Champs

I had the pleasure of seeing CHAMPS at an advanced special screening followed by a Q+A with director Bert Marcus and Evander Holyfield. In so few words, the film was phenomenal. I know of Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield, and knew very little about Bernard Hopkins, but after this film I was a truly passionate fan and admirer of all three men. The film brilliantly weaves stories of their uprbringings and career trajectories with meaningful and powerful socially conscious information. I was engaged for the full span of the film and left asking myself questions about various facets of our society and even of myself. This is a very special work that needs to be seen. The Q+A with the two men afterward was even more impressive. Evander's candid stories and point of view mixed with Bert Marcus' thorough explanations of why certain things were done and how they were accomplished were incredibly entertaining and powerful. I will definitely be telling people about this film.

This is a great sports film to watch and gives you more than you bargained for. I am a huge boxing fan and know almost everything about these guys, but I learned a lot that I didn't know, especially about Tyson. They had really awesome access to the main boxers that is really unusual and makes you feel like you're getting really close to these men. It's like a better produced 30 for 30 (which I love, by the way) because you learn a lot about the sport, but also get so much more.

This is a really great film in many ways and is incredibly multi-faceted. It's a sports film, an issue film and a really beautiful film all in one. I do like sports docs with heart and this is definitely one of them. I have seen other boxing docs and I think this is my favorite of them all.

This is a stand out film. I saw the film because a friend invited me to a special screening and knew nothing about it before watching. Afterwards I was totally floored and so happy to have spent 90 minutes that way. Documentaries can often drag, especially in a theater, but this felt so much like a gorgeously shot narrative film that I had to remind myself afterward that this was entirely real and authentic, not a scripted film. The themes, messages and characters were so full of impact. I especially loved Bernard Hopkins' story because I didn't know a lot about him and he is a truly remarkable person. The celebrity voices were also really fun to watch and totally impressive. Definitely see this one in theaters or on the computer - works so well either way.

This film delivered on all fronts for me. I'm a huge fan of these legends, but I learned a lot about themselves and their careers through this film (Tyson and Holyfield in the Olympics - wow!). I also found it to be entertaining and exciting to watch. I find a lot of documentaries to be boring or slow, even these days when the content is supposed to be good, but this one was great to watch throughout.