At the Cinema - August/September 2017

Icarus – 10

Bryan Fogel may be the luckiest filmmaker ever.  He sets out to make a simple little documentary about doping and ends up in the middle of an international scandal.  It’s incredible stuff.

Fogel wants to show just how Lance Armstrong got away with it for so many years.  He begins doping and injecting all kinds of things into his thigh in an effort to improve his performance in a bicycle race.

Along the way he gets pointed in the way of the Russian anti-doping head, Grigory Rodchenkov.  Gregory is anti-doping the way I’m anti-lasagna.  He has actually been doping Russian athletes and helping them evade detection for decades. 

In the middle of a variety of nefarious discussions and plotting between the two, all that happens is the Russian doping scandal breaks before the Rio Olympics, Rodchenkov feels his life is in danger, he flees to the US and spills the beans to the New York Times. 

The movie suffers a little from some unnecessary philosophizing and filler making it run a little long.  But for the most part, it’s riveting.  I can’t imagine anyone not being fascinated by this one.  It’s on Netflix, and while I don’t often write about Netflix, this one shouldn’t be missed.

The Battle of the Sexes – 8

Fresh off her Oscar win for La La Land Emma Stone impersonates the great Billie Jean King in an in-depth look at the run up to her triumph over hustler Bobby Riggs in a much hyped tennis match in the Houston Astro Dome.  Steve Carell is equally impressive as the older Riggs who is trying harder to crush women’s lib than Rush Limbaugh.  Carell has Riggs down pat from his gambling addiction to his clownish on-court behavior.  One of the funnies scenes has Riggs telling his gambler’s anonymous group that their problem isn’t that they gamble too much, it’s that they lose too much.

Both Riggs and King are having marital problems that the film must deal with.  Riggs is a non-repentant about his gambling, and King is beginning to doubt her sexuality.  There’s a lot to cover, and the script gets it all in. 
Carell reminds me of Steve Martin in that he is building up a nice body of work.  The supporting cast is terrific as well.  The build up to the crowd-pleasing conclusion is your standard movie-making magic.

If you were around back then, like I was, you’ll probably enjoy the look back.

Kidnap – 8

I have a strong affinity for simple little movies that do exactly what they set out to do.  That’s exactly what makes this Halle Berry potboiler pretty well.  It’s modest ambitions serve it well.  Halle sees her son get kidnapped and she’s off to the races to save him.  She’s a stunt car driver, a detective, and finally a hero.  All predictable, but sometimes there’s nothing wrong with that.  

Saints Report # 4 - October 1, 2017

And just like that the Saints are alive and Tom Petty is dead.  The Saints had to travel to England and play on something called the pitch to pitch a 20-0 shutout at the free fallin’ Dolphins and their out-of-retirement-broadcaster-never-really-was-very-good quarterback.

We’ll take it.

We’ll take it because

• It shows we won’t back down from anyone
• We are controlling the clock and keeping the defense rested and off the field.  With a 35-25 time of  possession ratio, and a 70-47 edge in plays run, it’s a nice formula
• We haven’t turned the ball over in 4 games.  Couldn’t have predicted that.
• We have a running back draft pick (Alvin Kamara) who is keeping a Hall of Famer on the sidelines (although if I’d heard the term “man-crush” one more time I was going to Breakdown.)  Adrian Peterson is really not able to say “don’t do me like that” as long as the Saints are winning.
• I scoffed when they drafted another tackle in the first round at the expense of giving up Brandin Cooks.  Turns out you can’t have too many tackles.
• You can’t have too many cornerbacks either, and the Saints appear to be well stocked at the position as they wait for the return of Delvin Breaux.  The Saints have 4 rookies making significant contributions on defense.

Let’s not get too heady, but let’s enjoy a bye week sitting at .500, considering after 2 weeks I thought they were going to be draggin’ my heart around all year.

And goodbye Tom.  You were one of the greats.

Saints Report # 3 - September 24, 2017

Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Saints broke out the text book.

There seems to be another side to these Saints, and we got to see it.

They vanquished Carolina 34 – 13.  They dominated in all phases for what has become the rarest of events – a September win.  Now that they have halted their September swoon they head to London to face the Dolphins, with the hope that by Sunday noon (our time) they will be back in the hunt with a 2-2 record.  This is a must win if they want to stay out of the cellar of the packed and stacked NFC South.

They employed the game plan that would have seemed to be available in training camp:

A Three Headed Monster at Running Back.
A very young aggressive defense.

A balanced attack.

Yes, Drew Brees threw for less than 300 yards.  And that’s a good sign.  There was no need for all that clock stopping.
The Saints didn’t get rattled by two ominous opening drives by the Panthers, holding them to 2 Field Goals.  It became obvious that Can Newton’s shoulder is not healed, and the Saints picked him off 3 times.

With the running backs of Peterson (who looks terrific in limited touches), Ingram, and Kamara all doing damage, the Saints controlled the clock, gave the defense a little less time on the field, and contained the Carolina rushing attack. 

It’s the right formula for winning football games, especially when you are starting 3 rookies on defense.   Let’s hope they continue to grind.

Meanwhile the NFL is glistening in controversy fueled by Presidential comments.
All I’m going to say is that there are good men on both sides, BOTH sides.

Wink.