At the Cinema - November 2013

12 Years A Slave – 9
This is an amazingly well-done movie that is not at all enjoyable to watch. It is so intense and graphic that it wears you down as if the plantation owner is abusing you.  But he’s not.  Not even close.  Is there still anyplace where humans are treated this way?  That this is easily the best movie ever about slavery has been pretty well established.  It doesn't make it easy to watch

Chiwetel Ejiofor joins the Oscar discussion with his portrayal of Solomon Northrup, a free man who is kidnapped and enslaved.  If you’ve seen this actor’s incredible work in movies like “Serenity” this won’t surprise you.  He's great here.  His nuances are riveting as Northrup must keep his secret as the key to survival.  This is based on the memoirs of Northrup, who was a musician living in Saratoga, New York when he was lured away, chained, and sent to Louisiana.  Director Steve McQueen spares no detail of what it must have been like.  This is a contender for best picture and many other honors.  Michael Fassbender plays the sadistic and relentless plantation owner with a passion that is scary.    If you see this movie you will likely be equally impressed and horrified.  You will also just sit there in a silent theater as the credits roll.

Hunger Games:  Catching Fire – 8

If you liked the first Hunger Games, you’ll like this one.   Because, as is the case with many sequels, it’s much the same movie.  That is not to say that it isn’t extremely well done, because it is.  Knowing nothing about the book, as usual, I was certainly hoping for a little variety.  What I got, is an amped up version of the first movie.  If the job of this movie was to get me excited about the final movie of the trilogy, it succeeded.  These two movies are well-produced, well-acted, well-written, and just engaging enough to leave you wanting a little more.  I guess that's the point. 

Dallas Buyer’s Club – 8

If you always thought Matthew McConaughey was a great actor that just needed the right vehicle to showcase his talent, your faith will be rewarded with this movie.  I was never in that number, but here he is emerging as an Oscar contender by losing a lot of weight so that he can portray an Aids victim and activist.  Ron Woodruff was a wild living Texas cowboy who contracted HIV around 1985 just in time to be in the midst of the Aids epidemic and hysteria.  When he was given 30 days to live, he got serious about prolonging his life.  His research found that the U.S. was behind the curve and he became a major importer of more effective drugs.  Soon he had Aids patients lining up and joining his club to get access to his treatment.  Of course this didn’t go over too well with entities like the border patrol, the FDA, and the doctors treating Aids patients.

McConaughey attacks the role with a sometimes uneven gusto, but there’s no denying the power of his performance.  The subject matter is unpleasant and seemly.  It’s not easy to watch at times, but you shall be entertained.

Muscle Schoals – 8

If you like rock, pop, or soul music, this is the movie for you.  This is a documentary about the Muscle Shoals sound, which originated in a little studio run by a guy named Rich Hall.  His life story would make a movie by itself.  He opened Fame studios in 1961 in the little Alabama town on the Tennessee River.  Hit after hit flowed out of that studio, then the house band quit to form their own studio.  The rivalry of the two studios ebbed and flowed with more hits for decades.

You will be amazed at the legacy of song after song, artist after artist.  The Rolling Stones?  Check.  Wilson Pickett?  Check.  Bob Seger?  Check.  It goes on and on.  Why spoil one revelation after another.  If you get a chance, see this.  It’s not a perfect documentary, but for a music lover, it’s a little bit of heaven.

Scanning the Satellite 

Legendary Nights:  the Tale of Gatti-Ward - 9
If you are a boxing fan you’ve got to see this HBO documentary.  It is the amazing chronicle of the 3 light-heavyweight fights between “Irish” Micky Ward and Arturo Gatti.  The movie “The Fighter” is based on the first fight, and despite Hollywood’s penchant for playing it up, well it turns out you can’t even imagine what these 30 blood soaked rounds were like.  You have to see them.  When Jim Lampley calls round 9 of the first fight the greatest round of boxing he ever saw, you know that it has to be amazing.  When they meet again in the emergency room after the fights that tells you all you need to know.   Oddly, at only an hour and 20 minutes, this documentary goes on too long, as everyone gets their chance to describe things that have already been visually stated all they needed to be.  Still, this is a “don’t miss” for any sports fan. 

Killing Them Softly (2012) – 6

If you like Brad Pitt you’ll love this gabfest of a movie about hit men running their mouth way too much before they get around to their professional tasks.  The late James Gandolfini and Pitt are the hit men and the yammering is punctuated by slow motion and graphic violence.  There is little of redeeming value here other than the actors and their portrayals of low lifes.  Interesting to note that this movie, like 12 Years a Slave, was mostly filmed in Louisiana, although it takes place in New England.  Pitt fell in love with New Orleans, has a home in the French quarter, and is heroically helping to revitalize the 9^th ward with his Make It Right foundation.  By filming so many movies in Louisiana, he continues to contribute to the economic recovery.  This is a dark and lonely film.  Guess hit men have feelings after all.

Sport In America:  Our Defining Stories – 8
There are familiar and unfamiliar stories in this HBO Special about the impact of events and teams on individuals and communities.  Triggered by terrific documentary work like ESPN’s “30 for 30” film series , the NFL Network’s “A Football Life” series, and HBO’s perennial emmy-winning series “Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel,” we are in a golden age of sports documentaries.  Fiction is wonderful but nothing can touch the real life stories we get about the passion of sports.  Which brings me to

A Football Life – Steve Gleason (NFL Network) – 9

I guess this is not technically a movie, but holy cow, what an enthralling hour.  I was there the night that the Superdome reopened after Hurricane Katrina and saw Steve Gleason block Atlanta’s punt, thus electrifying an entire region.  As most know by now, Gleason suffers from MLS, and is deteriorating, but refusing to surrender to the disease.  With the help of his wife Michelle, and his “teamgleason” he’s setting up foundations, increasing awareness, and climbing Machu Peechu.  It’s all just incredibly inspiring.  Expect a tractor pull on your heartstrings.   No White Flags.