Re-Count (HBO film)

[GeraldFord]

Just saw the movie--very good, well done--but upsetting. Very unfair what happened to Al Gore. The world would have been a much better place had he been President.

[freedom78]

That's for sure.  Looking forward to seeing it, but I'll have to wait until HBO puts it on DVD.

[tim_m]

I saw it last night. Shocking the level of corruption that happened in florida. I won't say anything about what happened so i don't spoil it for anyone.

[SLCPUNK]

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20200518,00.html

Just when you're filled to the popping point with Election 2008 comes this cunning drama about Election 2000, which defies odds by actually making you crave more politics. HBO's Recount, about the battle between Democrats and Republicans for Florida ? and thus, the presidency ? is paced like a thriller from its first minutes, when the strange news arrives that the Florida vote count is wrong, and a panicked aide finds himself at one end of a long tunnel, desperately trying to flag down Al Gore as he's about to walk on stage to give his concession speech. Ah, the tension, the danger! Director Jay Roach (the Austin Powers trilogy) has clearly seen a few conspiracy thrillers, and Dave Grusin's tenterhooked score sets the anxious pace as the film cuts between Democrat and Republican camps for the next 35 days as they parse ballots all the way to the Supreme Court. As Gore's former chief of staff, Ron Klain, Kevin Spacey loses the smug laziness that has enveloped him the past half decade and snaps to, pulling along the drama with a crisp efficiency and just the right amount of smirkiness: ''The plural of chad is chad?'' he marvels.

With an extremely clever script by debut screenwriter Danny Strong, Recount introduces a landslide of facts with sweaty grace, intertwining scripted scenes with actual broadcast-news clips. Anytime a moment feels overblown ? like the choreographed carnival of protesters outside the Florida Supreme Court recount proceeding ? up flashes some vintage CNN to remind us that the atmosphere actually was that insane. (Remember the ''Surrender Gorethy'' airplane banner?) The perfect mimicry of these public events makes you want to swallow even the most Hollywood-perfect bits of dialogue. Did a capitulating Gore really tell Klain ''Even if I win, I can't win''? Maybe, maybe not, but the line has a certain truthiness ? and particularly resonates in light of the internecine Clinton-Obama battle.

Speaking of Democrats, Recount may not be downright blue, but it's not as purply as it wants to appear. Despite its ''equal time'' approach, Recount is an underdog story, and thus a Democrat story. While George W. Bush, like Gore, is only vaguely glimpsed, the remaining Republican players here are coolly calculating ? Tom Wilkinson's James Baker III, the Bush team quarterback ? or they teeter on the edge of madness, like Laura Dern's Katherine Harris. With flaming lipstick and helmet hair, Dern nails the Florida secretary of state's looks, cadence, and carriage to a disturbing degree, and she runs with Harris' Cruella De Vil vibe: At one point, before a press conference, Dern morphs her face from that of a human being into Harris' crazy-cuckoo public mask, and the moment is absolutely chilling. Fair? Debatable, but like Recount, it's a gorgeous bit of political theater. A-

[fuckin crazy]

There is an interview were Spacey is ask if Dern over plays the roll of Harris, and his reply is that "if anything, she underplays it".

[tim_m]

I believe that she seemed like a real bitch and was determined to screw over Gore no matter what.

[SLCPUNK]

What a mess she turned out to be, and how quickly the GOP turned against her, yikes.

[freedom78]

There is an interview were Spacey is ask if Dern over plays the roll of Harris, and his reply is that "if anything, she underplays it".

I saw a little of her role on TV somewhere and it absolutely creeped me out.

[SLCPUNK]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=Wg_4aVeqwhI&feature=related

This is LOL funny.

[sandman]

i watched the movie. it was kinda boring. except for Dern. she is awesome.

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

[fuckin crazy]

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

I think that taken the history of those people, and the literature, you couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that her own party abandoned her is proof enough that Harris is a psycho sycophantic bitch.

[Vicious Wishes]

EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!!!!!!..................................................er....that is.......except those in Florida.......................and....um.....you know.....Michigan.............................but other than that......



Those sons-a-bitchin republicans!

[sandman]

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

I think that taken the history of those people, and the literature, you couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that her own party abandoned her is proof enough that Harris is a psycho sycophantic bitch.

why would you assume i was talking about Harris??? especially after i praised dern for her acting.

i was talking about the portrayal of christopher, daley, and baker.

from the NYT...

?I was stunned by the excerpt,? christopher said in an interview. ?Much of what the author has written about me is pure fiction. It contained events that never occurred, words I never spoke and decisions attributed to me that I never made.?

[Booker Floyd]

EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!!!!!!..................................................er....that is.......except those in Florida.......................and....um.....you know.....Michigan.............................but other than that......



Those sons-a-bitchin republicans!

Every vote in the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries was counted, to my knowledge.  Im sure you understand the difference between a national party penalizing states for violating its rules in the nomination process and what happened in Florida in 2000, you just couldnt pass up on the opportunity to attempt cleverness.

[Vicious Wishes]

EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!!!!!!..................................................er....that is.......except those in Florida.......................and....um.....you know.....Michigan.............................but other than that......



Those sons-a-bitchin republicans!

Every vote in the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries was counted, to my knowledge.  Im sure you understand the difference between a national party penalizing states for violating its rules in the nomination process and what happened in Florida in 2000, you just couldnt pass up on the opportunity to attempt cleverness.

Every vote in the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries was counted, to my knowledge.

Counted, and then ignored.
Did the people (who showed up in record numbers, by the way) do anything wrong?
Did they voice their opinion when they were told to?
Are they going to be ignored through no fault of their own?

You say a national party penalized states. Was it states that voted or actual people?

And no, I wasn't attempting cleverness, unless logic=cleverness.

[SLCPUNK]

You say a national party penalized states. Was it states that voted or actual people?

Attempt at semantics.

[fuckin crazy]

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

I think that taken the history of those people, and the literature, you couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that her own party abandoned her is proof enough that Harris is a psycho sycophantic bitch.

why would you assume i was talking about Harris??? especially after i praised dern for her acting.

i was talking about the portrayal of christopher, daley, and baker.

from the NYT...

?I was stunned by the excerpt,? christopher said in an interview. ?Much of what the author has written about me is pure fiction. It contained events that never occurred, words I never spoke and decisions attributed to me that I never made.?

If you are referring to dramatic license ... then sure, but the historical accuracy can't be denied.

Reguarding Baker ... I remember that SOB for what he was ... a fucking maniacal turd.

[sandman]

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

I think that taken the history of those people, and the literature, you couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that her own party abandoned her is proof enough that Harris is a psycho sycophantic bitch.

why would you assume i was talking about Harris??? especially after i praised dern for her acting.

i was talking about the portrayal of christopher, daley, and baker.

from the NYT...

?I was stunned by the excerpt,? christopher said in an interview. ?Much of what the author has written about me is pure fiction. It contained events that never occurred, words I never spoke and decisions attributed to me that I never made.?

If you are referring to dramatic license ... then sure, but the historical accuracy can't be denied.

Reguarding Baker ... I remember that SOB for what he was ... a fucking maniacal turd.

the movie places alot of blame on christopher. makes him out to be a total pussy. you agree with that as well?

[GeraldFord]

EVERY VOTE COUNTS!!!!!!!!..................................................er....that is.......except those in Florida.......................and....um.....you know.....Michigan.............................but other than that......



Those sons-a-bitchin republicans!

Every vote in the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries was counted, to my knowledge.  Im sure you understand the difference between a national party penalizing states for violating its rules in the nomination process and what happened in Florida in 2000, you just couldnt pass up on the opportunity to attempt cleverness.

Every vote in the Michigan and Florida Democratic primaries was counted, to my knowledge.

Counted, and then ignored.
Did the people (who showed up in record numbers, by the way) do anything wrong?
Did they voice their opinion when they were told to?
Are they going to be ignored through no fault of their own?

You say a national party penalized states. Was it states that voted or actual people?

And no, I wasn't attempting cleverness, unless logic=cleverness.

What happens with Michigan and Florida is a moot point anyway. Clinton is well behind Obama with the delegates, and nothing can change that. 

[fuckin crazy]

it's obvious very early on that the portrayal of key people involved are grossly exaggerated.

I think that taken the history of those people, and the literature, you couldn't be further from the truth. The fact that her own party abandoned her is proof enough that Harris is a psycho sycophantic bitch.

why would you assume i was talking about Harris??? especially after i praised dern for her acting.

i was talking about the portrayal of christopher, daley, and baker.

from the NYT...

“I was stunned by the excerpt,” christopher said in an interview. “Much of what the author has written about me is pure fiction. It contained events that never occurred, words I never spoke and decisions attributed to me that I never made.”

If you are referring to dramatic license ... then sure, but the historical accuracy can't be denied.

Reguarding Baker ... I remember that SOB for what he was ... a fucking maniacal turd.

the movie places alot of blame on christopher. makes him out to be a total pussy. you agree with that as well?

I read his memoirs years ago, and he seemed to be one of the few voices of reason in Washington. With what happened in Fla, I think were mistakes made by many ... most of all by Gore.