Touches You

Memorable, crazy movie

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Concussion (2015)Plot In A Paragraph: The true story of how Pittsburgh pathologist Dr. Bennet Omalu (Smith) uncovered the truth about brain damage in football players who suffer repeated concussions in the course of normal play.The sad thing is, I knew more about the mocking of Will Smith's attempted Nigerian accent, than anything else about the movie. Even him saying "Tell the truuuth" was all I could recall from the trailers. I vaguely knew the plot of the movie and that was it. I missed out on one of the best movies of 2015. Smith delivers a great performance, as does everyone else Alec Baldwin who I have never been a fan of is great, as is Albert Brooks David Morse and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. You don't need to follow American Football to understand what is going on, as I have never watched a full game in my life, let alone played it. The science is all easy to understand as is the frustration and sadness you feel watching this. Concussion is Will Smith's best movie since Seven Pounds, and sadly like that movie, this one did not find an audience either. Concussion grossed $34 million at the domestic box office, to end 2015 as the 75th highest grossing movie of the year.

Will Smith, Alec Baldwin, and Arthur Brooks star in "Concussion" from 2015. Smith plays Dr. Bennet Omalu, a Nigerian working in Pittsburgh as a coroner, who was the first to publish on the effect of multiple head injuries in football players, with players developing dementia, committing suicide, and using drugs. His boss is Dr. Cyril Wecht (Brooks).Of course I read the comments from the obvious deniers but also supportive ones from some football players. First of all, it makes sense that multiple head injuries would lead to some kind of problem. Hello. Natasha Richardson was wearing a helmet, fell while skiing, and became brain dead. That was just one hit in the head.The NFL didn't see it that way, satisfied I guess with throwing dogs down elevator shafts and coming to the conclusion that football wasn't dangerous. Omalu financed the testing on the brain of football player Mike Webster, who wound up homeless and demented, and saw the syndrome, which he named CTE - chronic traumatic encephalopathy So Dr. Omalu was in a peck of trouble, particularly in a football town like Pittsburgh. He published his findings in 2002; the NFL never even acknowledged there was a connection between CTE and football until 2009. When they couldn't convince Omalu to retract his findings, Roger Goodell set up a commission but Omalu was not allowed in the room; instead, his findings were presented by a former NFL doctor (Baldwin) who is helping him. It was all a big set-up so they could act like they cared. They didn't. They do now but just barely.I found this an excellent film with a wonderful performance by Will Smith. It was based on the eponymous book, which arose out of an article in GQ about what Omalu ran into with the NFL. The film takes certain dramatic licensing so some of the incidents or their timing is not accurate, but the general story is.The film demonstrates, as if we didn't know, that the NFL considers itself God and uses its influence in all sorts of ways, some I'm sure good, and others not so good. Many years ago I was involved in a discussion with a group that wanted to present an award at a Superbowl, maybe a 30-second thing. Basically they were told the NFL didn't have to do anything for them and why would they. After all, isn't the almighty dollar the only thing anyone in the U.S. cares about? Watching the last scene in this film, I was left disgusted. I hope many parents have gotten the message. Then again, I suppose with the millions of dollars you can make, losing your mind is a small price to pay.

Man unfamiliar with American Football discovers it can often involve being hit repeatedly in the head, very hard. This is bad. Cultural institutions do not take kindly to being challenged, especially by an outsider...Join me again soon, when I watch a movie that uncovers what religion the Papal guy with the big hat belongs to!Every second of this movie is so thunderingly obvious, that it appears its only reason to exist is to give Will Smith the chance to try out a new accent.

I am a big sports fan so I was interested on seeing the other side of the story with concussion and I really enjoyed it. The premise of the film sees a pathologist find out the damage that concussion in American football really can cause. Will smith plays Dr Bennett omalu in this film and this is possibly his best ever performance, he totally washed away the will Smith I usually see and bought into this character that is so interesting and likable. He nailed the accent and I feel like he gave everything in the dramatic scenes hoping for that Oscar. Albert brooks plays his boss and I thought he was pretty awesome in this film, his chemistry with smith is really good and he definitely provides a lot of comic relief which does really work. Alec Baldwin plays a doctor more in line with the football side and he is also great in this film, he has great scenes with smith that can be really emotional. Gugu mbatha raw plays a girl who ends up having to live with omalu and she does a good job as they start to build a friendship based on there differences and I liked it. The story of the film is really interesting as you see omalu going through the investigation into the concussion law and a conflict he does have with the NFL. However the first bit of the film just isn't that interesting as you see all these things that don't involve concussion and I was waiting for this film to get going. The script has some great dramatic dialogue especially by smith who nails it in the role, also surprisingly when needed it has some really good humour in it as well. The style of the film has some really intense scenes in it that makes you care about the situation. But I feel like it would been better if the subject matter was more balanced instead of being totally against the NFL which this film does. Overall I really enjoyed watching the film and found it interesting to watch.