Blue Chips.

Review #2365: Blue Chips.

Cast: 

Nick Nolte (Coach Pete Bell), Mary McDonnell (Jenny Bell), J. T. Walsh ("Happy" Kuykendahl), Ed O'Neill (Ed Axelby), Alfre Woodard (Lavada McRae), Bob Cousy (Vic Roker), Larry Bird (himself), Matt Nover (Ricky Roe), Shaquille O'Neal (Neon Boudeaux), Anfernee "Penny" Hardaway (Butch McRae), Anthony C. Hall (Tony), Marques Johnson (Mel), Robert Wuhl (Marty), Cylk Cozart ("Slick"), with Jim Beaver (Ricky's Dad), and Louis Gossett Jr. (Father Dawkins) Directed by William Friedkin (#037 - The Exorcist, #1438 - The French Connection, #1477 - To Live and Die in L.A., #2085 - Sorcerer)

Review: 

 “It wasn’t going to be the way coaches have been played in the past—you know, usually as the wise father figure. This guy was a deeply troubled man. That’s how I looked at Bobby, and that’s how I looked at this character. He had this overwhelming desire to win at any cost.”

There is a certain curiosity that comes to this film, really. This was the second of three movies that William Friedkin would direct in the 1990s, which you might remember included such works as The Guardian (1990) and Jade (1995). Oh, but this was a movie produced and written by none other than Ron Shelton, who you might remember was behind the scripts/directing of films such as Bull Durham [1988]* and White Man Can't Jump [1992] (fun fact: one scene in the original script of Blue Chips proved an inspiration for Jump). Apparently, the project had been in development hell since 1981, although it should be mentioned that Tates Locke claimed that the movie actually took inspiration from his 1982 book Caught in the Net (as co-written with Bob Ibach) that had detailed the offenses of Locke as a head coach at Clemson in the late 1970s (ironically, Bob Knight actually was set to write the introduction to the book but rejected it because he took the book as saying "that everybody cheats", which he disagreed with)**. Shelton couldn't direct the movie due to his involvement with Cobb (1994), but Friedkin's love for basketball got him interested in the project (he even got to direct his basketball idol in Bob Cousy). The movie was not a big success with audiences at the time (he was once quoted as saying that he couldn't overcome the difficulty of capturing "the excitement of a real game, with its own unpredictable dramatic structure and suspense"), but time has probably rewarded those who consider that college sports has only recently moved into the "NIL era" in which, well, now college athletes can control and profit from their name, image, and likeness. Timely or not, consider that one of the coaches appearing in the national championship game this year involved a coach in Kelvin Sampson who once endured a show-cause order that meant he couldn't coach in college for five years for a select group of violations committed under his watch.

The game of college basketball has never been particularly squeaky clean, anyway. Amateur athletes in the NCAA had interesting definitions when you consider the guy (Walter Byers) who created the term "student-athlete" also once called a team as doing “ghetto run-and-shoot basketball” (Jerry Tarkanian, coach of said team and justifiably hated Byers, happens to appear in this film)***. Scandals evolved from point shaving to slush funds. Blue Chips (1994) could not foresee the absurdity that arose with scandals involving universities and athletes, in which one school was accused of procuring a madam for athletes (which led to Rick Pitino being fired) and a murder that led to an actual scandal. So here we are with a movie about a man that rips himself apart in a decidedly non-heroic movie. But the movie is honest about where certain people in higher places are in terms of values: in the toilet. Cynicism runs free because the pursuit of the almighty victory (and dollar) has never been more blatant and, well, celebrated. Nolte actually shadowed Bobby Knight and went to practices and games. He pulls off a tremendous performance, riding the line of perceived morals with commitment that isn't just an impersonation or bluster for the sake of it. It happens to be a part with amusement in cynicism, as evidenced by how he says he happens to be a religious type that changes from recruitment to recruitment. By the time he gets to the last game, the juxtaposition of him versus Knight might as well be looking at a mirror (incidentally, Knight is only caught in barely audible dialogue, he apparently was mic'd up but said too many profanities). Walsh is the other highlight, managing to evoke great adversarial power that handles people as if they were commodities (with the exception of the climax, of course). The rest are fine, whether that is an ordinary but committed McDonnell, the delightfully cynical (if not underused) O'Neill or adequate work from actual athletes trying to do both basketball and acting - O'Neal is not in it that much, but he is quite engaging while Cousy plays the "wool over the eyes" just fine. The movie can't exactly capture all the fun and tension from seeing an actual basketball game, but it does leave one with a rush with what they see (particularly for those who recognize cameos such as Dick Vitale). The 108 minute runtime manages to make an effort in seeing the extent one could actually lose (or lie to) themselves in trying to win at all costs. As a whole, it is a committed Friedkin movie in charm and execution that is at least honest enough to prove a watch for the energy drawn out by Nolte in a morality tale that still has a resourceful bite to it. 

Overall, I give it 8 out of 10 stars.

Happy Monday and Go Cougars. If you want to hear more about college basketball movies, try Glory Road (2006).

*See, by having these little notes in the bottom, I save space in the actual review by not referring to Bull Durham as overrated. 

**By that point in time, Bobby Knight had already done such lovely things as hitting a head coach in the back of the head (Joe B. Hall) and choked and punched a sports information director. Never let anyone tell you about the glories of Bobby Knight without saying how much of a miserable human being he was.

***Tarkanian sued the NCAA a few times, fun fact. 

Wired.

Review #2145: Wired.

Cast: 

Michael Chiklis (John Belushi), Ray Sharkey (Angel Velasquez), J. T. Walsh (Bob Woodward), Patti D'Arbanville (Cathy Smith), Lucinda Jenney (Judy Belushi), Alex Rocco (Arnie Fromson), Gary Groomes (Dan Aykroyd), Jere Burns (Lou Connors), and Clyde Kusatsu (Coroner) Directed by Larry Peerce.

Review: 

Why don't we get this out of the way early: the 1984 book that the film is based on is pretty much thought to be a load of crap. The story goes that Bob Woodward was approached to write a biography of John Belushi because he happened to be raised in Wheaton, Illinois, the same place that Belushi had been raised in. Several people were interviewed for the book such as Judith Belushi Pisano, Dan Aykroyd, and James Belushi, but the end result was thought by several friends and associates of Belushi to be exploitative, particularly since a handful of the anecdotes are presented with little to no context (for example, a moment of Belushi being nervous about doing a love scene that saw him stall by coming up with various funny names for a certain body part is written by Woodward as just being an "inappropriate prelude"). Fun fact: this is the only Woodward book that doesn't involve political figures in any shape or form. Pisano wrote her own book about her life with Belushi in 1990 called Samurai Widow and then co-wrote the biography Belushi: A Biography with Tanner Colby in 2005. Anyway, back to the garbage process of novel-to-film. Woodward wanted to sell the rights to the book for film as fast as 1984 but apparently ran into trouble because he claimed nobody in Hollywood wanted to do it because it had "too much truth in it." Years later, Edward S. Feldman and Charles R. Meeker bought the rights for roughly $300,000 before putting money into funding the project to go with a New Zealand conglomerate named Lion Nathan. Woodward served as a technical advisor behind the scenes while Earl Mac Rauch wrote the screenplay in his fourth and final screenplay, with the most noted one probably being his adaptation of his 1984 novel Buckaroo Banzai. The film was directed by Larry Peerce, who directed a handful of television and features, whether that was Goodbye, Columbus (1969) or a handful of historical works such as Elvis and Me (1988, TV) or A Woman Named Jackie (1991, TV). This is currently the last feature film directed by Peerce.

The film has never been released on DVD or Blu-ray, and the only way one could see the film on home media was a videocassette was released by International Video Entertainment. Whether you could consider me lucky or demented, I did find a bootleg copy on the Internet to view this film that looks, well, let's just say that when Plan 9 from Outer Space has been given more attention for detailing, you really made a bad movie. For a film that was made for $13 million, the box office returns in its release (which took a year from finishing production due to lack of interest from distributors, which may have been influenced by a certain agent in the Creative Artists Agency) was monumentally terrible and incredibly predictable. I suppose Dan Aykroyd really did put a curse on the film. For 112 minutes, you get a film that is incredibly terrible in all the ways that matter most, because it honestly feels like someone thought they were being really clever in trying to make a "surreal" sort of biopic without understanding anything that made the subject matter interesting to begin with. Never does one hear about Belushi's work for The National Lampoon Radio Hour. Never does one really see how Belushi met Aykroyd (the film just shows them together just like that). Never does one really get a feel that Belushi had that many friends to begin with (Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, just to drop a few). Chiklis apparently went through dozens of auditions before being cast, and he really thought this would be a big thing for him. Instead, he had to deal with questions of "am I going to not find work after this?" The fact that he actually went to Jim Belushi years later to apologize speaks volumes about just where all things rest when it comes to regrets and ideas. At least Chiklis managed to eventually carve a career out of the ashes, which included lead roles in TV such as The Commish and The Shield (the former saw him play a character ten years older than he really was).  It's easy to say he has the best performance of the film, but it really isn't that good to begin with. It has that strange cadence that seems a bit too puffed in scenes that should have emotional weight and also seems a bit too out-of-depth when it comes to the "sketch recreations". But when you are paired with such vaunted efforts like a guardian angel character played by Sharkey (best known for TV's Wiseguy), the bar is low because no one pulls in a useful performance. I can't fathom going with a guardian angel angle for a biopic that was made by someone who probably thought a mugging was needed for It's a Wonderful Life. Sharkey has no range to do anything with this role beyond the obvious. Walsh meanders through the film asking questions that make a curious experiment to see someone play the author of the book that is being adapted when one knows the book reeks of slime. I can't tell who comes off worse, Walsh or Bernstein (the irony is that because he was in this film, Aykroyd got Walsh fired from Loose Cannons (1990), a movie with its own odious reputation). The movie is flat in every way even when it comes to its attempts at an anti-drug angle, and this is a movie that features Belushi rise from the morgue table to go along with another scene of people trying to fit the casket into a plane and failing. This is cinematic excrement, one that fails at telling a story of its subject in any sort of coherent matter. The tragedy of John Belushi is that he was covered for a book and film that didn't treat him or the people around him with any sort of respect, and time has only made the film and novel relegated into the obscure-bin where it belongs.

Overall, I give it 1 out of 10 stars.

Next: Breen awaits.

Movie Night: Miracle on 34th Street (1994).

Review #314: Miracle on 34th Street (1994).

Cast
Richard Attenborough (Kris Kringle), Elizabeth Perkins (Dorey Walker), Dylan McDermott (Bryan Bedford), Mara Wilson (Susan Walker), J. T. Walsh (Ed Collins), Simon Jones (Donald Shellhammer), James Remar (Jack Duff), Jane Leeves (Alberta Leonard), and Robert Prosky (Henry Harper) Directed by Les Mayfield.

Review

I wonder if there's a rule. A rule that if a film is from the 30's to even the 90's, it automatically gets remade entirely, even if there was nothing wrong with the original. I wonder who wrote this? Some no-John Hughes? The track record with him varies (In the six I've reviewed with him involved in some way with three directed (also written) by him and three written by him.), from fun to slightly too far. This sounds like one of those films people make when either they are bored or think "We need a new touch on a story that's been made for television and even a musical, no one will complain!", but is this really bad? Have I rambled on way too much? (Maybe) In some ways it looks different, but no exactly for the best. But what about Santa? Attenborough is allright, but I just can't stop thinking of comparing him with Gwenn's Santa. The other parts of the main cast (Originally played by Maureen O'Hara, John Payne, and Natalie Wood) are...okay. Wilson and McDermott do a reasonable job together though, kind of like with Payne and Wood in the original. This film decides to take a different approach with the ending, and it is one of those love it or groan it moments. For me, it's mild groan. It just feels out of place. While this film is not a horrible remake, it is keeps making you ask the same question: Why did this need to be made? But that happens for some remakes as well.

Overall, I give it 5 out of 10 stars.