Air - Der große Wurf

This is an extremely engaging and entertaining film that manages to mine suspense out of a story you already know the ending of. You know that Nike ... at the time the third place loser in the basketball shoe market ... managed to get Michael Jordan to sign with them and created the Air Jordan shoe. To a large degree the film is about HOW Sonny Vaccaro (in the form of Matt Damon) pulled off this feat, but it also makes you doubt IF it's going to happen. That's good storytelling.

It's also a pretty funny film ... more than I expected. Mostly due to Jason Bateman, Chris Turcker (who I am not a fan of, but is really quite good here) and a bravely self-deprecating Ben Affleck, although Dave Messina steals many scenes as Jordan's agent.

It's really so well put together than you start to forget that Nike is hardly an underdog, and this is really a film about a multi-billion dollar company becoming even bigger and making a soon-to-be-very-wealthy athlete even wealthier. It's a nice trick.

My only real complaint about the film is that it's WAY too dedicated to reminding you that it's set in 1984.

I actually rated it at 7.5 stars. Ben Affleck's acting wasn't as good as we know it could have been. The strain of being on both sides of the camera showed - but damn he was great as a director!! Also felt that Chris Tucker's usual comedy set him apart for such a strong part.

So, I am absolutely NOT a sports fan and I don't wear Air Jordan shoes. HOWEVER, it was fun to see that Peter Moore, the original creator of the shoe, did, indeed, make them a work of art from the very beginning - once he was given free reign. That made me the happiest!! I DO love looking at Air Jordan's and they are absolutely BEAUTIFUL!

This movie about sports and sport clothes was brilliantly done due to the fact that everyone in it felt free to be very natural.

Some reviewers don't like that we never see Michael Jordan's face. I did like it. He is FAR too well-known to be played by an actor. AND this movie really wan't about him, per se. It was very much about his mother and what she did not only for him, but for everyone in sports.

This is a movie for everyone. ENJOY!!

After finishing this film, I couldn't shake the idea that there was a better film in there. I'm not 100% sure, having seen it so recently, what would be needed to bring out that better film, but I suspect it may have to do with the choice not only to NOT center Michael jordan, but to have him as an incidental fringe character in the film altogether. It's an interesting choice to include his mother and her perspective, but it still feels like this is a story about the wrong people. Not that all of these people shouldn't have been included in this story, but that the exclusion of Jordan and his perspective leaves a little bit of a hole. All of that said, it was an enjoyable enough watch and if you live through this period of time or have a passion for the shoes now, you'll probably find it interesting. Viola Davis is of course, amazing.

Really, really loved this movie. I know it's become a bit of an overused adage nowadays but this feels like the kind of movie we just don't get anymore.

I've missed Ben Affleck as a director so much. I've liked every movie he's directed so far (even Live By Night) and this movie shows just how capable he is behind the camera. His directing is a big part of the reason why this film is as captivating as it is. He never just reverts to simple shot/reverse shot between actors during these long dialogue scenes but instead keeps the characters moving and energetic and it keeps the scenes visually interesting. Its also extremely well edited with the film being kept at a brisk pace with a runtime that feels just right for this story.

But the dialogue here is unbelievable. It's consistently sharp and witty throughout and it keeps the conversations engaging without ever being showy or overwritten. As much as I love Aaron Sorkin dialogue his scenes can often come across as words written by a professional screenwriter rather than genuine interactions between characters but that's not the case here at all. But Air does what Sorkin scripts like the Social Network and Moneyball do extremely successfully and take very non-cinematic subject matters and makes them riveting, captivating watches.

I was a bit mixed on Affleck's choice to never directly show Michael Jordan on screen. I understand the creative choice but the attempts to hide Jordan on screen often came across as more distracting than I think it would've been had Jordan just been portrayed as an actual character by an actor giving a performance.

But overall this was a great watch. I'm so glad Amazon are giving this a full theatrical release because it deserves to be seen on the big screen and I sincerely hope this is a sign of things to come not just from Amazon but streamers as a whole.

I managed to watch this at an early screening and I was pleasantly surprised.

Of course most people know Michael Jordan and how he arguably is the best basketball player of all time and potentially best athlete of all time. But I bet a fair few people don't know the behind the doors story of how the most popular sneaker came into creation. This is where Air comes in.

Right from the very start, the movie brings you along for the journey, engaging at every possible moment instead of just telling it to your face. The script was really well written to achieve this.

The acting was too notch, particularly from Damon and Davis. At times you forget they are portraying real people.

It was surprisingly funny at times and whilst you know the end of the story, the movie still gets you routing for everything to work out.

For me, this is the first Oscar worthy film of the year (primarily for acting and screenplay) but credit should also be given to Afflecks direction. Just like Argo, he's got another directorial hit and his hands.