What to Watch This Weekend: In The Heights, Third Murder, Getting To Know You, Chasing Comets, The Racer, Wish Dragon, Alone, Amusement Park

For Bright Musical Celebration of Life: In The Heights (Theaters and HBO Max)
In The Heights is a celebration of life, love, family, community, and hard work with a bright, colorful style and catchy and impactful music.  For more information, check out the review!

For A Tense Legal Drama: The Third Murder (Film Movement Plus)

The Third Murder is a gripping legal drama with Oscar-worthy acting, a complex, realistic story, and a beautiful soundtrack.   For more information, check out the review!

For An Unearthed Unsettling Classic: The Amusement Park (Shudder)

The Amusement Park uses horror to tell an interesting story with a deeper message, one that is sadly still relevant even after half a century since the film's completion.  For more information, check out the review! 

For An Unconventional Sports Drama: Chasing Comets (Digital)

Chasing Comets has a positive overall message, good rugby camaraderie, and a measured faith-based message that feels genuine and never preachy.  For more information, check out the review!

For the Sports Enthusiast: The Racer (TubiTV)

The Racer tells an honest sports story, with inspirational moments, plenty of interesting insights into conflicted athletes, and a story that paces itself nicely before a photo finish.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Kids: Wish Dragon (Netflix)
An Asian Aladdin, Sony Pictures animated film hits Netflix with plenty of beautiful animation, heart, and an Asian flair!

For A More Adult, Realistic Romantic Comedy: Getting To Know You (Amazon Prime)

One of my favorite films of last year, Getting To Know You is a wonderful, understated drama / comedy featuring two fantastic leads with amazing chemistry and a realistic, decidedly more adult story about love and life.  For more information, check out our review!

For The Horror Fans: Alone (Hulu)

Alone is a tense survival horror film with great performances by Willcox and Menchaca, a slow burning story, and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing what will happen next.  For more information, check out the review!

Kieron J. Walsh (Director) Interview for The Racer, starring Louis Talpe, Tara Lee, and Iain Glen

Kieron J. Walsh, director, co-writer, and executive producer of The Racer joins us for an insightful interview.  The Racer is a new sports drama that takes place during the 1998 Tour de France, when the race was held in Ireland.  It follows Dom, a domestique whose job is to support the main rider.  We discuss Kieron's fascination with the Tour de France, his first experience with it, and even ask about his own performance enhancers (spoilers, it's nothing illegal)!

So give it a watch (review here) and make sure to check out the film, which is available on all major digital distributors. 

The Racer stars Louis Talpe, Matteo Simoni, Tara Lee, Iain Glen

The Racer follows Dom (Talpe), a rider who is racing the Tour de France in a team managed by his long time friend Sonny (Glen).  Being However, Dom is what is known as a domestique, someone who will never win a leg but is there to make sure that the star of the team finishes first.  He takes care of the details and the team, ensures everyone is hydrated during the race, and leads the pack so that the star Tartare (Simoni) can have just that little bit extra to push through to victory.  However, Dom is tired from never winning the race, of being the adult in the room, and from the constant strain on his body.  But a new relationship with Lynn (Lee) and a plethora of personal challenges cause him to rethink his priorities and his life.    

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What to Watch This Weekend - The Racer, Political Dramas and Documentaries, Antebellum, Spiral, The Social Dilemma

For the Sports Enthusiast - The Racer (Digital)

The Racer tells an honest sports story, with inspirational moments, plenty of interesting insights into conflicted athletes, and a story that paces itself nicely before a photo finish.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Political Scientist - All In: the Fight for Democracy (Amazon)

All In; The Fight for Democracy is an important film about modern voter suppression techniques, with poignant examples and valuable advice to ensure that all Americans are able to exercise their rights to vote.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Political Historian - The Way I See It (Theaters)

The Way I See It highlights the power of photography and the unprecedented access that Souza was given during the Obama presidency, and visually shows the stark differences between Reagan, Obama, and Trump.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Political Drama Fan - Les Sauvages (Topic)

Les Sauvages has an interesting cast of characters, complicated story, and plenty of drama in this French political thriller with parallels to events happening in America and on a global stage.  For more information, check out our review!

 

For the Fan of Stylized History - Antebellum (Theaters)

Antebellum is an imaginative mind game that explores the sins of the past and present through strong performances, a mysterious story, and some fantastic, dread-inducing music.  For more information, check out our review!

For the 90s Horror Fan - Spiral (Shudder)

Spiral's attention to 90s detail and refreshingly diverse main characters help you lose yourself on this descent into madness and dread.  For more information, check out our review!

For the Drama Fan - I'm Thinking of Ending Things (Netflix)

Strong performances from Jessie Buckley and Jesse Plemons and good writing from Charlie Kaufman highlight this movie that has wide critical appeal but mixed audience reactions.  

For the Social Media Addict - The Social Dilemma (Netflix)

The Social Dilemma has universal praise and presents a sobering, clear look into our datamined world in a dramatic form that should appeal to all.  

For the Thriller Fan - The Invisible Man (HBO)

The Invisible Man is a new take on the classic film, with great, minimalist effects, wonderful tension, and an amazing performance by Elisabeth Moss.  For more information, check out our review! 

The Racer Review: An Honest Sports Drama That Gets The Blood Flowing

Release date: September 18, 2020
Running time: 95 minutes
Starring: Louis Talpe, Matteo Simoni, Tara Lee, Iain Glen

The Racer follows Dom (Talpe), a rider who is racing the Tour de France in a team managed by his long time friend Sonny (Glen).  Being However, Dom is what is known as a domestique, someone who will never win a leg but is there to make sure that the star of the team finishes first.  He takes care of the details and the team, ensures everyone is hydrated during the race, and leads the pack so that the star Tartare (Simoni) can have just that little bit extra to push through to victory.  However, Dom is tired from never winning the race, of being the adult in the room, and from the constant strain on his body.  But a new relationship with Lynn (Lee) and a plethora of personal challenges cause him to rethink his priorities and his life.  

I am a sucker for sports movies, but I often fall for the inspirational variety.  However, this movie is not so much an inspirational sports movie as a dramatic telling of the life of an athlete.  This film has some inspirational moments, but what struck me about this is the honesty in the film.  First off, the film says at the start that this is a fictional film based on a real historical event.  Rather than trying to say it was inspired by real events or something along those lines, it is up and honest.  Additionally, the Racer has some really fantastic details on racing that lend it an air of authenticity, such as when the racers viciously diet before a race, train at all hours, and go to extreme lengths to hide their doping.  The team features racers from a variety of nations coming together, and I loved that there were a mix of languages used throughout to represent this.  These riders have lived all across Europe for their sport, and come from different countries, so it makes sense that they would be comfortable communicating in a variety of tongues.  

The Racer tells the relatable life of a struggling athlete, someone who is comfortable in what he is doing but yearns for more.  And the movie really does an amazing job of showing the extent that athletes will go to for their sport, including the personal, professional, and physical sacrifices they make to keep competing.  This is helped by some wonderful performances headlined by Talpe's portrayal of Dom.  He really transforms for this role and perfectly encapsulates the struggles, scares, and overall pain that an athlete at this level could experience.  As Dom he passes the eye test, looking like he could be an athlete competing in races.  He is thoroughly convincing as a grizzled racer and displays a really good emotional depth throughout. I also very much enjoyed Lee's portrayal of Lynn, and her conflicted feelings as both a team doctor and friend to Dom.  Iain Glen is also wonderful as Dom's old friend and coach on the team; the two have a natural chemistry that shines through in this film.  

And the film also does a good job of pulling together some distinct riders with larger than life personalities.  Some are there for comedic relief, but I enjoyed the very different backgrounds and priorities that they had.  Although there is plenty of drama, there is also a lot of humor between the various team members.  They are at times truly like a family, with all the pranks, humor, ribbing, and caring that you would expect.  The racers are conflicted in that they are members of the team but also individual athletes striving for glory.  And that is where some of the most interesting aspects of this film are, in that push and pull between overall team success and personal aspirations and survival.  The movie presents a lot of challenges and conflicts that put these two competing interests front and center.  And in doing so also tells a fantastic sports story that is different enough from the rest of the inspirational sports pack.  

The Racer tells an honest sports story, with inspirational moments, plenty of interesting insights into conflicted athletes, and a story that paces itself nicely before a photo finish.

Watch it.

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