'Facing Monsters' (2021) Movie Review

I’m not a surfer. It’s one of many, many things I’ve always wanted to try but have never actually got around to. (It doesn’t help I’m from a not-particularly-surfy place.) But on film, the sport shows as beautiful and serene; a perfect love letter to the majesty of nature. It’s also often harrowing and reminds us of the true power of that natural force. Bentley Dean’s new documentary, Facing Monsters, captures all this splendor, all this peril, as well as one man’s connection to the waves that runs as deep as any ocean.

SIFF 2019: 'Lynch: A History' Movie Review

For a man notorious for not talking, Marshawn Lynch is imminently quotable: “I’m just about that action, boss,” “I’m just here so I won’t get fined,” “Run through a mother fucker face.” In Lynch: A History, David Shields combines all of his greatest hits, clips of the former Seahawks running back’s career from high school through the pros, and unrelated footage and interviews to provide larger context of the man, his life, and the world that formed him. 

SIFF 2019: 'Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story' Movie Review

I grew up watching Warren Miller movies. I spent the summer months wearing out VHS copies of skiing movies like Extreme Winter, Beyond the Edge, and Steep and Deep, praying for snow as I watched neon-clad (it was the 1980s) winter sports enthusiasts huck themselves off cliffs and gracefully carve mountain pitches you’d think twice about walking down, all narrated by his wry, soothing monotone. 

Slamdance 2019: 'Ski Bum: The Warren Miller Story' (2019) Movie Review

I grew up watching Warren Miller movies. I spent the summer months wearing out VHS copies of skiing movies like Extreme Winter, Beyond the Edge, and Steep and Deep, praying for snow as I watched neon-clad (it was the 1980s) winter sports enthusiasts huck themselves off of cliffs and gracefully carve down mountain pitches you’d think twice about walking down, all narrated by his wry, soothing monotone. 

'Free Solo' (2018) Movie Review

“Anyone can conceivably die on any given day.”

—Alex Honnold

If heights make you queasy in any way, shape, or form, stay away—far, far away—from Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s new documentary, Free Solo. It is not for the faint of heart. Unless you like watching a maybe-lunatic dangle from his fingertips thousands of feet up a sheer rock face without any sort of backup plan. If that’s your jam, you’re very much in luck. 

Watch The Trailer For 'Champion,' A South Korean Arm Wrestling Drama

Directed by Menahem Golan, half of the team behind the venerable Cannon Films, the 1987, Sylvester Stallone-starring Over the Top combines the high family drama of a child custody battle with…competitive arm wrestling. And it’s glorious. Thanks, Menahem, you glorious madman! But it’s also pretty much the only real movie that speaks to the arm wrestling enthusiast. Until now. South Korea’s Kim Yong-wan is making his directorial debut with Champion, and he’s enlisted Ma Dong-seok to star. Check out the trailer and try to convince me this isn’t going to rule.

'Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey' (2017) Movie Review

Fred Beckey is something of a myth, a celebrated “dirtbag”—think a vagabond ski bum for the mountaineering set—who sacrifices everything to climbing. Normal people don’t know his name, but the hardcore speak of him with reverence and awe. It’s difficult to live up to such hype, but when we meet the man himself in Dave O’Leske’s documentary, Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey, he more than lives up to the billing.

SIFF 2017: 'Dirtbag: The Legend Of Fred Beckey' (2017) Movie Review

Fred Beckey is something of a myth, a legendary “dirtbag”—think a vagabond ski bum for the mountaineering set—who sacrifices everything to climbing. Normal people don’t know his name, but the hardcore speak of him with reverence and awe. It’s difficult to live up to such hype, but when we meet the man himself in Dave O’Leske’s documentary, Dirtbag: The Legend of Fred Beckey, he more than lives up to the billing.

SIFF 2016: 'The Pistol Shrimps' (2016) Movie Review

A documentary about a rag-tag group of comedians, actresses, writers, and other women playing in a Los Angeles recreational basketball league sounds like a lark, right? Like it may be an entertaining momentary distraction, but not much more. While director Brent Hodge’s (A Brony Tale, I Am Chris Farley) The Pistol Shrimps is very much that, it’s also sweet and heartfelt, in addition to being funny as shit.

Movie Review: 'Creed' Is The Best 'Rocky' Movie Since 'Rocky'

I am and always will be a complete and total sucker for any Rocky movie. It’s not a franchise many expected to continue after the fifth installment, and there was a collective groan in 2006 for Rocky Balboa, which turned out to be great. Still, in 2015, we were left asking ourselves if we really needed another movie, and after watching Creed, I’m going to come out and say yes, yes we did.

'Southpaw' Movie Review

If you know anything at all about the movie going into Southpaw, you know precisely what you’re going to see. This is a paint-by-numbers redemptive sports saga from the opening scene, and though star Jake Gyllenhaal gives yet another fantastic performance as boxer Billy Hope (yes, the protagonist’s name is Billy Hope in case you were expecting any subtlety at all), a pugilist bruised both physically and emotionally, he can’t elevate the rote story.

Watch Jake Gyllenhaal Train To Kick Your Ass In This 'Southpaw' Video

So far, early reviews on Jake Gyllenhaal’s boxing drama Southpaw have been mixed, but I tend to like both movies where the on-a-roll actor goes through an intense physical transformation (Nightcrawler) and the rather workmanlike films of director Antoine Fuqua (The Equalizer), so I’m totally game. Check out this featurette of just how far both men went to make sure the in-the-ring action looks legit.

The First 'Creed' Trailer Is Intense And Powerful

The last time star Michael B. Jordan and director Ryan Coogler got together we got Fruitvale Station, and now we’re getting Creed, which appears to be a little bit spinoff, a little bit sequel to Rocky Balboa, which is something I’ll always watch and be excited about. Dropping later this fall, the film just released its first trailer, and it looks fantastic.

'Kingdom' Trailer Shows You That Nick Jonas Can Kick Your Ass

MMA fans, it looks like we’re about to get our very own dramatic TV show with Kingdom. Assuming you get the DirectTV channel, which you can bet is the exclusive property of DirectTV the television provider.

'Intramural' Movie Review

Every subculture, niche market, and fringe topic, no matter how minor and specific, will eventually get its own movie. This is something I firmly believe. Bike messengers have “Premium Rush,” food trucks recently got “Chef,” and then there is dodgeball, ping-pong, paintball, and damn near everything else you can imagine. Personally, I’m waiting for a movie about an over 30, co-ed kickball team, and considering that Andrew Disney’s “Intramural” takes on the no-stakes world of college, recreational flag football, we’re not too far off.

'King Curling' Movie Review

Who out there has always wanted to see a Norwegian curling comedy? Thought so. That’s the precise thrill that Ole Endresen’s film “King Curling” provides. While there are obvious parallels with the Coen Brothers’ “Big Lebowski”, and aesthetic similarities to Wes Anderson’s movies, “King Curling” transcends simple comparison. This film stands alone as a hilarious, heartfelt story of obsession, friendship, and most importantly, sliding a heavy rock across a sheet of ice. Curling may, in fact, be the ultimate in athletic competition.  Superimposing a traditional redemptive sports story onto a sport that most of us know little to nothing about, “King Curling” has a lot of fun twisting and tinkering with every sports cliché in the book.