Ralph's Movie Reviews: SUGAR

Saturday, May 2, 2009

SUGAR

Sports drama
Some Spanish with English subtitles

F.Y.I.
US baseball teams recruit many of their most promising talent at training camps in the Dominican Republic, where boys start practicing at a very early age, seeing the sport (with encouragement from their families) as one of the few tickets available to them for upward mobility.

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS
Algenis Perez Soto: 19-year-old Miguel Santos (a.k.a Azúcar)
Rayniel Rufino: Jorge Ramirez, a longtime friend
Andre Holland: Brad Johnson, 2nd baseman with the Kansas City Knights
Ann Whitney: Helen Higgens, a big fan of the Bridgeton Swing baseball team
Richard Bull: her husband Earl
Ellary Porterfield: their teenage granddaughter Anne

REVIEW
One thing should be made clear right off the bat (sorry about that) is that this is not a baseball movie. Sure there are baseball scenes (frequently encapsulated by the play-by-play commentator) but it is more about a person playing baseball.

His name is Sugar (the English translation of his native nickname “because he’s so sweet”) a baseball pitcher starting off in San Pedro de Macoris in the Dominican Republic. And then he moves on.

This character study is beautifully shot with excellent acting, crisp editing, some humorous moments and a strong storyline. It is well worth viewing, even for the non-sports fan.

CLASSIFICATION

for language, some sexuality and brief drug use. (Not justified in my view: PG would be more appropriate)

No comments:

Post a Comment

my ratings system

I've always thought that telling too much about a movie or warning someone about a "twist" at the end deprives the person the pleasure of seeing it as it unfolds, so I don’t do it. You may not always agree with my rating of course, but at least it is an unbiased opinion unlike some of the full time professional reviewers who are on the studio’s payroll.

A few movies you won’t see any review from me:

Scary movies: I’m the world’s biggest chicken and just hate getting the crap scared out of me. I can handle an unexpected door slam, that kind of thing, but a movie that keeps you on the edge of your seat…not for me. Sorry.
Movies geared to the young teen and pre-teen crowd with dialog comprising mostly of crude remarks, awful jokes and lots of rude, socially unacceptable body noises. "The Spy that Shagged Me" comes to mind. (I wonder if the kids know what the British verb to shag someone really means? They probably do; I bet you it’s the parents who haven’t a clue).
Sometimes Hollywood gets on a roll and they produce a series of movies that are all very much alike. For example movies about the CIA were very popular and so we had The Bourne Identity and Bad Company and The Sum of All Fears. They all had the same basic theme and it becomes repetitive. I will see some, but not all of them.

FYI this is my rating system:

0 stars = Terrible: so bad it’s not worth talking about; in fact, I’d pay you not to go
= Lousy: I actually got up and walked out before the end it was just that bad (no kidding)
= Not so good: thought about walking out but hung in just in case it got better (but it didn’t)
= A so-so good movie: I enjoyed it somewhat but wasn’t all that crazy about it
= A really good movie: I recommend seeing it
= An excellent movie you just got to see! I suggest you put it on your "To Do List" it’s that good.

some favourite websites

For those into it, Nitpickers at

has more movie mistakes than you could ever imagine. My contributions can be seen if you check out the Nitpickers Registry and click on the link Nitpickers Listed by Nitpicker Number, select the group 45,401 - 45,500 and drill down to number 45411. Although I have 56 nitpicks to my credit, some have almost 2,000. You wonder sometimes where they find the time to do it.