Draft Day probably won’t be the best sports film you’ve ever seen, but it’s far from the worst. In fact, it’s a surprisingly entertaining and well-constructed film which, in addition to satisfying your average NFL fans’ desire for authenticity regarding the workings of the NFL Draft, should also appeal to a wide audience thanks to its cast and deft, comedic direction from Ivan Reitman.
Along with the epic scope and apocalyptic imagery you might expect from a cinematic telling of the biblical story of Noah, director Darren Aronofsky brings tremendous humanity and depth of emotion to his interpretation of the story. It’s that commitment to depicting human feeling in the film that proves to be the most compelling aspect of Aronofsky’s work here, as brought to life by a dream cast of performers led by Russell Crowe, who delivers his most engrossing performance in years.
Plodding, predictable, and in dire need of editing, Need for Speed makes the Fast and the Furious films look like Masterpiece Theater. Not even the most fanatic of gearheads and fans of the video game series the film is based on will find much to enjoy here, as whatever reminders of the game series to be found here take a back seat to cliched plots and dull-as-dirt characters.
Focusing on events that take place before, concurrent, and after the events of the original 300 film, 300: Rise of an Empire works so hard to look and feel like its predecessor that it feels more like discarded scenes and plotlines from the original cobbled together into a feature, rather than a stand alone film.
