The Damned United

Brian Clough takes over as manager of the highly successful Leeds United soccer club in 1974, following in footsteps of a much loved predecessor. Clough gets the job because he had taken his previous club from the bottom of the 2nd division to the 1st division rather quickly. Now he just needed to maintain excellence. Unfortunately, things do not always work out so well. By trying to change the style and culture of his new club, Clough becomes a pariah among his own players and loses the job almost as quickly as he got it in the first place. This is a fascinating look at the relationship between coaches and players, especially when both are professional. I often wonder why it is necessary for coaches to motivate players. Is there a parallel in "regular life"? In the course of my job as a teacher of physics, is it up to my boss to motivate me to be a good teacher, to practice my craft and work toward excelling? Or is it up to me as a professional to do what it takes to be always improving? Perhaps my personality leads me to the later, but it does seem strange that bosses must continually push employees to do what they have already agreed to do by accepting a job. This film just exposes how prevalent it is in sports and how much of an accepted part of life it is.
4 stars (out of 5)

The Girl Who Played With Fire

The second installment of the Millennium Trilogy is as good as the first (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo). Here we get another collaboration between Lisbeth Salander (the girl) and investigative journalist Mikael Blomqvist of Millennium magazine. The two work together (actually, more accurately they work in parallel) to identify who has violently murdered two freelance journalists who where working on a sex-trade expose for Millennium. Salander is accused of being the murderer based on a left-behind gun with her prints on it and Blomqvist is the only person who believes in her innocence. As the story unfolds, we get a better picture of Salander's background, which plays an important role in the plot. Again, we can't push every detail from the book into the film, but the texture, suspense and intensity all come through. There are no plot holes that require having read the book for understanding. Overall, Salander's dark, gritty personality drive this film and make it one of the better mystery adventures I have seen. And having just finished reading the final book in the trilogy, I am looking forward to the final installment on film. As individual films, these are good. As a set, they are great.
4 stars (out of 5)

Drunken Master

Here we have a classic English-dubbed, Kung Fu film with Jackie Chan (billed as Jacky Chan in the titles) playing a lead role. Perhaps it is not fair to compare a 1978 Kung Fu film with a 2008 Muay Thai (Chocolate) film, but that is what I watched today. Chan plays Freddy, a mischievous young man learning Kung Fu in his fathers school. His skills are adequate, but his ego and entitlement are gigantic. Eventually, he gets into enough trouble to get sent by his father to be trained by Su Hua, a crazy old man who is skilled in the methods of the 8 drunken Kung Fu gods. More trouble is required before Freddy buys into learning the methods, which come just in time for him to use them to protect family honor. As to the fighting/acting style, it comes across as more slapstick than battle. Chan's goofy on screen personality fits well with the style and makes for a good show. At the same time, the fighting is primarily direct (punch and block, kick and block) with out the frequent feigned first kick followed by actual second that seem prevalent in Muay Thai. I know, this is supposed to be a film review, not a martial arts review, and I am sure my ignorance will show. I am just trying to vocalize what I see. Overall, this is a fun, goofy film that introduces Chan in a form that will serve him well for many years.
3 stars (out of 5)

Chocolate

It is martial arts fest today, comparing recently discovered (by me at least) Muay Thai and Kung Fu. Chocolate is another entry in the Muay Thai martial arts offerings (see the Kung Fu review of Drunken Master). I really like watching this form as it is much more dynamic than traditional Kung Fu. Unfortunately, good martial arts does not always make a good film. In this story, we are introduced to Zin, who is an enforcer for a local mafia boss. She falls in love with a rival Japanese man, is thrown out of the business and has a baby (Zen). The story focuses on this child who has a developmental problem and requires lots of care, but also has the unique ability to learn martial arts from watching TV and video games. After watching lots of Ong Bak, Zen re-enters the world of her mother in an effort to raise some much needed cash, clashing with her old nemesis along the way. The Zen character is sympathetic in many ways, but mechanical in others. She comes across as a machine that is being used by the people and circumstances around her. She does not really understand or make decisions in the world which she lives. I know that this "child martial arts" critique was leveled by many against the recent Kick Ass as well, claiming the images of child manipulation were abusive and inappropriate, but it didn't bother me there. Here, the tone is different, resulting in the entire movie being a bit uncomfortable.
2 stars (out of 5)

Restrepo

The filmmakers who bring us this documentary spent a year with a platoon in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan in 2007. This valley was considered of utmost strategic importance and a rugged and deadly place. Early in the deployment, the platoon pushes from the main outpost in the valley (The KOP or Korengal Outpost) up to the top of a nearby hill to set up another outpost. This new post, Outpost Restrepo, in named in memory of Doc Restrepo, a platoon member who was killed in battle during the first month of deployment. The film is the story of the creation and defense of O.P. Restrepo, using footage from the year deployment intermixed with interviews with the soldiers after they have left Afghanistan. This is a powerful film in that it gives a first hand look at what is involved in war. It attempts to be neutral in presentation, and I am sure that viewers from all perspectives will see examples of actions that support their particular point of view. Here is what I saw...

War is about power, even on an individual level. The platoon captain held weekly meetings with local elders to improve community relations. The plan for the valley was to provide jobs to locals by building and improving a road through the valley. The army persistently talked about this road, but it never got traction with the residents. In spite of all the community meetings and discussions about working together, when push came to shove, the soldiers had the power. When the elders came to ask for reparations for a killed cow or to inquire about a missing community member, the captain pulled out his "you're not going to get what you want-next question" card. In war, when an impasse occurs, the powerful win and the less powerful lose. There is really no ability to think about a win-win scenario.

War changes the powerful. Watching this platoon over the course of the year in an extremely hostile environment, we could see the change. Increasingly, anger led to desire for retribution, which never resulted in abatement of the anger. What I wonder now, is how does this war fought far away by people I don't know affect our culture as a nation. Are we also changed, finding a new relationship with anger and retribution, failing to believe that win-win is possible? Am I personally changed by knowing that I am part of the war?

See this film. What do you see?
5 stars (out of 5)

Burn After Reading

Brad Pitt makes this movie. As an espionage/thriller/farce with massive amounts of talent attached (Pitt, Clooney, Swinton, Malkovich, McDormand, Jenkins...) it only really works because Pitt is a goofy, 30-something, going nowhere, idiot. Pitt and Frances McDormand are trainers working at the local fitness center. They come across some seemingly top-secret information in the locker room and try to parlay it into some cash. The information is associated with Malkovich's character, a recently fired low-level analyst for the CIA. McDormand is the brains and Pitt is ... well a goofy, 30-something, going nowhere, idiot. As they try to turn their find into cash, they encounter all kinds of wacky responses (remember this is a farce first) from the CIA, divorce lawyers, bosses, and even the Russians. In the end, things wrap up like you would expect them to, if you think the CIA is a bumbling organization that has no idea what is going on anywhere and simply tries to keep any "higher up" from knowing about anything strange. And the beauty is that this part of the film is played straight (enough) to give it just a smidgen of authenticity, leaving any skeptic viewer (knowing it is comedy) wondering how much based in truth it is.
3 stars (out of 5)

King Corn

It seems that when someone graduates from college, has no job and no prospects, the thing to do is make a film. In King Corn, freshman filmmakers Ian Cheney and Curtis Ellis move to a small town in Iowa to rent a single acre of farmland and grow corn. Their intent is to follow the path of that corn from cradle to grave. In reality, since the corn goes into a storage/distribution silo, it is impossible to trace "their corn" after harvest. So they go with the percentages and look at where most corn in general will end up. Surprisingly, I enjoyed this in spite of its many flaws. It is a soft critique of the farming and food production system in this country. Interviews with farmers suggest that none of the farmers like the system and most are frustrated with the quality of product they produce, and yet must produce to survive. In addition, they look at the history of the Farm Bill and the changes in the 70's that brought us to the status quo. These interviews along with the farming process are fascinating. However, I say it is a soft critique because the filmmakers don't really investigate the effects of the pesticide resistant "Liberty Linked" corn, don't follow the environmental effects of the beef trail (where 50% of corn is consumed), and don't follow through to the effects using high fructose corn syrup everywhere. Instead, they make suggestions and start the discussion, I suppose leaving the thinking to the viewer. Unfortunately, unless you already have done some looking into these issues (or are spurred to by the film), it ends up being a critique of the system followed by a "throwing up of the hands" and a "what can we do?". I wish they would have suggested some action further research a viewer could do. Oh well, what can you do?
3 stars (out of 5)