dtrobb

I was blown away by how good movie this is. I came upon it by just flipping through the channels one night. Cannot believe I had never heard a word about Scandal Sheet.

Maybe therein lies the problem. Now that you know to expect a great film based on my recommendation, you'll be let down. Oh well ... Great story. Great acting. Great pacing. Enjoy.

Stop it. I know it's just a movie. And, at no point does it drag or have you looking at how much time's left. Big props.

2 minor/major peeves gnawed at me.

The just do it slogan started in 1988 - kind of famously, not 1984. And, MJ's first Nike contract/deal was not for $250k per year but for $500k per year - kind of famously.

Whatever right? Gave it a 10. Loved every other bit of the film.

Great use of archived film clips hides the fact this is almost a filmed play. Scenes are only mostly shot in an office building setting. Or in MJ's North Carolina home. Snippets in a 7/Eleven and Sonny Vacaro's apartment.

So rare that I can watch an entire movie at one sitting. This one clocks in at an hour and 50 mins. How good is it? No trouble watching start to finish.

You've read what the story is about. So, no need to go there. Some takeaways.

1. More than once it was mentioned Rickey's photos captured seminal moments in the beginnings of the hip hop scene. For those in attendance it is their collective '60's. Just different music and clothes. Thinking that 60's era types like me look at that scene much like 50's era folks look at the post Elvis rock/folk/psych/garage music. Not favorably.

2. Rickey is a good photographer, for sure. And a super likeable, charming, unique character. Fun to be around. But, something tells me his main role for the bands he toured with was procuring the drugs. They were able to eventually move on. He wasn't.

3. Fantastic on location filming of lower Manhattan.

4. He's a party guy. Everybody loves him. I get it. (except his Mom) To me, he's just a loser drug addict with a camera. Not going out on a limb to say he was likely high from one thing or another every waking second of his life from a young age till the heart attack. Makes an interesting story. But, not worth glorifying.

5. Rickey grew up pretty much unsupervised on lower 5th Ave - if we can take him at his word about his Mom's indifference. He says he had the run of the city. That is a flat out insane upbringing.

6. I've got to give Rickey way more slack and credit for becoming who he became and move past the drug thing.