Review of Network (1976) by Tsubaki S — 30 Nov 2011

Fantastic movie with some fabulous performances from the main cast and some great satire. That was definitely one of Sidney Lumet's strengths as a director, getting strong performances out of his cast.

The problem I have with the movie is that it gets too preachy with its satire on TV in general sometimes. While a lot of it that's said is true, about TV execs doing just about anything to gain a big rating, proof of this is the fact that Jersey Shore has been on air for 4 (5th in January) seasons, but the executives discussing killing Howard Beale in as a business-like manner as is possible is completely unbelievable.

I believe the TV execs are mad, but not THAT mad. Also the movie does sort of try to do the same thing that they're accusing TV of doing. They're trying to manipulate you into believing what Howard Beale is saying.

But one of the thing the movie, through no fault of their own did, is manage to have this satire that could, very believably, be applied to today's time just as well. There are MANY occasions in the movie where I'm questioning, not seriously obviously, whether the movie was released in 1976 or 2011.

A lot of it does apply to now, especially now with the age of the internet. Maybe that's why the movie is still so great. So yea it's a movie that doesn't practice what it preaches, but it's also a massively entertaining film to watch.