When I watched this year's Academy Awards, I noticed an unusual thing. This was the first year that I had yet to see a single one of the movies that were up for Best Picture, and very few of the roles that the Best Actors and Best Actresses were nominated for. Besides making this very difficult to fill out my ballot as to who would at the Oscar party we hold every year, it made it even harder to decide whom I WANTED to see win. I had admittedly had about enough of all of the "Brokeback Mountain" hoopla, so without even giving it a chance, I hoped it wouldn't win (shame in me for not being fair, but that was where my head was at that night…). Now that a little time has passed, and thanks to the various DVDs that have come out, I have had the chance to catch at least a few of the nominees up close and personal on my TV screen.

I know that the night of the Oscars, I very strongly wanted "Good Night and Good Luck" to win Best Picture, George Clooney to win Best Director and David Strathairn to win Best Actor. Why, you might ask? Because I just had a feeling about the movie as a whole and Clooney's ability to direct. But most of all it was because of the film's casting of David Strathairn as Edward R. Murrow.

I cannot even begin to count the films I've seen Strathairn in, but over the years I have yet to see him give anything less than a stellar performance, even if the film itself was less than stellar. Being quite familiar with the real Murrow, due to my fascination with the McCarthy Era of blacklisting people for being accused of being Communists, when I finally sat down to watch the DVD of "Good Night and Good Luck" I was instantly mesmerized by Strathairn's uncanny delivery. Rarely do I see an actor able to so completely 'don the suit', as it were, of a real life person. He carries the film with a strong sense of dignity, and at no point in the film to I recognize him as being anyone other than Edward R. Murrow.

Just as impressive to me was how well the film blended the actors in their scenes, with the real life film footage of Senator Joseph McCarthy and many of those he accused. If you have not seen the film, I don’t mean to give the impression that these scenes are blended through some kind of CGI, they are not. Instead, the film footage was placed in areas where the actors in the film would be watching them, or perhaps conducting an interview with a personality who was pre-recorded. It is through the mixture of the actors and the archival footage that we see just how strongly Murrow felt about his role as a journalist, how insane he felt McCarthy was, and how important it was for him not to back down and cower before him.

In the past, I hadn't really though much of George Clooney, other than appreciating how he has been able to build such a strong and varied career from one that almost died out years ago. It wasn't until recently, as I have seen him in interviews or heard his Oscar acceptance speech for winning Best Supporting Actor for "Syriana" (which by the way many of my friends and I feel should go down as one of the most eloquent Oscar speeches ever), that I've gotten the impression that he is one of those few actors who truly appreciates where he is and why he is there. I've yet to see him act as though he is full of himself. But I have begun to notice the types of projects he takes on as his fan base grows. He takes chances with his choices of projects, mixing them in with the ones he obviously does just for fun. "Good Night and Good Luck" is one of those films where he really took a chance, and while it might not have paid off in the box office, it absolutely paid of in terms of quality filmmaking.

Now that I have seen the film for myself, I no longer want it to have won the awards I mentioned before so much as feel it DESERVED to win them. Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor should have been bestowed on the film. Of course, in an Awards assembly that would give an Oscar to the song "It's Hard on the Streets for Being a Pimp", can there be any doubt that OTHER poor choices were made that night?

Now that "Good Night and Good Luck" is coming out on DVD, I can only hope that it will find a much larger audience than it did in theatres. The extra features, which include a very thoughtful commentary by Clooney and producer / screenwriter Grant Heslov, are but the tip of the iceberg of the overall quality that can be found on this disc. Filmed in Black and White, the picture offered here is absolutely stunning.

What I found most interesting about this film, aside from just how damn good it is, is how Murrow's comments about the state of journalism, television and politics as a whole are as true today as they were over 50 years ago. His opening speech in the film will make you nod your head in agreement, fighting not to bow your head in the embarrassment of what you find to be the truth about your own apathetic reactions to what you see and hear on your Television screen.

Directed by: George Clooney
Starring: David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney, Robert Downey, Jr., Frank Langella
Extras: Commentary by Director / Screenwriter George Clooney and Producer / Screenwriter Grant Heslov, Good Night and Good Luck Companion Piece, Theatrical Trailer
Specifications: Widescreen, Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround Sound
Studio: Warner Brothers
Release Date: 3/14/2006
Region 1
MPAA Rating: PG (Mild Thematic Elements and Brief Language)
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We'll give Good Night and Good Luck an A+.