Happy Super Bowl Sunday! We begin with a football film called:
#47 Draft Day
Kevin Costner stars as Sonny Weaver Jr., the grizzled general manager for the always hapless Cleveland Browns. It is the day of the draft (no-really?) and tensions are high. Everyone wants to know Sonny's game plan, as it were. In a dead-tired analogy, he meets team owner Anthony Molina (Frank Langella) at a waterpark, where he asks Sonny what he plans to do and encourages him to "make a splash". Ugh. Then comes the call from the Seattle Seahawks-trade us 3 future first-rounders for the #1 pick in the draft. Much to the chagrin of the Browns coach (Denis Leary) and the war-room team, Sonny accepts, and the clock starts ticking. Will it be lauded Wisconsin Badger quarterback Bo Callahan? Ohio State linebacker Vonte Mack (42's Chadwick Boseman)? Running back Ray Jennings (real NFler Arian Foster), son of former Brown Earl Jennings (Terry Crews)? You could cut the tension with a knife, people!
Sonny has a master plan, and not even his recently pregnant and pissed-off girlfriend/salary cap manager Ali (Jennifer Garner) or his recently-widowed mother (Ellen Burstyn) know what it is. Both are often brushed aside with "not today" gruffness, especially when mom tries to show up and spread his dad's ashes on the football field and make Sonny say a prayer, the hokiest and most unnecessary plot point in the whole schabang. The movie is awfully entertaining and peppered with celebrities playing themselves and playing others. Costner, in his natural non-emotive state, is perfect for the role. Too often, though, the movie tries to catch the viewer's emotions and bobbles the ball, much like a Packers special teams player attempting to recover an onside kick.
Totally not bitter about that, by the way.
#46 The Animal Project
Every year, I check out at least a few selections at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival (MSPIFF) in the Spring. This was one of the ones I saw there, a sleepy little Indie about an acting teacher named Leo (Aaron Poole) in Toronto who is trying to find meaning in it all. He has a teenage son who he can't quite interact with, and a group of actors that he can't quite motivate. Leo gets an idea--what if, in order to make a truly human connection, you have to become animals? He rents his acting troupe various animal costumes: bunny, donkey leopard, lion, mouse, bird. Their instructions are to wear the costumes and go out and interact with people throughout Toronto. Plenty of cuteness (one of them posts outside a school and offers free hugs) and quirkiness (taking off the mask to smoke a cigarette in costume) ensues. Along the way, the young actors learn things about themselves and the human condition. I guess it makes sense, but in order for the movie to work, the viewer has to buy into the notion that something like this could spur human growth and maturity. As a viewer, I'm not totally sure that I did.
No comments:
Post a Comment