 Warner Bros. Pictures, 2021. The best and most unbelievable stories are often true. That is definitely the case when it comes to Richard Williams, a man who wrote out an 85-page plan detailing how not one, but two of his young daughters would take the world by storm and become the two greatest tennis champions the world has ever seen. That's a bit far-fetched, but what makes it miraculous is that he wrote this plan years before they were ever born.
His story is the story of his two daughters, Venus and Serena Williams, who did go on to become two of the greatest tennis champs and athletes ever produced. They weren't the first female African-American all-stars (look up Ora Washington, Althea Gibson or Zina Garrison), but they did open up the door for an entire generation of young girls as they absolutely dominated their sport for nearly two decades. "King Richard" is funny, touching and inspiring. It has the make-up of a traditional underdog sports film (an over-saturated genre to be sure), yet it doesn't feel like any of the others that have come before it. It's all held together with what will surely be an award-worthy turn by Will Smith, who after a few misfires ("Bad Boys For Life," "Gemini Man," "Bright") fires on all cylinders as the man behind-the-scenes in the life of two iconic Americans.
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Review: '12 Mighty Orphans' fumbles in trying not to become just another underdog sports movie6/16/2021  Sony Pictures Classics, 2021. If you've seen one underdog team sports film, you've seen them all, but that doesn't stop Hollywood from churning out another two or three per year ad nauseam. Welcome "12 Mighty Orphans" to the mix, a period football film that does nothing to further the genre, but one that might satisfy those who find themselves suckers for this brand of melodrama.
 IFC Films, 2020. Most sports dramas follow the same clichéd patterns, with rousing action sequences interspersed with bits of drama, featuring a man with the heart of a champion for us to root for. "Embattled" can't even balance the genre clichés properly. The problems start with the script, but they expand to cover the choppy, ineffective MMA fight sequences and the either overcooked or under-served characters at its center.
Review: 'You Cannot Kill David Arquette' the documentary you didn't know you needed to see8/27/2020  Super LTD, 2020. Most people know David Arquette as an actor. He's most recognizable as the lovable Deputy Dewey Riley from the "Scream" movie franchise, and back in the 90s, was thought of as one of Hollywood's best and brightest young up-and-coming actors. He graced the cover of Vanity Fair in 1996 alongside contemporaries like Leonardo DiCaprio, Will Smith, Tim Roth and Matthew McConaughey.
The explosion that was supposed to be a promising acting career never quite happened. Instead, David Arquette became the WCW Heavyweight Wrestling Champion of the World. And if that seems far-fetched, just get a load of the appropriately-named new doc, "You Cannot Kill David Arquette."  Warner Bros. Pictures, 2020. Ben Affleck has never been better than he is in "The Way Back," playing a character that hits a bit close to home for the actor who has recently opened up about his struggles with alcoholism.
 Sony Pictures Classics, 2019. "Maiden" tells the story of sailing pioneer Tracy Edwards, the first Captain of an all-female yachting crew to enter the prestigious Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.
 Bleeker Street Media, 2019. Jesse Eisenberg is perfectly cast as a victim who desperately wants to flip-the-script, in this cleverly-penned examination of toxic masculinity.
 Rating: 3 out of 5 starsGenre: Drama, Sport
Run Time: 2 hours, 3 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Gugu Mbatha-Raw David Morse, Stephen Moyer, Luke Wilson Directed by Peter Landesman (Parkland) By now, even non-sports fans have most likely heard about the "scandal" dealing with the NFL and concussions. What seems like common sense - that football players who suffer continual blows to the head over the course of several years end up with life-threatening head trauma over time - has only recently been acknowledged by the National Football League. Much like the big tobacco companies denying the existence of ill-affects related to their product, so has the NFL turned a blind eye to the consequences of theirs. Concussion (opening today) is the story of the doctor who helped bring this issue to the fore-front, and who forced the NFL to take action towards protecting their own.  Rating: 2 out of 5 starsGenre: Comedy, Sport
Run Time: 1 hours, 53 minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Robert De Niro, Sylvester Stallone, Jon Bernthal, Kim Basinger, Kevin Hart, Alan Arkin Directed by Peter Segal (Get Smart, The Longest Yard, 50 First Dates, Tommy Boy, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult) To determine the worth of the new Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro comedy, Grudge Match (opening today), look no further than the film's TV trailer. In it, there are the usual positive comments ("It's a knock-out! Or, "A great time at the movies!"), but if you look closely, they are pulled directly from random Twitter handles instead of the usual "respectable" pool of film critics.  Rating: 4 out of starsGenre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Run Time: hour, minutes, Rated PG-13 Starring: Chadwick Boseman, T.R. Knight, Harrison Ford Written & Directed by Brian Helgeland (The Order, A Knight's Tale, Payback) There's no question that Jackie Robinson was one of the most important people of the Civil Rights Movement, becoming the first African American ball player in Major League Baseball (MLB). In the film 42 (opening this weekend, named after Robinson's jersey number), we learn that there were other very important, yet perhaps over-shadowed figures involved in his historic achievements on and off the field. As much as this is the Jackie Robinson Story, it is the story of several revolutionary, forward-thinking individuals who were determined to change the perceptions of popular culture at the time. |
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tom santilli movie reviews
Tom Santilli is a professional film critic, TV personality, host and
the Executive Producer of Movie Show Plus.
He also is the film critic for WXYZ Channel 7 Action News in Detroit,
and appeared weekly on FOX-2 in Detroit from 2016-2020.
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