Ralph's Movie Reviews: 42

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

42

Sports drama

PRINCIPAL CAST MEMBERS

Harrison Ford: Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Rickey

Chadwick Boseman: baseball player Jackie Robinson

Nicole Beharie: his girlfriend Rachel

Andre Holland: sports writer Wendell Smith

Christopher Meloni: Booklyn Dodgers Manager Leo Durocher

Lucas Black: short stop Pee Wee Reese

Jonh McGinley: play-by-play announcer Red Barber

Alan Tudyk: raciest Phillies Coachr Ben Chapman

REVIEW

With unwavering commitment one man set out to make a change: Branch Rickey could see the future of baseball and did something about it. Fortunately one man was up to the challenge: Jackie Robinson. Rickey had the courage of his convictions and Robinson, well he had the courage.

This mostly true story of their struggle makes for an entertaining insight into the ways of sport. Characterized by excellent acting throughout and close attention to period detail (except for one instance noted below) it runs a tad long at two hours and twenty minutes. The racist language might be disturbing to some.

CLASSIFICATION

for thematic elements including language.

FOR NITPICKERS ONLY

This is one of my classic all-time favourite nitpicks: at the end of the telephone conversation Branch Rickey hangs up and Leo Durocher is left listening to the dial tone. In reality the dial tone is only heard after picking up the phone before dialling. That’s why it’s called a dial tone.

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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.