It's Just Not Cricket! - Death of a Gentleman and Red Army

I've been watching two sports' documentaries, the first about cricket and the second about ice hockey, one about the future and the other about the past.

Death of a Gentleman

Two cricket mad journalists (Englishman Sam Collins and Australian Jarrod Kimber) try to find out if test cricket is dying out and if so why, mostly by following the career of test cricketer and Australian opening batsman Ed Cowan.

What starts out as a travelogue with the focus on test cricket matches turns out to be a sort of sports version of "All The President's Men", with Sam and Jarrod finding a trail of very suspicious dealings between the Australian, England and Wales, and Indian cricket boards to effectively take over the International Cricket Council (based now in Dubai!) at the expense of other ICC members. Mostly this is due to the sheer spending power of TV franchises centred around the Indian Premier League.

The IPL is based on Twenty20, a short version of the game akin to Sunday League cricket, and this has increased the popularity of the game, but to the detriment of test cricket, partly due to the different styles required, but mainly due to good players being unavailable having being "drafted" into the IPL, in a fashion similar to American sports.

It's unusual for a sports documentary to engage as well as this and, although it's a little melodramatic at times, it does show the corrosive and corrupting effect of money on sport and the people who run it. Recommended.

Red Army

By the 1980's, the U.S.S.R.'s national ice hockey team had come to dominate the Winter Olympics, frequently winning gold. With the invasion of Afghanistan and a potential boycott of the summer Olympics later that year looming, a clinching match took place between the U.S.A. and U.S.S.R.

Centring on the Soviet team, especially the leader of the five most prominent players, "Slava" Fetisov, this is a window into that late Soviet era, complete with KGB minders, midnight arrests and defectors. It also shows how these players struggled to survive in the post-Soviet world, eventually teaming up to win the Stanley Cup in 1997 for the Detroit Red Wings. Recommended for fans and non-fans alike.

Mega Film Update

It's been a while since I wrote anything down and I've been going through films at a rapid rate. These are the highlights.

Good Kill

Related to the previous blog about drones, this is a drama starring Ethan Hawke as an airforce pilot relegated to piloting drones and showing signs of the strain.

A slow drama that captures the growing tension between Egan and his colleagues regarding their work, and also with his wife (January Jones), it never quite succeeds, everyone being a little too controlled and unemotional. Not bad, though.

Future Shock - The Story of 2000AD

A documentary on the creation, trials and  success of the best comic Britain ever produced:

This introduces you to figures such as Pat Mills, Andy Diggle, John Wagner, Brian Bolland, Dave Gibbons, Carlos Ezquerra, Carlos Ezquerra and Grant Morrison. Even Neil Gaiman and Karl Urban get a look in. 2000AD affected an entire generation (mine) and, although video games and the internet have lessened it's effect, it still packs a punch.

Spectre

Yet another outing for Mr. Bond. James gets in trouble again when he follows a lead to a mysterious organisation... (yawn). Tell you what, I'll let Honest Trailers explain.

 A nice finale for Daniel Craig, although the plot was meandering. It all looks very nice, stylish an' all, and there's enough special effects, stunts and exotic locations: I think it's just that it's a fantasy and it shows.

Killer Joe

Desperate for money, Chris (Emile Hirsch) plots with his inept and devious family to have his estranged mother murdered by hitman "Killer" Joe Cooper (Matthew McConaughey).

A film version of a stage play, it shows as it's sometimes slow and claustrophobic. The Southern Gothic makes the film too grotesque for my taste, and, although the plot has a few twists and McConaughey does his best, it doesn't really engage. It also puts you off KFC.

The Fantastic Four

 Reed Richards (Miles Teller), after demonstrating his matter transporter with childhood friend Ben Grimm (Jamie Bell), gets invited to help perfect a larger version with Sue (Kate Mara) and Johnny Storm (Michael B. Jordan), together with original inventor Viktor von Doom (Toby Kebbell).

A remake of the Marvel film made about ten years ago (probably because Chris Evans is now Captain America), it's basically a teenage version, and a bit rushed at that.  The special effects are good, but the plot seems a bit haphazard. Not bad, but just not that good, as if someone deliberately made a pizza movie.