Movies Archives - Page 73 of 84

Moneyball (Short Review)

One sign that summer has ended is when we start seeing more movies that carry a little weight and stay with you. Moneyball (2011) has more drama and excitement than most of the action and superhero movies of the summer.

Moneyball, directed by Bennett Miller and based on Michael Lewis’s best-selling book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game, is the “true story” about how Billy Beane, the general manager of the Oakland Athletics used a new way of looking at baseball players to rebuild the team after it lost several superstars after the 2001 season. The method used by the Athletics used statistics to analyze the value of players in a way that ran contrary to the intuition used by baseball scouts. The movie screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin takes some liberties with the facts, but it does a good job capturing a little-seen part of the National Pastime and reveals a major problem with the inequality of resources among Major League Baseball teams.

Brad Pitt is excellent as Beane, and Jonah Hill plays Peter Brand, Beane’s sidekick in the film. The supporting roles, including one by Philip Seymour Hoffman as manager Art Howe, are all excellent too. For example, there is an excellent scene where Beane visits his ex-wife, played by Robin Wright, that shows a realistic uncomfortable situation that also reveals much about the personality and history of the characters. Throughout the film, Pitt makes us root for his character even as we see his unflattering personality traits.

Moneyball is a unique sports movie because it focuses on the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to put a team on the field more than the team on the field. So you should not go to the film expecting to see exciting baseball, although there are moments showing the games, often with real footage. The baseball game that is probably the highlight of the on-the-field game occurs well before the end of the season and the end of the movie. But as we follow the entire baseball season we care about it because we care about Beane. The movie also acknowledges the history of baseball by occasionally showing clips of the game from the past, much in the way that Oliver Stone’s Any Given Sunday (1999) occasionally inserted old football footage, connecting the past to the present.

Conclusion? Although you may need to be a baseball fan to love Moneyball, the film tells an intriguing story and is one of the best films of the year so far. On the Rotten Tomatoes website, the film currently has a 94% rating from critics and a 91% rating from audience members.

Bonus Song Information: If you are wondering about the song that Beane’s daughter sings, it is “The Show” by Australian singer-songwriter Lenka, off her self-titled CD from 2008 (yes, that is after the time period portrayed in the movie).

What did you think of Moneyball? Leave your two cents in the comments.

What is that song in “Moneyball”?

“42”: Great Story, Good Movie (Review)

4192: The Crowning of the Hit King (Review)

Kenny Rogers: “The Greatest”

Roberto Clemente: Twenty-One Feet Tall

Analyzing Actors’ Accents in Films

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Buy from Amazon

Big Ol’ Jet Airliner & Paul Pena

Reports about Boeing’s Dreamliner jet airplanes reminded me of the Steve Miller Band song “Jet Airliner,” and the author of the song, Paul Pena, who died on October 1 in 2005. Pena had one of the most unique music careers in the last fifty years. If you do not recognize his name, it is because of his bad luck in the music industry. But if you know of him, that was the result of chance too.

Paul Pena and His Unreleased Record

Pena was born on January 26, 1950 with congenital glaucoma and was completely blind by the time he was twenty. He started a music career in the late 1960s. After opening for Jerry Garcia and other musicians, he recorded a self-titled album in 1972. Then, he followed it up with New Train in 1973.

The latter album’s style ranged from R&B to folk to Jimi Hendrix-style blues, and it included a future hit song. But the album was not released. The owner of the record company refused to release the album after a dispute with Pena and his manager. Due to contractual obligations, Pena could not record elsewhere either, so his career stalled.

Steve Miller, however, heard the unreleased New Train and with the Steve Miller Band recorded a hit version of Pena’s song “Jet Airliner” on 1977’s Book of Dreams. The royalties from the Steve Miller Band recording helped Pena, who later suspended his music career to care for his wife, who was suffering from kidney failure.

New Train Is Finally Released

New Train sat in the vaults for almost three decades until it was finally released in 2000. Although not a top-40 hit, the album garnered Pena some attention.

I first heard of Pena when an alternative rock station played songs from the “new” album around this time. Pena toured a bit to support the album, even appearing on Late Night with Conan O’Brien to play his version of “Jet Airliner.”

The first Pena recording I heard was another song from New Train, “Gonna Move.” I loved the song immediately, as did a number of artists.

Several musicians recorded cover versions of “Gonna Move,” including Susan Tedeschi and the Derek Trucks Band.

Pena’s Discovery of Tuvan Throat Singing

In the time between the recording of New Train in the 1970s and the album’s release in 2000, though, Pena was not idle. In the 1980s, while listening to shortwave radio, he accidentally discovered Tuvan throat singing, which is a unique vibrating style of singing used by the Tuva people in southern Siberia.

Fascinated by the discovery, Pena began to study the language and the singing style, eventually traveling to Tuva to perform there. Filmmakers covered Pena’s new singing style and his trip to Tuva in the 1999 documentary Genghis Blues.

The movie was nominated for an Oscar at the 2000 Academy Awards and won the 1999 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award. The soundtrack to the film features more music from Pena. Below is the trailer for the movie.

Rediscovery and Death

So in 2000, with the Genghis Blues Oscar nomination and the long-awaited release of New Train, one might think that the story leads to a successful and happy career for Pena. But around this time, Pena was diagnosed with pancreatitis, and he died on October 1, 2005.

His death was a sad ending to a story that waited so long for a happy resolution. It reminded one of the lyrics to “Jet Airliner”: “You know you got to go through hell / Before you get to heaven.”

But few artists get the chance to leave us with such great songs as “Gonna Move” and “Jet Airliner.” On top of that, he also introduced us to another culture’s music legacy.

It is sometimes frustrating and funny how fate works. But it was his work on Tuvan throat singing which led to the 1999 documentary. And that led to the reason why New Train was finally released in 2000.

The release of New Train, then, was the only reason I and many others were introduced to Pena’s music. And all of that came about because of a strange accident.

One night in 1984, a blind man who had a lot of bad luck thought his career was over. After searching for a Korean language lesson on shortwave radio, he accidentally found a new music that intrigued him on Radio Moscow. Had Pena done something else that night or turned the radio dial another way, his life and legacy might have turned out differently. There would have been no Tuvan throat singing, and then no movie. And then New Train might never have been released.

That all would have been a real tragedy.

I found out, not too long,
Their rules wouldn’t let me sing my song;
I knew in order to be a man,
I had to pull up roots once again and move on in this land.

I’m gonna move away from here,
You can find me if you want to go there;
I’m gonna move away from here,
You can find me if you want to go there.

— Paul Pena, “Gonna Move”

What do you think of Paul Pena’s music? Leave a comment.

Music You Might Have Missed: Chris Whitley

Virginian Jake Kohn’s Young Soulful Voice Sounds Older Than the Hills in “Dreams”

Amythyst Kiah: “Wary + Strange” (Short Review)

Lonnie Johnson: “Another Night to Cry”

Barbara Dane’s Cool Musical Legacy: “Wild Woman,” “Gasser,” “Hard-Hitter”

Skip James: “Hard Times Killing Floor Blues”

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Buy from Amazon

Troy Davis & Clint Eastwood’s True Crime

Georgia executed Troy Davis tonight, as his supporters claimed he was innocent of the murder for which he was executed. Davis was convicted of shooting and killing a young police officer who intervened in an altercation involving a homeless man and one of Davis’s friends. In the years since the 1989 crime, several witnesses who testified at trial have recanted their identification of Davis, and other witnesses have come forward to claim that someone else did the shooting. People from around the world fought to prevent the execution because of the questions about Davis’s guilt. Yesterday, the Georgia pardons board denied clemency, but through today, Davis’s attorneys were requesting the opportunity to have Davis take a lie detector test.

With the discovery of a number of innocent people on death row in recent years, there have also been questions about the guilt of some people who were executed. A number of media sources, including The New Yorker, raised questions about whether Texas executed an innocent man when it executed Cameron Todd Willingham. That case was based on questionable scientific evidence and has been prominent in the news because the governor who oversaw the execution, Rick Perry, is now running for president. At one point there was a commission that was reviewing the case, but the governor’s office instituted changes that limited the inquiry into the case.

A number of movies focus on the death penalty and executions, perhaps because the time leading up to an execution permits a large amount of drama on the screen. One movie that focused on questions about the innocence of a death row inmate is True Crime (1999). That movie, directed by and starring Clint Eastwood, focused on a journalist covering an upcoming execution who eventually comes to believe the condemned is innocent. The movie did not do well commercially or critically, but it has some good moments.

{Contains spoilers, so stop reading here if you do not want to know about the ending of True Crime!}

Most of the movie is fairly traditional, so I understand why most critics and viewers did not get too excited about the movie. But if True Crime happens to be on television and it is near the end, I will watch it every time. The coda to the film, like the coda of the Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) and unlike the coda of Wyatt Earp (1994) (discussed previously), is quite beautiful and exceeds everything else in the film.

The movie follows its somewhat predictable route of having newspaper writer Clint Eastwood racing to try to stop the execution with the newly discovered evidence of innocence. The camera flashes between Eastwood and the execution as it begins. We see the lethal injection begin, and then the phone rings. The warden rushes to stop the execution but the injection has already started. The condemned is unconscious when they pull out the needle. But is he dead or alive?

Most movies would let us know right then what happened, with a tragic ending or a feel-good rescue. Instead, the beautiful coda to the film then begins. It is Christmas, and we see the grumpy Eastwood doing some Christmas shopping, exchanging some conversation with the sales person, where we learn that good things have happened to the character’s career. As Eastwood leaves the store, he looks across the way and sees the formerly condemned man, alive with his family. The two acknowledge each other across the way without words, showing respect for each other, and then go on with their lives. Diana Krall sings the haunting “Why Should I Care” and the movie ends. Below is the song’s video, which includes scenes from True Crime.

Unlike most films, and even the rest of True Crime, the coda is so subtle and unusual that it grabs your attention. Like the jazz song that plays, it conveys something complex, revealing more than words. I wish more movies had at least a few minutes of such intelligence.

A clip of the ending used to be on YouTube but it is no longer available, so below is the trailer for the film. Overall, although the movie is not great, it is a decent movie and worth renting at least just to watch the full ending.

But sometimes life does not come out like in the movies, as Tim Robbins’s character discovered while trying to make a death penalty movie in The Player (1992). Tonight, for Troy Davis, there was no Clint Eastwood rescue.

What do you think about Eastwood’s True Crime? Leave your two cents in the comments.

Chronicling the Struggle for Justice in “True Justice: Bryan Stevenson’s Fight for Equality”

“Nebraska” and the Death Penalty

Dylan’s “Julius & Ethel”

The Journey of “Hang Me, Oh Hang Me” From the Scaffold to the Screen

The End of Maryland’s Death Penalty and “Green, Green Grass of Home”

One for Ten: Traveling Online Film Series on Capital Punishment

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Exporting Raymond (Short Review)

If you enjoyed the television show Everybody Loves Raymond or even if you did not watch the show and are just interested how cultures differ, check out the documentary Exporting Raymond now on DVD and Blu-ray. The movie follows Phil Rosenthal, the creator of Everybody Loves Raymond, as he works with TV producers in Russia to make a Russian version of the hit American television show that starred Ray Ramano.

Most everyone is familiar with television shows that have been remade for other countries, such as the American version of the British hit, The Office. While shows like The Office may morph into something a little different than the excellent original, it is interesting how different cultural concepts can change a television series when it travels across borders.

In Exporting Raymond, we see Rosenthal’s frustration as he tries to convince his new colleagues to stay true to his original vision of the television show while also watching them incorporate changes to make the show successful in their own country. For example, Rosenthal must debate why the characters should not be dressed in the latest fashions when they are lounging around the house, as the Russian costume designer argues to make the show more attractive to viewers.

There is not a lot of drama in the movie, as it is just about a TV show, but it is interesting to see the process of creating a new version of a successful television show in another country. One of the cool extras is that the DVD includes a couple American shows of Everybody Loves Raymond along with the Russian Everybody Loves Kostya version of the same stories. Like the half-hour television shows, we are happy to report that Exporting Raymond also has a happy ending and the two countries did not have to go to war to resolve their differences about the television show.

The movie has also been reviewed by the NY Times and Leonard Maltin.

Although the Oscars Passed Over “Little Richard: I Am Everything,” You Shouldn’t

Trailer for Roger Ebert Documentary “Life Itself”

Watch “The Education of Gore Vidal”

Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures (short review)

Love & Marriage: The Loving Story (Review)

Missed Movies: Project Nim (short review)

(Some Related Chimesfreedom Posts)

Missed Movies Roundup (Ex-Cons & Prostitutes edition)

The two German-language films in this edition of “Movies You Might Have Missed” each feature an ex-con and a prostitute trying to escape to a better life while also touching on universal existential themes. The stories are very different, but both movies are outstanding.

The Austrian film, Revanche (2008) may not be full of as much action as one might expect from the name, which is French for “revenge,” but it will keep you glued to the screen. The movie is a meditation on themes often seen in film noir movies of loss, connections among humans, revenge, and redemption. Ex-con Alex, played by Johannes Krisch, comes up with a plan so he and his prostitute girlfriend Tamara, played by Irina Potapenko, may escape to better lives. But some bad luck leaves Alex and a police officer fighting their own demons as they struggle to continue living in the face of tragedy.

Revanche shows the existential struggles of every-day life — chores like chopping wood and going to the grocery story — while raising questions about who we can blame for our life’s misfortunes. The Austrian film, directed by Götz Spielmann, is in German with subtitles and was nominated for the 2009 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film. It also is one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. DVDTown has a longer review.

I recently watched Werner Herzog’s Stroszek (1977), about an ex-con, a prostitute, and an elderly man who leave their troubles in Germany to make a new life in Wisconsin. Well, that is the nutshell description but it does not capture this poetic existential tale of human existence. Even Herzog notes in the commentary that he does not fully understand the symbolism of a scene with a dancing chicken, but he claims it may be the best segment he has ever filmed. And that is from the guy who filmed the ending of Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972) with the monkeys.

Will you be blown away by Stroszek? Maybe not, but what I loved about the movie was that the next day after watching the movie, I could not stop thinking about it. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an amazing 100% rating from critics (and 92% audience rating). If you want to read more about the film, including some of the background behind the film and Bruno S. (who played Stroszek), check out Roger Ebert’s review. The official trailer tells too much of the story in a 1970s kind of way, so instead I am including a fan’s montage of scenes from the movie with Radiohead’s “No Suprises.”

{Missed Movies is our continuing series on good films you might have missed because they did not receive the recognition they deserved when released.}