Yesterday we saw Good Night, And Good Luck (imdb | rotten tomatoes), a film I’ve been desperate to see ever since I first watched the trailer. It was worth every minute of the wait.

It’s not often that a movie manages to be artistic, funny, tense, stylish, relevant, depressing and inspirational all at once, but this film was all of those things. The twin dangers it laid out — one that took hold just as Murrow predicted and another far more insidious that’s quietly repeated itself of late — expertly straddled the bluntness required to drive the point home and the subtlety needed to make it seem un-Hollywood. I cannot recommend this film enough, whether you’re 17 or 71.

As we left the theatre, a girl behind us made two comments: first, that it was depressing to think of today’s anchors and commentators after having heard some of Murrow’s oratory with which to compare it; second, that the physical similarities between Joe McCarthy and Bill O’Reilly are striking. So, I fear, are the tactical similarities.

We also watched The Last Castle (imdb | rotten tomatoes) which was simultaneously good and bad. Good in that Robert Redford is terrific as always and it was engaging enough, but bad because it was just too clichéd.