8 Mile (2002)

I was about eight when I first heard of Eminem and fell in love with his music. I didn't understand the lyrics as I didn't speak English at the time, but I loved them nevertheless. So I was pretty excited when 8 Mile aired on TV a year later —no way my parents would bring me to see this. Also, I doubt my tiny town showed this— and I loved it. I rewatched it many times over the years, I rewatched it now and I still love it. 

Set in 1995 Detroit, the story follows Jimmy "B-Rabbit" Smith Jr. (Eminem), a young, unhappy white blue-collar worker who, after breaking up with his girlfriend (Taryn Manning), returns to his mother's (Kim Basinger) trailer park home and her young boyfriend (Michael Shannon). While struggling in every single aspect of his life, he tries to make a name for himself in the African-American dominated underworld hip-hop world. 

IO (2019)

You know what I've been seeing for the past week or so as soon as I opened Netflix? The trailer of IO, their new post-apocalyptic movie. Worn out by its continuous playing and because Anthony Mackie is in it, I decided to give it a shot. How bad could it be, right? A lot, as it turned out. 

The film follows Sam Walden (Margaret Qualley), a young scientist as well as one of the last people on a post-cataclysm Earth who is dedicated to finding a way to save the planet and for humans to adapt and survive on it. Time is not on her side though as the final shuttle is about to depart and she only has a few days to make a meaningful scientific outbreak discovery or stay on the dying planet. That's when another survivor, Micah (Anthony Mackie), shows up and tries to convince her to leave.

We Are Marshall (2006)

Genre

Drama | Sport

Director

McG

Country

USA

Cast

Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, Anthony Mackie, Arlen Escarpeta, David Strathairn, Ian McShane, Kate Mara, January Jones, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Brian Geraghty, Tommy Cresswell, Christian Kanupke, Nina Jones, Mike Pniewski, Robert Patrick

Storyline

When the most of the football team and coaches of Marshall University die in a plane crash, the team's new coach (Matthew McConaughey) and his surviving players try to keep the football program alive.

Opinion

I'm back with another McConaughey movie, that also features Matthew Fox, the other Matthew I can't stand. Luckily, the sacrifice was quite worthy.

Run to the end zone by McConaughey, We Are Marshall is tedious, but rises from the ashes thank to the message it delivers.

My expectations for this film were kind of low. Even though I knew it is based on a true story, I was expecting the typical stereotyped feel good sport film. I was wrong. 

The plot isn't much different from any other sport films out there, and so would seem to be the outcome. The football does play an important role in the story, but, as I mentioned before, there's a message delivered, and it redeems the film from the sport genre. The whole point of the film is dealing with loss, and getting back to the daily business of life, and it uses football to deliver a message of hope, showing how winning just one game provided enough hope to set an entire town on the path of recovery. 

Some people have been complaining about the ending, saying that it killed the climax. So, should have the film ended after winning the game against Xavier? No way, unless you don't want just another sport film.

Having said that, the big fail is McG's direction. He doesn't manage to fully capture the emotions in Huntington at that time, and the result is a sad film with no real feeling. 

Matthew McConaughey really did a wonderful job portraying coach Jack Lengyel, and basically carried the whole film. Looking lost and in pain, Matthew Fox also did a good job as the assistant coach. Anthony Mackie wonderfully portrayed Nate and caught his spirit of leadership.