Movie Review - "Concussion"

Marilyn and I continued our New Year's Eve tradition that we have held, with few exceptions, since 1990 (when we went to see "Home Alone"), by taking in an early movie yesterday afternoon.

The movie this year was the much anticipated movie, "Concussion" starring Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu, the Nigerian born pathologist who, while working in the Allegheny County Coroner's office and performing the autopsy on former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster, began his research that led to the discovery of the condition Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).

If you are a football fan, you are well aware of the Pandora's Box that this discovery opened in the world of the NFL in particular and football in general, so I won't go into all of that here.  What I will comment upon is the absolutely terrific performance of Will Smith in the role. He should receive a nomination for a Best Actor Academy Award.

Another noteworthy performance in this movie comes from Alec Baldwin as Dr. Julian Bailes.  He could be worthy of a Supporting Actor nomination here. 

If you are from the Pittsburgh area, you will get a kick out of the portrayal of Dr. Cyril Wecht by Albert Brooks.  The movie does take some dramatic liberties by tying Wecht's legal difficulties to Omalu's research, but as someone once said about another film, "it's a movie, not a documentary".  And speaking of Pittsburgh, the movie offers some fabulous views and scenes of the Pittsburgh - Heinz Field, Mt. Washington, the Hill District, the Coroner's Office on Ross Street,  even a scene on Wexford Run road, not very far from my own home!

One thing for sure, the NFL does not come out looking good in this movie.  I doubt very much that Roger Goodell or Dan and Art Rooney have paid to see this one.  Also, one very prominent Pittsburgh area neurosurgeon, who still stands on the Steelers sideline during games, I believe, also comes off looking, well, shall we say, not so good.  I won't put his name here, but if you are from Pittsburgh, you will recognize it.

Very good movie, and a tour de force for Will Smith.  Worth seeing just for his performance alone.

Oh, and speaking of that New Year's Eve tradition of ours, we did indeed stop at the drive-through for a bucket of Kentucky fried Chicken after the movie.

Movie Review: "To Rome With Love"

Marilyn and I wasted no time this weekend taking in the newest movie by Woody Allen, "To Rome With Love".  This one follows Woody's recent trend of filming on location in different European cities (London, Barcelona, and Paris), and, as with those other locations, this movie wants to make you immediately board a plane and visit Rome.  Really, having Woody Allen make a movie in your city has to be the greatest thing that could happen to a Chamber of Commerce.  Rome looks positively beautiful in this movie.


Anyway, this one involves four separate stories taking place concurrently in the Eternal City:

• Woody (actually appearing in one of his movies for the first time in several years) and his wife (Judy Davis, a vet of several Allen movies) traveling to Rome to meet their daughter's fiance and his family.
• An ordinary Italian citizen (Roberto Benigni) suddenly, inexplicably finds that he is a huge celebrity, famous for being famous.
• An older, famous architect (Alec Baldwin) becomes a Greek Chorus of sorts to a young architect (Jesse Eisenberg) who is experiencing some romantic entanglements with his girlfriend and her visiting friend (Greta Gerwig and Ellen Page).
• A young Italian couple in Rome on their honeymoon become separated and become involved with a sexy Italian male movie star and a high priced call girl (Penelope Cruz).  Don't ask how this all comes about.

The four stories are not interrelated, but each tells a separate tale in typical Woody fashion.  Nice to see Allen, now an old man, back on screen playing the "Woody Allen" persona with which fans are familiar.  And we even get a bonus in that area, since Eisenberg also plays the "Woody Allen-part" in this movie.  All the characters are great, but I especially liked the roles played by Allen, Davis, Baldwin, and Cruz, and they are great in them.

In his later years, Allen seems to be taking a more positive tone in the stories he tells, and each of the four stories told here end on an upbeat and positive note.  There a lot of laughs in this one, and we liked it a lot.

One word of warning: about half of this movie is spoken in Italian with English sub-titles, so be prepared for that.