July Recommendation: Ali

                       



                              I usually don't recommend a Will Smith movie, because well, his movies usually range from meh to my goodness this is terrible. But after stumbling into his portrayal of famous boxer Muhammad Ali moreover directed by Michael Mann, all I can say is intrigued. For a little history lesson to newbs who've never heard of Muhammad Ali he was originally named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. he became wildly successful for his full energy cockiness and a activist during the civil rights movement. After beating Sonny Liston to gain the heavyweight champion, he later converted to Islam and renamed himself Muhammad Ali. Though he wasn't given respect he had to fight for it with the Federal Government and the rest of the world to prove that he's the greatest. Even though some consider him controversial I would say of all famous boxers’ out there Ali reigns supreme.
                              The film is set from 1964-1974; basically it chronicles his title over Sonny Liston, converting to Islam and his conflict with the Vietnam War, then his return to boxing and his battle with George Foreman.
                               Now I'll admit I'm usually not interested in a Will Smith movie but this film he actually does a great job embodying Ali and not just playing a Will Smith version of Ali, just like the way Chadwick Boseman embodied the playing style of Jackie Robinson moreover the emotions. Smith does a great job embodying the physicality of Ali furthermore the cockiness he had when preparing a fight. And to be truthful that what you need when playing such iconic sports figures like Ali. Jon Voight does an excellent job playing the legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell, and I was surprised that was him because when I saw his credit I was like so where is Jon Voight I don't see him anywhere furthermore I had to look it up on Wikipedia and realized ooooooohhhhhh, that's who he plays and my goodness that's a great transformation so hat goes off to him in getting into character. I like the fact that Smith's wife Jada is playing Ali's first wife and when it comes to sex scenes she of all actresses in the film is the one to have with her husband, imagine she's going to the writers and saying "look here writer's that there's my hubby anyone whose going have a sex scene with him it's going to be me". The only complaint I have with the movie is that it's a bit choppy at times moreover was a bit to fast when it comes to the flow of the movie especially when we see Ali at the top and he's all of a sudden lost his boxing license. All and all this was a good and entertaining movie from start to finish and worth my recommendation for this month of July so if your in for a sports movie this is definitely worth seeing.

  

Space Force

 

                              Sometimes you just want to see the two train’s crash together on the tracks.  Sometimes, ok all the time I frequent the website rotten tomatoes to see what the top critic should tell me to think.  Ok, that last part was sarcasm; the real reason is I live for hate.  Ok getting paid to shit on things online one day is like my dream. It's almost like I have a little Emperor Palpatine on my shoulder saying give in to your hatred.  I can feel you rolling your eyes at me and your right that's not true. All of this really is not true, except I do browse rotten tomatoes. So what I found there was surprising and that was lots of critics saying it was dull and boring. Top critics gave it a twenty-eight percent so I had to watch it to see for myself.  So really that's what is interesting when I hit play on this crap fest that took me like a month to watch.   

                             So to give you a spoiler the critics are right this time, I have a whole theory about rotten tomatoes but I will spare you this time lol.  Anyway, let's get into it.  The plot starts with Carell charter getting his fourth star and being put in charge of a new branch of the military Space Force.  His wife and daughter are not very happy there going to live in Colorado and who would be.  So we jump ahead a year where the base is built and there working hard on the ship to take them to the moon.  The best episodes are the first two and its all downhill from there.  The shocking amount of wasted talent on the screen is crazy to me.  Steve Carell gives a surprisingly dull performance as General Mark R. Naird.  Jimmy Yang is a very funny comedian, really check out his stand up, he is completely wasted as Dr. Chan Kaifang.  Ben Schwartz who I loved early this year as the voice of Sonic plays Steve Carell’s social media expert. Schwartz is underutilized for the first five episodes and then almost overused in the last two episodes. Diana Silvers, the hero of this cast who plays Carell's high school daughter, needs the Medal of Honor for all the awkward dialogue she has to work through. My head hurt because she in the last act of the last episode were so forced I really don’t see a teenage girl doing something that stupid.  I mean it the awkward scenes with Spencer House who plays her love interest make you want to cry for her the really bad material she was given.  So I am going to gloss over John Malkovich because he again proves that he can chew scenery with the best.  So last but not least is Lisa Kudrow who plays Carell’s wife lets just call her Ms. Naird she is in jail for most of the 1st season and this is a spoiler because I can feel you ask it.  Why is she in jail you might ask? Deep, deep sigh they don't tell you. Yep, that’s the joke. She is just there sometimes with her hair in cornrows and sometimes not and they just don't really mention it ever again.  The thing that bothers me the most is it's a really good idea.  I spent most of last year listening to Apollo 11 podcast.  You really would think there would be enough there for each charter to have their own space to move the story along organically.  But the execution is pretty lackluster, jokes fall very flat and the side charters don't have a lot to do.  Really I have seen better pacing and charter involvement in an episode of home improvement. So to sum up don’t watch it. The show tries way too hard for drama and the jokes like I said fall flat.  So you get the idea, tell your friends not to watch season 2 and maybe watch House on Amazon and remember baseball only a few weeks away hopefully.