Rating: 5 out of 5 starsTo the younger generations of America, it is nearly impossible to imagine the world as depicted in the documentary, Booker's Place: A Mississippi Story. The film's subject, Booker Wright, and other brave Americans like him, are a large reason as to how we have come so far. It is a stark contrast and with a deep irony that this film is being made available on a day where our first black President may find himself re-elected. It is hard to believe how incredibly different our country was only 40 years earlier.
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Rating: 4 out of 5 starsAvailable today on-demand is Head Games, a documentary that focuses its attention on sports-related injuries as it pertains to long-term health. It is not ground-breaking to argue that high-impact sports such as football, hockey or lacrosse could lead to brain injury - every athlete knows that there are inherent risks associated with their chosen sport. But Head Games offers a few fresh angles to consider that may frustrate the avid sports fan.
Rating: 4 out of 5 starsNow that the Atari and Nintendo generation are adults with kids of their own, it only seems appropriate that a film would come along like Wreck-It Ralph. It panders specifically to the 80s and 90s video-gamer but also to the modern-day gamer who wouldn’t know a Galaga from a Zaxxon if it walked up and hit them in their Asteroids. In fact, regardless of age, there is a good chance you will like Wreck-It Ralph. If you happen to have grown up during the video game boom of the 80s (like myself), you may love it.
At the same time, Wreck-It Ralph is a bit misleading. Sure, it features animated characters living in a virtual video game world. But this movie was more like a nostalgic trip into a candy store rather than an arcade. I’ll explain. Rating: 3 out of 5 starsNothing will win you an Oscar quicker than playing a physically handicapped man, or taking on a serious dramatic role as an actress that requires nudity. The Sessions contains both of these, and it very well may make a strong push this awards season as an Oscar front-runner based on its strong critical buzz. But for me, a role – and a film – should bare more than a bit of skin to land an award. Emotionally, The Sessions is just as bare as Helen Hunt’s character through most of the film.
That’s not to say there isn’t some things to like. This based-on-a-true-story story centers on Mark O’Brien, who as a young boy became paralyzed from the neck down after battling polio. This restricted Mark to having to use an iron lung to breathe. Rating: 2 out of 5 starsThey say that "the devil is in the details," and that may be true. In The Details, Toby Maguire isn't quite the root of all evil, but he comes pretty close playing one of the most unlikeable protagonists in quite a while. As he breezes through this dark, convoluted comedy, you kind of just want a grand piano to fall on his head.
Rating: 3 out of 5 starsDirector Robert Zemeckis is back with Flight, his first live-action film since 2000's Cast Away (his last few films - The Polar Express, Beowulf and A Christmas Carol - have pushed the envelope in animation). In Cast Away, the movie began with an intense plane crash sequence. In Flight, he follows that same pattern, giving us one of the scariest plane crash sequences I've ever seen.
Rating: 4 out of 5 starsAnybody with even a miniscule amount of sports knowledge can tell you they've heard of "The Dream Team": That 1992 US Olympic basketball team that featured the likes of Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, David Robinson, Charles Barkley and others. They were a who's who of famous NBA stars who dominated the Barcelona games.
The Other Dream Team - as the name implies - is not about them. |
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