Searching for B.F. - 2 Thumbs Up!
R. J. Pals
They not only liked it, they *loved* it. "Two very enthusiastic thumbs
up! ... One of the best movies of the year. ... You don't even have to know
anything about chess to really enjoy this movie." The chess sequences they
showed in the clips were very well done - they had a tension and
electricity about them that really holds the viewers interest. Hopefully,
these good reviews will translate to success at the box office, and
increased interest in chess.
(P.S. - the movie doesn't open for two weeks yet. I was watching to get
Siskel and Ebert's opinion of _Rising Sun_. They didn't like it at all.
Neither did Lyons and Medved. Scratch that one.)
--
Randy Pals |pa...@ipact.com
IPACT, Inc. |
Roy Eassa
>I just saw Siskel and Ebert's review of _Searching for Bobby Fischer_.
>They not only liked it, they *loved* it. "Two very enthusiastic thumbs
>up! ... One of the best movies of the year. ... You don't even have to know
>anything about chess to really enjoy this movie." The chess sequences they
>showed in the clips were very well done - they had a tension and
>electricity about them that really holds the viewers interest. Hopefully,
>these good reviews will translate to success at the box office, and
>increased interest in chess.
Yeah, Siskel & Ebert reviewed 5 movies and liked only SFBF! I noticed a
goof in the speed chess sequence, though: Josh was playing an attack
against his opponent's castled king, and the guy had played g2xf3 already
(Josh was Black). Suddenly, in the next frame, the guy's pawns were back
on f2, g2, and h2. Clearly, the game, though undoubtedly accurate, was
assembled out of sequence for the movie (or at least for the clip shown).
In the Boston area, there is a sneak preview showing of the film today
(Sunday, 8/1), ten days before its normal opening. I'm going! If people
want, I'll post a brief review.
Roy Eassa
dwe...@uoft02.utoledo.edu
> pa...@ipact.com (R. J. Pals) writes:
>
>>I just saw Siskel and Ebert's review of _Searching for Bobby Fischer_.
>>They not only liked it, they *loved* it. "Two very enthusiastic thumbs
>>up! ... One of the best movies of the year. ... You don't even have to know
>>anything about chess to really enjoy this movie." The chess sequences they
>>showed in the clips were very well done - they had a tension and
>>electricity about them that really holds the viewers interest. Hopefully,
>>these good reviews will translate to success at the box office, and
>>increased interest in chess.
>
> Yeah, Siskel & Ebert reviewed 5 movies and liked only SFBF! I noticed a
> goof in the speed chess sequence, though: Josh was playing an attack
> against his opponent's castled king, and the guy had played g2xf3 already
> (Josh was Black). Suddenly, in the next frame, the guy's pawns were back
> on f2, g2, and h2. Clearly, the game, though undoubtedly accurate, was
> assembled out of sequence for the movie (or at least for the clip shown).
>
that type of stuff happens all the time in movies. for example, during
scenes where people are eating, watch their plates. food that was almost
finished is suddenly there again. glasses are full then empty and full
then empty etc.
it usually occurs when they film a scene a bunch of times or else
it was filmed and the guy in the splicing or editing room wants to
make a few changes to the way a conversation went.
i used to have a book that listed something like a hundred movies where
this type of stuff occurred. (i.e. Superman II his hair is parted on
the left then the right then the left etc. every time the camera cuts
to him. turns out they filmed it on two different days and spliced the
scene together.)
>
> Roy Eassa
>
don wedding
Bill Anderson
I was in a short film once in which about six months elapsed
between the last couple of shooting dates. In the interim, I had
lost about fifty pounds, which lent the film a certain
unintentional air of surrealism...
But we digress.
Bill
Johannes Fuernkranz
together. This also happens quite often, the most famous example being the opening
scene in "Lawrence of Arabia" which is entirely reversed (watch his watch!).
How about rec.games.chess.movies.discussion?
Juffi
--
Johannes Fuernkranz ju...@ai.univie.ac.at
Austrian Research Inst. for Artificial Intelligence +43-1-5336112(Tel)
Schottengasse 3, A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe +43-1-5320652(Fax)
--------------- "Life's too short for Chess." -- Byron ------------------
Kirk Gunsallus
"that was one movie we didn't need to see on the big screen" but of
the _5_ new releases they reviewed (Siskel & Ebert) (Rising Sun, Men in
Tights, Axe Murderer, Coneheads, and B. Fischer), it was the ONLY movie
to get even 1 thumbs up, and as the previous poster said, it got 2
enthusiastic thumbs up! We may actually see the movie on big screen. :-)
K
mor...@cco.caltech.edu
rivals at a restaurant last night(8/1) and they said they'd just seen the
preview and that it was hilarious, since they knew many of the characters
being portrayed, as well as the local people who played extras and minor
characters.
Several friends of mine were in the movie, and I"m definitely going to see it.
Reading the book was quite an emotional experience for me, since I knew more
than 90% of the characters pretty well. Bruce Pandolfini signed me up at the
Manhattan Chess Club in 1985, and Vinnie Livermore spent lots of time at my
place on the Jersey shore before he succumbed to AIDS. Vinnie was one of my
chess mentors, and would always proclaim loudly whenever I came to Washington
Square Park, "Damn! I schooled this boy and now he's at Cal Tech, studying
astro physics!"
Some facts about Vinnie not mentioned in the book...he was Jamaican, and grew
up in Harlem. He dropped out toward the end of a PhD in sociology at CUNY. He
was quite gay, amusing given the choice of macho man Larry Fishburn to play him.
Also, he was rather short. Vinnie enjoyed pointing out that his rating was
2085. This contrasted with his playing strength at blitz, which was easily over
2500 at his peak.
An outrageous Vinnie story...we once had brunch with a Swiss guy I was working
with at Bell Labs. Vinnie felt the guy was too uptight and set out to really
ruffle his feathers. He displayed abominable table manners, at one point
cleaning his ears extensively with his napkins...I almost choked to death
trying to keep from laughing. Afterwards my friend was in shock, wringing his
hands about what a depraved place Harlem must be if people there clean their
ears at the breakfast table. Vinnie loved it.
If there's interest, I'll post more stuff about the characters in the book
/movie. I'd also be curious to hear from other people who know characters as
well, to compare notes...
Jones
--
Jones M Murphy Jr
Assistant Vice President, New Products
AIG Financial Products
100 Nyala Farm, Westport, CT06880 (800) 248-SWAP
Kenneth Sloan
naah - wait for it to come out on video, so that you can really annoy
her by backing up the tape to check for continuity violations (wasn't
that P already on f6? Let's go back and see?) and celebrity cameos
(WAIT! Isn't that Cousin Brucie lurking in the bushes in Washington
Square? what's he doing in the bushes? why is he wearing that raincoat?)
--
Kenneth Sloan Computer and Information Sciences
sl...@cis.uab.edu University of Alabama at Birmingham
(205) 934-2213 115A Campbell Hall, UAB Station
(205) 934-5473 FAX Birmingham, AL 35294-1170
John Black
>
>Yeah, Siskel & Ebert reviewed 5 movies and liked only SFBF! I noticed a
>goof in the speed chess sequence, though: Josh was playing an attack
>against his opponent's castled king, and the guy had played g2xf3 already
>(Josh was Black). Suddenly, in the next frame, the guy's pawns were back
>on f2, g2, and h2.
>
I just saw the movie, and I'll post my comments. There may be some information
in this post which would give away important portions of the film, so READ
FURTHER AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!
I thought the movie was TREMENDOUSLY well-done. Extremely good. I'm not sure
what effect it will have on chess in this country, but on purely entertainment
value it should do quite well.
Great acting and great directing is what made this film. Many of the sequences
in the film were (for me) very powerful. The young boy playing Josh Waitzkin
was excellently cast (although his lisp did make it hard to understand him at
times, it reinforced the fact that he was really just a kid). There was
something very powerful about a young boy narrating old film clips of Fischer
(which were always shown in black-and-white) periodically throughout the movie.
There are some chessic inaccuracies: Shirazi (playing himself in the film)
is called a "Grandmaster" which I don't believe is true. There are also
flaws if you try to pay too close attention to the board positions shown (as
Roy mentioned above). And there are the requisite stupid-lines: "When Bobby
Fischer could no longer find anyone strong enough to play, he played himself,
playing both sides of the board equally hard. Of course, he always won."
And there are some factual problems: in the film Pandolfini (played by Ben
Kingsley) states: "I don't teach chess anymore" when Fred Waitzkin seeks
lessons for Josh. I guess this is supposed to add "Karate Kid" effect to
the story. Also--in the film--Josh has somehow learned to play chess without
his father or anyone else teaching him; he just suddenly knows how to play.
I can overlook the above inaccuracies, but I must admit one large flaw in the
film that detracted greatly from my enjoyment: they changed the ending.
Assuming that the book is the truth, then the movie has re-written history for
dramatic effect. This is fine, IF YOU CHANGE THE NAMES. But by using all the
real names of all the characters, the film tends to take on a documentary
nature (as the book does), but then takes big liberties with the truth. This
bothered me.
Of course at the end there was the expected caption: "Josh Waitzkin is
currently the highest-rated player under 18 in the United States." Of course
they could have added, "It is now clear, however that Josh Waitzkin is not
the next Bobby Fischer; he is nowhere near as strong as Fischer was at 17.
If any young American has any chance of becoming World Champion in the
foreseeable future it is probably Gata Kamsky, a Russian emigre who is one year
older and vastly stronger than Josh." I guess I wouldn't make a very good
filmmaker! :-)
john//
j...@ingres.com
P.S. The only r.g.c member I saw in the credits was Hanon Russell.
Eric Wang
>Also--in the film--Josh has somehow learned to play chess without his
>father or anyone else teaching him; he just suddenly knows how to play.
So who does the director think Josh is, anyways, Capa or somebody? :-)
Nobody ever taught Mozart how to compose symphonies, either.
(Capablanca learned the moves of the pieces at age four by watching his
father and uncle play each other. They never discussed the game with
him or even suspected his interest until he called his father for an
illegal move and laughed about it (moving a Knight from a white square
to another white square). When they grilled him, he spent the rest of
that day beating both of them in simple endgames that they set up.
Genius doesn't NEED to be taught (and, sad to say, probably CAN'T).)
Eric Wang
wa...@sml0.ge.uiuc.edu
Roy Eassa
Well, I was going to post a review, but John's pretty much covers what I
thought. I liked the first half a lot more than the second half, but
overall the movie was very good. Numerous inaccuracies were noted, but
did not detract from the fine human interactions.
One more thing bothered me: the Pandolfini character, played by Ben
Kingsley, seemed too mystical and subdued. This is very unlike the image
I had from reading the book.
Anyway, when the film comes to a theater near you, GO SEE IT! And bring
(or at least tell) your non-chessplaying friends! They will enjoy it just
as much as you will.
Roy Eassa
rlwil...@gallua.gallaudet.edu
I guess I would agree with most of what's said. But I think one should view
movies and books as independent. I don't think movies are required to
slavishly follow the book. If the movie departs, it's simply different,
that's all. I don't think it ever pretended to be a documentary.
I also agreed that the boy's narration of the clips of Fischer were very
powerful...
skip
Roy Eassa
[deleted comments about the movie's deviations from the book]
>I guess I would agree with most of what's said. But I think one should view
>movies and books as independent. I don't think movies are required to
>slavishly follow the book. If the movie departs, it's simply different,
>that's all. I don't think it ever pretended to be a documentary.
When you're dealing with a work of pure fiction, then any deviation in the
movie can be viewed as just a different story or a different
interpretation. But the book told the *true* story of the boy's exploits.
To deviate significantly from that somehow seems wrong.
David Shorten
: An outrageous Vinnie story...we once had brunch with a Swiss guy I was working
: with at Bell Labs. Vinnie felt the guy was too uptight and set out to really
: ruffle his feathers. He displayed abominable table manners, at one point
: cleaning his ears extensively with his napkins...I almost choked to death
: trying to keep from laughing. Afterwards my friend was in shock, wringing his
: hands about what a depraved place Harlem must be if people there clean their
: ears at the breakfast table. Vinnie loved it.
: If there's interest, I'll post more stuff about the characters in the book
: /movie. I'd also be curious to hear from other people who know characters as
: well, to compare notes...
: Jones
: --
I don't know about anybody else, but I'd like to hear more stuff about
the characters in the book/movie.
Thanks,
Dave S.