Good Night, and Good Luck.

Robert Downey, Jr. and Patricia Clarkson in Good Night, and Good Luck. (dir. George Clooney, 2005).

Apparently Edward R. Murrow and the CBS news team were constantly attended by Dianne Reeves and a tight little jazz combo, both in the studio and at the bar where they went for cocktails after work. I did not know that. It makes atmospheric sense, though, and Clooney's directorial touch is pleasantly light, like the tinkling of piano keys in an NPR musical segue. In other words, a little too pleasant and a little too light, but there's no denying the chemistry of the dramatic ensemble: David Strathairn as Murrow, Clooney himself as Fred Friendly, Patricia Clarkson, Robert Downey Jr., Jeff Daniels, Frank Langella, and the quietly expressive Ray Wise (star of 2003's creepy Twilight-Zone-ish thriller Dead End) as Don Hollenbeck.