[Jeff in Kentucky]

World’s Fastest Indian

from a longer review at film4.com:

Nothing to do with Native Americans entering the Olympics, The World’s Fastest Indian tells the unlikely story of Burt Munro and his Indian Twin Scout motorbike (or “motorsickle”, as Munro calls it). In his sixties in the 1960s, Munro, a bluff, mildly gruff, slightly deaf Kiwi with a heart condition, resolved to test his customized bike at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, USA. His Indian, despite being fitted with homemade innovations like a kitchen door hinge or a brandy cork to plug its fuel tank, set a 1967 world record that remains unbroken to this day.

Director Roger Donaldson’s 30-year-plus infatuation with Munro’s story imbues the film with an endearing sense of purpose. At once a road/fish-out-of-water/sporting underdog movie – it’s the cinematic equivalent of comfort eating: its very familiarity boosting the flavor.

As Munro hunkers down to pursue his lifelong ambition, the initial resistance put up by New Zealand bikers, bemused US customs staff, a frisky New Mexico widow (Ladd in a fun cameo) and officious Utah race officials melts away in the face of his determination and sincerity, and Donaldson fully banks on audience skepticism to do the same.

That it largely does so is due to his leading man. Hopkins is in practically every scene, and once you’re accustomed to his accent, as much West Country as Kiwi, he suckers you in. Late on, merely reciting a litany of previous record holders whose roll call he’s hoping to join, Hopkins is capable of eliciting a few lumps in throats.

This is all about the man and his mission, and on that score, Hopkins is pretty irresistible.

Verdict:

An old-fashioned, consummate feelgood flick and a valedictory to eccentric, stubborn old coots everywhere.

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Sideways

from a longer review at empireonline.com:

Ageing voiceover actor Jack (Church) is finally tying the knot. To celebrate, his longtime friend Miles (Giamatti) treats him to a stag week in the Californian vineyards, to teach him the ways of wine tasting. But Jack has different plans: he wants to get the morose Miles laid, and himself too.

Alexander Payne is one of America’s most exciting filmmakers. Not because he delivers slick CG-fuelled sci-fi swirlers… In fact, his material is placed very deliberately at the other end of the spectacle spectrum. Payne is concerned with the mundane: his is a USA where Jack Nicholson travels the freeways not perched on the back of a Harley, but slumped at the wheel of a Winnebago.

He and co-writer Jim Taylor don’t need to worry about being cool or spectacular, because, in the likes of Election, About Schmidt and now Sideways, they’ve mastered the most important element of storytelling: character. They’re not concerned with heroes, just people: small people, bruised people, rumpled people – people like Miles (an Oscar-deserving Paul Giamatti), a depressed, divorced wannabe novelist, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of wine. Or people like Miles’ crass buddy Jack (Thomas Haden Church from the Wings TV series), whose rugged good looks are starting to melt, and who uses this as an excuse to cram as much sex as possible into his final week of bachelorhood.

Making these people interesting is one thing; making them likeable is another, and Payne and Taylor achieve this not in spite of, but because of, their flaws. It’s quite a feat – Miles and Jack don’t so much get under your skin as climb inside your heart.

Payne and Taylor’s script sings melodiously in every scene, their acuteness of observation perfectly servicing both the drama and the comedy, while they’re not afraid to occasionally force it broad and farcical, thereby supplying some hearty belly-laughs. [One of the girlfriends rides a Honda Rebel, and finds a new somewhat comical use for her helmet.]

Verdict

Brilliantly observed characters are becoming second nature to Payne and Taylor, and the performances here are uniformly terrific. This is wonderful, original stuff.

Reviewer: Dan Jolin

[JackTrade]

I hated Sideways…too much baby boomer melodrama.

Best parts of Indian are when Munro races on the beach against a local motorcycle gang, and of course his record attempts at the end of movie. That movie alone makes me want to have a go at Speed Week one day, just to do it.

It’s hard to do good motorcycle movies…Easy Rider is of course the gold standard, ElectraGlide in Blue is decent, but there’s not too many more that are really any good. Capitalizing on the “Fast N Furious” phenomenon in the early part of this decade, there are a couple of sportbike flicks, but they’re pretty uniformly bad.

[TrialsRider]

How can you beat a bulletproof motorcycle that changes rear tires, license plate and rearview mirror while still in motion. Throttle that can be operated with either hand and the pièce de résistance: a rider that can perform a one handed 180 stoppie while simultaneously firing a handgun gun.

[IBA270]

I don’t know about the technical stuff the bike does, but surely, ANY good trials rider worth his salt should easily be able to perform a 180 stoppie while firing a handgun, can’t they???

[TrialsRider]

I can’t shoot left handed worth a damn

[JackTrade]

…features a great scene where Trinity (Cary-Ann Moss in skintight black leather!) pilots a Ducati 996 the wrong way on a busy expressway to escape from the matrix’s agents.

Some very fancy riding, and since the matrix isn’t real and the characters are aware of it/can bend the rules of nature, no helmet or gear needed.

Her character seems to like the bikes, as she briefly rides a Triumph Speed Triple in the original movie.

[Jeff in Kentucky]

I liked The Motorcycle Diaries a lot, about two buddies that go on an adventure the length of South America, and start out on an old motorcycle. Conservatives think it is too liberal, and liberals think it is not liberal enough:

[IBA270]

Probably because it’s about a COMMUNIST!!!!

[Jeff in Kentucky]

From my many hours of reading, Che was a freedom fighter against the Batista dictatorship in Cuba. Che left Cuba after all of Castro’s promises before the war turned out to be lies. Che was killed in Bolivia, while fighting a corrupt dictatorship.

In The Motorcycle Diaries movie, Che is a medical student on vacation, who volunteers to work at a leper colony. This movie does not include Che’s later years in Cuba. I suggest you see the movie, even if you are for more freedom and democracy like me.

[JackTrade]

…a more accurate description is probably “violent revolutionary”. You’ll get very different views of him from different people.

To some, he was an idealistic, committed visionary who sought to end corrupt governments that oppressed people. To others, he was a heartless killer who presided over some of the worst authoritarian atrocities of the early Casto regime. As with many revolutionaries, there’s truth in both views.

Movie looks pretty good though…have to put it on my queue.

[eon]

The movie is very good, it gets my recommendation (though it’s not what I’d call a motorcycle movie). It’s not even overtly political so you should be able to enjoy it whatever your political views.

[Author]

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