Daily DVD

Ali: The second DVD in the collection that I had not yet seen. Why had I not yet viewed Ali, you ask? That is an excellent question. First, it is a boxing movie. The only movies about boxing I have ever really enjoyed are: Raging Bull, because it's amazing; and the Champ, because I was 6 and in LOVE with Ricky Schroeder. Second, it was released in December of 2001, and I am pretty sure I was having a nervous breakdown right around that time, and didn't have much interest in watching movies or being around AMC in general at that time. Third, it stars Will Smith, and even though he does end up doing a terrific job portraying the titular titlist, he doesn't do much for my personal box office, if you catch my drift.

I won't go into a plot breakdown (as usual), but I will touch on a few highlights. Michael Mann's direction is typically amazing, and I really like that there is virtually no exposition and you have to come to the film with some prior knowledge of Ali, Malcom X, boxing and the late Sixties/early Seventies in order to follow along. I also enjoy the fact that it's not really all that easy to like Muhammad Ali after watching the movie, even though Ali comes across as a generally affable fellow in interviews and clips and things. All in all, it was a very well-done film, but Michael Mann is the clear winner in this case. I'm glad I got to see it during this interesting experiment, as I would never watch it on my own accord. This is also one I probably won't seek out to watch again, but I wouldn't turn it off if it was already on or someone else wanted to watch it.