Veteran broadcaster and former KHOU news anchor John Hambrick died in Round Rock after a year-long battle with lung cancer. He was 73.
A Conroe native, Hambrick launched his long television career in the Dallas area during the early 1960s before making a name for himself on the evening news in Cleveland. The charismatic anchor soon found himself landing major market stints in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, where he'd win his first of several Emmy awards.
The son of an Humble Oil worker, Hambrick grew up around the oil fields of east Texas and Louisiana.
"He approached anchoring the news and writing copy as a creative process."
His early interests in performing lead him to study theater in the late '50s at the University of Texas at Austin, a path he quickly abandoned for Hollywood and a series of small television roles.
Throughout his life, Hambrick fostered his creative side alongside journalistic pursuits — whether it was recording rock and country songs in Nashville or taking bit parts on shows like Friday Night Lights.
In 2002, he produced a documentary with his son and fellow TV news anchor Jack about a group of pioneering African-American artists in Florida. In 2010, he partnered with former news colleague on a screenplay for an action film based on actual events from the Civil War.
"My dad was a creative person, an artist," Jack Hambrick tells WEWS in Cleveland. "He approached anchoring the news and writing copy as a creative process. Whether it was writing scripts, anchoring the news or recording a country album, it was all about creativity with him."
John Hambrick will be buried in Lone Oak, just east of Dallas.
One time KHOU anchor John Hambirck — shown here at WEWS in Cleveland — died Tuesday at 73.
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One time KHOU anchor John Hambirck — shown here at WEWS in Cleveland — died Tuesday at 73.
With 12 Oscar nominations in the past 12 years in multiple categories, Bradley Cooper has turned into not only an acclaimed actor, but also a touted filmmaker. Given that pedigree, it might be difficult to remember that he first gained recognition as a comedy star in movies like Wedding Crashers, Yes Man, and The Hangover series. For his latest directorial effort, he has married comedy with drama in Is This Thing On?.
Unlike the previous two films he directed, Cooper only has a supporting role, ceding the lead to Will Arnett. Arnett plays Alex Novak, who, as the film begins, is starting the process of divorce from his wife of 20 years, Tess (Laura Dern). Forced to move to a depressing apartment in New York City and only getting limited time with his two kids, Alex finds the unexpected outlet of stand up comedy when he signs up for open mic night at the famous Comedy Cellar.
The film follows Alex as he continues to pursue comedy while still having to see Tess on a regular basis, thanks to a shared custody agreement and get-togethers with friends like Balls & Christine (Cooper and Andra Day) and Stephen & Geoffrey (real life couple Sean Hayes and Scott Icenogle). While the comedy serves as a form of counseling for Alex, truly moving on proves more difficult than expected.
The film, co-written by Cooper with Arnett and Mark Chappell, is loosely based on the real-life story of British comedian John Bishop, so one of the biggest things they needed to get right was the comedy itself. Alex’s marital situation lends his comedy more of a confessional style than actual jokes, and his evolution in that space is done well. Shooting in the actual Comedy Cellar and populating the club with real comedians like Amy Sedaris, Jordan Jensen, Reggie Conquest, and more gives those scenes an extra dose of realism.
As if to underscore the personal and emotional nature of the story, Cooper and cinematographer Matthew Libatique make liberal use of closeups with handheld cameras. The camera is constantly moving around and often seems to be right in the actors’ faces, something that is most noticeable when Alex is performing. As if the stories Alex was telling weren’t intimate enough, having Arnett's entire face fill the frame forces the audience to pay attention to what his character is saying.
If there is something to knock about the film, it’s a lack of dramatic stakes. While there’s natural tension between Alex and Tess due to the divorce, it’s way less than in a movie like, say, Marriage Story. There’s also a sneaking suspicion that Cooper was just looking to have fun with the film, casting himself as the comic sidekick and working with good friends like Arnett and Hayes. If ever there was a good hang divorce movie, this is it.
Arnett rarely gets to be in movies, much less as the lead, but he ably embodies this somewhat dramatic part. It helps that he’s given a great scene partner like Dern, who knows when to dial her acting up or down for a particular situation. Cooper and Day are also good despite their story being slightly superfluous, and Christine Ebersole and Ciarán Hinds as Alex’s parents lend the film some extra gravitas.
Is This Thing On? is a much different type of film from Cooper’s first two directorial efforts, A Star is Born and Maestro, and it’s nice to see the filmmaker offer something new. It has a relatable story for anyone who has ever been married while offering an element of uniqueness with someone discovering an undiscovered skill late in life.
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Is This Thing On? opens wide in theaters on January 9.
