Word: portrayals
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Beyond its narrative difficulties, Vicki Polon's screenplay still leaves a lot to be desired. Polon is no wit, and her attempts to portray such overly familiar New Yorkers as SoHo art dealers, pushy cab drivers and Greenwich Village hipsters fall flat. Hot issues like lesbianism and abortion are dragged into the action for cheap effects rather than serious consideration. There is not a single memorable or startling line in the movie...
Though speech that intentionally incites violence is not protected by the First Amendment, allowed Abrams, drama or news reports that merely portray violence are covered. Lewis argued vehemently against this First Amendment defense. If intentional "incitement" were accepted as the test for finding NBC and KRON-TV guilty, he told Judge Robert Dossee, "I'll pack up my briefcase and go home. I'd have to be idiotic to bring such a case." Siding with NBC, Dossee proceeded to send Lewis packing; since Lewis admitted that he could not prove incitement, the case was dismissed. Said Lewis...
...other result would have set a dangerous precedent for broadcasters who report on violence or writers who portray it in fiction. Yet NBC has been justly criticized for airing Born Innocent at 8 p.m., when many impressionable youngsters can be expected to tune in. Editorialized the Washington Post, "One still feels a sense of dissatisfaction here, as the true justice of Miss Niemi's case seems to hang somewhere between her suffering and the Tightness and necessity of the First Amendment." The courts may not be the proper place to resolve it, but the controversy over violence...
Charles Weinstein as Richard competently handles his difficult character, managing to convincingly portray his progression from self-assured control to violated dignity, a movement crucial to the play's effectiveness...
...Karen Allen charms as Katy, the girlfriend of one of the Deltas who thinks the whole gang is incredibly childish, if funny. And Tom Hulce and Stephen Furst as, respectively, the nerdy and corpulent freshmen pledges who first gawk at, then engage in, the wildness of the frat effectively portray the change from immature awkwardness to full-fledged idiocy...