Short Review: Sure its long, slow and boring - sometimes that works.


This is not only a period piece because it portrays athletes battling to win the 1924 Olympics, but also because this film would never be widely distributed today. This is a period piece about British runners with no sex, no violence, and has one of the strongest Christian characters in film history. Yeah, this isn’t going to come around to the multiplex again soon.

This is a first-class production from the ground up, and I have nothing negative to say against it...well...okay, it's very dry in spots...well...okay, it's dry in a number of spots. The portrayal of Eric Liddell is stirring to see particularly contrasted to how Christians are usually portrayed now. Liddell is shown to be a generous and careful man who keeps himself bound by his faith. When his allegiance to Christ is tested, he offers the only answer possible.


Chariots of Fire is a film I would suggest young Christian filmmakers look to for inspiration. This film maps out a textured character who is caught in the very common Christian trap of being caught serving yourself instead of serving God. We have a story that patiently shows our world in a clever metaphor for our faith without ever becoming overbearing in its message. Those making Christian films today can learn a great deal from this classic.


Related Reviews:
Film with positive portrayals of Christians
The Heart of Texas (2008)
The Hiding Place (1975)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Reel Views
eFilmCritics




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Labels: Ben Cross, Christianity, film, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, movie review, Nicholas Farrell, Nigel Havers, sports

I adore this film.

The Blind Side tells the true story of Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a homeless black teen who has fallen through the cracks. Michael applies to a private school and is accepted through the successful campaigning by the school’s football coach. Michael's large build and quick feet make him a natural for the position of left tackle on the school's football team. Michael attends the school but remains homeless, friendless and still suffering from his miserable childhood in the projects.

One evening, Leigh Anne Tuohy (Sandra Bullock) and Sean Tuohy (Tim McGraw) see the teen walking in the rain. Leigh Anne, a very commanding woman, makes the choice to not only invite the stranger into their car, but also into their home.

Michael finds safety and love in the Tuohy’s home. Through their efforts and sacrifice, Michael discovers his athletic gifts and develops his scholarly abilities as well. Michael graduates from school and is swarmed by colleges hoping to get him on their teams.

The plot of the film may make this sound like yet another black kid(s) + sports = redemption movie (Remember the Titans, Glory Road, The Express, Pride, Coach Carter and on and on). This film above comparison to these films. The performances, the acting and the careful direction are all exceptional and the film looks beyond the racism elements. The story itself is so invigorating and inspiring that it transcends its genre.

The story offers a clear example of living the Christian life. The Tuohy’s are Christians who understand the faith isn’t just going to church and memorizing passages. The heart of the Christian faith resides in relationships. The faith lives in our relationship with Christ and allowing His love to reflect in our relationship with each other.

Much of the reaction to the film is focused on Sandra Bullock's infectious performance as Leigh Anne. Bullock, looking like a Kathy Lee Gifford clone, offers what is easily her best performance. Leigh Anne is a sassy, direct woman who obviously knows how to get whatever she wants. Bullock manages to keep the strong willed aspect of the woman at the forefront but allowing her maternal caring to peek through when needed. The duality of her strong will and her soft heart makes for a wonderful character to witness on screen.

In contrast to Bullock's assertive performance is Quinton Aaron as Michael Oher. Oher is notoriously introverted. Playing someone who avoids interaction is a challenging task. Aaron is able to present Oher's almost debilitating shyness while also making him endearing. It would have been easy to wind up having Oher be little more that a oafish prop living in Leigh Anne's shadow. Aaron's nuanced performance is the emotional anchor for the film and provides the context for the entire piece. His delicate performance deserves the credit for the film's success. If he wasn't so engaging on screen his Oher's transformation wouldn't have been as fascinating.

The old line “Dying is easy, comedy is hard” can be changed. "Dying is easy, inspiring others is hard." The attempt to inspire an audience is one of the biggest risks an artist can make. Inspiration reminds us of the good deep in our hearts and encourages us to open our better natures to the world. Inspiration promotes the higher ideals such as the Golden Rule of Matthew 7:12, “In everything, therefore, treat people the same way you want them to treat you, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”

When a filmmaker attempts to inspire they risk the sarcasm of misanthropes. As we have seen with the release of this film, the attacks come easily from those who think upbeat equates simplicity of thought. If you come across critics bashing this film for being racist or manipulative you can assume the critic is filtering their own personal issues through their writing. This is simply a great movie. It is honestly inspiring and challenges the audience to not only improve their lives but to improve the lives of those around them. The production promotes all that is good in us. In an age of torture-porn and filth-laden Hollywood blockbusters this film is an absolute must see (as soon as you can).


Final Note: If you enjoyed this film, I strongly suggest you search out a documentary titled The Heart of Texas. Like this film it is inspiring and presents one of the most incredible stories of forgiveness and love I have ever seen.


Related Reviews:
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Facing the Giants (2006)
Hoosiers (1986)


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Labels: football, Sandra Bullock, sports, sports movie, Tim McGraw

Screenwriter: Jimmy Tsai and Jessica Yu
Director: Jessica Yu
Actors: Jimmy Tsai, Roger Fan (Annapolis) and Shelley Malil

Labels: film, movie trailer, sports

Screenwriter: David Pliler
Director: Ryan Little (Saints and Soldiers)
Actors: Gary Cole (Office Space), Sean Faris (Never Back Down), Neal McDonough (Minority Report), Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings: Return of the King), Penn Badgley (John Tucker Must Die), and Arielle Kebbel (The Grudge 2)

Labels: film, Gary Cole, movie trailer, Neal McDonough, Sean Astin, sports

Yet another African-American first put to film. This time its the story of Ernie Davis, the first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy. Listen, good for Mr. Davis, sure he's a great guy and congrats on his historic achievement, but as a culture can we put this Civil Rights navel gazing away already? How many African-American firsts in sports do we need have movies about? If we're going to dip back fifty years to study the racism of previous generations, why do we need to concentrate on sports? Is it Hollywood can't conceive having Africans excelling in areas of real importance? No, don't bother with Thurgood Marshall, Ralph J. Bunche, Hiram Revels, or Congressional Medal of Honor winner William H. Carney, we're going to stick with football.

At least this one appears to focus on the black man instead of his white coach. Its common with Hollywood Civil Rights movies for the focus to fall on the brave whites who stand up for their black pals (see Glory Road for a good example). I can't say this trailer doesn't do much to impress. Dennis Quaid isn't exactly the sign of quality and as I've said, the topic is tired.

Labels: Clancy Brown, Dennis Quaid, film, movie trailer, sports

This is supposed to be stupid, so complaining that this is dumb is redundant. I guess the best way to put it is that its dumber than it wants to be. This is, by any definition, a poorly made movie. Even giving it the low expectations it begs for, this film still fails in a pathetic display of sloppy writing, amateurish direction and confused acting.

This production was clearly built around the one-trick pony (but its a great trick) Will Ferrell. But like Blades of Glory, there is little development to maintain a full movie. Ferrell expends his comedic arsenal in his introduction and wanders the rest of the film struggling through seemingly random events that are quickly set up and sputter to their resolutions. Saturday Night Live skits normally begin with the premise and then quickly bottom out, leaving the actors to run through their unfunny lines until they arrive at the forced ending of the bit. This movie is ninety minutes of that uncomfortable feeling SNL offers of performers putting their time in as an unfunny skit runs itself out. All this amounts to is watching actors spew filthy lines that they know aren't funny - doesn't sound like too much fun does it?

Trust me, the Old Spice ads the marketing of this film produced are 1000% funnier than the film. If you've seen those ads, count it is being close enough and skip seeing the movie.


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Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004)


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Labels: basketball, comedy, sports, Will Ferrell, Woody Harrelson

Short Review: Not the greatest movie ever made.


This film follows the quick rise of Francis Ouimet, who goes from caddy to playing in the 1913 U.S. Open. We follow the young man from his meager beginnings as a caddy through to the big game where he is set up against golf legend Harry Vardon. The match up is akin to an unknown twenty-year-old amateur finding himself playing against Tiger Woods today.

The first act of this film may dissuade you from going further. The opening act is clunky and forced. Director Bill Paxton who is usually referenced via his thirty years of acting work by people saying “you know, that guy - what’s his name, you know…that guy from Aliens, “Game over man!”, yeah him!”, tries far too hard for much of this film. The opening act pushes the class struggle Ouimet and Vardon cope with throughout their careers. The old notion of class is a serious part of this piece and has its place. Neither Vardon or Ouimet are “gentlemen” and they are reminded of this deficiency constantly throughout the film. They are viewed as talented pawns for those in high society. The drumbeat of class issues throughout the first act makes it difficult to get through. Once through these clumsy efforts the film quickly becomes fun and well paced. The U.S. Open, and the events directly surrounding it, are very well done and make this a worthy movie overall.

The biggest problem with the film is Paxton getting in the way of his own work. There are a plethora of overly complicated shots and special effects that are clearly not needed and distract from the real action on the screen. Paxton pulls out at least a dozen shots where the camera “follows” the path of a flying golf ball by putting us directly behind it (reminiscent of Scorsese’s obtuse pool table camerawork in The Color of Money.) The numerous special shots Paxton lays out do not necessarily add to the piece and implies he didn’t feel the game itself was interesting enough on its own. The game was interesting. It is the ultimate real life underdog sports story.

The story is helped along a great deal by some superb acting by Shia LaBeouf as Francis Ouimet. LaBeouf carries the piece and brings an honest performance to the screen as the young man who finds himself in the middle of an historic event. He is a great conduit for the audience to understand the enormity of Ouimet’s success. There is also a fine performance by Stephen Dillane as the legendary Harry Vardon. Dillance gives a quiet performance as the master golfer and plays well against LaBeouf. Supporting these two are solid performances from Stephen Marcus as TedRay and twelve year-old Josh Flitter as Ouimet's caddy Eddie Lowery. Flitter's performance is notably good in its confidence and in his delivery. He and LaBeouf have some playful moments together on screen that left me wanting more interactions from the duo.

This is a good sports film and probably the second best golf film ever made (sorry, Caddyshack simply will never be beaten.) Given a sturdier director, this could have been a far better production. This is a shame given how good this story is and how inspiring it can be to see. While an enjoyable film, with a more adept hand, the story of Francis Ouimet could have been the greatest sports film ever made.


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Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius


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Labels: Bill Paxton, film, movie review, Shia LaBeouf, sports

Short Review: A whitewashing “true story” movie stemming from a critically acclaimed documentary about the birth of a dumb “sport”.


The writer of this film, Stacy Peralta made a documentary called Dogtown and Z-Boys in 2001. It is one of the better documentaries of that year. This fictionalization of the same story presented in Peralta's documentary, shows a gaggle of wastoids in Venice Beach, CA in the 1970’s as they drop their surfboards in favor of skateboards. The actions of these boys and their handlers led to the broad marketing of skateboarding throughout the U.S.

To water this down, this film and the documentary would have us think of these troubled kids as heroes and legends. While each has the relatively useless talent of performing interesting tricks on skateboards, they are hardly legends outside of their specific group. To look at them honestly, they were nothing more than marketing tools. This film does a good job of showing that aspect of the “legend” of the Zephyr skating team. From the inception of the team, to the wide commercialization that it spawned, this whole exercise was executed for one purpose: get easily led kids to think skateboarding was cool so they would get their parents to buy them a board and the accessories that comes with it.

While I enjoyed much of this quirky and uneven film, I just can’t get myself to take it too seriously. Having seen how well done the original documentary was and knowing that this film skips some pretty significant pieces of the actual story (many of the major players are missing or reduced in their prominence,) kills the buzz a bit. Then there’s that whole thing about not being able to pretend skateboarding is actually a sport. Please, grow up and be serious. Skating is a skill, not a sport.

Overall, this is an interesting little film but thanks to over-acting teenage thespians and a disjointed plot line, I cannot recommend it too highly. The only performance of note is Heath Ledger's as shop owner Skip. Ledger's offers some humor and a grounded performance in this movie littered with pedestrian acting.

If its there in front of you and you can see it for free, knock yourself out. If someone wants you to pay to see it, knock them out.


Related Reviews:
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Chariots of Fire (1981)
Murderball (2005)


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Labels: Emile Hirsch, film, Heath Ledger, Johnny Knoxville, movie review, Rebecca De Mornay, sports

This is a great back up pick when what you want isn't available. This is also quite a well constructed sports film as well. If you're into sports, you should give this one a second look.


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Faster (2003)
The Greatest Game Ever Played (2005)


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Labels: film, Hank Azaria, movie review, Russell Crowe, sports

Labels: George Clooney, John Krasinski, movie trailer, Renee Zellweger, sports