In 1979 saw Rocky II burst on the scene with its emotional rollercoaster diving into defeat and depression before climbing towards a triumphant ending. Cinematic victories are rarely so sweet. That same year saw a bunch of other sports-centred rags to riches stories with human interest drama at their emotional core. Among the better ones is Kieth Merrill's high school wrestling drama TAKE DOWN starring Edward Herrmann, Lorenzo Lamas, Kathryn Lloyd and Maureen McCormick (having ditched the Marcia Brady long…
Favorite films
Recent activity
AllRecent reviews
More-
-
Somewhere 2010
LA hasn’t felt quite this lonely or absurd since Maps to the Stars or Short Cuts. The first half of Coppola's film left me bemused, bored and cold. Only as it moved to the trip to Italy did I begin to see Coppola’s own imagined childhood and feelings of neglect take shape on screen, and once that sunk in I was on board.
Elle Fanning is great, though Stephen Dorph is spectacular. But I’ve always liked Dorph's work since his…
Popular reviews
More-
The Gamma People 1956
This science fiction oddity dabbles in Cold War anxieties but without the hysteria that characterises some of the other films of the period. This may be due to its comedic undertones and lightness of touch that make its more dramatic moments all the more effective. Although parallels with the Soviet threat are clearly legible, the film cleverly collapses ideological differences between the extreme left and right to demonstrate that oppressive totalitarian regimes, regardless of what side of politics, are all…
-
Lemon Sky 1988
A young Kevin Bacon leads a cast of pitch perfect performers (Kyra Sedgwick, Lindsay Crouse, Tom Atkins, Welker White and a very young Casey Affleck in his first film) in this adaptation of Wright Lanford Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. This compelling 1988 drama made through American Playhouse includes power-packed and searingly honest portrayals of a family attempting to heal itself when the scars and schisms are just too deep, the secrets and lies too entrenched, and the truth too much…
