Air

This was a nice surprise. After the shaky Live By Night in 2016 (which I think was affected more by executive meddling than anything else), Ben Affleck took a break from directing, and now has a mini comeback of sorts with Air. It's been about a decade since I watched his other films (Gone Baby Gone, The Town, and Argo), but I remember liking them quite a bit, and enough to say that Air feels like a return to form for Affleck as a director.

It's most comparable to Argo in that it takes an interesting story from history, and gives it a classic Hollywood level of polish that makes things a bit snappier, more entertaining, and a little funnier, too. Here, it's all about Nike trying to partner with a young Michael Jordan in the mid-80s. I know nothing about basketball, but have always known Jordan and Nike go together. So the film's only likely to be suspenseful for those who've been living under particularly large rocks for a particularly long time, but it's not so much the what that's interesting, but the how.

The cast all give very strong performances, and between this and The Last Duel, I have to say that I think Affleck's even better in supporting roles than lead ones. It moves well and kept me interested for nearly two hours, even though the story on paper wasn't one I thought I'd find interesting. That's the sign of a good movie, sometimes.

However, Air's not quite a slam dunk. The writing takes some jarring shortcuts here and there, and keeping this under two hours also made for some occasionally weird edits. And the soundtrack may have laid it on a little thick at times (but hearing two Violent Femmes tracks was cool, and not only is Bruce Springsteen discussed in dialogue, but he's also in the soundtrack, which is always a win in my book).

Affleck and Damon haven't had a big win in a while, but they made a good movie together here and I hope it does well. It's worth seeking out for the clean, efficient, and all-around solid entertainment it provides.

This is an extremely engaging and entertaining film that manages to mine suspense out of a story you already know the ending of. You know that Nike ... at the time the third place loser in the basketball shoe market ... managed to get Michael Jordan to sign with them and created the Air Jordan shoe. To a large degree the film is about HOW Sonny Vaccaro (in the form of Matt Damon) pulled off this feat, but it also makes you doubt IF it's going to happen. That's good storytelling.

It's also a pretty funny film ... more than I expected. Mostly due to Jason Bateman, Chris Turcker (who I am not a fan of, but is really quite good here) and a bravely self-deprecating Ben Affleck, although Dave Messina steals many scenes as Jordan's agent.

It's really so well put together than you start to forget that Nike is hardly an underdog, and this is really a film about a multi-billion dollar company becoming even bigger and making a soon-to-be-very-wealthy athlete even wealthier. It's a nice trick.

My only real complaint about the film is that it's WAY too dedicated to reminding you that it's set in 1984.

Return to form for Mr. Ben Affleck. He managed to get me out to the theater to see a movie about Nike. Not necessarily a shoe guy, however this movie paints the picture as to why people invest in these shoes. The directing was fantastic. Stellar cast. Matt Damon bringing his A Game as always. Chris Tucker just added his magic to this movie. Jason Bateman just being a supporting character was interesting, but his story really added to the stakes of the movie. The pacing was a little off here, and there but the story, and cast really allows this movie to breathe in away you don't worry about the pace like that. Definitely give this flick a chance if you like start up films.

After finishing this film, I couldn't shake the idea that there was a better film in there. I'm not 100% sure, having seen it so recently, what would be needed to bring out that better film, but I suspect it may have to do with the choice not only to NOT center Michael jordan, but to have him as an incidental fringe character in the film altogether. It's an interesting choice to include his mother and her perspective, but it still feels like this is a story about the wrong people. Not that all of these people shouldn't have been included in this story, but that the exclusion of Jordan and his perspective leaves a little bit of a hole. All of that said, it was an enjoyable enough watch and if you live through this period of time or have a passion for the shoes now, you'll probably find it interesting. Viola Davis is of course, amazing.

Really, really loved this movie. I know it's become a bit of an overused adage nowadays but this feels like the kind of movie we just don't get anymore.

I've missed Ben Affleck as a director so much. I've liked every movie he's directed so far (even Live By Night) and this movie shows just how capable he is behind the camera. His directing is a big part of the reason why this film is as captivating as it is. He never just reverts to simple shot/reverse shot between actors during these long dialogue scenes but instead keeps the characters moving and energetic and it keeps the scenes visually interesting. Its also extremely well edited with the film being kept at a brisk pace with a runtime that feels just right for this story.

But the dialogue here is unbelievable. It's consistently sharp and witty throughout and it keeps the conversations engaging without ever being showy or overwritten. As much as I love Aaron Sorkin dialogue his scenes can often come across as words written by a professional screenwriter rather than genuine interactions between characters but that's not the case here at all. But Air does what Sorkin scripts like the Social Network and Moneyball do extremely successfully and take very non-cinematic subject matters and makes them riveting, captivating watches.

I was a bit mixed on Affleck's choice to never directly show Michael Jordan on screen. I understand the creative choice but the attempts to hide Jordan on screen often came across as more distracting than I think it would've been had Jordan just been portrayed as an actual character by an actor giving a performance.

But overall this was a great watch. I'm so glad Amazon are giving this a full theatrical release because it deserves to be seen on the big screen and I sincerely hope this is a sign of things to come not just from Amazon but streamers as a whole.