Tag Archives: Based on a True Story

Miracle

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It’s time for a hockey movie about one of the most legendary games of all time within the sport. I don’t really follow Hockey all that much at all and hadn’t heard of this big battle before so that makes watching the movie even more fun. It’s really all new content for me and I feel like I know a whole lot about what happened from this film. It really covers a lot of ground and I appreciate that.

The movie starts with the coach being picked for the USA team that will participate in the Olympics. In a way he has been waiting for this opportunity his whole life and so he is determined to do well. The Olympics only happen every 4 years after all and there is no guarantee that you will get a second chance. So he figures that he will do things his way. This means selecting all of the players personally without going through a hiring committee and additionally he will be putting them through the wringer. He intends to push each player to their breaking point and take their skills to new heights. The risk of this though is you get an increased chance of injury. Balancing the load will ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat.

One of the main themes in the film is about playing for the country as opposed to looking out for yourself. Initially just about all of the players were thinking about this as a normal game and trying to do their best but gradually they realize just what is at stake here. It’s a big honor to win the Olympic for your country and losing is a really big deal. The coach ends up having to scare them a few times to get their heads on straight but eventually the message gets through. Having that national identity is important in order to get your skills to the next level.

Meanwhile the media is doing their best to stir things up as well so you have people trying to make this into a pseudo war of sorts. Like defeating Russia in Hockey will turn into a physical victory against them and the coach is trying his best to keep that from happening. So he blocks the interviews which annoys the press but there’s not much they can do about it. I feel like nowadays you’d probably gets a lot of fines for that since you’re pretty much forced to talk to the press all the time but I’m glad he was able to stop that. At the end of the day, in most cases the questions you are asked aren’t actually that helpful and they’re just looking for some buzzwords. So it’s a lose-lose situation if you play along.

The film’s probably at its weakest when there is no hockey happening though. We get some drama between the coach and his wife for a while there which was more on the annoying side. They end up patching things back together but it felt like that plot was more on the unnecessary side. Of course this is based on true events so if that actually happened then I suppose you have to include it. Otherwise, it just felt like the coach could have handled things better at the jump and then there wouldn’t have been any problems.

The actual hockey scenes are handled really well. You feel the intensity of every play as the players get into the action. Nobody is backing down and the sport has always been one of the more physical ones in real life. So add the cinematic angles to it and this flows together really well. The final game is also really long which is nice. If I had any complaints here, it’s that we didn’t get to see the final round. I know the Miracle moment was really about the semi finals round but still give me a little glimpse of the round after that.

The film’s use of real recordings and clips during the adventure was also a good way to get the realism across. There was certainly a lot going on at the time and the film makes sure that you are aware of this even while the coach has to actively try and ignore all of this so that he can focus on the team. Crazy things may be happening but what he needs to do is deliver a win and the rest will come into place eventually.

Overall, Miracle is a pretty solid film. It’s long enough where it really gets to go into detail on the various games and on each individual player as they prepare for this event. Sports are certainly not easy and you can multiply that amount of difficulty many times over for an event as big as the Olympics. When you are competing in world championships like this, there are certainly no easy matches. If you enjoy Hockey or just like seeing a good movie about teamwork then this is a solid title to check out.

The Three Faces of Eve

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It’s time for a film about someone who had to deal with multiple personalities. It’s definitely a tough condition to deal with in part because a lot of people will always think that you are lying. It’s very difficult for someone to really wrap their head around the personalities all being different and for the changes to happen so suddenly. Some will just think it’s a convenient excuse and even in real life I’m not sure if I would believe it. I’m not sure specifically what it would take to convince me. So yeah it’s pretty tragic all around.

The film starts with Eve leading a normal life until one day she nearly murders her baby. Her husband takes her to a psychiatrist and at the time this was not a medical condition that people knew about. So even the doctor doesn’t buy into it at first but gradually he does start to accept this and so he keeps her for observation. Eve’s marriage is all but tanked at this point and the switches are getting worse. Instead of just 2 personalities, there are now 3. Is there any way for her to remove these extra personalities or is it too late?

Part of the issue is that the main Eve is the weakest willed of the 3 so it’s not easy for her to keep the others in check. They tend to be rather overwhelming with just how powerful they are. They’re more outgoing, one of them doesn’t really have much in the way of morals, while the third one seems reasonable. So the main Eve in a way doesn’t mind getting removed, she just doesn’t want the mean one to win. In the meantime her husband is not particularly helpful to be honest. He never quite ends up believing in the personalities business and threatens to murder her several times. I didn’t think he was particularly tolerant at all.

He was a bit traumatized when the baby nearly got murdered which is reasonable but all of his scenes after that are just rough. You’d expect at least a little understanding. Also later on he is mad because the people around town are making fun of him but he just shouldn’t care what they say. At least Eve meets a new guy later on and quickly rebounds. It’s all based off of a true story so I won’t say much about that because people should be free to rebound if they want to. In a film’s context I would typically take more of a shot at it.

As for the personalities, I would assume the subconscious reason for them is these are all parts of herself that she was really repressing over the years. They eventually just broke their way forward as most hidden feelings do and the best way to get rid of them would likely be to be honest with yourself. Not everything can be solved purely through willpower of course but it’s always a great first step to get you there.

It’s a very dramatic story in the movie but I wouldn’t say all that eventful. It makes sense since it’s not like this would have suddenly gotten very explosive or anything like that in a small town. Some of the more enjoyable scenes are with the doctors talking to each other but it’s just too bad that they couldn’t do more. They were mostly at a loss the whole time and just tried to keep Eve comfortable without really making much progress on removing the other personalities. In the end it’s mostly Eve who does all of the work. I guess at most they helped her tap into the past trauma.

The writing is solid though and the pacing’s not bad. At most it might get a little slow here and there but I expect you’ll have a good time throughout the adventure. You’ll probably get a little frustrated at the husband but all of the other characters tend to be helpful. The ending is also nice and happy. You know how much I like a wholesome ending so that works out. It may be a bit rushed to be honest but I’m not sure what more they would have really done with more time so you might as well just let the film be on the shorter side.

Overall, The Three Faces of Eve is a reasonable title showing just how tricky it would be to have multiple personalities. It has to feel strange not having full control over your body like that. Hopefully it is the kind of thing that treatment can help with since I imagine we’ve come very far from what this would have been like back in the old days. I feel like you don’t really hear about multiple personalities syndrome much nowadays but I suppose it probably just wouldn’t be in the news.

When the Game Stands Tall

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It’s time for a film based on a true story. Those are always pretty interesting since they tend to feel a lot different from the average movie. Also since the film is based on true events you’re always wondering just how close the movie will play things and what it will choose to exaggerate. After all it is basically inevitable that it will be dramatizing some things. In the end this one seems to do a pretty good job. I don’t know a ton about the real events to be honest but this all played out in ways you would expect it to. The main weakness to the film I’d say is that it tries to do too much at times and stretches itself very thin as a result.

The movie starts with showing a quick montage of the Spartans winning over 100 games. They finally get to the end of the season and win the final game when it counts. Bob is a bit concerned though because the younger players don’t seem as invested in the team and only care about the record. Without all of his best players, it may be time for the dynasty to end. The stress also kicks in and his heart weakens to he is forbidden from coaching for a while. He will ultimately have to choose between his team and his family.

It definitely has to take a great toll on you to have a winning streak that is so huge. You know that such a streak is very unlikely to ever be broken or topped so when it finally ends everyone will be crushed for a while. Logically you know that they have to lose at some point but that isn’t a great consolation for anyone who would happen to be on the team.

Bob is a good main character who only really makes one big mistake during the film. I appreciated how he was always ready to help the team both when they were on the field and when they were off it. He seems like a good guy in general who was trying to do the right thing. The only time I thought he wasn’t great was when his son wanted some advice and Bob refused to give him any at all. Yes, Bob can’t go onto the field because of his heart condition but not being able to help your son with a simple question when he’s finally about to start on the team for the first time? Now that’s really just being unreasonable and the film never really ended up portraying this as a mistake.

Bob doesn’t get a chance to apologize for this and it felt like an oversight. Then his wife wasn’t thrilled with his coaching the team which seems rather sudden. Perhaps if they started dating before he was a coach then that could make sense but if he was already coaching then that’s just annoying. It’s always a plot that I’ve never liked because you knew what this was going to be like before getting together or at least you should have had a really good idea.

Naturally the film did need some drama here to keep things from being too easy but I felt like we already had a good amount of that from the one player getting murdered out of the blue, Bob having heart issues, and the family going on a losing streak. That should have been enough if you ask me but as always the disclaimer is that if this is how it happened in real life then there’s not much you can do. I suspect the film had a good amount of liberty with this though. It’s just a hunch but that would be my assumption.

Overall, This was a pretty good film. It’s very by the numbers so what you see is what you get and for that reason I don’t imagine anyone having too much of a problem with it. The biggest issue in a way is just that it plays things so safe that it’s not terribly exciting at times and you feel like it probably would get overshadowed if someone else ever wanted to adapt this story themselves. The movie has some solid themes in it like learning to stop playing for yourself and being a team player which are always great but you’ve probably heard that before. At times some of the characters could be a bit unreasonable and some plots don’t get great resolutions but hey as a whole I still enjoyed this film. It does a lot of things well and goes by fast. Additionally the Football scenes are a lot of fun as you would expect. Next time I dare say they should focus even more on that since there isn’t as much Football screentime as you might expect.

Lone Survivor

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film based on a true story. I suppose films like that don’t have to worry about spoilers as presumably you already know about it, but I still think the title could have been a little different. It sort of spoils a massive part of the movie right out of the gate. You’re waiting for all of his teammates to be destroyed so that the main character is the sole survivor but the whole film is about the onslaught so he isn’t actually on his own until the end of the film. Moreover, the title also basically confirms that he survives. I know since this is based on a true story it’s likely that he would survive but not a guarantee since a lot of tragic stories also get adapted. All I’m saying here is the title’s just a bit on the odd side with how much it gives away.

Well, the basic plot here is that an army of soldiers are sent deep into enemy territory to take down one of the enemy leaders. They need to stealthily get in there and judge the situation. Unfortunately they are spotted by a few locals and after some deliberation, decide to let them go. Unfortunately these people let the Taliban know that the soldiers are in the area and they all start to get picked off. Can they survive long enough for backup to arrive or is it all over for them? That’s the general plot of the film at least.

Off the bat I do think it’s valid to think that the heroes made the wrong move in letting the witnesses go. It does make sense that they would go and let people know which would compromise the whole operation. Your only options at that point are to take them down, tie them up, or bring them with you. I understand not wanting to go the nuclear option but tieing them up should be the bare minimum. Alternately you take them with you as you take the high position on the mountain and you just let them go once you’ve established radio contact and gotten backup. Either way you are in a much better position. The problem with waiting is that you’re not on home turf so the enemy knows the location better than you do and you’re heavily outnumbered.

It’s probably no exaggeration to say that the enemy had 5-6 times the numbers that the heroes had because the soldiers took down a lot of enemy fighters and yet they just kept on coming. It felt like there was no real end to them no matter how much ammo the heroes had. Perhaps if they were on level ground they could have managed to overcome the odds but even then it’s tough because of how heavily armed the enemy was. They had RPGs and machine guns at the ready. The heroes had a lot of ammo and several guns but it’s just hard to fight like that. You’re basically going up against a mini army.

The only time the film isn’t focused on all this action is really the intro act where the heroes are getting ready to be deployed and they all have a little fun. It’s nice that we at least got to see them having a bit of fun before everything went south. There are also the brief meanwhiles to the army base but those are always brief. You do wonder how come the army doesn’t have better communication technology in this day and age though. Using satellites and such you’d expect them to be able to reach home base in any area. Not being able to make contact at all feels like it would ramp every mission’s difficulty up a whole lot. If you can’t call for backup or extraction you’re close to turning these into suicide missions.

The brass apparently knew from the start that there could be communication issues as well so it’s not like this is a big surprise or anything like that. It was expected which probably makes this even more tragic all the way around. If there was ever something that deserved a ton of funding, it’s definitely making improvements to that technology. It also feels very feasible so even though this film’s based on events that aren’t super old, I would imagine this would no longer be such a cause for concern in the present.

Overall, The Lone Survivor is definitely a very intense army film. Don’t expect a whole lot of happy scenes here or much cause for celebration during the adventure. The majority of its runtime is really about the heroes being brutally beaten and killed as they do their best to survive for as long as possible. The film doesn’t hold back on the violence at all or the desperation that the characters are feeling. If you’re curious about the real life events then it makes sense to check out this film but it also may just be easier to read an article on it instead. It’s not really my kind of title and just makes for a very dreary movie as you watch it through. Even the ending isn’t what I would call all the way happy because ultimately this came at a super high price.

Bat*21

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This review is based on the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film based on the dramatic story of the Bat’21. It makes for a pretty solid thriller and since I knew nothing about the real life events, it was all still very real and exciting for me. Definitely another reminder of why travelling across enemy lines for any reason is always dangerous and you never know what will happen. Being stranded has to be one of the worst nightmares of things that can happen to you.

The movie starts with Gene getting shot down over Vietnam and the rest of the men die. He manages to contact “Birddog” the call sign for one of the guys manning a helicopter. Gene hoped for a quick extraction but it won’t be so easy here since the whole place is basically a fire field and there are enemies all over the place. He will need to try and survive a whole night here but that won’t be easy. Additionally what if that one night turns into two? Gene is going to have to start thinking about planning his own way out of here or his life may be over a whole lot sooner than he expected.

The movie properly gets across how scary it is to be alone in the forest at night. Even when nobody is around you think you hear things. The natural wildlife certainly isn’t pleasant and it’s also incredibly dark out there. A single wrong move like stepping on a branch will absolutely be heard for miles. Additionally since you’re in another country you can’t just run out of there. You could be running for months and never make it anywhere close to America. In fact that’s basically a guarantee since you can’t just run out of there.

It’s also a tough numbers game because of course you could just blow up most of the area and evacuate him but the government’s not trying to burn down all of the innocents in the area too. Home court advantage isn’t with the U.S. and so a lot of the enemies are taking shelter with families in the tents. The longer Gene stays in Vietnam, the more he begins to doubt the mission as he sees just how brutal things get there.

One of the main themes here is how the war doesn’t look nearly as bad on paper but once you’re out on the field it can be a lot tougher to stomach. His life certainly wouldn’t be the same after this, that’s for sure. He also has to make some tough calls while on the ground on if he will fight or just succumb to what happens next. He doesn’t always handle the situation perfectly but it’s hard to ask for much more since he’s not accustomed to this.

Meanwhile Birddog has to be the MVP here. He takes a lot of great risks to help Gene out even when it means going against orders. It’s a tough situation but even so he knows that some of the orders don’t make sense, like sacrificing Gene and so he makes a move. When the going gets tough, the best characters will make a move and follow their instincts even when other characters tell them not to do something.

It’s why Birddog’s such a great guy. He never loses his humanity during all of this and you know that he’s someone you can count on. He intends to keep his word all the way to the end. I also liked his friend who led the air battalion to support extracting Gene. Things don’t go very well for them but the important part was that they tried. It would have been nice if someone could have helped them out though.

The movie is certainly very serious so you will see your share of sad moments here. Behind enemy lines there isn’t really such a thing as a 100% victory. There are going to be losses that pop up and the cycle of violence is another thing to consider. Each side keeps retaliating more and more which keeps increasing the body count and it’s always super difficult to be the one to stop it. However you do need someone to step up or ultimately everyone will be dead.

I definitely get why the airplanes ultimately took out the village though. While Gene was right that not everyone was a combatant, after a point they were being used to keep arming the others and providing a place to rest. It’s a no win situation and ultimately everyone loses so you have to choose who you protect and who to sacrifice. Never an easy call for sure.

Overall, Bat’21 is a pretty solid film. There is constant tension and danger in the air throughout the movie. You really see just how much the soldiers had to deal with on a daily basis during the war and of course it wouldn’t get any easier when they would get back home to a lot of disapproval. At the end of the day the soldiers didn’t ask to be stationed here but once they arrived they had to do their best to stay alive. Gene got to see first hand how rough this was and of course in the end the moral is that war is never a fun thing. It’s why you have to avoid it as long as you can but ultimately be prepared to fight when it comes to you.

American Underdog

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It’s time to take a look at a movie about Kurt Warner. I definitely remember him a lot growing up, I missed his golden years but he was still recent enough where he was in all of the books. I remember him as a very explosive QB and an elite talent all around so I was looking forward to seeing what he was like here. That said, while the film is very good and goes into great detail on the work it took to get to the NFL, it dropped the ball on one key aspect. We don’t get to see almost any of his actual NFL journey and considering that he won a Super Bowl, that’s a pretty big deal. We really should have gotten more NFL screen time even if it meant extending the film by 30 minutes or so.

Kurt was always good at throwing the ball but as we see in his younger years he would scramble a whole lot and his coach didn’t like that. He wanted Kurt to be a pocket passer even if it meant taking absolutely devastating shots throughout the game. Kurt did his best but it wasn’t working so well and he was starting to wonder if he would ever end up playing in the NFL. Around this time he met up with a lady named Brenda and they hit it off right away. The main dilemma Kurt faces from there is if he continues to chase his dream but in the meantime he will be super low on money which is rough for their family or he finds a stable job and gets out of the sports game.

Of course we know the answer since this is based on his incredible career but that’s where most of the drama is. He and Brenda may have gotten together right away but their troubles only just begin from there. First up is obviously the financial issues since that’s always a strain on any relationship. Then due to Kurt’s job, he has to be away from home a whole lot because there are always games to be had and practices. Kurt’s with a lot of younger guys all the time who may not be the best of influences as well so he has to constantly guard himself against temptations and that’s also rough for Brenda while she’s at home. Brenda already had a negative experience in that way with her first husband. Finally Brenda is a little older than Kurt and already has a kid, both things of which can appear as red flags and Kurt’s mother isn’t particularly pleased with this arrangement.

Yeah they’ve got a lot of hurdles to overcome that’s for sure. In general you usually see the wife being younger than the husband as the norm but if the gap’s not that large I don’t think it should matter. My rule of thumb is of course it’s ideal if both people are about the same age but if there’s a gap, I think you can make it work up to 10 years or so, obviously as long as both are over 21. In this case the gap is 4 years which is basically nothing really. I think having a kid already is a bit of a tougher one since often times you want a fresh start and to have your first kid together.

Fortunately Kurt’s a great guy and gets along with the kids (There are 2 of them after all) right away. Brenda’s also a very responsible person with a good head on her shoulders and basically lets Kurt know that the kids are her priority and if he’s cool with that. He is and so things are good there. I could have done without some of the drama near the middle as I felt like it went on a bit longer than it needed to be but if that’s how it played out in real life then of course it makes sense to keep that in.

I enjoyed the Football moments a lot and his coach at the Rams was definitely a very likable guy. The OC took a little more getting used to since he seemed to be mean for no reason. The whole “Tough Love” approach can be annoying at times because sure being tough for a little bit can be a character builder but when you go too far it just comes across as obnoxious. I would personally have focused more on the Football though because it’s always great to see the games. I watch the NFL every year after all and can never get enough of it. Nowadays I’ll even check out the late games when I can and as much during the day as possible. With movie directing and such you can probably make it even more epic so that’s still my one complaint which I keep bringing up.

The drama is important of course and same with the romance but you could still cut large chunks of those scenes out and you’ll be all set. I think it’s a worthy tradeoff for some more Football action don’t you think? The Super Bowl is the main reason he got a film after all. If Kurt didn’t win a Super Bowl then the story wouldn’t be quite as miraculous the way it is today and so since that was such a big part of his legacy it should be included here. More than just a scene or two the way that it happened, I wanted a full breakdown of the season and everything!

Overall, American Underdog is definitely a really solid film. Kurt Warner was one of the best to ever do it and he definitely went through a path that seems like it would be super hard to replicate. He is the one in a million scenario here. If you’re interested in the details of how he got to the top then I definitely recommend checking this one out. Now we just need them to do a film on the greatest QB of all time, Tony Romo!

American Sniper

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This write-up is based on the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

I can only imagine how difficult it is to be a sniper in an active combat zone. On top of the pressures on the average soldier which are already numerous, you’re now someone who has the added burden of watching out for them. If you notice a threat too late or hesitate to pull the trigger, you may lose comrades and that’s guilt that will stay with you for the rest of your days. You also have to be super accurate because in real life people are constantly moving and so all it takes is an inch to miss. Yeah it’s definitely not a gig that I would want but someone’s got to do it and this film’s about one of the best in the business.

The film starts off by introducing us to Chris who learned how to shoot at an early age by his father. They would go on hunting trips and such. Chris was also taught to defend himself and to stick up for others from early on as since he was blessed with great strength and ability, he needed to use that. This ultimately ends up giving him a bit of a hero/martyr complex as he goes into war and then he just can’t leave. After every term is up he keeps on re-enlisting which causes some strife at home with his wife. Ultimately if he continues to go out there as a sniper he can keep on saving a lot of lives but it may cost him his own as his family will have to move on without him. Can he choose to exit the game now or must he press on?

It’s a tough question of course and one that you always have to wrestle with. In life there is always something extra you can be doing to help someone else. Whether it be something really dangerous like going to war or something more mild like volunteering at a local soup kitchen there are always people who need help and ways for you to provide that. You also have to balance it against your own mental and physical health as well as keeping time to spend with your family. Everyone ultimately has to figure this answer out for themselves and it’s why I won’t say Chris was incorrect to keep on going.

If the guilt of not going to war and saving his troops would have ate him up then it makes sense to keep on going. Ultimately once he took out the enemy sniper then he was finally ready to call it a day but even then he was haunted for a while. When you’ve been in war all your life it has to be tough to just go back to being a normal civilian again. I’m personally against hunting in general and think we shouldn’t be doing that at all. It did allow Chris to develop the skills that he would ultimately need to take down the enemies but ultimately I’d like to see robotics improve enough to where you can practice on them rather than wildlife. The animal scene was a bit rough here.

Aside from Chris there really isn’t much of a main cast. His fellow soldiers tend to change for every draft since most aren’t voluntarily deciding to jump back into the fray. For a lot of these guys that probably sounds crazy since so many people die normally, re-enlisting is doubling your chances to die. There are other patriots like Chris who will keep on enlisting but they are likely the minority there.

His wife is around a lot and you can see how things are difficult for her. Effectively she is raising her kid as a single mom at this point with how he’s never home and that’s not easy. In general you get married for companionship as a main component so being by yourself tends to defeat the purpose. She definitely fought hard to stop Chris from going each time but in the end he was just too determined.

On the enemy side the only person with a lot of screen time was the enemy sniper who could really hold his own against Chris. The guy’s skills were legit and he also got a lot of kills on his side. Of course each one would eat away at Chris more and more even though most of the time it really wasn’t on him. He can’t do everything and taking out other snipers can be a part of his job but ultimately covering the troops and looking for threats is the main one. In a large battlefield you won’t always be in the right place at the right time.

It’s a different perspective on the battles compared to the normal ones for sure since usually you’re following the soldiers, not the sniper at the top. There isn’t a lot of variety in the scenery as a result though and if you’re not really into war movies then a portion of the film will probably get a little boring after a while. This movie isn’t aiming to be super entertaining, funny, or like a summer blockbuster. It’s really a movie about how traumatic war can be so this won’t really be for everyone. That said, the film properly gives you the right impression of what it’ll be about so you should know right out of the gate if you will like it or not.

Overall, The movie seems to be very true to the story of Chris’ life. I don’t know a whole lot about it myself but there’s a lot of good detail here and at the end they also give you the aftermath. Often times films based on true stories don’t have the happiest of endings which is why it was big enough to be a movie. So I understand why they kept the afterword in even if it’s not really the best way to end things off. If you’re up for an intense war film then this should be up your alley but definitely be ready for a very emotional experience.

All the President’s Men

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This was a really fun movie. It’s kinda fun that I got to see the parody movie based on the Watergate scandal before watching this one but that’s just how it goes sometimes. It actually makes the parody seem more and more impressive as I watched this one because they got so many of the scenes done just right to mirror this one. This movie obviously goes a lot more in depth on the actual going ons behind the controversy though. It feels like a good amount of research went into this one and it’s still really thrilling which goes to show that real life can be just as exciting as the movies sometimes.

The movie starts off with some suspicious people walking through an office looking for something. Fortunately the cops show up in time to stop them but when these guys are taken to court they get a big lawyer out of nowhere. the whole thing seems suspicious so Woodward decides to look into it. Initially the Washington Post isn’t sure that this is a big story which is why they put such a new reporter on the case but he’s confident that he is on to something. Eventually the more experienced reporter Bernstein gets involved as well although they don’t get off on the right foot with the other guy sort of shoehorning himself into the picture. They will have to try and get along though because with a case this big they seriously can’t afford to make any big mistakes.

As with just about any movie based on a true story I’d be willing to bet that some parts of the film are exaggerated and played up but it does feel like most of it would be pretty accurate here. One scene I liked in particular was when Woodward was walking down a street as he normally would. Except it was late at night and everything seemed extra ominous. There was no music or anything, just the sound of his shoes hitting the concrete with each step and he kept looking around in case he was being followed. Nobody was there as far as he could see and the film never implies that anyone actually was there but you have to imagine the reporters probably were getting rather paranoid after a while. I personally wouldn’t like walking down the streets at around 2AM in the best neighborhood and when you’re picking fights with the most dangerous people around. Well..it makes sense that you would be a little nervous.

You also have to imagine that the reporters were probably close to being murdered many times because this was such a big case. When you anger the people up top then your lease on life certainly becomes a bit more tenuous. Still they kept on the case and I was glad when the Post did back them as the boss wouldn’t drop the case either. It’s really important for someone to have your back on a case like this because if you’re completely alone then you’re really not going to be able to do a whole lot.

The best character here definitely had to be the shadowy informant. I liked how that guy had all the answers and was always stringing the heroes along. To his defense it’s not like he can take too many risks or he would be in the targeting range but I was glad when he was called out for being so vague. I suppose the movie couldn’t just show who this guy was since presumably the reporters didn’t know there. This guy was almost like Batman with how quickly he would vanish out of view and then return later on. Nobody could tail him and so this guy was definitely a master of espionage.

For a film like this the dialogue definitely has to grab you and fortunately it did. The movie is quite long but at no point is it ever boring or tedious. You’re just as invested as the characters are in trying to figure out what is going on here. There are a whole lot of players involved after all so you want to try and memorize all of the names as best as you can. Typically each clue leads to a whole bunch of new characters as well so you have to try and keep following the names and the money for as long as possible.

Then the actual witnesses all give safe/double answers so as not to get in trouble and you see just how much work it is to try and get a single story out of all these guys. It’s definitely not easy that’s for sure. Still it feels like being a reporter was probably pretty fun in those days. It’s probably a bit glamorized of course but it’s more exciting seeing them go door to door than just hopping on the internet or the phone and asking questions that way. This way has more of a personal touch and we also get to see them discussing what kinds of traps they will lay out for the suspects. Like pretending they have extra knowledge and seeing if the bait is taken.

Overall, All the President’s Men is a really good film. It reminds you to always be on the lookout for corruption because it can certainly be everywhere. Then if you do find it you have to be very careful on how you handle it or you could end up vanishing really quick and you don’t want that. Personally I’m always a bit of two minds about the big conspiracies like this because on one hand you figure in real life nobody’s ever actually clever enough to pull off something too large scale without leaving behind massive amounts of evidence particularly in the post internet era but then you also see how a lot of government people are confused by basic technology and you can see how this kind of trick worked. If it can happen once then it can happen again so films like this are also good for reminding you to always double check your sources. keep your guard up and always leave some room for doubt for yourself. In the meantime definitely watch this film though, you won’t be disappointed.

Fearless

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It’s always fun to watch some solid martial art battles. The choreography tends to be quite excellent and the battles are fast paced. This one is also going for a fairly realistic style so you won’t see a whole lot of flying through the air like in some other titles. I don’t doubt that some parts are a bit exaggerated in this cinematic retelling of Huo Yuannija’s life but I’d say it gets the themes across. He makes his share of mistakes but ultimately does well in the end. It’s a satisfying movie to check out all the way through.

The film starts off with Huo taking on the world’s strongest fighters and easily defeating them all. It’s a 4 on 1 gauntlet although each match is one on one, it’s just that they’re all back to back which puts Huo at a bit of a disadvantage there. He is about to start the final match when we flashback to Huo as a kid and the rest of the film follows his story chronologically until we finally get back to the ending. Huo always wanted to be a great fighter but his father didn’t allow this because Huo had asthma and so it was dangerous. Well, Huo ends up learning anyway and becomes the best fighter in the land. The problem is that the fame gets to him and he allows himself to attract a rather large crowd of people who aren’t the best of individuals.

Ultimately this leads to him being manipulated and his family pays the price. He needs to find his way once more while at a village on the outskirts of society and a blind lady named Yueci but can he really return to his days of fighting or is it all over? This is all happening amidst a backdrop of his city being taken over by foreigners and so things have gotten rather rough over there. The people need their champion if they are to have any chance of fighting back.

This isn’t a war film though, but it helps to show why the fights were very important. If Huo didn’t make a move then the rest of the land would surely suffer as a result. His inaction would ultimately be a big negative to the world at large. Huo definitely has a lot of real skill and you have to imagine that he must have trained for hours and hours to reach this level. He was absolutely one of the best fighters in the world based on this film and even by the end nobody could really touch him. I’m sure fans of the guy would be pleased with how he looks here since the guy seems all but invincible based on this.

He definitely made a big mistake in attacking his rival so quickly though. It was a shame to see even as it was happening because you just knew he was being played the whole time. Honestly even if his pupil had been attacked you definitely need to know the full story first. He also wrecked things for his friend Jinsun which is hard to turn back. Huo ultimately learns a lot from the experience but it’s the definition of learning things the hard way.

The film isn’t afraid to get rather violent at times and the tragedy that happened to Huo is pretty brutal. On the whole the film isn’t very violent beyond that which is part of why the scene sticks out. They weren’t pulling any punches there and I suppose if it happened in real life then it needed to be adapted but otherwise I’d say they should have skipped that part. It’s also tough because his family really had nothing to do with his skirmish and the villains just took the easy way out in going after them.

Meanwhile the rival Qin seemed like a decent guy. If not for being framed I don’t think the two main characters would have really come to serious blows. The guy had his share of trash talk to be sure but otherwise he doesn’t strike me as the kind of guy who would be using cheap shots or anything like that. It would have been a very intense fight but a fair one across the board. It’s just too bad that he didn’t get that proper fight. Huo likely would have won but at least Qin would have been able to still be alive and train some more.

Yueci is a nice heroine throughout the film and it always seems like it has to be really tough to survive while you’re blind. Every action just feels a million times harder but she never complains and does her best. She’s instrumental in helping Huo reach the next level without a doubt. It’s why you’re glad that she gets a happy ending at least. It’s nice to think of the ending as quite literal because then in a way two really good things happened to her back to back. You can’t ask for much more of a good ending than that.

Huo’s friend Jinsun also gets a lot of credit for sticking by the lead all those years. Even when Huo was making a lot of mistakes and not being grateful, Jinsun took care of his family in the background. That’s not something that just anyone would do and it shows that his loyalty was true all the way. I was also glad that the opponents in the final tournament weren’t just made to be nameless throwaways and had real character. This even goes back to the first opponent before the tournament. In the exhibition fight O’Brien turns out to be a very reasonable guy who wants a clean fight and isn’t looking to get dirty. When he realizes that he would have lost, he gladly gives Huo the credit.

We see something similar with Tanaka at the end who was really a class act. Often times you’d see these opponents just be as corrupt as the officials but that wasn’t the case here. I appreciated the nuance and Tanaka ended up being my favorite character. He just seemed like a really nice guy who was confident in his abilities but wanted to win in a fair way. That’s the kind of guy you want to have as your opponent and the final fight was definitely a lot of fun. Some annoying circumstances prevented it from being quite as great as it should have been but it was really solid regardless.

Overall, The writing in this film was really good and I definitely enjoyed the fights. It was a well balanced movie all around and one that I could easily recommend to anyone wanting to check out a solid film. It’s got a satisfying conclusion which is always important in these things and you should be on the edge of your seat the whole time. Additionally as was not familiar with the man the film is based on, it helps the film keep its suspense as I don’t really know what will happen next. In general it always helps when you don’t know the original material since everything is more of a surprise. So you should check out this film sooner than later in case you learn about this guy at some point and so you can enjoy the film experience first.

All The Money in the World

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a film about a pretty big kidnapping back in the day. Now this was a while ago so if you aren’t familiar with the Getty family then you shouldn’t feel bad about it. I know about the people here but nothing about the kidnapping. Can’t say I even knew this was a thing that had happened back in the day so the film does a good job of telling the events here. Naturally I can’t speak to the historical accuracy of everything here but it was a good movie at any rate.

The movie starts with John getting kidnapped after hanging out in a rough part of town. I’m not sure exactly what he was doing there, maybe just trying to prove a point like he was strong or something? Either way it was not a good move in the slightest and just ended up getting him into a lot of trouble. After he is kidnapped, the kidnappers contact his mother Gail for millions of dollars. She has no funds but they want her to contact John’s grandfather Paul. Paul is the richest man in the world and apparently at the time he also became the richest person in the history of the world. So in theory he could pay the fee in an instant but chooses not too and instead hires an ex CIA agent named Fletcher to find and recover John. Fletcher is to work with Gail on this while keeping her out of the loop and as you can expect she is not happy in the slightest. Every minute they don’t pay the ransom is another minute of her son being in danger. Can the heroes win the day?

Paul ends up being one of the main antagonists in the film. Now of course he’s not as bad as the kidnappers for obvious reasons but the film makes it abundantly clear that saving John isn’t one of his priorities. He wants to keep his money at all costs and won’t be giving any out. Now, there are some valid arguments he makes but they all start to slip out of the window as we see more of his true self. So you can’t really defend the guy and he just turned out to be no good. The scene where he tries to shake Gail dry out of any money and taking away her kids showed exactly where his true loyalties lay. money was all that he cared about.

Now before the mask fell off and we saw his true face, here’s why I thought it was reasonable not to pay the random initially. Apparently Paul has over 15 different children around the world and it makes sense that it would inspire a lot of copycat crimes if he was to pay the ransom. He would end up losing his money quickly but more importantly it would also put the children in danger. Additionally, he gets many fake kidnapping letters and constant letters asking for money. Determining if the kidnapping was real and who actually needs help isn’t easy. It is a legitimate problem of being rich. Again, it goes out the window later on but initially it actually makes sense.

Likewise with hiring Fletcher on the downlow. It at least seemed like Paul was trying to get to the bottom of this but ultimately that’s just not how things played out. John goes through a rather tough ordeal for the entire film so there’s not much to say about him. He’s on the run the whole time and just trying to survive. Of course with hindsight you can recommend different options to him but he did well in escaping multiple times and there just wasn’t really anywhere to go.

Meanwhile Gail did a good job the whole time. She tries to earn the money through many different tactics and it’s just hard. She’s going up against everyone since she really doesn’t have a ton of support. Paul doesn’t want to give any money after all and while the general public may help with a kickstarter if this was in 2022, you can’t expect to raise millions of dollars that way. Emotionally she is absolutely taken to the breaking point as well but always stays strong. She keeps it together in public even when the paparazzi tell her to cry. They definitely seem as unhinged as always which seems like a really accurate representation from what I’ve seen.

As for Fletcher, I would say he was the MVP here. A lot of developments would not have been possible without him taking an extra close interest in the case. He was the guy that Gail needed to have her back and he did when the chips were down. Even if it meant putting his job on the line and going against his boss, he helped her out. He’s a very likable guy without a doubt. The guy stands his ground and does what he thinks is right in all situations.

There are a lot of good politics going on here between the characters. For the most part nobody likes each other but you have to put on some kind of a polite pretense or you won’t be getting far at all. Gail does a great job with this when dealing with Paul since I’m sure she would love to just absolutely crush the guy if given a choice. She has to play ball because she needs the money and knows how to play the long game. So she also deserves a whole lot of credit here. Nobody ever wants to be put into this situation and it’s why you won’t have any sympathy for any of the kidnappers. There’s one who tries to be a little nicer but at the end of the day if you’re in this line of work then there is really no hope for you. I know situations can be tough and maybe you’re in the wrong spot but at no point can I find any room to have sympathy for this guy. Some career choices just have no room for that and human trafficking and kidnapping absolutely falls into that.

Overall, This was a very interesting movie. It draws your attention and especially if you don’t know how the events concluded it will get very suspenseful. They pulled no punches with this film and I appreciated that. Now some parts can get a little intense like I would have cut out the ear scene personally. I know that’s likely a big part of the story but it’s the only part that really gets gruesome while this is mostly an emotional mental thriller. Even if John gets out alive by the end, you know that he will never be quite the same after this. You just don’t fully recover when you’ve been through the wringer like that but you hope he will mostly be okay and it still beats the alternative.