Because Everybody Else Has One

A number of fairly big films came out this week and they're all worth checking out, to some degree or another. I actually hope to get to the others - as well as a bunch of other notable releases from the past year that I haven't reviewed as of yet - as I'm largely finished with professional writing for the rest of the year. Reviews for Channel 24, aside, of course. Anyway, speaking of which, onto this week's Channel 24 review: Creed II...   What it’s about With Rocky Balboa in his corner, Adonis Creed has lived up to his father’s good name as the heavyweight champion of the world, while his personal life is no less rosy as he proposes to his longtime girlfriend, Bianca. When the past comes crashing into his life with a challenge to his title by Viktor Drago, the son of the man who killed his father, Ivan Drago, Adonis comes face to face with a chance for revenge but one that may cost him everything he has. What we thought Seen widely as a return to form fo...

Not this year's Creed... This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about The true story of Roberto Duran, the middleweight boxing legend, and his often tumultuous relationship with his trainer, the no less legendary Ray Arcel. What we thought For a true story, it's rather odd that Hands of Stone suffers primarily for feeling like a not-entirely-successful amalgamation of a half dozen previous sports movies and biopics. It's a pity because it does have some strong performances from Edgar Ramirez, Ana De Armas, Robert De Niro and, most surprisingly, Usher Raymond as Sugar Ray Leonard, as well as more than its share of heartfelt good intentions. To be specific, Hands of Stone basically plays like a bargain-bin Rocky knock off, with some of the recent Pele's real-world social-political concerns thrown in for good measure, but with the imminently likable Rocky Balboa replaced by a real-world figure who is only slightly more sympathetic tha...

"Legendary", he may well be, but there's nothing "legendary" about this flat, uninspired biopic of the Brazillian football great.  This review is also up at Channel 24 What it's about The true story of legendary football player, Edson Arantes do Nascimento – or Pele as he is better known - that his early life from childhood poverty in the slums of Brazil to redefining Brazilian football forever with his appearance as the youngest ever player in the 1958 World Cup. What we thought There's clearly a good film to made about the life and career of Pele but, sadly, Pele: The Birth of a Legend is very much not it. As someone who is not now and will almost definitely never be a soccer fan, Pele does have to work twice as hard to win me over but there's something telling that the only times the film came even close to holding my attention was during its nicely cinematic football matches. Not only are these scenes surprisingly exci...

Revitalizing the Rocky franchise, once again. Seriously, how does this still work? And yet here we are, six for seven good Rocky flicks. Amazing. Check out this review at Channel 24 as well. What it's about The seventh installment in the Rocky series focuses on Adonis Johnson, Apollo Creed's youngest, illegitimate son whose troubled early life took a decided turn for the good when Creed's widow, Mary Anne, invites him to live with her after he finds himself once again falling foul of the system. Years later though, with the aid of a loving mother figure, a fine home life and a great education, Adonis is thriving as an up and comer in the financial sector but the old family calling proves to be too much for him and he heads off to try make a name for himself – his own name – in professional boxing by enlisting the help of his father's rival/ protege/ best friend, Rocky Balboa. What we thought It was already pretty amazing that 2006's Rocky Ba...

I'm on holiday so this s going to be short but I didn't want to let Foxcatcher come and go without leaving my own two cents on the matter. Foxcatcher tells the true story of an eccentric millionaire, John du Pont and his relationship with a pair of Olympic Champion Wrestling brothers as he enlists them to help bring the American team, of which he has become chief benefactor, to the top of the 1988 Seoul games. This is not, however, the kind of feel-good, inspirational sports drama that these sorts of things tend to be but a very dark character study of two very unlikeable men who are joined together by perhaps more than their professional aspirations. Unfortunately, while I remain a fan of both of director Bennett Miller's previous cinematic outings, Moneyball and Capote, I unfortunately don't share the love that most critics seem to have for Foxcatcher. Part of the problem I have with it is what I like to call "Raging Bull syndrome" in that however muc...

OK, by this time, "couple of weeks" is probably something of an understatement. Still, there's some good stuff that I haven't touched on yet... as well as one or two serious stinkers, of course. Starting off with what is probably my favourite of the films I haven't reviewed yet this month, Begin Again (8/10)   is John Carney's spiritual followup to his wonderful breakthrough film, Once: a serious charmer of a film that came out of nowhere and won over audiences, award ceremonies, critics and other filmmakers, before becoming a highly successful Broadway play. Begin Again isn't quite in the same league as its predecessor but it is certainly in a similar vain. Originally titled, Can a Song Save Your Life, Begin Again is about two lost souls finding each other through music and plays out basically like a more fully produced (and therefore somewhat less charming) remake of Once - but with enough differences to make it worthwhile on its own terms. Even i...

Meh. Just meh. This review is also up at Channel 24 . What it's about Thirty years after their last match, two retired boxers are coaxed back into the ring for one final match, but great and deeply entrenched personal animosity between the two means that this is one match that is about a lot more than just sportsmanship. What we thought Saying that Grudge Match is the long-awaited answer to who would win in a fight between Sly Stallone's charmingly fictional Rocky Balboa and Robert Deniro's take on the decidedly charmless and sadly all too real Jake La Motta, might seem like a great way to sell the film, but bringing up either Rocky or Raging Bull in this context is a frankly disastrous mistake. While I have always hated Raging Bull because of just how hateful its lead character is, it's impossible to deny what an artistic triumph that film was (Raging Bull remains, incidentally, my go to answer for explaining how far apart objective criticism and person...

Just a couple of quick reviews before I get to my overview of the films of 2011. One from this week and one that came out a few weeks ago that I've managed to miss until very recently. Moneyball isn't just a drama about baseball; it's a drama about the statistics behind baseball. Needless to say, this is not a subject with what anyone would call "universal appeal" but, for the 6.99999 billion of you who have no interest in baseball or statistics, Moneyball still has plenty on offer. Brad Pitt stars as a former ball player turned manager of a relatively minor baseball team who, after meeting a young Yale economics graduate with a formula that could forever change the way major league baseball is played, is confronted with an opportunity to leave a greater mark on the game than he could ever previously have imagined. That's right: however much Moneyball may seem to be about baseball on the surface, dig just a little bit deeper and you'll find the st...

After Twilight ruling cinemas for the last couple of week, we at long last have something to talk about. From Channel24 What it's about: In the near future, where robot boxing has become a popular sport, a struggling ex-boxer/promoter (Hugh Jackman) soon finds himself bonding with his estranged 11-year-old son (Dakota Goyo) as they attempt to create a champion out of a scrappy but antiquated robot. What we thought: Both feature robot-on-robot smackdowns, dazzling CGI and Stephen Spielberg attached as executive producer but Real Steel wisely does all it can to be the antithesis of everything that is so vacuous and hollow about the increasingly bloated Transformers franchise. While Spielberg may lend his name to both of these robo-centric crowd-pleasers, it's clear where his mark is more acutely felt. Real Steel director Shawn Levy goes some way towards making up for his previous cinematic foibles ( Cheaper by the Dozen , The Pink Panther remake, Night at...