Movie Review: REAL STEEL

REAL STEEL

2011
PG-13


"We fight smart, be patient and pray. Seriously, pray!"
-- Charlie Kenton

Real Steel is a 2011 sports drama directed by Shawn Levy that tells a tale of a futuristic boxing world where robots have replaced humans as the fighters in the ring. Former boxer Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) become a boxing robot controller, but after losing a few bets, he's fallen on some hard times. To make matters worse, he learns that his ex-wife has passed away, leaving his eleven-year-old son Max (Dakota Goyo) in his custody. Charlie reluctantly takes Max on a trip to purchase a new robot, but after that bot is destroyed in a fight, he's left downtrodden and undetermined. While the two rummage through a landfill looking for robot parts, Max stumbles upon a complete and functional sparring bot with which he takes an immediate liking. With the help of his longtime partner and on-again, off-again romance Bailey Tallet (Evangeline Lilly), the father-and-son duo attempts to climb the ranks of the boxing world with this unlikeliest of champions that they name Atom.

When I first started seeing the trailers for this film last year, I thought it might prove to be a fun little movie that wouldn't prove to be more than a good popcorn flick. I'll generally watch anything with which Hugh Jackman is associated, and when you add fighting robots to the mix, this seemed like a surefire hit to draw me to the box office. However, the film came and went during its theatrical run, earning nearly $300 million dollars worldwide, and I did not have an opportunity to go see it. After scoring an Academy Award nomination for its visual effects, I wanted to give it a view before the actual awards ceremony.

There's something about the sport of boxing that has always translated well onto the silver screen. While plenty of sports movies have received numerous accolades, it seems that boxing flicks generally have the most success. Look at the original Rocky film from 1976, or Million Dollar Baby in 2004, or more recently, take a look at 2010's The Fighter? All three managed to scare up Best Picture nominations, and the former took home the Oscar statuette. I personally think that the appeal of boxing-central films is the ability to focus on one central character rather than a team as a whole. This personalized story gives the audience a lone figure with which to relate, rather than finding one individual on a team that strikes up their liking. Rather than having a team striving for a common goal, we have the story of one man or woman trying to beat the odds and fight through each opponent on their way to the top. Isn't that what our everyday lives are all about?

And so, the biggest issue with Real Steel was going to be whether it would be able to strike that emotional chord whilst using robots as the central fighters. While the film doesn't really stray too far from the basic clichés of every other boxing movie we've ever seen, we do get a taste of that character development in both the Charlie and the Max characters, although Charlie's arc is much larger and much stronger than Max's. We see the struggles of an aging former boxer who's trying his best to make it to the top in the sport he loves despite its ever-changing face. In that, we're getting a decent tale, but aside from that, the basic outlines of the screenplay are pretty darn predictable if you've ever seen any sort of boxing movie before.

The acting is pretty good considering the type of film we're getting. Jackman does fine with his leading role, and he has a good rapport with the young talent in Dakota Goyo, who is decent at best. The boy got a little annoying throughout the film, and although he ultimately proves to be endearing, there were a few moments where I just wanted him to shut up. Lilly is good in her supporting role, and be on the lookout for limited, albeit decent, performances from the likes of Anthony Mackie and Kevin Durand. Even Hope Davis and James Rebhorn make small appearances.

The biggest draw of the film has to be the special effects, which prove to be much more well-done than I had originally thought they would be. While it's not really offering anything spectacular or new to the visual effects field, it proves to be quite the visual delight, especially once the robots enter the ring. So, if you're big on great visual quality, this one's probably right up your alley.

I don't want to go as far as to say that Real Steel is all style and no substance because it does have a great emotional foundation for anyone willing to enjoy it. Sure, the film's premise is a little bit out there, and the screenplay follows the rote ideas of every boxing film that has ever come before it. That being said, the futuristic twist and the visual effects make this a fun little popcorn flick, and I have to say that I was thoroughly engaged with it from start to finish. It's entertainment at its most basic, and that's what movies are all about.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: B
1.5 Thumbs Up

Favorites: FOOTBALL MOVIES

As I, like millions of football fans around the world, finish their my preparations for this year's Super Bowl between the New York Giants and the New England Patriots, I started to think about the best football movies that I've had the opportunity to watch. There have been a slew of them over the years, many of which have become ingrained into our collective public consciousness. While sports films have always been a little hit-and-miss, something about football-centric films finds a way to strike home with audiences more so than most other sports, save only boxing. So, in recognition of today being the biggest day in the football year, I thought I'd bring you my list of my favorite football movies. I've managed to list my top five, and I've thrown in a few videos that give a sense of each film's overall tone. I hope you enjoy this list, and I hope everyone has a safe and fun afternoon and evening watching the big game!

5. We Are Marshall
2006
Directed by: McG
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara


*****

4. The Waterboy
1998
Directed by: Frank Coraci
Starring: Adam Sandler, Kathy Bates, Fairuza Balk, Henry Winkler, Jerry Reed


*****

3. Friday Night Lights
2004
Directed by: Peter Berg
Starring: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Garrett Hedlund, Tim McGraw


*****

2. Rudy
1993
Directed by: David Anspaugh
Starring: Sean Astin, Jon Favreau, Ned Beatty, Charles S. Dutton, Robert Prosky, Jason Miller


*****

1. Remember the Titans
2000
Directed by: Boaz Yakin
Starring: Denzel Washington, Will Patton, Wood Harris, Ryan Hurst, Hayden Panettiere

Movie Review: WARRIOR

WARRIOR

2011
PG13


"Lock up the china because the boys are at it again!"
-- Bryan Callen

Warrior is a 2011 dramatic sports film directed by Gavin O'Connor that centers around two brothers who compete in the same mixed martial arts (MMA) tournament. When they were young, brothers Brendan (Joel Edgerton) and Tommy Conlon (Tom Hardy) had to live with their alcoholic father Paddy (Nick Nolte) and his violent tendencies. Brendan chose to stay with his father, but Tommy left with his mother and started a new life on the west coast. Brendan got married and became a physics teacher, but when money becomes tight, he starts to moonlight as a fighter to make ends meet. Tommy went into the Marine Corps after their mother passed away but deserted after his battalion was destroyed by friendly fire. The two separately hear about a landmark MMA tournament called Sparta that will award the winner a $5 million purse, so they both start to train in the hopes of winning the cash. Little do they know, however, that the other is training to fight against them. As the tournament draws closer and closer, the stakes continue to climb, adding even more stress to the Conlon brothers' debacle.

I started hearing about this film at the beginning of the summer in preparation for its September release. I was immediately drawn to the film based on the fact that Edgerton and Hardy were going to be attached, considering I've loved their past films. Then the first trailer hit the theaters, and I was astounded by the possibilities. I even placed the film on my Fall Movie Preview, which highlighted the films I was most excited to see this fall. So, as you can probably imagine, I was a tad bit anxious to see this one. Unfortunately, September came and went, and I was unable to see the film during its initial theatrical release. However, I was able to give it a view tonight, so here's what I thought.

In the past, boxing movies have always been quite a big draw for audiences. In comparison to bigger and grander sports, there's something rather simple about filming a boxing match. And, considering its long-standing tradition in the United States - as well as its basic fundamentals - it's an easily accessible sport that has translated itself onto the silver screen in many a format. I mean, Rocky nabbed the Academy Award for Best Picture back in 1976, and we saw more recent success from the likes of 2010's The Fighter, which was nominated for Best Picture. So as you can see, boxing has done well when it comes to the movie audiences.

Mixed martial arts, however, has had a bit of a hit-and-miss beginning at the cineplex. One of the most memorable MMA-style films is the 1988 film Bloodsport, which stars Jean Claude Van Damme, but more recent examples include 2008's Redbelt and Never Back Down. This style of fighting had yet to receive a signature, critically-acclaimed film until Warrior came along, but after striking it rich with the critics, we may have actually come across a film to hold that particular title.

Warrior finds a way to succeed on nearly every level. The screenplay itself is quite a doozy, and although it's a tad bit predictable at times, it makes up for it with well-written characters and more emotion that you can probably handle. Sure, the trailers hyped the film's ending by telling us that the two brothers were going to face off in the tournament's final, but I think that only added to my personal anticipation for that climactic battle. Seeing how they fared in the three rounds before the championship set up a brilliant final round, and I think the emotion conveyed throughout the film was released in those final scenes with an intensely cathartic resolution.

The acting is spot-on as well, and it'd be tough to pick just one actor to salute more than the rest. Edgerton is great as our likable lead, but I think I need to tip my hat to Hardy, who manages to play a leading role that's both likable and unlikable at the same time. In the beginning, I wanted to hate him, but as I learned more about his character, I wanted to start to root for him along the way. In a sense, Hardy's character is the more complete one, and while this is no knock against Edgerton's performance, I think Hardy steals a bit of the spotlight this time around. Also worth a serious mention is two-time Academy Award-nominee Nick Nolte, who brings one of the strongest performances I've seen from him in years. It's been fourteen years since Nolte was last nominated for an Oscar, and it's been nearly that long since he's had a solid cinematic performance. However, I've already heard little bits of Oscar buzz for his supporting role. Whether it will come to fruition remains to be seen, but as of now, I'd put him on the short-list to at least get a nomination. We're also getting rather good, if small and slightly underutilized, performances from Jennifer Morrison as Edgerton's wife Tess and Kevin Dunn as his former boss.

Overall, Warrior is a fantastic film that definitely sets a new standard in the world of MMA-centric films. I would even argue that it surpasses some of the greater boxing films of years past, including Rocky (of which I was not entirely impressed, although I do not have a review for that film at this time). The reason it works so well is because it delves into the emotion of the sport and the family relations surrounding the characters' particular situation, and for that, I have to applaud O'Connor for his deftness of direction. This film could have easily bombed, but with the collaborative effort of the entire cast and crew, they've managed to make an instant sports classic.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up

Movie Review: MONEYBALL

MONEYBALL

2011
PG-13


"There are rich teams, and there are poor teams. Then there's fifty feet of crap, and then there's us."
-- Billy Beane

Moneyball is a 2011 dramatic film directed by Bennett Miller that tells the story of one game-changing year in the history of the Oakland Athletics franchise. After losing in the playoffs to the New York Yankees in 2001, A's General Manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt) is given the nearly impossible task of replacing some of his all-star talent with a budget that's microscopic in comparison to some of the large market baseball teams. When he tries to utilize his scouts' knowledge of the game, Billy realizes that the A's are going to need a different approach if they want to compete with the big dogs. On a trip to Cleveland, he meets the young Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a Yale economics graduate who keys Beane into the idea that there might be a computer-based way to create a championship team that the A's could afford. Beane buys into the idea and shakes up the status quo, bringing in players his associates would normally deem useless. He faces a lot of opposition, especially from team manager Art Howe (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who elects not to play the athletes in the manner Beane wants them to be played. Despite some early-season troubles, however, the team manages to find a groove and goes on to find a certain level of success, ultimately changing the scouting process in Major League Baseball.

There were a few reasons I wanted to see Moneyball. First and foremost, it stars Brad Pitt, who you may know to be one of my favorite actors to grace the silver screen (I'll talk more about his performance momentarily). Second, it's a sports movie, which in an of itself makes it an appealing flick for me. It's difficult to make an outright terrible sports film because it's so easy to get caught up in the emotion of a sporting event. When I heard that Moneyball was garnering some rather stellar reviews - it currently holds a 94% critic's approval rating on Rottentomatoes.com - I knew I had to at least give it a shot. And let me tell you, I most assuredly was not disappointed.

The story itself is rather basic, telling the tale of a year in the life of Billy Beane as he tries to reinvent the very process of creating a high-caliber sports team. At the same time, we're catching glimpses of Beane's personal life, and I for one thought the mesh between the two to be stellar. We're getting the screenplay from Academy Award winners Aaron Sorkin and Steven Zaillian, and from the moment the film starts, you know there's something great about it. I found the strength of the screenplay to be its handling of conflict. On the one hand, we're seeing the external conflict between Beane and basically everybody else who's fighting him tooth and nail when it comes to his new system. On the other hand, we're seeing the internal conflict with Beane himself as he struggles with his own feelings of low self-esteem and unworthiness that stems from his days playing in the major leagues.

That's where Pitt's performance comes into play. While I've always found Pitt to be a great actor, I think it's only in the last few years that he's truly started to prove himself to the rest of the world that he can handle his own in a series of dramatic roles. For so long, he was simply the eye candy, and while he had early critical success (he scored an Academy Award nomination for his role in 1995's Twelve Monkeys), I don't think he's really gotten the respect he deserves. It's rare to hear his name being tossed into a group with the likes of Kevin Spacey or Daniel Day-Lewis, but I would posit here and now that Pitt is one of the finer actors of his generation. His role in Moneyball only solidifies my stance as he shows a wide range of emotion in completely becoming Billy Beane. And while we do get some great performances from our supporting cast - Hill and Hoffman are exceptionally good - this is really Pitt's vehicle, and it should be viewed as such.

I'd also like to tip my hat to Mychael Danna, who composed the score for this film. It definitely fit the tone of the movie, and it actually reminded me a lot of the soft-toned score that Explosions in the Sky created for 2004's Friday Night Lights. Kudos, Mr. Danna.

Overall, I think Moneyball is definitely worth, well, your money, if you feel so inclined to see it. There's only so much I can say about a film's acting and screenplay, but some films just have that "it" factor that's so difficult to describe. Moneyball definitely has "it," and as a result, we the audience are getting something rather wonderful.

Movie Review Summary
Grade: A-
2 Thumbs Up

Rankings
Best All-Time: #129
Best Drama: #47

Movie Review: THE DAMNED UNITED

THE DAMNED UNITED

2009
R


You can watch the trailer here

The Damned United is a 2009 sports drama directed by Tom Hooper that tells a dramatized story of Brian Clough's 44-day reign as the coach of the Leeds United Football Club. The film cuts back and forth between the story of his time as the coach and flashbacks of the years leading up to his appointment. In the years prior, Clough (played by Michael Sheen) had established himself as a successful manager of a team in Darby, taking them from England's second division to winning the championship in the first division. After his promotion to the coach of Leeds, however, things began to unravel right before his very eyes as he tried to instill a stronger sense of pride among his players.

The screenplay itself has its ups and downs. For starters, I did enjoy the back and forth between the film's past and present as each scene gave a little more insight into Clough's character. In addition, the movie utilized archive footage both of Clough's teams and of the real Clough himself, giving the movie almost a pseudo-documentary feel. Be warned: everything I've read about The Damned United says that the situations in the film are grossly exaggerated, so don't take it all as pure fact despite the aforementioned feel. I did, however, have a little issue with how the film ended. I won't go into detail, but the final scene seemed a little Hollywood and ridiclous, and it just left a bad taste in my mouth.

The acting in the film was very, very good. I'm not quite sure what it is about Michael Sheen, but something about him just draws me into his characters. I've only seen him in a few films (most notably 2006's The Queen and 2008's Frost/Nixon) and as a semi-recurring character on television's "30 Rock," but every time I see him, he finds a way to utterly captivate me. The same goes this time around: however true his caricature of Brian Clough is, it's still fun to watch. In addition, the performance given by Timothy Spall is also noteworthy. His most recent work has been as Peter Pettigrew in the Harry Potter franchise, but he always seems to provide a great performance as an ancillary character.

Overall, the film is good at best. It received astounding review from critics, boasting a score on Metacritic that they say spells universal acclaim, but I can't quite say it's as good as all that. Still, if you're into soccer and the politics behind it all, then The Damned United is definitely for you. If not, then you may still want to watch it for Michael Sheen, but I'm not giving any guarantees.

Movie Review Summary:
Grade: B-
Thumb... Slightly up