Alberto-7

Dave Bidini's book The Tropic of Hockey is simply sublime. In it he explores hockey far away from the corporate world of the NHL. He visits Hong Kong and China, the United Arab Emirates and Transylvania. His writing style is simply wonderful. He finds humour in all types of situations and has a great eye for interesting detail. The best part is easily the visit to Hong Kong and China. The documentary, filmed a few years later, has Bidini return to Transylvania and the UAE but skip China, travelling instead to Mongolia. It is still an interesting view of hockey in places we don't usually associate with the sport but it is missing something. Bidini wrote the excellent narration but it doesn't match the beauty of his words in the book. The other problem is the wonder of first visiting these hockey "backwaters" is gone. That diminishes the impact somewhat. This documentary is still worth watching just to hear Bidini's smart comments and great interplay with some of the people he meets (the best is in the sequences in Mongolia). You should definitely check out this doc if you are into hockey but buy the book as well. You will be quite entertained.

This is a real mixed bag. Part Eurospy film, part Mafia spoof and part travelogue. Jean Marais is the only reason to see this. He plays it tongue firmly in cheek and is surprisingly good in the role. The story is just an excuse to go all over France and Italy and introduce stereotypical characters (Mafioso hitmen, secret agents, outrageous villains, etc.). All the action sequences are shot like Three Stooges bits. Really not worth seeing except for Marais and the all too brief bit by Raffaella Carra. As far from the George Sanders films as you can get. Much more like the Roger Moore series but with the humor amped up 1000%.

This is supposed to be a film about a washed up soccer player getting one more chance to play in the big leagues(the Yesterday's Hero of the title) but that is only part of the story. Instead, we have this weird pseudo-love angle between the soccer player (Ian McShane) and a pretty American singer (Suzanne Sommers). What makes this so unwatchable are the dreadful disco songs that Sommers sings. Not only are they bad, but the songs are sung in their entirety. Yup, 4 minutes of screen time at a time of Sommers and Paul Nichols singing their turgid disco love songs. Nichols plays the record executive who owns the team. You see, when he was growing up, the Ian McShane character was his idol, so now he wants to give him a chance to be today's hero (do you see what I did there?). The soccer sequences are good and McShane puts in a believable performance but the unbearable disco song sequences kill the mood. Soccer fans, you should only watch this if you have exhausted all other possibilities including watching seven-year-olds playing at your local park. I give it 4 soccer balls out of 10 only because of the soccer sequences shot in old English stadiums. You have been warned.