Alterations and Manipulations
Reviews and Comments by Ken Burke
I invite you to join me on a regular basis to see how my responses to current cinematic offerings compare to the critical establishment, which I’ll refer to as either the CCAL (Collective Critics at Large) when they’re supportive or the OCCU (Often Cranky Critics Universe) when they go negative.
“You see, you can’t please everyone, so you got to please yourself.”
(from "Garden Party" by Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band, 1972 album of the same name)
Hustle (Jeremiah Zagar) rated R 118 min.
Opening Chatter (no spoilers): Last Friday was basketballed-themed for me, as earlier Nina and I watched our (San Francisco) Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics, tying this year’s NBA finals at 2 games apiece (winner takes 4 of 7), followed by watching Hustle which is about as invested in basketball as you can get as Adam Sandler plays a scout for the real Philadelphia 76ers with the main guy he recruits and other actors in the movie all actual NBA players, so I’ll go more at length just below about what happens in this Rocky-esque story of sports redemption. (Our at-times-struggling-in-2022’s-playoffs/finals-Warriors-superstar [no exaggeration] Stephen Curry [#30 in above photo] broke loose in that Friday’s Game 4 for his own redemption, scoring 43 of the team’s 107 points by himself in a commanding display of talent despite playing on a sprained left foot; he was considerably less-dominant in Game 5 on Monday of this week so others filled in the gap, leading to a 104-94 Golden State win, putting them up 3 games to 2, with the possibility of taking the title either this Thursday—hours after I get this posted—or next Sunday, June 19, 2022, depending on what happens in Boston tonight.) Hustle’s on Netflix streaming so you have to be subscriber to watch it; something else currently streaming, on HBO Max, but was in a lot of theaters 2 months ago is the latest Harry Potter Wizarding-World prequel, Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore. Back when it was current on the big screen a combination of COVID-concerns for my aging body and a considerably-less-than-stellar-rejection by the OCCU led to my disinterest as a choice. When it became free to me (in a manner of speaking; I pay a small monthly fee for HBO/HBO Max) I decided to give it a look after all, which didn’t change my benign-dismissal of these tales of Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) and a much-younger Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) as they try their best to prevent evil from taking command of their extensive wizard-community, although I’ll admit the visuals are spectacular as usual even if I could not care less about the story, so learn what I have to say in my Short Takes section (or scan through the Rotten Tomatoes link far, far below in this posting to see how others, such as Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com, reacted: “These ‘Fantastic Beasts’ movies are just not good. They’re extremely OK, but never truly inspiring or transporting.”) One last thing I’ll note here (as I edited it out of the review for spacing purposes; I’m really trying to make my layouts better than they were even a few years ago) is how much Dumbledore ages from these late 1920s-early ‘30s stories to what we see set just a few decades away, the 1990s, in the actual Harry Potter series (am I forgetting something about his chronology?).
Also, here are links for cable TV’s Turner Classic Movies, a great selection of older films (no commercial interruptions), and JustWatch with lots of options for streaming rental or purchase. If you'd want to see what reigned at the domestic (U.S.-Canada) box-office last weekend, just go here.
Here’s the trailer for Hustle:
(Use the full screen button in the image’s lower right to enlarge it; activate
that same button or use the “esc” keyboard key to return to normal size.)
If you can abide plot spoilers read on, but this blog’s intended for those who’ve seen the film or want to save some $ (as well as recognizing those readers like me who just aren’t that tech-savvy). To help any of you who want to learn more details yet avoid these all-important plot-reveals I’ll identify any give-away sentences/sentence-clusters with colors plus arrows:
⇒The first and last words will be noted with arrows and red.⇐ OK, now continue on if you prefer.
What Happens: Stanley Sugerman (Adam Sandler) is an international scout for the National Basketball Association’s Philadelphia 76ers, although being in such a relatively-low-level-NBA-job for decades after a tragic accident (drunk driving, injured his hand, hurt his team’s record, got him 6 months in jail) cut short his promising college career, leaving him to try to find talent to match his long-gone-potential while he’s forced to watch from the sidelines, also missing out on much of his life with wife Teresa (Queen Latifah) and teenage daughter Alex (Jordan Hull). In respect for Stanley’s knowledge of the game, aging 76ers owner Rex Merrick (Robert Duvall) finally promotes him to assistant coach but suddenly dies soon thereafter, leaving Stanley at the whims of Rex’s son, Vince (Ben Foster), who often doesn’t agree with Stanley, busts him back to international scout with a threat to find an outstanding international player or see his job disappear. After several trips abroad which lead to nothing, he’s in Spain but the guy he came to see isn’t available so when hanging around a pick-up game he’s impressed with the skills of Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangómez) who has a regular job in construction but makes extra cash with these nightly-hustles of would-be-opponents on local public courts. Bo’s initially not interested in Stanley’s offer to come to the U.S. (he was supposed to do so a few years ago, but his girlfriend [now long gone] got pregnant so he stayed in Spain to raise daughter Lucia [Ainhoa Pille] with help from his mother, Paola [María Botto]). Given the fat option of a proposed signing bonus, though, Bo agrees to work with Stanley, although back home Vincent’s not impressed at all so Stanley has to use his own funds to bring Bo to the States where’s he’s immediately detained at the airport due to an old aggravated assault charge (a fight with Lucia’s mother’s boyfriend after she tried to claim sole custody purely for governmental-support-money), so he’s now operating under the threat of deportation if he’s arrested for anything in the U.S.
Stanley’s former college teammate, Leon Rich (Kenny Smith), wants him to quit the 76ers, join him as a player’s agent; Stanley’s not ready for that but does accept putting Bo into a showcase arranged by Leon where there will also be presumptive-second-overall-pick in the upcoming NBA draft, Kermit Wilts (Anthony Edwards), a hot-shot-trash-talker (not unlike the Warriors’ love-him-as-you-cringe-at-his-antics/hate-him-vociferously [even obscenely in a Boston game recently]-if-you’re-the-opponent, Draymond Green). Wilts’ antics frustrate Bo, leading to an under-impressive-workout, even less interest from Vincent. Stanley decides to quit the 76ers (Teresa’s not impressed with that yet tries to remain supportive, even lets Bo live with them) to focus fully on Bo, in preparation for him entering the NBA Draft Combine (a multi-day-showcase prior to the June draft), but Leon can’t get him into the event because Vincent’s been spreading news about the assault charge. With still no option of playing in the Combine, Stanley gets NBA legend Julius Erving (himself) to set up the “Boa Challenge” where pros attempt to score on Bo, making enough of an impression for him to be accepted into the Combine, after which Stanley brings Paola and Lucia to the U.S. to help Bo’s spirits, even as Stanley puts him through many grueling physical preparations. ⇒In the Combine, Bo starts great, then is thrown off by Wilts’ insults, pushes his opponent to the floor, storms out. Bo and his family are set to return to Spain on separate flights, but Leon intervenes again, setting up a private game that Bo and Wilts are invited to so Bo stays, gets triumphant for a change even as Rex’s daughter, Kat (Heidi Gardner), tells Stanley she’s taking over, rehires him. 5 months later the 76ers are playing the Boston Celtics with Stanley as assistant coach, Bo playing for Boston.⇐ Before the credits, we get footage of many well-known-NBA-players, plus 76ers coach Doc Rivers.
So What? Except for getting excited about the Warriors after they stormed into the 2015 NBA Finals (after basically being a joke for decades since they’d won a championship back in 1975 [plus a couple of earlier ones in 1947, 1956]), took the title, came back to the Finals for the next 4 years, winning again in 2017, 2018, I know very little about pro basketball beyond my local team (still have no idea how the referees decide who gets a foul when 2 guys run into each other, although it seems the Warriors pick up a lot of those even when they’re on defense and the ball-handler rams right into our man), so I was surprised to learn, according to Wikipedia, that there are several NBA players in this movie—including Hernangómez (from Spain) playing for the Utah Jazz, Edwards for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and now-retired-Smith who played for many teams, won back-to-back-championships with the Houston Rockets (1993-’94, 1994-’95)—most of whom I don’t know though you’re welcome to look any of them up if you like (but some of you readers must be more basketball-literate than I am), who appear either in Hustle’s narrative or those quick shots prior to the credits are Trae Young, Jordan Clarkson, Khris Middleton, Aaron Gordon, Kyle Lowry, Seth Curry (Steph’s brother), Luka Doncic, Tobias Harris, Tyrese Maxey, Matisse Thybulle, Aaron McKie, Charles Barkley (who never misses a chance to trash Draymond Green), Shaaquille O’Neal, Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, Brad Steven, Dave Joerger, Sergio Scariolo, José Calderón, Leandro Barbosa, "Álex" Abines, Maurice Cheeks, Boban Marjanovic, and Moritz Wagner, along with “street ball legends” Grayson “The Professor” Boucher, Larry “Bone Collector” Williams, and Waliyy “Main Event” Dixon.
I note all of these guys for the benefit of readers who’ll recognize them, probably further adding to your enjoyment of Hustle. You can also check out this short video (4:07) where NBA players comment on the movie’s authenticity and/or this website which grades some of these NBAers in Hustle. Also, if you watch the interview as the 2nd item connected to this movie in Related Links so very far below you’ll find Hernangómez and Edwards predicting the Celtics to win this year’s NBA title, so we’ll see how that goes very soon, but if you want my biased opinion I’d say at least in Games 4, 5 they looked like they could use some help from Bo Cruz (but I’m glad they didn’t get it).
However, one noted sports figure not in Hustle but who seemingly should be is Rocky Balboa (a fictional boxer, at times world heavyweight champ in his stories, played by Sylvester Stallone in 6 Rocky movies [1976-2006], 2 Creed movies [2015, 2018]) given Hustle’s setting in Philadelphia, the rugged unorthodox training methods both men endure (Bo runs fast up a hill in early AM darkness; Rocky ran up the considerable steps to the Philly Museum of Art), both were relative unknowns attempting big breakthroughs (Bo for the NBA draft; Rocky’s title shot against Apollo Creed) so while Hustle successfully works the angle of dedicated men trying to achieve their dreams it does feel awfully derivative of the storyline so well-known in the our worldwide-cinematic-heritage since 1976.
Bottom Line Final Comments: Although I've somewhat faulted Hustle for being such a Rocky clone, I do like the clever use of the title’s singular word indicating both the hard-scrabble-street-games Bo assumed would be his only opportunity to show his basketball skills and the tough training Stanley put him through to hone not only his commendable-but-raw-ability but also his needed obsession with conquering the game’s challenges if he ever hoped to make it as a pro. The CCAL is generally impressed overall, as Rotten Tomatoes gives this movie 92% positive reviews, although the usually-more-reticent-folks at Metacritic could only muster up a 68% average score (not bad for them as they get into the 70s before showing much exuberance; more details on both of these critics’-accumulation-sites in Related Links). As noted before, you have to be a subscriber to Netflix streaming to see this, but at least there’s no further charge, so if this movie’s accessible (or you care to pay at least a one-month’s fee) you might want to add it to your viewing schedule along with however many games are needed to end this year’s NBA Finals. I know little about Adam Sandler’s personal interests so I’m a bit surprised to see what an homage to the entire experience of basketball he’s helped create here (he brought the Taylor Materne, Will Fetters script to director Zagar, sparking his interest in the project), in that I’d have expected this kind of story to come from Spike Lee but then we’d be all about the New York Knicks; I’m not surprised, though, to see Hustle has another connection to an NBA star (OK, major superstar, along with Stephen Curry who’s still looking for a Finals MVP honor to go with his previous NBA season selections for that prize) LeBron James, whose SpringHill company helped produce this movie, bringing the script to fan-boy-Sandler.
You’re not going to find much unexpected as Hustle works its way to closure, but it’s ultimately a feel-good-story giving a solid sense of what sort of obstacles an aspiring pro athlete must overcome, along with a lot of pleasure for true basketball fans in seeing so many of these pros either in notable roles or a cluster of quick appearances. As you might know (or, I’m sure, will be eager to learn) I wrap up these reviews with a Musical Metaphor for a last perspective from an aural source with this one—given the overt-Rocky connections you’ll find embedded in Hustle—being the theme from that much-earlier-movie (a winner in its own right, taking the Oscar for 1976’s Best Picture [directed by John G. Avildsen, also an Oscar-winner, plus it got Best Film Editing], using Bill Conti’s music, lyrics by Carol Connors and Ayn Robbins [it took 2 of them to come up with those few words?]), “Gonna Fly Now” at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YYmfM2TfUA with its uplifting tune, simple-but-direct-lyrics (“Getting strong now / Won’t be long now”) as applicable to Bo as they were to the “Italian Stallion” years ago. (A final note: I’ve walked up those Museum of Art steps on a hot summer day; the idea of running up them in preparation for a July 4 bout shows me Stallone’s obsession with his movie—also written by him—matches the kind of passion Stanley’s so determined to instill in Bo.)
SHORT TAKES (spoilers also appear here)
The pre-Harry Potter adventures of Newt Scamander and a younger Albus Dumbledore continue (in the early 1930s) as they work together to thwart the evil intentions of Albus’ former lover, Gellert Grindelwald, who plans a war against us Muggles (those with no magic), a movie with lots of computer-driven-special effects (as they all have been) and fierce cunning from both wizard camps.
Here’s the trailer:
Before reading further, please refer to the plot spoilers warning detailed far above.
In this Fantastic Beasts … (5 planned, if critical dismissal/box-office-lag don’t bring retirement of these Harry Potter prequels* before screenwriter J.K. Rowling finishes her intentions) we’re in 1932 where magizoologist Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) travels to China to aid a Qilin (a rare creature that sees into your soul, knows the future) give birth, yet he’s immediately thwarted by goons from evil wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen, replacing Johnny Depp released after his legal problems). However, she actually had twins so Newt puts the other one in his bottomless case, goes to help good-wizard Albus Dumbledore (Jude Law) prevent Grindelwald from becoming the new Supreme Mugwump, then leading his wizards in a domination-war against Muggles (British for non-magical-humans; No-Majs in America) because former-lovers Grindelwald and Dumbledore made a blood-oath not to attack each other. From the earlier prequels you’ll see familiar characters: with Albus and Newt are Newt’s brother, Theseus Scamander (Callus Turner), wizards Lally Hicks (Jessica Williams) and Yusuf Kama (William Nadylam), Newt’s assistant, Bunty Broadacre (Victoria Yeates), and—for comic-relief—Muggle baker Jacob Kowalski (Dan Fogler); Gellert’s crew includes Jacob’s former-love-interest, Queenie Goldstein (Alison Sudol), and Credence Barebone (Ezra Miller), illegitimate son of Albus’ brother, Aberforth (Richard Coyle). Current Supreme Mugwump Anton Vogel's (Oliver Masucci) secretly in league with Grindelwald so he's cleared of previous charges against Muggles, setting him up for the next election because he’s killed the Qulin calf, reanimated it to arbitrarily choose him for this high honor. ⇒Newt has to free Theseus from a hellish-prison; Credence learns he’s a Dumbledore, changes his allegiance; Newt’s team disrupts the sham-selection of Grindelwald by bringing the surviving calf to the ceremony where the choice goes to Vicência Santos (Maria Fernanda Cândido). Enraged, Grindelwald tries to kill Credence who’s saved by Albus and Aberforth, with the blood-oath negated as Grindelwald disappears. Finally, we see Jacob and Queenie reunite and marry; Albus observes them from afar before he slips away.⇐
*For more on the previous prequels, see my reviews of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Yates, 2016 [has a link to summaries of the 8 Harry Potter …. movies, relevant to events after these Fantastic Beasts … tales]) and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald (Yates, 2018). You can also watch this video (11:12 [ad interrupts at about 5:09]) for a more concise background on prior Fantastic Beasts … events than my lengthy diatribes. If that appeals to you, then this site has even more compressed info on the Potter movies and these Fantastic Beasts … episodes.
I’ve long been a fan of the best of the Fantasy genre (although it sports plenty of duds), whether the stories concern giant beasts (King Kong, Godzilla), mythological heroes (Wonder Woman, Thor), “scientific” enhancements (Superman, Spider-Man), or just pure magic (Disney fairy-tale-features, Doctor Strange)—with the Star Wars galaxy offering aspects of it all—yet I could have done nicely with fewer Harry Potter-wizard-movies, just as I've never been invested in these Fantastic Beasts … Potter prequels (despite widespread dismissal by others, I find the Star Wars prequels—… The Phantom Menace [1999], … Attack of the Clones [2002], … Revenge of the Sith [2005, all directed by George Lucas] to be more interesting than any Fantastic Beasts …, all of which I’ve rated with 3 stars [of 5]). More-engaged-fans of Newt Scamander and the much-younger Albus Dumbledore will surely find the constant flow of computer-imagery-enhanced-action, the ongoing-development of a host of established-characters, and immersion again in this magical-world to be a better experience than I did (although I did see the attempted Supreme Mugwump-coup set in Berlin in early 1930s with a world war on the agenda to be an intriguing allusion to what actually happened there) because this time I’m almost with the OCCU as RT reviews are only 46% positive, MC average score is 43%. … Dumbledore’s been out since April 15, struggling to find a profit after its budget of $200 million (plus surely close to that for marketing/distribution) with a take of $95.7 million, $401 million worldwide, so if you still haven’t seen it you might best be able to catch a screening on TV’s HBO if you have a subscription, but if you do you also have free access to streaming on HBO Max (in 4K).
Or, if you’re not convinced you want to spend substantial time (rather than $) on this movie here's a quick recap (4:29) telling you everything I’ve said but with film clips. As for a Musical Metaphor, nothing came easily to me so I finally settled on “Southbound Train” (1972 Graham Nash David Crosby album) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xje8zfZy6eA, even as the song’s about a funeral train carrying dead soldiers home, the use of “Liberty,” “Equality,” “Fraternity” implies more about France than the movie’s focus on England and Germany, yet the song’s a sober reminder of the difficult struggles even large communities endure to maintain stability, reject the devious attempts of charlatans who either rig political outcomes (Grindelwald) or spread lies concerning legitimate voter decisions (see/read about the ongoing Jan. 6, 2021 U.S. House of Representatives committee hearings on the assault on our Capitol by duped-followers of former President Donald Trump). I admit I’m pushing the Metaphor-angle of my song choice to the limit here, but lyrics such as “Fraternity, failing to fight back the tears / Will it take an eternity breaking all the fears? / And what will the passenger do when he hears / That he’s already paid for the crown” feel relevant to me about these topics, even if they don’t directly address plot events of this part of the Fantastic … franchise.
Other Cinema-Related Stuff: Here are some extra items you might like: (1) 53 must-see Summer 2022 movies (at least in the "hallowed" IMDb opinion) (2) Top Gun: Maverick passes Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness as top domestic grosser of 2022 (so far).
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Here’s more information about Hustle:
https://www.netflix.com/title/80242342
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBXgAmpqXOs (9:36 interview with actor Adam Sandler, actors/NBA basketballers Juancho Hernangómez, Anthony Edwards, and director Jeremiah Zagar [ad interrupts at about 6:25])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/hustle_2022
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/hustle-2022
Here’s more information about Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore:
https://www.fantasticbeasts.com
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ohiFHui5_hg (15:03 Top 5 unanswered questions from the movie [at least for diehard-fans of these stories, not me]; Spoilers of course [along with getting past the sponsor’s opening pitch so the explorations don’t start until 2:35, then we get more ads at about 5:08, 10:15])
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/fantastic_beasts_the_secrets_of_dumbledore
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/fantastic-beasts-the-secrets-of-dumbledore
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If you’d rather contact Ken directly rather than leaving a comment here please use my email address of kenburke409@gmail.com—type it directly if the link doesn’t work. (But if you truly have too much time on your hands you might want to explore some even-longer-and-more-obtuse-than-my-film-reviews-academic-articles about various cinematic topics at my website, https://kenburke.academia.edu, which could really give you something to talk to me about.)
If we did talk, though, you’d easily see how my early-70s-age informs my references, Musical Metaphors, etc. in these reviews because I’m clearly a guy of the later 20th century, not so much the contemporary world. I’ve come to accept my ongoing situation, though, realizing we all (if fate allows) keep getting older, we just have to embrace it, as Joni Mitchell did so well in "The Circle Game," offering sage advice even when she was quite young herself.
By the way, if you’re ever at The Hotel California knock on my door—but you know what the check-out policy is so be prepared to stay for awhile (quite an eternal while, in fact, but maybe while there you’ll get a chance to meet Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, RIP). Ken
P.S. Just to show that I haven’t fully flushed Texas out of my system here’s an alternative destination for you, Home in a Texas Bar, with Gary P. Nunn and Jerry Jeff Walker (although, as you know, with bar songs there are plenty about people broken down by various tragic circumstances, with maybe the best of the bunch—calls itself “perfect”—being "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" written by Steve Goodman, sung by David Allen Coe). But wherever the rest of my body may be my heart’s always with my longtime-companion/lover/
wife, Nina Kindblad, so here’s our favorite shared song—Neil Young’s "Harvest Moon"—from the performance we saw at the Desert Trip concerts in Indio, CA on October 15, 2016 (as a full moon was rising over the stadium) because “I’m still in love with you,” my dearest, a never-changing-reality even as the moon waxes/wanes over the months/years to come. But, just as we can be raunchy at times (in private of course) Neil and his backing band, Promise of the Real, on that same night also did a lengthy, fantastic version of "Cowgirl in the Sand" (19:06) which I’d also like to commit to this blog’s always-ending-tunes; I never get tired of listening to it, then and now (one of my idle dreams is to play guitar even half this well). But, while I’m at it, I’ll also include another of my top favorites, from the night before at Desert Trip, the Rolling Stones’ "Gimme Shelter" (Wow!), a song “just a shot away” in my memory (along with my memory of their great drummer, Charlie Watts, RIP). To finish this cluster of all-time-great-songs I’d like to have played at my wake (as far away from now as possible) here’s one Dylan didn’t play at Desert Trip but it’s great, much beloved by me and Nina: "Visions of Johanna" However, if the day does come when Nina has to present these above thoughts (beginning with “If we did talk”) and this music after my demise I might as well make this into a somewhat-Top 10 of songs that mattered to me by adding The Beatles’ "A Day in the Life," because that chaotic-orchestral-finale sounds like what the death experience may be like, and the Beach Boys’ "Fun Fun Fun," because this gathering may have gotten morbid so I’d like to sign off with something upbeat to remember me (the Galveston non-surfer) by.
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