Mr. 3000

Starring: Bernie Mac, Angela Bassett, & Michael Rispoli

Director: Charles Stone III - Rating: PG-13 - Score: 3 1/2 Stars

Bernie Mac was one of my favorite comedians, but I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much out of this film. Mac played Stan Ross, one of the best baseball players to ever step foot on the field in Milwaukee. He retired right after he got his 3000th hit, something that is very difficult to do in the Majors. After his career, Mr. 3000 became his personal moniker, as he launched a number of businesses under the Mr. 3000 name. Ross is even being considered for the Hall of Fame, when a review of his statistics finds an error. As it turns out, three of his hits had been counted twice, and now to maintain his Mr. 3000 persona, Ross must return to the game, at age 47, to try and get three more hits. While this was supposed to be a comedy, the part I really enjoyed was seeing how this superstar, who had everything handed to him, his whole life, struggled to do the simplest of things. The other players hazed him, the younger players resented him, and he had to somehow rectify this with his massive ego. As for Mac, he was outstanding! The man was truly unique and I feel as though he never got the chance to reach his real potential. Films like Mr. 3000 were fun and definitely enjoyable for the audience, but they weren't the kind of award winning, career defining roles that he was really capable of. This film is full of laughs and the sports action wasn't bad either, to say the least, I was fairly impressed and I think you will be too.

Read More

• Share

The Phenom

Starring: Johnny Simmons, Paul Giamatti, & Ethan Hawke

Director: Noah Buschel - Rating: NR - Score: 1 1/2 Stars

Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons) is in a position that every little boy dreams about. He is a star rookie pitcher in Major League Baseball. His numbers and talent are off the chart, when all of a sudden, he can't find the strike zone. There is nothing wrong with him physically, so the team sends him down to the minors and puts him to work with the top sports psychologist in the country. I really don't understand professional critics and what they look for when they rate a film. Take The Phenom for example, this film has got to be the slowest and most boring sports film I've ever seen, yet it has an 80 on Rotten Tomatoes. There was very little sports action in this film and the fast majority of it consisted of this guy sitting in a room talking to a shrink! Yes, the shrink was played by Paul Giamatti, who is an unbelievably talented actor, but why the hell would anyone want to watch some dudes therapy session? When he wasn't in therapy, he should be on the field, but no, he's dealing with his over barring father, who is fresh out of prison. Who plays this bad ass, bullying his pro-athlete son, who is in peak physical condition? A very old looking, very tattooed, Ethan Hawke and I really wasn't buying that for a second. There were some talented actors in this film, no doubt, but The Phenom was 88 minutes of talking and nothing more, what in the hell is so great about that? This film was as boring as movies get, so unless you're a die hard Paul Giamatti fan, I would absolutely let this one pass you by.

Read More

• Share

The Final Season

Starring: Sean Astin, Powers Boothe, & Rachel Leigh Cook

Rating: 1 1/2 out of 5 stars

A baseball movie, based on a true story, Directed by the same guy who brought the Sandlot to life on the big screen, who could ask for more? Norway, Iowa, one of the smallest towns in the mid-west, with a fabled sports history. Their High School baseball team is one of the most successful high school baseball teams of all-time, and their coach, Jim Van Scoyoc (Powers Boothe), is a legend, who could be coaching in the Major Leagues if he wanted to. Small towns like Norway always have their fair share of problems, mainly money, and with this town near bankruptcy, they've agreed to merge with a larger town, which means only one last season of baseball in Norway, and without the expensive contract of coach Van Scoyoc. The coach eventually convinces his former assistant, Kent Stock (Sean Astin), to take over the team, and attempt to lead them to one last championship, but with the town about to disappear from the map, how will he motivate the players or the town to care? This is one of those stories that is as inspirational as it gets, and it should have been a fantastic movie, but it was not. I have never in my life seen a movie centered around a sport, that moves as slowly as this film does. The Final Season is full of heart to heart chats, court fights about the town, and of course Sean Astin's character. I enjoy Sean Astin, after all he is the star of my all-time favorite movie, but his character is this introvert, who is in way over his head to begin with, not to mention the fact that he's replacing this living legend. Astin or rather Astin portraying Stock was just boring, just once I would have liked to see the guy, explode, show some fire, be a real coach, because it was like watching a math teacher, coach a bunch of kids, that didn't really want to be there for much of the film. The Final Season is a great true story, but as a film, it's more talk than anything else, and fails to even come close to expectations.

Read More

• Share

When The Game Stands Tall

Starring: Jim Caviezel, Alexander Ludwig, Michael Chiklis, & Laura Dern

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

The one thing you can always count on when watching a football film, is that it's going to be exciting. It doesn't matter if it's a true story, like When The Game Stands Tall, or a made up one like Friday Night Lights. It doesn't matter if the team has won 100 straight games or lost 100 straight games. Every film about football is going to be exciting, so what makes one better than the other? The personalities involved, it all comes down to who the film is focused on and this film has it's eyes on the prize. Jim Caviezel stars as Bobby Ladouceur, one of the most successful high school football coaches of all-time. Ladouceur became a national celebrity, not only because of a big winning streak, but also because of the way he incorporated family values and religion into his coaching, trying to make his player more well-rounded individuals. Caviezel was outstanding, as he is in everything, but after watching six seasons of Person of Interest, it's almost disappointing seeing Caviezel in a role where he doesn't kill anyone. The other focus of the film is Alexander Ludwig, who portrays Chris Ryan, a kid who has all the talent in the world, but has to decide, if he's pushing himself toward greatness for himself or because of a psychotic father. Ludwig always gets second billing, but as with the Hunger Games, nothing would be as good without him. He is the unsung hero of this film as he rounds out the emotional roller-coaster. When The Game Stands Tall has action, emotion, conflict, religion, family, love, hate, a little bit of everything and believe it or not, at the heart of it all is a simple, stupid little game called football. This film was great, it reminded me a lot of the TV version of Friday Night Lights and it's an absolute can't miss for sports enthusiasts.

Read More

• Share

Bhaag Milkha Bhaag (2013)

When was the last time you saw a theater full of people cheering an athlete on screen like they would in a stadium? Rakeysh Omprakash Mehra’s homage to India’s foremost track and field champion is an evocative triumph that successfully portrays the essence of Milkha Singh – his scars from the Partition, his poverty, his life of crime, his loving but broken heart and his outstanding athletic ability on the field.

The film begins in medias res, with the ill-fated Rome Olympic 400m final, in which Milkha Singh finishes 4^th, a result that is attributed in the film to a recurring reminiscence of his past. In the aftermath of that race, Milkha is reluctant to travel to Pakistan for a friendship series due to the scars he bears from the time of the Partition. As a group of people travel to Chandigarh from Delhi to try and convince him, his entire story emerges in a non-linear fashion. What follows is a masterful peeling of Milkha Singh’s persona, layer after layer until his wounded core is left exposed. Whether he is able to treat that wound and exorcise those ghosts is what the film tries to explore.

‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ combines the best qualities of the biopic and sports genres. Great biopics are about capturing the essence of the person and great sports films are about showing the growth of the athlete despite the odds until their biggest challenge faces them. Prasoon Joshi’s wonderful script portrays the flawed character of Milkha and is careful not to blindly deify him. The non-linear nature of the story allows a viewer to understand the context behind his decisions and his personality – a penchant for running since childhood, a life of crime taken up to overcome poverty in the refugee camps of Delhi, a life of crime given up to become worthy of a girl he loved, a burning passion to succeed on the field driven by an urge to run away from his past, to earn respect, to be the best he can be.

Omprakash Mehra’s direction leaves you spellbound from the start. His filming of the running sequences is realistic and captivating as is his intelligent use of graphic novel-inspired sequences to showcase Milkha’s ghosts. He maintains a sense of balance and avoids any temptation to over-dramatize any sequence. His showcasing of Milkha’s Partition experience is a master class. Binod Pradhan’s cinematography intersperses current with the past superbly and gives you a distinct view of different phases in Milkha’s life. Where the movie suffers is in the pre-climax where Mehra seems to lose a bit of steam – the train journey from Delhi to Chandigarh seems unending at times. The music of the film is energetic with the wonderful guitar riff on ‘Zinda’ setting the tone for some hard-core passion and athleticism.

Farhan Akhtar can easily be called the Warren Beatty of Hindi cinema. He has excelled in all aspects of film-making and in this film stakes claim to be called a first rate actor. In a genre of mainstream cinema where larger than life actors try to portray everything from college kids to nuclear scientists while changing nothing about themselves, Akhtar has worked tremendously hard to portray both the emotional and physical dimensions of Milkha and the results show. He looks every inch a sprinter and shows excellent running technique. He is ably supported by Mehra regulars like Nukkad’s Pawan Malhotra and Divya Dutta with inspired cameos by Prakash Raj, Yograj Singh and, hold your breath – Art Malik, the big-eyed villain in ‘True Lies’ as Milkha’s father.

‘Bhaag Milkha Bhaag’ is one of the best biopics you will see. Don’t miss it.

Read More

• Share