With no interesting new releases at the cinema this past weekend, I took the opportunity to catch up on a couple reasonably fresh offerings for home viewing. On the docket: The Way Back and Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind.
Spoiler level here will be mild, nothing you wouldn't know from the trailers.
First up: The Way Back.
A former high-school basketball star fights personal demons while attempting to lead his alma mater's current squad out of a lengthy slump.
The Way Back is a paint-by-numbers redemption tale that holds few surprises. Ben Affleck is solid in the lead, but the movie doesn't have much else to recommend it. The supporting cast is neither good nor bad enough to be noteworthy, much like the film itself. It was one of the movies that opened at my cinema just as the world shut down in March, then became one of the first pandemic pictures to turn up as a twenty-dollar rental for home viewing. I'm super glad I didn't drop twenty dollars on it, even if it did teach me the mysteries of shower beers.
The Way Back runs 108 minutes and is rated R for "language throughout, including some sexual references."
So...everybody knows about Batfleck, but how about BEARfleck, am I right?? Of a possible nine Weasleys, the Way Back gets five.
The Way Back is now playing on HBO and streaming on HBO Go.
Next up, the documentary Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind.
The life and times of legendary Canadian singer, songwriter, and guitarist Gordon Lightfoot.
If You Could Read My Mind skims the surface of Gordon Lightfoot's life and career, hitting the high points and wasting very little time on the low. The film features old and new interviews with Lightfoot, his contemporaries and collaborators, and plenty of artists he's influenced. The movie touches on issues with drinking and women, but doesn't dig too deep, barely mentioning the 2002 health scare that kept him hospitalized for more than a month. While it's moving to hear from the many and varied artists who have been inspired by this icon, and interesting to learn the mysteries behind the music, it is Lightfoot's extraordinary songs that make If You Could Read My Mind such a delightful watch. I wished it would have gone on forever.
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind clocks in at a quick 91 minutes and is unrated.
As documentaries go, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind might be brushed off as superficial, but it's easily forgiven thanks to Lightfoot's exceptional music. Of a possible nine Weasleys, If You Could Read My Mind gets eight.
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is now streaming on Amazon Prime.
Until next time...
