Unstoppable

2025 Amazon MGM Studios

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 4min

Biography ~ Drama ~ Sports

Starring: Jharrel Jerome, Anthony Robles, Jennifer Lopez, Bobby Cannavale, Michael Peña, and Don Cheadle.

“My Spirit is Unconquerable…..I don’t care what’s probable. Through Blood, Sweat and Tears, I am Unstoppable.”

This movie tells the true story of Anthony Robles, born without a right leg, from Mesa, Arizona. He was raised by his mother who encouraged him to stand tall and be himself in spite of his handicap. Constantly pushing himself to be better and overcome his handicap, he discovered a passion for wrestling in high school. Striving to excel he rises up to become a force to be reckoned with on the mat, in spite of the struggles of his life. His step father was abusive and never supported Anthony emotionally, constantly demeaning him and his passion for wrestling. Things in the household became very tense and eventually his stepfather left the family. Leaving Anthony and his mother to pay the bills and take care of his three brothers and sister.

Anthony becomes very good at wrestling and wins two State Championships in his Junior and Senior year, and one in his senior year. After High School he attends Arizona State and works his way into the Wrestling Program against all odds. He became nationally ranked and won many Championships. The underdog who had a dream against all odds to be a wrestler in spite of his handicap. And comes out on top having risen above all the obstacles in his life, and seemingly insurmountable odds, to become a Champion and Hero to so many. It is the kind of story that makes you jump out of your chair and yell, “Hell yes!”. (Think Rocky)

Jharrel Jerome plays Anthony in the movie. They wrapped his right leg in a green sock, and he wore a green clog on his right foot, so they could edit it out in post production. I wondered how they made his leg disappear for the movie. Anthony Robles played actor and stunt double in the wrestling scenes, and also produced the movie along with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Kudos to all of them for a job well done. Jennifer Lopez plays Anthony’s mother Judy Robles and does an excellent job of it. Bobby Cannavale plays Rick Robles, Anthony’s step father and father to his brothers and sister. Good job at playing a real asshole, what a jerk! You want to step on screen and whoop his ass in front of the whole family!

Michael Peña, and Don Cheadle play Anthony’s coaches in High School and college, respectively. They were very instrumental in encouraging Anthony and helping in his success. It was good to see both of these actors in these roles and I thought they did an outstanding job. There are a few scenes where Anthony is in Philadelphia and climbs the same steps as Rocky, and stands in Rocky’s footsteps. I found myself rooting hard for Anthony Robles, not wanting to see him fail. But when he did, hoping he would get back up and fight harder. And when he did, cheering him on with every fiber of my being…GO ANTHONY GO!!!!

The Movie is based on Anthony’s 2012 Autobiography Unstoppable. It is a great movie, some of my favorite themes rolled into one fantastic feel good movie. The underdog coming out on top against seemingly insurmountable odds, and an Incredible True Story. I love the True Story Movies the best, and I love this one.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs Up!

Number 24

2024 Motion Blur/Netflix

Rated: Not Rated

Length: 1 hr 52min

Biography ~ Drama ~ True Story ~ War

Directed by: John Andreas Andersen

Starring: Sjur Vatne Brean, Erik Hivju and Philip Helgar

“I have five drawers in my head. I closed the bottom drawer May 8th, 1945 and I haven’t opened it since.”

Sjur Vatne Brean (as the younger Gunnar) and Erik Hivju (as the older Gunnar) star as Gunnar Sønsteby in this Norwegian Film by Scandinavian Motion Picture Company Motion Blur. They also released the Movies Troll and Troll 2. It was released in October 2024 in Scandinavia, and released by Netflix worldwide January 1, 2025. It became the most popular film of 2024 in Norway at the time of it’s release, and it was viewed over 9 million times in it’s first week on Netflix. Number 24 is the True Story of Gunnar Sønsteby who was a young man in Oslo, Norway in 1940 when the Germans invaded. The movie is based on the autobiographical Novel Report From #24: The Thrilling Tale of Norway’s Most Decorated World War II Hero by Gunnar Sønsteby ~ May 1, 2017.

The movie starts with the elder Gunnar getting ready to speak to a group of University students. He spent the rest of his life after the war giving lectures about his experience in WWII to pass on the lessons learned to future generations. “As long as I live, I will tell the important facts. The Historians can analyze, but I was there.” As he starts to recount his story, the movie flashes back to Gunnar in 1940 as the Germans invade Oslo. He was a 21 year old young man working as an accountant when Germany launched it’s Blitzkrieg on Norway. The movie flashes back and forth between the elder Gunnar giving a lecture, and the younger Gunnar in Oslo during WWII as he narrates the story.

When the Germans invaded Oslo, Gunnar made a very deliberate decision to fight no matter what. He joined the initial Norwegian Resistance fighters which was a very unorganized rag-tag group of young Norwegian Citizens determined to fight the Nazi’s. Gunnar quickly saw that they needed to be better organized, and rose to the forefront of the resistance as an organizer and leader. He was eventually recruited by the secret British Special Operations where he became known as “Agent 24”. An undercover agent largely responsible for a lot of the covert operations in Norway. He later became a member of the infamous “Oslo Gang”, a sabotage group responsible for halting German operations in Norway.

Gunnar Sønsteby is Norway’s most Highly Decorated Citizen, having been awarded several medals including the War Cross, Norway’s most prestigious medal for his war efforts. It is a somber but fascinating story and a great movie. The sadism and inhumane cruelty of The Nazi regime is hinted at in the movie. Most notably in one scene early on where the Nazi’s torture one of the resistance fighters with hot motor oil. Barbaric. I was completely transfixed by the story and the movie. Unbelievable what Gunnar went through and the risks he took to stop the Germans.

I only have one complaint, and it is totally a personal one. It has nothing to do with Gunnar nor the movie. I am not a big fan of foreign movies that are overdubbed or sub-titled, in fact I avoid them. I really get immersed in a movie, I like to transport myself into it. Really get lost in it, feel like you are right there with the characters. There is nothing like a sub-title to completely blow the illusion for me. Or really bad overdubbed voices that don’t match the physical movement of the actor’s mouth, that really gets me. I can’t watch, if it’s bad right off the bat, I’ll quit watching.

That being said, Netflix did a good job with this one. At first it bugged me because I’m such a snob about overdubbing, but they did a good job and the story quickly overcame any discrepancy in the dubbing. It is a fascinating look at a horrendous time in Norway and a young man who said no and took a stance. The courage, determination and bravery of Gunnar Sønsteby helped change the course of the war in Norway and saved his country.

Bravo to Gunnar Sønsteby and Number 24, a great man and a great movie!

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!

Napoleon

2023 Apple TV+

Rated : R

Length: 2 hr 38min

Action ~ Biography ~ Drama ~ Epic ~ History ~ War

Directed by: Ridley Scott

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby.

“People are driven by misery to revolution…..and brought back by revolution to misery.”

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Napoleon Bonaparte, the future Emperor of France. As the movie opens in 1793 amidst the French Revolution, Army officer Napoleon is watching the beheading of Marie Antoinette by the guillotine. He is soon offered the role of dealing with the British siege and driving the British ships out of the city’s Harbor. Being a skilled Army Officer with an astute knowledge of how to defeat and overcome the enemy, he studies the British and lays out a plan that succeeds. He is later charged with proving himself by being tasked with squashing the Royalists uprising. During the following celebrations of freedom after his success, a woman catches his eye and he can’t quit staring…………

Josephine De Beauharnais (Vanessa Kirby) approaches him and asks him why he is staring. That is the beginning of their life-long romance story. She is an Aristocratic widow with two children and it is not long before Napoleon and Josephine are married. Napoleon quickly rises up the ranks of the new French Government and is put in charge of the Army and France’s new security in the world. Eventually Napoleon and fellow collaborators overthrow the new French Government disagreeing with their leadership and handling of France. Napoleon quickly rises up to become the Emperor of France.

All the while he is off fighting for France, he pines for Josephine and their tumultuous relationship and marriage, neither being faithful yet loving and missing each other. Josephine’s affairs draw attention from the press of the day and Napoleon is constantly ridiculed for his promiscuous wife. Adding to their troubles is her attempts at getting pregnant and not producing an heir for the throne of France. Eventually under the pressure of producing an heir Napoleon is forced to publicly divorce Josephine and marry a y0unger woman who can produce a son for the throne.

It is a mighty epic of a film chronicling:

The History of France from the time at the end of the French revolution in 1793 through the final exile of Napoleon in 1815 to the island of Saint Helena off of Africa.
The main historic battles that Napoleon led and fought during his lifetime.
The tumultuous and lifelong relationship and love between Napoleon and Josephine up until both of their deaths.

It is fairly long at 2 hours and 38 minutes but it passed very quickly for me as I became very engrossed in the story and the movie. The directors cut is three hours and 24 minutes. I almost wish I had watched it instead. Director Ridley Scott says that it better fleshes out the movie compared to the theatrical version. It is well shot, the battle scenes are very realistic, like you were back in those times sitting right in the middle of it all watching the fighting all around you. The costumes and scenery were well designed, again you feel like you were transported back to that time sitting right in the middle of history, observing.

Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby did an excellent job of portraying Napoleon and Josephine, I thought they were perfect. And Joaquin as the shrewd military man outwitting his opponents was a wonder to watch. I really liked the Battle of Austerlitz scene where Napoleon dresses as a peasant to survey the surroundings and the enemy forces. He comes up with this brilliant plan and sets up camp at the edge of a frozen lake. Recently covered with snow it is hidden. He lures the enemy forces in and then broadsides them on both sides, forcing them onto the frozen lake as the only means out. Once he has them trapped on the ice he bombards the ice and they are all doomed to a frozen eternity.

I thought it was really good, an excellent very Epic Historic and Biographical War drama. I think Ridley Scott outdid himself with this Epic Portrayal.

Highly Recommended!

Two Thumbs up!

Oppenheimer

2023 Universal Pictures

Rated: R

Length: 3 hr

Biography ~ Drama ~ History ~ True Story

Directed by: Christopher Nolan

Starring: Cillian Murphy, Robert Downey Jr, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Florence Pugh, Josh Hartnett, Casey Affleck, Rami Malek, Jason Clarke and Kenneth Branagh.

“Prometheus stole fire from the Gods and gave it to man. For this he was chained to a rock and tortured for eternity.”

Cillian Murphy stars as J. Robert Oppenheimer, a Theoretical Physicist in charge of The Los Alamos project and one of the pioneers of the first atomic bombs built during World War II. It follows his life and education leading up to chairing the project to create the world’s first atomic bomb, and his life and career following the first Atomic bomb test. It also chronicles his personal battles dealing with the responsibility of being the man that changed the world with an atomic weapon, and his guilt that he may have ultimately laid the foundation for the destruction of our world.

The movie starts with the 1954 security hearing orchestrated by The Atomic Energy Chairman Lewis Strauss (Robert Downey Jr). It was a kangaroo court orchestrated by Strauss with the express purpose of destroying Oppenheimer’s reputation and credibility, mainly due to Strauss’s jealousy and paranoia regarding Oppenheimer. There is a scene where Oppenheimer is having a conversation with Albert Einstein within eyeshot of Strauss, and Strauss is convinced that Oppenheimer is bad mouthing him to Einstein. But in reality Oppenheimer was discussing with Einstein his fear that in creating the atomic bomb he might have started a chain reaction that could destroy the world.

The movie centers on the 1954 hearing and the 1959 Senate Confirmation Hearing for Strauss where it is revealed how Strauss tried to undermine Oppenheimer and his work. It flashes back and forth between the hearings and the events in Oppenheimer’s life that led up to the first atomic bomb test (which is quite impressively depicted in the movie), and the events after as he grapples with the fallout personal guilt he has. There are a lot of stories going on here and it can be a little difficult to understand and follow. Especially as it flashes back and forth to different times and events, some being in black and white.

One of the main stories of this movie is the power struggle between Oppenheimer and Strauss as Strauss seeks to undermine his influence with the Atomic Energy Commission. Christopher Nolan, the director, uses color and black and white to differentiate between the two men. The Black and white scenes are used to show Strauss’s point of view and thinking, while color was used to represent Oppenheimer’s. That alone is a fascinating viewing if you know that and view the movie with that knowledge.

There is a lot of star power in this movie:

Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer
Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer’s Wife kitty
Robert Downey Jr. as Atomic Energy Chairman Lewis Strauss
Matt Damon as US Army Colonel Leslie Groves who oversaw The Los Alamos Project
Florence Pugh as Jean Tatlock, a psychiatrist, Communist Party USA member, and Robert Oppenheimer’s romantic interest
Josh Hartnett as Ernest Lawrence, a Nobel-winning nuclear physicist who worked with Oppenheimer at the University of California, Berkeley
Casey Affleck as Boris Pash, a US Army military intelligence officer and commander of the Alsos Mission
Kenneth Branagh as as Niels Bohr, a Nobel-winning Danish physicist, philosopher and Oppenheimer’s personal idol
Rami Malek as David L. Hill, a nuclear physicist at the Metallurgical Laboratory.
Jason Clarke as Roger Robb, an attorney and future US circuit judge who served as special counsel to the AEC at Oppenheimer’s security hearing.

It is a fascinating look at the man and his accomplishments, his relationships and his guilt at having orchestrated the potential demise of the world. I’ve watched it three times mainly because it took two to fully understand all the stories going on, and then a third to appreciate it with the knowledge and understanding of everything going on. It is well acted by everyone involved, and the cinematography is outstanding.

Some fun facts:

It grossed over 976 million worldwide, the third highest of 2023
It won 7 Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, Best Cinematography and Best original Score
And 5 Golden Globe Awards
And 7 British Academy Awards
And was named one of the top ten films of 2023 by the American Film Institute

An excellent movie obviously but it is a long one coming in at three hours.

But it is a fascinating three hours.

Two Thumbs Up!!

Big George Foreman

2023 Sony Pictures

Rated: PG-13

Length: 2 hr 9min

Biography ~ Drama ~ True Story

Directed by: George Tillman Jr

Starring: Khris Davis, Jasmine Mathews, John Magaro, Sullivan Jones, Lawrence Gilliard Jr., Sonja Sohn and Forest Whitaker.

“Anger was my answer to everything. I couldn’t stop myself from fighting. It was the only thing I did well.”

Khris Davis stars as George Foreman in this True Story Biopic about his life and career as a World Heavyweight Boxing Champion. Starting with his poverty stricken life in Houston, Texas growing up with six brothers and sisters. George was a troubled youth who was quick to anger and fight, frequently ending up in trouble. At 16 George decides to join the Job Corps to get himself out of the neighborhood trouble and turn his life around. It is there that he meets a man that will change his life.

Having gotten into a fight and facing expulsion from the Job Corps, Doc Broadus (Forest Whitaker), a boxing trainer, convinces George to channel his anger into the sport of Boxing. Doc takes George under his wing and seeing the incredible raw talent he possesses, grooms him for competition. He quickly excels and wins the gold medal for the United States in the 1968 Summer Olympics. He goes on to win more bouts and rises very quickly in the sport, winning a bout with Joe Frazier in 1973.

George goes on to fight Muhammad Ali in THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE in 1974 and loses to Muhammad. Ultimately they become very close friends for the rest of their lives. From the bottom living in poverty as a child, to rising to the top of the Boxing World, BIG GEORGE FOREMAN chronicles every step of his journey.

There was a reason they called him Big George Foreman, even as a child, George was big. And as he grew into a young adult and started working out he became a very powerful physical force to be reckoned with in the ring. Here is a man who rose from nothing, gained the world, lost it all, and gained it back. Refusing to take it lying down no matter how great the odds. From near death, a divorce, losing all he gained monetarily thanks to a shady business manager, naming his children all George Foreman, becoming a preacher, the Foreman grill, this movie covers it every step of the way.

It is a great story and a great movie and you know I love the True Story Movies. I have seen it three times and still love watching it. Khris Davis as George Foreman, Sullivan Jones as Muhammad and Forest Whitaker as Doc Broadus are really good in this. I really like this movie…..alot. And I AM NOT A BIG BOXING FAN!, this movie is more about the life and trials of George, and it is a fascinating look at his journey.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT!

TWO THUMBS UP!!