Jeremy Renner Ready To ‘Kill The Messenger’ In Film About CIA-Smeared Journo Gary Webb

[777man]

200. 10.11.14 KTM REVIEWS-HUFFINGTON POST/ROLLINGSTONE/OREGONIAN

Last edited Sun Oct 12, 2014, 08:50 PM - Edit history (1)

colettaberx
» 47 minutes ago (Sat Oct 11 2014 08:40:35)
IMDb member since July 2013
http://wegotthiscovered.com/movies/kill-the-messenger-review


And Renner, who hasn’t been this electric to watch since The Hurt Locker, turns in a powerhouse performance. When Webb is chasing down leads and digging to bring secrets to life, Renner gives him a playful swagger, a big-man-on-campus charm, but when his story’s subject bites back, Renner’s performance grows sadder and darker. Renner’s committed performance dares you to look away, knowing you won’t, as the actor depicts Webb being brought to his knees by the painful realization that the road to his own personal Hell, paved with good intentions though it was, is a one-way street he’s already traveled too far down to turn back. Watching his optimism bend and then break is nothing short of devastating.

Jeremy Renner is a force of nature in this taut, thrilling and completely devastating tale of a journalist under fire. Kill the Messenger will enthrall you, horrify you and, most importantly, it will light your fire.




http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/reviews/kill-the-messenger-20141009

Kill the Messenger flies high on the power of Jeremy Renner’s all-stops-out performance as journalist Gary Webb.




http://t.co/KkS4bT3dlO The Oregonian :

Jeremy Renner shines in the true story of a journalistic martyr,”




http://moviefinatic.com/articles/kill-the-messenger-review-one-of-the- year-s-best-most-important-films

Jeremy Renner is incredible as Gary Webb, who's important story finally makes it's way to the big screen



=================
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marshall-fine/movie-review-kill-there-m_b_5945390.html
Read the full review:
http://hollywoodandfine.com/kill-the-messenger-get-the-message-out/


‘Kill the Messenger’: Get the message out
October 7, 2014

killmessenger It’s the rare journalism movie that gets it right when it comes to depicting the day-to-day on a daily newspaper. And, given the terminal condition of American print, journalism movies themselves are going to become an endangered species – sort of like newspapers.

So it’s nice to see a movie like “Kill the Messenger” get it right. In telling this true story, director Michael Cuesta and writer Peter Landesman not only recount a scandal and an injustice; they also capture a cusp moment, just before the Internet tsunami roared in, changing the news-gathering landscape forever.

It’s 1996 and Gary Webb (Jeremy Renner) is an investigative reporter – remember those? – at the San Jose Mercury News. One day he gets a tip that leads him to the loose thread of what could be a major story – and then he pulls it.

What he unravels is a conspiracy from 10 years earlier, when the Reagan administration was trading arms for hostages in Iran and looking for ways to circumvent a congressional edict against supporting the Contras in Nicaragua. Webb uncovers stories from participants that the CIA had sanctioned the importing of cocaine to America, the profits of which went to buy weapons for the Contras. His digging takes him across the country and even to Nicaragua, where he talks to the drug smugglers who were on the CIA radar, but were given a pass.

His story earns him a bunch of awards – and intense pushback from the CIA. Which is the real story here: how professional jealousy and government manipulation turned Webb into a target.

Suddenly his story – and his professional credibility – are called into question. Even his own bosses begin to doubt him. If this story comes as news, we’ll, that’s how the CIA – and particularly alumni of the Reagan era – would prefer it.

Webb turns out to be part of that dying breed – an idealist who actually believes that the truth is a coat of armor that will protect him. Against slings and arrows? Perhaps. Against the full force of the mainstream press, as manipulated by a government agency? Not so much.

There are fewer and fewer cases like this, of course, because this kind of journalism is vanishing, the victim of media’s vulnerability to market forces and bottom lines. Even worse, it has led to the diminution of a readership that wants to be informed by something other than the daily roll call of infotainment and media-fueled scandals. So the tragedy of this story is still being played out.

Cuesta has made a spare but compelling film that pulls you along with the insistence of hounds after the fox. And he has the no-nonsense Jeremy Renner to drive this vehicle, playing Webb as affable but driven, a straight-shooting truth-teller who is just sneaky enough – and naive enough – to get himself in trouble.

A list of famous faces – including Ray Liotta, Andy Garcia, Michael Sheen and Michael K. Williams – pop up in featured roles, adding flavor to the stew. It’s grounded by Rosemarie DeWitt (as Webb’s wife) and Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Oliver Platt as his editors.

“Kill the Messenger” is both chilling and thoughtful. It offers an important story – and a glimpse of what our media world would soon become.



--------------


http://www.cultfilmfreaks.com/2014/10/jeremy-renner-in-kill-messenger.html

10/12/2014
JEREMY RENNER IN KILL THE MESSENGER
2014 rating: **
Jeremy Renner is the kind of actor who takes his job seriously, playing each character with gusto. And in the role of real life reporter Gary Webb, he’s downright shot out of a cannon. In fact you’d think he was a bulletproof paratrooper who just happened to write for a living…

What movie's about is loaded up front, and this particular “Deep Throat” gives Webb the lead of a lifetime about five minutes in. A possible scoop that, during the 1980’s, the Reagan-Era CIA funded weapons in Nicaragua by having drug dealers sell crack cocaine in downtown Los Angeles.

Unlike ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN, we don’t learn things slowly and meticulously. Instead, after everything’s been served up on a silver hot plate, there’s a collection of scenes where Webb gets loads of useful information from drug dealers, ex CIA agents and politicians, collaborating what we’ve already learned – deleting any worthy suspense or intrigue along the way.

There is an attempt for mainstream movie thrills when shadowy forms begin stalking Webb at his home and work. Not surprisingly, that’s when Renner seems the most comfortable: with bulging eyes, flexed muscles, a speedy motorcycle and the countenance of a feisty badger, he's not gonna take it anymore!

The first half, although somewhat well-crafted, is too slanted and, for a story about a reporter, downright easy. It would have made Webb’s journey more engrossing had he come up against people not itching to spill the beans so quickly, and clearly. His brand of journalism is hardly investigative. Thus the last act falls apart at the seams…

When his bosses scold him for not having his informants go “on the record” instead of private conversations, it's as if they were suggesting he wait around for a better end to his story. Ironically, the movie needed one too.
Presented by James M. Tate at 1:38 PM