Keanu Reeves stars in this dismally formulaic affair as an inveterate gambler given one last shot at personal redemption when he's asked to coach a baseball team made up of apathetic no-hoper inner-city hard nuts. Based on a true story.
The Weitz brother's adaptation of Nick Hornby's bestseller can't help falling into the sugary-sweet Notting Hill trap. Hugh Grant's genuinely impressive as responsibility-free Will, who strikes up an unlikely friendship with weird 12-year-old Marcus and his troubled hippie mum. It's crucial that the brat isn't annoying: but boy, he is. Hornby's jokes and Badly Drawn Boy's songs add some edge.
Ang Lee's soulful swordfest is out on visually refined Superbit release with wispy hair shots and flashing blades all shimmer-free. Yet Lee's masterfully melancholic movie—with Chow Yun-Fat and Michelle Yeoh as the unrequited martial arts lovers, Matrix choreographer Yuen Wo-Ping providing the aerial ballet, and high-kicking upstart Zhang Ziyi providing the feminist subtext—could work wonders in any format.
