Hustle
Adam Sandler has two personas. There’s the comedian that does lightweight comedies like The Ridiculous 6, The Wrong Missy, and Hubie Halloween. Then there’s the thespian that does serious output like The Meyerowitz Stories and Uncut Gems. Hustle is from the latter category. Back in January of 2020, Netflix extended Sandler’s $275 million production deal […]
American Underdog
The Pride of the Yankees, Hoosiers, Miracle…in the genre of sports movies, they don’t get more inspirational than American Underdog. The biographical sports film is about National Football League quarterback Kurt Warner who became a superstar with the St. Louis Rams. How a decent, hardworking guy went from stocking shelves at a supermarket to becoming […]
King Richard
You’d think a sports biopic about tennis phenoms Venus and Serena Williams would frame them as the stars. That’s what makes King Richard so radical. The chronicle centers on their father and how he raised them to be champions. But the surprises don’t stop there. This is an engaging portrait of a difficult, even irascible […]
Space Jam: A New Legacy
Space Jam starred Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. Now 25 years later, Space Jam: A New Legacy stars Bugs Bunny and LeBron James. LeBron was 11 years old back in 1996 when the original came out. He was the perfect age for that movie…and this one. While the first film was pretty zany, it’s downright […]
The Way Back
In 2010 there was a release called The Way Back about a POW who walked 4,000 miles to freedom during WWII. The Way Way Back was a 2013 coming-of-age comedy with Steve Carell. Now comes this 2020 athletic drama starring Ben Affleck. The oft used title is as generic as this feature. I’ll concede this […]
2020 Oscar Nominated Short Films (Part 1 of 3)
ShortsTV continues to make all three of the Oscar-nominated short film programs (animated, live-action, documentary) available to audiences around the world. To find out where you can watch this year’s Oscar-Nominated Short Films, visit their Theatrical Release and On Demand pages. Animation Regardless of how expected the rest of the Oscar races are, the shorts […]
I, Tonya
Anyone born before 1990 should remember when figure skater Nancy Kerrigan was clubbed on the knee by an assailant. The Tonya, of the title, was Tonya Harding, of course – Kerrigan’s rival and Olympic teammate. The 1994 scandal and their subsequent showdown at the Olympics that took place one month later was a defining moment […]
Queen of Katwe
Underdog sports stories are a dime a dozen, so it’s a small wonder that despite the prevalence of that theme, Queen of Katwe is an impressive feat. Yes, the narrative is structured in a way that feels familiar to anyone acquainted with the conventional design of these accounts. Call it a rags to riches or […]
Everybody Wants Some!!
Like Stand By Me or Pretty Woman, Everybody Wants Some!! is a movie that found fame as a song title first. The tune was the B side to “And the Cradle Will Rock”, a Van Halen single released in May 1980. That date is pretty appropriate because 1980 is exactly when this story is set […]
Concussion
Before I launch into my review of Concussion, I thought a little primer on biology might help. So the brain floats inside the skull surrounded by something called cerebral spinal fluid (CSF). When the body is suddenly stopped after a blow to the head, like after being tackled for example, the brain continues to move […]