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![]() New addition to the boxing movie canon? Absolutely, complete with elemental title, elemental story and devastating performances. A female power story as much as a male one, Melissa Leo, Christian Bale and Mark Walhberg’s maternal-fraternal triangle pegs the meter for codependency. When Amy Ada…
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All in the (dysfunctional) Family
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![]() Ip Man 2 was supposed to focus on the legendary Grandmaster’s relationship with Bruce Lee, his most famous disciple. But Lee’s descendants didn’t go along with the plan, so the movie ends up being about Ip Man’s post-war struggles to establish Wing Chun kung fu in colonial Hong Kong. The resul…
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Ip Man teaches Wing Chun kung fu
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![]() You needn’t be a racing fan to appreciate this cinéma vérité biography of superstar Formula One champion Ayrton Senna. An appreciation for bravura cinema, natural genius or Eurostyle glamour are other appetites the movie satisfies. Senna draws from copious footage of the handsome young race…
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Popular Immortality: Senna action figure
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![]() A three hanky weeper of the best kind – uplifting and funny. I was fortunate to watch it in the darkened cabin of an overnight flight to London, otherwise the tears streaming down my face would have been noticeable to others. But a good man-cry …
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Momma's Boy: The real Michael Oher
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![]() This magnificent political biography also happens to be a very good movie. Not a great movie, but a great and important story, well told and even better acted by its two leads. Lessons in history and leadership should all be so charismatic. The movie has rhythms and totems unfamiliar to Amer…
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American superstars as African heroes
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![]() A treat for football fans and civil rights era history buffs, this charming and affecting but overly reverential biopic will likely bore everyone else. That said, excellent performances by Rob Brown, Dennis Quaid and others, top notch production values, and first-rate football action do this i…
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Jim Brown interviewed about Ernie Davis
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![]() An elemental movie that spills the beans about a spectacularly dishonest “sport,” The Wrestler makes few false moves, provides a showcase for Mickey Rourke’s instantly legendary performance, and proves to be an involving, affecting and punch-funny movie.
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The Thinker as The Wrestler
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![]() This great martial arts movie follows the beats and tropes of fictional king fu movies while burnishing the legend of Ip Man, a real life Grandmaster of Wing Chun kung fu and Bruce Lee’s teacher. The scene of an unarmed Master Ip facing down an armed Police Captain is a classic of the form. *I…
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Ip Man amid the Japanese occupation
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![]() Get in touch with your inner ten year old boy to enjoy this movie. Those of us who were boys during the heyday of the Speed Racer cartoon series find this relatively easy. Having boys or tomboys in tow should also work. Everyone else, picture a virtual No Girls or Grownups sign during the …
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Christina Ricci as Trixie: Go Speed R...
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![]() Arguably the best football movie ever, We Are Marshall is about much more than sports. Don’t shy away because 75 people – including dozens of collegiate football players – died in the horrific plane crash that forms its centerpiece. The movie is about what led up to the tragedy and mostly abo…
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Great football movie about more than ...
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