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Kirk Bage (1775 KP) rated The Last Dance in TV

Aug 6, 2020 (Updated Aug 6, 2020)  
The Last Dance
The Last Dance
2020 | Documentary, Sport
Some people’s worst nightmare isn’t just being forced to watch sport, but being forced to listen to commentary or analysis on sport. My passion for a competitive event, and appreciation for an acheivement at the highest level in any sport, is still there, but is a little cooler than it was when I was a younger man with the energy to get carried away, whooping and cheering on an underdog or applauding the very best in a discipline.

Basketball for me has never really been a thing. To be honest, I barely understand the rules beyond the basics. It just wasn’t something that was on British TV that often as I grew up, the Olympics being an exception. The skill level (and height above Sea level) needed to be good enough for NBA glory does not escape me though, and neither has the exceptional career of Michael Jordon, who is a clear contender for greatest sportsman of all time, in any sport.

What I do enjoy though is the drama of over-coming hurdles and records against all the odds. The underdog story really appeals to me, as does the story of an older athlete doing it one last time, when no one thinks it’s possible. The Last Dance is exactly that. But not told by actors in a Hollywood way, like the wonderfully under-rated Miracle starring Kurt Russell. This is a documentary, in ten parts, with the real guys, and some of the most comprehensive archive material you’d ever want!

In theory, the tale is about the whole team, and their final fling at winning a title before knowing the aging gang would be disbanded, with the key figures forced into retirement. But, it is about Jordan, of course it is. And as a document of a rise to fame, and how the man responded to that fame and increased pressure, it is simply the best sports documentary yet to be made.

Told in parallel timelines of the final year juxtaposed with the backstory of the previous 20 years, it shows in exquisite detail how a franchise was built, maintained and taken to the heights of being the greatest ever to play the game. There are tantrums, fall outs, walk outs, no shows, injuries, and some mind-bending successes riding on single moments of genius.

The main voices of Jordan himself, as he sits in retirement with a cigar and a single malt, Scottie Pippin, and bad boy Dennis Rodman, are in parts fascinating, eloquent and revealing. Even after many years have passed, the emotion of big moments and issues is still fresh. We see the joy, the pride and the exhilaration, but also the regret, the grudges and the pain. It shows every angle of what being an athlete at the very top means, and exposes what kind of mentality you have to have to be that person. To be a champion.

As with me, it really helps with the cliffhanger drama of it if you don’t remember, or never knew at all, the result of that “last dance” season in ’98. It also helps if watching sport raises the pulse, but I wouldn’t say it is essential, as it all plays like an ten part series full of drama, betrayals and gasp out loud moments. Ten hour long episodes is a lot. But this incredible production never out stays its welcome. Some acheivement, and testament to what a charismatic figure Jordan was and is on the context of sport history.

Of course, not every hero is a hero every minute of his life. And that is my final reason to recommend it. See for yourself what kind of personality virtual gods like these invent for themselves. Utterly compelling TV.
  
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American Made (2017)
American Made (2017)
2017 | Mystery
Cruise Flying High Again.
If you ask anyone to list the top 10 film actors, chance is that “Tom Cruise” would make many people’s lists. He’s in everything isn’t he? Well, actually, no. Looking at his imdb history, he’s only averaged just over a movie per year for several years. I guess he’s just traditionally made a big impact with the films he’s done. This all rather changed in the last year with his offerings of the rather lacklustre “Jack Reacher: Never Go Back” (FFF) and the pretty dreadful “The Mummy” (Ff) as one of this summer’s big blockbuster disappointments. So Thomas Cruise Mapother IV was sorely in need of a upward turn and fortunately “American Made” delivers in spades.


A quick stop in Nicaragua to pick up some paperwork from Noriega.


“Based on a True Story” this is a biopic on the life of Barry Seal, a hot shot ‘maverick’ (pun intended) TWA pilot who gets drawn into a bizarre but highly lucrative spiral of gun- and drug-running to and from Central America at the behest of a CIA operative Monty Schafer (Domhnall Gleeson). All this is completely mystifying to Barry’s wife Lucy (Sarah Wright) who is, at least not initially, allowed to be ‘in’ on the covert activities.


Flying high over Latin America.


The film is a roller-coaster ride of unbelievable action from beginning to end. In the same manner as you might have thought “that SURELY can’t be true” when watching Spielberg’s “Catch Me If You Can”, this thought constantly flits through your mind. At each turn Seal can’t believe his luck, and Cruise brilliantly portrays the wide-eyed astonishment required. This is a role made for him.
Also delivering his best performance in years is Domhnall Gleeson (“Ex Machina“, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens“) as the CIA man with the (whacky) plan. Large chunks of the film are powered by his manic grin.


Domhnall Gleeson as the CIA man with a sense of Contra-rhythm.


As an actress, Sarah Wright is new to me but as well as being just stunningly photogenic she works with Cruise really well (despite being 20 years his junior – not wanting to be ageist, but this is the second Cruise film in a row I’ve pointed that out!)). Wright also gets my honourary award for the best airplane sex scene this decade!


“Time to pack honey”. Seal (Cruise) delivering a midnight surprise to wife Lucy (Sarah Wright) – and not in a good way.


Written by Gary Spinelli (this being only his second feature) the script is full of wit and panache and – while almost certainly (judging from wiki) stretches the truth as far as Seal’s cash-storage facilities – never completely over-eggs the pudding.
Doug Liman (“Jason Bourne“, “Edge of Tomorrow“) directs brilliantly, giving space among the action for enough character development to make you invest in what happens to the players. The 80’s setting is lovingly crafted with a garish colour-palette with well-chosen documentary video inserts of Carter, Reagan, Oliver Stone, George Bush and others. It also takes really chutzpah to direct a film that (unless I missed it) had neither a title nor any credits until the end.


The real Barry Seal.


The only vaguely negative view I had about this film is that it quietly glosses over the huge pain, death and suffering that the smuggled drugs will be causing to thousands of Americans under the covers. And this mildly guilty thought lingers with you after the lights come up to slightly – just slightly – take the edge off the fun.
Stylish, thrilling, moving and enormously funny in places, this is action cinema at its best. A must see film.
  
It Only Happens in the Movies
It Only Happens in the Movies
Holly Bourne | 2017 | Young Adult (YA)
10
9.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
Positive feminist message. (0 more)
Another cracker by Holly Bourne
The blurb; Audrey is over romance. Since her parents relationship imploded her mother’s been catatonic, so she takes a cinema job to get out of the house. But there she meets wannabe film-maker Harry.

Nobody expects Audrey and Harry to fall in love as hard and fast as they do. But that doesn’t mean things are easy.

Because real love isn’t like the movies…The greatest love story ever told doesn’t feature kissing in the snow, or racing to airports. It features pain and confusion and hope and wonder, and a ban on cheesy clichés. Oh, and Zombies.

                         ~

I’m a huge fan of Holly Bourne, and with It only happens in the movies she has written another cracker!

It only happens in the movies challenges all those cliches from romantic movies, and the message they give about what love and relationships are like.

Audrey is instantly likeable, positive feminist characters are exactly what’s needed and Holly Bourne writes them so well. Audrey is getting over being dumped after having sex for the first time, trying to cope with her mum having a breakdown, and she’s been distant from her friends since her break up, her life is messy – and then she meets Harry.

Harry, with a reputation for being a player! He doesn’t always understand Audrey’s point of view, and he says the wrong things …

‘You’re not like other girls, are you?
but I like Harry. He tries!

In chapter 25, Audrey and her friend Alice talk about first time sex in a refreshingly honest way and this is, in my opinion, such an important thing to see in young adult books. Some girls, for whatever reason, don’t have someone they can talk about these things with, and I feel that it’s such a good thing that authors such as Holly Bourne are putting it out there.

I’ve read a number of feminist YA books this week, and I’m so pleased that they are being written. Conversations about consent, sexism, misogyny and rape culture are so important and these books help to get the message out there.

Excerpt from the book ; Men in films regularly kiss women who don’t want to be kissed. And those are supposed to be the good kisses. Either the woman is taken by surprise, or storming off in a mood, or having a huge go at them, or is engaged to somebody else, or claims she’s just plain Not Interested. And,how do men in movies respond to this clear instruction of “no”? They grab the woman’s face, and kiss her anyway. Roughly. Using their masculine force. And rather than being slapped or even arrested, these movie men are rewarded for their… well… sexual violence. The women “give into” the kiss after a brief moment of fighting it. You see, according to Hollywood, these women wanted to be kissed all along. It was just the male lead’s job to break through the barriers. Barriers like WILFUL CONSENT. Outside Hollywood movies, there is a term for being kissed against your will. This term isn’t “spontaneous” or “romantic” or “passionate”. No, it’s called sexual assault. It’s a crime punishable in the UK by up to ten years in prison.


                          ~
Holly Bourne writes about feminist issues without being patronising and without telling her readers that we should hate all men.

If I’ve made it sound at all like It only happens in the movies is all feminist messages and no story then I must add that it’s entirely not that at all.

I enjoyed the story so much that I read it over a weekend, staying up far too late because I just couldn’t put it down. There’s plenty of drama, humour, and some lovely, touching moments! The ending – although it was perfect – exactly the way this story was meant to end – broke me. I cried actual tears.

Love isn’t just a feeling. Love is a choice too. And you may not be able to help your feelings, but you are responsible for the choices you make about what to do with them. (From It only happens in the movies).
  
AL
Ada: Legend of a Healer
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Ada has the unique ability of being able to heal anything she touches. Having lived in the foster care system her whole life, she finally gets the opportunity to live with her aunt, Jessie, who is also a healer, and explains her special ability. But Ada and Jessie have different viewpoints on a healer's responsibility, and Ada decides she's had enough. She takes off on her own heading to Paris with only an address and a photograph to attempt to find her mother, who she discovers isn't dead.

There's just one problem: There's a man who wants to find her and use her as his personal fountain of youth.

Reviewing self-published books is a tricky business. There's a wide range of them: the really crappy ones that make the editor inside me want to cry, the mediocre ones that are just missing a story, and then the occasional gem that I'm so glad I managed to get my hands on. I've had one or two other gems: Ada makes the list, and is pretty high up on it.

I loved Ada's story. I read it almost completely in one sitting. I liked Ada, and admired her will power and strength. We didn't see eye to eye on everything, and I thought she was immature and disrespectful at times, but I could still relate to her well enough that I couldn't hate her for it. About halfway through the book, some characters were introduced that I didn't expect to stay in the story, simply because of the way they were brought in. But isn't that the way our lives work? We meet someone and aren't sure if we'll ever really see them again, but they end up as our friends, and sometimes it's someone really special? That was Ada and Daniel. Daniel is going to have to be added to my list of literary crushes. Not only is he good looking, he's a "bad boy" and a sweetheart at the same time. And he's got a delicious smile. And he does Parkour. And he's French.

The writing was clear and descriptive and easy to understand. It wasn't perfect and there were a few irritating sections with poor grammar, but it didn't distract from the overall piece enough to bring down the star rating.

One of the things I really liked was the pacing. Sometimes a book has an interesting plot, but it takes way too long for things to actually happen that you fall asleep, or have to read an entire series just to get the same amount of plot you're looking for in a single novel (coughtwilightcough). The pacing was really fast in Ada, almost to the point where I wished it was just a little slower so I could really concentrate on what Ada was thinking and feeling.

There was one very tiny part that I didn't like. At one point, Ada tries to practice healing herself, so she takes a pair of scissors to her arm. I thought this was completely inappropriate and very risky, because through Ada's interior monologue, it almost seemed to show self-cutting in a good light. Yes she was practicing healing herself and learning to ignore pain, and trying to figure out her power, and Ada thought it through well enough that the reader would understand why she was doing it, but it just seemed bold and risky. Because of that, I wouldn't want young young adults to read it—I feel like it would make them uncomfortable. I also can't help but wonder what kind of influence that will have on young readers.

Scattered through the book were some truly beautiful illustrations. I found myself flipping through them and just staring at them. They have a pen-and-ink with watercolor sort of feel to them: very lose and impressionistic, almost dreamlike, but with wild pen and scratches thrown through to add definition. Here are two of my favorites (very poor quality photos, though, so I apologize ahead of time).

All in all, I was very pleased and excited about Ada: Legend of a Healer, and I can't wait for the next book in the series.

Content/Recommendation: Some swearing, small reference to self-abuse. Ages 16+
  
Helsinki Headnod Convention is a Jazz/Spoken Word band. Not too long ago, they released their debut EP, entitled, “Eargasms for Short-Sighted Post-Truth Era People”.

WHO’S MAKING YOU?
Mellow and subtle. This jazzy tune poses a series of interesting questions.

At the end of the day, it’s you and only you. You keep trying to place the blame on somebody else but it’s you. Also, you and only you are can make you or break you.


OUR TIME IS NOW

This 30 seconds clip tells listeners that their time is now. Also, it’s short, representing that time is short on earth and it shouldn’t be taken for granted.

SORROW AND PAIN

A mixture of Negro Spiritual mixed with Blues and elements of ‘60s Soul.

The black and white video shows an African-American woman walking in the evening. Also, a vehicle with its headlights on approaches and a Caucasian cop parks it.

The following scene shows the woman running away while the cop, dressed as a terrorist, is chasing her with a lit smoke screen in his hand.

The courageous woman falls to the ground, grabs a handful of snow, and throws it in her attacker’s face. Momentarily, it blinds him and she gets up and runs away.

But she can’t see where she’s going because of the smoke. Then, she’s confronted by another Caucasian man, dressed in riot gear. Also, he’s walking towards her while her other attacker is gaining ground behind her.

In the end, while snow is falling and visibility is blurry, the rioter beats the woman with the stick in his hand.

The suggestive video implies that those who are supposed to protect and serve urban communities contain an uncertain amount of national terrorists within their organizations.

Also, some things from the past have changed, but on the other hand, some things have remained the same.

SOLIDARITY

Mellow and smooth. One minute and 13 seconds of conscious therapy, which begins with a calming voice, “We glorify war when we should glorify peace.”

The title is a unity campaign that binds people together as one. Also, its aim is social change within a racist power structure.

DOWN ON BENDED KNEE

The poem is based on Colin Kaepernick’s epic gesture of bending his knee during the National Anthem to protest social injustices happening in urban communities. Also, it speaks on reasons humanity, equality, civility, decency, justice, and other rights.

ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE

An instrument plays in solitude against a vacant backdrop, where paradise is imagined as an ordinary day in hell, where being cautious is the best way to proceed.

Also, a story is told about a woman who is begging on the street, but the man she is seeking help from doesn’t even acknowledge her.

She calls out to a man on the street, “Sir, can you help me. It’s cold and I have nowhere to sleep. Is there somewhere you can tell me?”

He walks on doesn’t look back. He pretends he can’t hear her. Starts to whistle as he crosses the street. Seems embarrassed to be there.

This story paints a perfect picture of people frowning down on the have-nots, who oftentimes get overlooked while seeking monetary help or begging for information in public.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

With so many points of views to look from, what’s really the bigger picture?

The artist raps, “Watch me step it up. Cape blowing in the wind standing tough. Can’t give up.”

The song implies what’s necessary to see the bigger picture. One must have the courage to not get blown away by the world-wind and its influences.

Also, it implies taking a step up, by elevating your mind, body, and soul. Only then, will you be able to see the bigger picture, which is quite an exquisite view?

HUMAN KINDNESS

Beings with a jazzy fiesta of affectionate sounds perfumed with love. It depicts the hustle and bustle of an inner-city boulevard. It’s fast-paced and warm like the blood flowing in our veins.

CONCLUSION

“Eargasms for Short-Sighted Post-Truth Era People” is an undiluted audible ear drop solution, perfumed with nostalgia. It’s revolutionary but its non-violence approach in combating social inequality is highly effective.

https://www.bongminesentertainment.com/helsinki-headnod-eargasms/