounts the events of \u201cMemoGate\u201d which took down Dan Rather (Robert Redford) and Mary Mapes (Cate Blanchett) and changed investigative reporting, according to the film. Director David Gordon Green\u2019s Our Brand Is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columnists","category-movie-reviews","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n