Concussion — The talent of Ridley Scott and Will Smith shining — 8*/10

• Story: Only the brilliance of Ridley Scott could possibly make it that interesting. The details are interesting and the technical aspects are done perfectly, but it is by no means thrill ride. There's a limit to what one can do with this story without distorting it.
• Setting: An incredible discovery of major importance for football and any other contact sport.
• Style: Like other historical or biographical flick, this one is simple and without any punch.
• Pacing: Solid.
• Dialogs: Excellent.
• Characters: You really get to know them well and they are well developed.
• Acting: I think this is one of the major reasons for this movie to be this good.
• Known actors: Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, Albert Brooks, Paul Reiser and Luke Wilson.
• Synopsis & information: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3322364/
• Entertainment value: Very good.
• Who is it for? Scott and Smith fans or those looking for something quiet, yet relevant and are interesting in seeing this case with human faces.

When the Game Stands Tall — A great story and an inspiration if you don't mind a few dertails — 7*/10

When the Game Stands Tall is a solid inspirational football movie. The strength of the scenario is the story itself. However, in his retelling of the story, the director seemed to push emotions on us a bit, it feels buffed and shiny. Also, religion plays a certain part in it, so it can be somewhat of a turn off to those of us, like me, who are atheist.

For football and real story fans.
7*/10

Draft Day - Excellent tension throughout the movie - 8*/10

Draft Day is great. It's difficult to name anything that could have been done a little better. The role of the mother? A bit, yes. An ever so slight predictability? Maybe. However, the overall qualities are: great tension, excellent acting, solid setup, a fast paced scenario and an interesting story.

A must for any draft fan, a good movie for the rest.
8*/10

All the Right Moves — It's nice, but getting old — 6*/10

All the Right Moves is about how a simple mistake, made because as a youth you didn't know better, can change your future radically, and how your arrogance can crush your life or someone else's.

The good. Excellent 80s small steel town period piece. Very nice acting. Well built scenario with an interesting story.

The bad. The music is also very much 80s and pushed on the viewer a little bit much.

The ugly. It's getting old.

The result. If you're a Tom Cruise fan, it's a chance for you to see him at the beginning of his career. If you like 80s movies, this is a nice one. The others might want to abstain.

6*/10

Any Given Sunday — Can make anyone appreciate professional american football — 9*/10

Any Given Sunday is the best football movie ever made, a master piece by Oliver Stone.

The good. Perfect editing. The way the images are melded just sucks you right in. Great photography. Excellent score and music. Superb football action. Razor sharp dialogs. Complete characters. Solid cast that fit incredibly well together. Very involved story with a good number of sub-story, all interesting and well developed. Nicely paced scenario, with good emotional breaks and powerful action scenes. It's a long film with lots of meat and every minute is worth it, they even used the final generic to pitch us the epilogue. Nicely done. Great ending.

The actors. Al Pacino is playing his best role here. He gets away from his usual angry almost psychotic roles into a more mellow and near sentimental human being, but still very much troubled and imperfect. Cameron Diaz, for once, plays a hard nut to crack, tough, nowhere near nice and she does it extremely well. Dennis Quaid plays the hero, again, and does it superbly as he always does. Jamie Foxx does his thing as the cool and bitter professional athlete.

Now for the smaller roles that round up this flick and elevate it to greatness. LL Cool J plays the money grabbing star to perfection. Matthew Modine plays a institutionalized game-first team doctor who faces Aaron Eckhart as the do-gooder in a battle over the health of the player. Jim Brown is the perfect tough defensive coach with a heart of gold and a head full of the glory days. Lela Rochon is the sweet intelligent life partner of the third string quarterback. Lauren Holly is the hateful witch trying to control her legendary husband. Lawrence Taylor captures our attention as the bruised captain and keystone of the defensive team. Bill Bellamy plays a young receiver. And Andrew Bryniarski denotes himself as the rough angry offensive line man.

The bad. The opposing team design. The costumes look like they were done last minute, not part of a professional football league.

The ugly. Nothing, it's near damn perfect.

The result. A football movie that's so well made, anyone can enjoy it. See it.

9*/10

Jerry Maguire — Watch it for the romance and be entertained by the antics — 7*/10

Jerry Maguire is now pop culture reference material. "You had me at Hello" and "You complete me" are some of the most commonly quoted movie phrase in North America. Underneath that is a romance born of unusual circumstances.

The good. Very interesting story with a unique setup. Well paced scenario. Excellent character psychology and interactions.

The actors. Tom Cruise goes all out, but his best scenes are the ones where he's calm. Cuba Gooding Jr. is just spot on as the self-centered athlete. And Renée Zellweger is at her cutest and most vulnerable as the lost single mother.

The bad. Acting exaggerations on the part of Cruise and Gooding. It's probably what made it popular in the first place, but watching it now, for the third time, it's unnerving. Also, the kid might have been cute the first time you see the flick, but he's really not a good child actor.

The ugly. Quarterback Troy Aikman shows once again that professional athlete can't act to save their lives. It's a good thing he's got only two lines.

The result. Very good entertainment for the romantics with a bit of sport thrown in the mix.

7*/10