Reviews

The Fighter

The other day I watched “The Fighter” – a sports drama based on the life and career of the boxer Micky Ward. As with most other sport dramas, the main course of the story is known and predictable. Those movies are not done, watched, and enjoyed for their twisted plots. Instead, they are all about people and specific circumstances. And this film is not an exception.

To be honest, I’ve never heard about Micky Ward before this film. So it was interesting for me to discover who he is and how he came up to be what he is. It was also interesting to see a rather realistic approach to the story – less glamor, hot chicks, and big fights and more of hard work, sweat, personal drama, and overall resistance. The film helps to illustrate the idea that champion is 1% of talent and 99% of hard work. It also shows how impossible it is to satisfy everyone and how that often leads one to very hard choices, and how those choices have to be made.

Overall, I really enjoyed the film. Interesting characters, good acting, and authentic cinematics all make this film so much better. A 4 out of 5 from me. Recommended.

The Company Men

I have recently seen an excellent corporate drama – “The Company Men“. It’s not your average office romance or Wall Street con action. It is a film about people. People, who find themselves in the middle of crashing economy, like we experience now. And even though people in this film are a bit richer than average, they are still deeply affected.

In the beginning, I was a bit skeptical. I thought, it’s the poor people who suffer the most and who deserve the most attention. But soon I discovered that I was wrong. Not wrong maybe, but inaccurate. It is true that poor people are affected the most. But if you think about it for a moment – each and every one of us has a certain level of life, certain things that he values, certain wants and needs, certain little things. And when outside circumstances make you lose those things that you enjoy and value so much, you do feel depressed, disoriented, confused, and sometimes angry. And it doesn’t matter what those little things are – an extra pint of beer with friends, furniture in your house, or private jet flights.

One other important topic this film brings up is mutual respect and kindness. Certain types of connections are well exposed and explained. Support for local workforce, ethical business practices, corporate goals beyond pure financial benefits, are just some of the topics of this film.

What I particularly enjoyed, was how light the film felt despite all seriousness. I think a lot of it was due to brilliant cast and good acting. Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner – all make this movie so much better.

Overall, while this film doesn’t necessarily fit into my definition of masterpiece, I really enjoyed it and catch myself thinking a lot about it. That, in my book, is worth a 5 out of 5 rating. Strongly recommended.

True Grit

Without waiting for local cinemas to catch up with the rest of the world, I got my hands on a copy of “True Grit” – a new movie by Coen brothers, of who I am a big fan.

Every film they do is different from every other, and is a masterpiece of its own. “True Grit” follows the pattern. It is a western, with beautiful and authentic cinematics, colorful characters, excellent acting, and simple, yet unique story telling. The story itself is simple and straightforward – there are no twists as such. But it tells the story of people with character, courage, and will. It tells the story of the days that have long past, yet which is applicable to modern days. It shows people who lived in a very different world, yet were so similar to us.

A 5 out of 5 from me and a recommendation for home collection – you’ll want to see it this movie more than once.

Season of the Witch

Olga and I spent some time choosing which movie to go see today. There are a few showing, but none of them sounds even remotely attractive. After we went through all options, we decided to watch “Season of the Witch“. At least the trailer was attractive.

The film turned out to be a disappointment. Whilst it had some good acting and special effects, the story failed it miserably. It was too shallow and too raw. There seemed to be no purpose, no connection. And there were way too many contradictions. Maybe fifteen or twenty years ago, all that could be easily hidden behind the visual effects. But not today.

Overall, I’d give it a 3 out of 5. Don’t bother with the cinema – watch at home.

Weeds

Everything has pros and cons, including such things as being sick and staying at home. One of the benefits of such a situation is loads of time. Being sick means you can’t really work productively or focus at length on any more or less complicated issue. But you might just have enough brain power to watch TV series in bed.

It’s a been a while now that I’ve heard plenty of good about “Weeds“, but somehow I didn’t have the time or will to start watching yet another TV series that is on the air for several years. Now seemed like a good time. So I got myself all six seasons. I got hooked from the first episode, which appeared like very light, entertaining comedy, with a pro-legalize twist to it. What followed was way more than that.

All six seasons are done to the same level of quality, which is quite rare. There is entertainment and fun to it. But there are also characters that I couldn’t help but want to follow. And there was even more than that. Under an almost grotesque story setup, hidden is a very broad view of the drug problem in our society. The story takes the characters through all sorts of situations, involving starting and expanding a drug business, ethics, society, legal and financial issues involved, government control, drug business relations with other crimes, corruption, and even a diverse exploration of how the problem varies between three different countries and states. Without being too documentary or focusing too much on any specific issue, these TV episodes show how broad the problem is and how many areas it covers.

I wasn’t thinking much about all that while watching episode after episode. Maybe I was still too sick for that. Or maybe I just didn’t have the full picture. But once I finished with all six seasons, I can’t stop but think about it.

Despite your interest in drugs and legalization issues, I strongly recommend this show. It is funny. It is social. It is about family. It is about the current state of economy. It is kind and considering. And it tries to show the world from slightly different perspective without pushing a lot of agendas. My rating is 5 out of 5. Well done. Can’t wait for seasons 7.