Downloaded

Documentary covering the history of Napster. Pretty good look at all the aspects of the rise & crash of Napster and includes interviews with both Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker. Lots of good information to be found here. Not gonna lie, I was an early adoptee on Napster though I didn't like it very much. Funny that Fanning created it because "mp3 downloads were so unreliable" - which is exactly the problem I had with it. I was much more of an Audio Galaxy guy. Anyway, good doc and worth checking out. 8/10.

Battered Bastards of Baseball

Netflix-original documentary on the mid-70s minor league baseball team, the Portland Mavericks. The Mavs were founded and owned by Bing Russell, of Bonanza fame and father of Kurt Russell. Bing was a lifelong baseball fan who spent much of his childhood hanging out with the likes of Lefty Gomez, Joe Dimaggio and Lou Gehrig of the Yankees. After the 1972 season, the AAA Portland Beavers left Oregon for greener pastures elsewhere. A void was created and Bing created the Mavericks to fill it. The Mavericks would play in the short-season A Northwest League (home to my beloved Spokane Indians). Unlike every other team on the planet, they would be independent with no affiliation to any major league team. As a result, they grabbed players from wherever they could, including open tryouts. Their guys were older and (mostly) had no illusions about making a career out of it. So they were there to have fun. And they did. And their fans loved them for it. They were very successful, winning 4 division titles in 5 seasons while facing blowback from the major leagues. They do this against a backdrop of intrigue (major league teams sending higher-level players down for the playoffs against Portland to keep them from winning a championship) and controversy, all while having a blast. The whole movie is a good time and features interviews with several of the key figures (Bing Russell died in 2003, unfortunately), including Kurt Russell and Todd Field (director of 5-time Academy Award nominee, [b]In the Bedroom). Field was the batboy for the Mavs. Anyway, this is great, and anybody who likes a good story in general, or sports specifically, should watch it. 9/10.

Computer Chess

And then there's this one. This is a mockumentary about a computer chess tournament and it's set in 1980. You've got a cast of characters about like what you'd expect - lots of nerdy guys and then the commentator for the whole thing, who will play the winning chess computer. The movie is seemingly one random scene after another with "real" dialogue that just ends up being nothing. There's an awkward scene with a middle-aged couple trying to seduce one of the nerds, there's an awkward scene of some kind of "spiritualist" group doing a "re-birthing" exercise and so on. It's pretty obvious that the filmmakers are in love with themselves and think all these scenes are just hilarious and.....they're just not. They go for the "look how clever we are, we filmed it all in black & white!" thing because, ya know, nobody had color movie cameras in 1980. Bottom line: I *AM* the target audience for this movie. I get all the techno babble 1980 stuff they did. I wrote code to play chess games and so on. I get it. But this movie sucks. 1/10.

A Gentleman's Game

Stuff like this is why I love Netflix. This is a movie I've never heard of and would never have paid to see in the theater. But it's on Netflix, it's "free" so I check it out. Story revolves on the maturing of young golfer Timmy Price, the son of a rather rigid father who loves golf. Dad has Timmy become a caddy at their country club so he can learn some lessons about work and Timmy takes up the game, only to discover he's really, really good. Netflix does viewers a disservice by leading you to believe that the movie is about the relationship Timmy has with a wayward former golfer and instructor played by Gary Sinise. It's not. Sinise is on-screen less than 5 minutes total. In the end, however, the movie ends up falling short of its promise. There's unnecessary stuff thrown in - a molestation angle that seems way out of place and a very forced "Racist old white guy yells at a black employee!" scene there to show that Timmy's dad will stand up for himself unlike what we'd seen before. The point is needed, the scene is just badly done. Anyway, this is a decent little movie but could have been a lot more. 6/10.

The Whale

Narrated by Ryan Reynolds, The Whale tells the story of Luna, an orca separated from his pod decided to befriend a small town on the Nootka Sound. Luna's behavior is truly remarkable - very puppy-like. He would bring sticks to people to play, roll over to be pet, sing/talk to people, and play with their boats. This movie tells Luna's story as well as the controversy and conflict over what exactly to DO with Luna. His behavior isn't always safe - he flipped over kayaks and damaged some boats and his penchant for play next to boats was also dangerous to himself. So we also get the telling of the several-years long disagreement between multiple factions all wanting what is best for Luna but disagreeing on how to get there. And the movie is very balanced in the telling of that story, which is remarkable in itself. This is truly an amazing movie just for all the footage of Luna in action. So remarkable to see a wild animal behaving in that fashion. The narration from Reynolds is pretty overly-dramatic in a low-key way, seeking to constantly ask quasi-mystical/spiritual questions about the nature of the universe or something. Whatever. Ignore him, watch the whale footage and be enthralled. For those familiar with the story, yes, this movie was made after the conclusion of Luna's story. 9/10.

Terms and Conditions May Apply

An alarmist documentary on the state of privacy in the age of Google, Facebook, and pervasive monitoring. The movie has a very obvious slant to it but does a very effective job of scaring the crap out of the viewer when it comes to data, privacy, and government overreach. This is a movie every internet user and legislator should watch, without a doubt. Generally well made, too. 8/10.

Boys Don't Cry

The movie that MADE Hilary Swank. Swank plays Teena Brandon, a gender-confused young woman taking on the persona and mannerisms of a man by the name of Brandon Teena. As Brandon, she meets and falls in love with Lana, played by Chloe Sevigny. Lana learns of Brandon's deception but accepts him anyway. Lana's brother and friends? Not so much. This is a powerful movie about a subject that's still not talked about much today (gender confusion) let alone in 1999 when this was released. Swank is pretty amazing here. This is a risky role for her, playing a woman who can appear to be a man with few physical changes - the kind of thing that could stigmatize a Hollywood actress. She carries it off really well, and carries this movie all the way to the heartbreaking conclusion. Anyway, terrific movie with strong performances from Swank and Sevigny and well worth watching. 8/10.