08-14-2020, 04:40 PM
Battle of the Sexes (2017)
An enjoyable, very watchable but formulaic sports biopic about Billie Jean King's 1973 "battle of the sexes" tennis match against Bobby Riggs. I like watching Wimbledon and I knew the broad strokes of this story but the stuff about the homophobic Margaret Court playing Riggs beforehand and the larger context of King (and some of her fellow players) founding the 'Women's Tennis Association' a few years before, was all new to me. Emma Stone is perfectly serviceable as King but it's Steve Carell who steals the limelight as the eccentric Riggs. The film has a couple of interesting elements like the way in which King's supportive husband is portrayed, even as their marriage becomes strained and the hairdressing scene is powerfully sensual in a unique way. For a tennis film it doesn't feature much actual play though.
Maybe I'd have enjoyed the 2013 documentary it's based on more:
Everything: The Real Thing Story (2020)
A feature-length BBC musical documentary about trailblazing Liverpool Soul/Funk/Disco band 'The Real Thing'. It's unremarkable technically but the story is fascinating: Being a black UK Soul band in the 60s/70s, getting their start with The Beatles acting as their impromptu backing band, touring with David Essex, working with Jeff Wayne... and I must check out their cool sounding Liverpool concept-album.
An enjoyable, very watchable but formulaic sports biopic about Billie Jean King's 1973 "battle of the sexes" tennis match against Bobby Riggs. I like watching Wimbledon and I knew the broad strokes of this story but the stuff about the homophobic Margaret Court playing Riggs beforehand and the larger context of King (and some of her fellow players) founding the 'Women's Tennis Association' a few years before, was all new to me. Emma Stone is perfectly serviceable as King but it's Steve Carell who steals the limelight as the eccentric Riggs. The film has a couple of interesting elements like the way in which King's supportive husband is portrayed, even as their marriage becomes strained and the hairdressing scene is powerfully sensual in a unique way. For a tennis film it doesn't feature much actual play though.
Maybe I'd have enjoyed the 2013 documentary it's based on more:
Everything: The Real Thing Story (2020)
A feature-length BBC musical documentary about trailblazing Liverpool Soul/Funk/Disco band 'The Real Thing'. It's unremarkable technically but the story is fascinating: Being a black UK Soul band in the 60s/70s, getting their start with The Beatles acting as their impromptu backing band, touring with David Essex, working with Jeff Wayne... and I must check out their cool sounding Liverpool concept-album.
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