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.