Dear Movie-Watchers,
I apologize for my brief respite from blogging. This year's summer Olympics was particularly enthralling -- I literally watched nothing else for those spectacular two weeks. In the spirit of such athleticism, I turned to a fitting documentary: Man on Wire.
The film explores the monumental 1970s high wire walk by Philippe Petit between the Twin Towers. The planning, expertise, and skill required to take on such a feat was truly unparalleled. The documentary is just plain fascinating. From learning about Petit's history as a wire-walker to the Twin Tower walk's conception, I was engaged and mesmerized the entire time. To be honest, documentary-style films sometimes bore me. They tend to have a duller concept. However, Man on Wire has all of the romance and spectacle of a Hollywood-made movie.
Even more impressively, the film managed to thrill me the whole time. Despite the interviews with Petit showing he survived, the wire-walks shown were still of nail-biting peril. Somehow, the documentary's director kept me hooked and nervous despite the obvious happy ending.
Going into the film (which is available on Netflix instant play!) I was apprehensive about the general premise. I tend to shy away from sports films. Not that I dislike athletics, I just find such movies to be predictable and a bit overdone. Man on Wire was an absolute exception to that rule. Yes, the film is rooted in an athletic ability, butt the film celebrates the ingenuity of the walk: not just the walk itself. Man on Wire is different than a movie where an athlete scores the winning goal. In this case, the circumstances were life or death. Furthermore, the interviews and the history of the walk were downright captivating. Just as in the Olympics where the announcers would give background stories on a particular athlete, like Oscar Pistorius, Man on Wire created a fantastic story for the audience. If you loved watching the Olympics or just enjoy a great story, I'd definitely recommend Man on Wire.
What's your opinion on sports movies? Did you see any film-like qualities in the production of the Olympics? Expect more movies and posts coming your way! For real-time updates on my progress, follow me on twitter @RDeChiara. Happy watching!
Adaptation
Almost Famous
American Beauty
American Graffiti
American Psycho
An Education
As Good as It Gets
Blood Diamond
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Bringing Up Baby
Burn After Reading
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Casablanca
Cast Away
Crash
Crimes and Misdemeanor
Deer Hunter
District 9
Driving Miss Daisy
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Fight Club
Forrest Gump
Four Weddings and a Funeral
Frost/Nixon
Gangs of New York
Gone with the Wind
Good Will Hunting
Goodfellas
Hotel Rwanda
Into the Wild
Kramer vs. Kramer
LA Confidential
Leaving Las Vegas
Letters from Iwo Jima
Lost in Translation
Memento
Michael Clayton
Million Dollar Baby
Mystic River
No Country for Old Men
Panic Room
Philadelphia
Pulp Fiction
Rain Man
Ransom
Ray
Rebel Without a Cause
Rocky
Saint Elmo's Fire
Scarface
Schindler's List
Shakespeare in Love
Sideways
Star Wars
Terms of Endearment
The Birdcage
The Departed
The Fighter
The Godfather Trilogy
The Hours
The Hurt Locker
The Lincoln Lawyer
The Outsiders
The Shawshank Redemption
The Sting
The Usual Suspects
The Wrestler
True Grit
Up in the Air
Winter's Bone
Working Girl