AIR (2023)

Maybe something in the air caused 2023 to look back in bemusement with an inadvertent,  serendipitous movie trilogy on the confluence of groundbreaking industry upstarts and a perfect alignment of game-changing technology, contracts & commerce three or four decades ago.  How else explain AIR (basketball shoes), TETRIS (computer gaming) and BLACKBERRY (cell phones) all being independently released within weeks of each other.  (The three even sharing the exact same IMDb score (7.4).  Each remarkably entertaining, too, though AIR, by far the starriest, biggest grossing (by a factor of 45!) and best received, also the least interesting/original.  Ben Affleck directs, charting the Ups & Downs of Nike’s pursuit (mostly by Matt Damon’s exec) of a young Michael Jordan.  Loaded with ‘80s detail, Affleck tries to go farther, making the film look like it might have been shot at the time (very Cannon Films/Golan-Globus).  Yet at its most ‘80s in Damon’s period-accurate gut and Affleck’s period-awful hair.  In general, the film not quite as clever as it thinks it is; more like an ESPN color-commentary/analyst offering commonplace ‘insights’ as if no one had ever thought of them before.  (See Jason Bateman going on about Bruce Springsteen for a prime example.)  Self-serving nudges, perhaps, but not disqualifying.   Just be sure to check out the other two in this accidental trilogy, especially TETRIS.

DOUBLE-BILL/LINK:  As nudged: BLACKBERRY and TETRIS.    https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/04/tetris-2023.html    https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2023/07/blackberry-2023.html