Movies about hockey are very hard to make, unless they’re comedies like the Mighty Ducks ( which some might say were really tragedies ). Miracle is not a comedy, it’s not a tragedy, it’s not a dramedy. It’s the story of how an unconventional coach named Herb Brooks led the US Olympic Hockey Team to a 4-3 upset win over the Soviet team in the dark days of the Cold War and the endless nightmare that was the Carter Administration.

I’d heard of this legendary victory, even as sports novice over the years, but I never heard about the man behind the scenes, Herb Brooks. If he was anything like the movie, he was my kind of overacheiver. Someone who had strong instincts, who knew when to trust them even when; even everyone else told him otherwise. He changed the way the US played hockey and the Russians never saw it coming. Neither did the 26 hockey players who fought for 7 grueling months to prove that they should be one of the 20 going to Lake Placid in 1980.

In order to give it a more realistic feel, the movie was shot with natural lighting and they kept the pretty boys to a minimum. Another coup, instead of using lesser known actors and teaching them to play hockey, the got really good hockey players and let them roll in front of the camera. I think we’re going to see a few of them in other movies.

I’m a huge Kurt Russell fan. Ever since Escape from New York, he’s the one guy in Hollywood who deserves the insane paychecks and the attention ( and Goldie Hawn ). Yep, he’s that good but he’s even better here.

Some might charge that the movie is too long. It’s 2 hours and 15 minutes. To those that complain, I say, go to the bathroom before the movie and don’t drink the 198 ounce soda before the end of the trailers. The subject and the story deserve a slightly longer than average running time.

One down note about this project, the real Herb Brooks died in August 2003, in a car accident. He never saw a single frame of Miracle.

As the tagline says, He never saw it. He lived it.

I was looking for a good psychological thriller, and Butterfly Effect delivered. As simple as the plot is, it’s complex and deep without being needlessly complicated. A lot of films drop the ball when they try and deviate from a non linear story line, using flashbacks – forward flashes – and in the case of Butterfly Effect – sideways flashes. Never fear, not only does this tale work as it unfolds before you, the ending works too without making you want to throw your bag of popcorn at the screen and curse out the clerk who sold you the ticket.

This is a breakout performance for Ashton Kutcher. Forget what you thought you knew about him, he’s different in this film. I liked that I didn’t recogniaze any of the cast except the lead They should make more movies like that. I’m also impressed they did this movie for such a small amount of money ( the rumor is around 13 million ). Every penny went to good use here.

Timing, delivery, supporting cast? All good. It’s got the right amount of suspense with a creepy edge, dark edge.

Butterfly Effect now occupies my favorite movie of 2004 slot.

There’s a horde of romantic comedies descending on the scene running loose in the theaters right now, and this flick is one of them. And thats a good thing. It’s pretty decent concept. The man who can’t commit meets the one girl he wants to commit to only to discover she can’t possibly reciprocate because of an isolated and very localized tramatic brain injury that affects short term memory. You know, a simple little tale.

Drew, if I weren’t married, I’d stalking you. Oh, was that my outside voice? Ahem. Kudos to Drew Barrymore’s performance, she’s believable and cute at the same time. I think it’s cool to see how far she’s come in the last decade. Just think, ten years ago we were suffering through projects like the Amy Fisher story and Doppleganger. By Drew’s own account it’s better to poke your eyes out than watch Doppleganger.

Adamn Sandler is also a hero of mine, because he plays that regular guy who woke up in the center of comedy stardoom so well. He’s a regular guy it seems. Coolness. His timing is superb and so is his flair for the jokes. He keeps both rolling here.

I liked this film, you can’t go wrong watching it, so go see it. It was number one two weeks in a row for a reason.

This film is moving out of the theaters, but I went and saw it this weekend. It’s a good thing the wife and I waited until a Sunday night towards the end of the run to see it because I couldn’t stop laughing. I laughed so damn hard I started crying. If people were there, they would have either been laughing with me, or staring. Also, there was a point where I spewed up my beverage because of a joke Jack Nicholson cracked. It had something to do with Diane Sawyer. I’d probably would’ve gotten in a fist fight with the guy in front of me, had there been a guy in front of me. Good thing it was only water.

It’s very interesting to see a film where the stars aren’t made up to look ten years younger than they are. That impressed me. Diane Keaton had wrinkles under her eyes, and so did Captain “You can’t handle the truth” Jack. How unusual, how different, how natural. It made the story all the more believable.

The only thing I will mention about the movie is that it’s a little long. Is it too long? Not exactly. I have a theory on this, it wasn’t that there were too many scenes, or that the timing of any scene was off, it’s just a few of the earlier exchanges could’ve have been trimmed. There was a lot of dialog, and it was all good, but by the time we got to the ending, I was ready for bed. I’d laughed so hard by the time the film got really serious, I was done. The fact that it was nearly one in the morning may have played into this as well.

But if you have more energy and some time, check it out. It’s funny. Really funny. And I think it has a message or two, wrapped in a pleasant and entertaining package.