Invictus

[Lugnuts]

A film editor buddy of mine who lives in LA saw it screened last week and said it was terribly so-so.

DISAPPOINTMENT!

I thought this was gonna be a big Oscar contender.

Somebody explain to me how Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon can miss.

 

[Small Town Guy]

I still have high expectations for it. Those three names you mention make me give the movie the benefit of the doubt over your friend, who sounds like he might have a bit of Comic Book Guy in him. I really liked the book. A brother-in-law was a really good rugby player in South Africa and I know the rest of the family there is really looking forward to it.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

For whatever reason, when I saw the trailer for it and saw that Morgan Freeman was going to play Nelson Mandela, the thought occurred to me, "There's another Oscar nomination for Morgan!"

 

[Killick]

Saw the commercial for this and wondered - maybe someone here knows - is his hand still ****ed up from the crash? Last time I saw him, he was still wearing some sort of cast thing, was keeping his arm outta sight. Remember reading somewhere that it might be a permanent disability.

 

[txsportsscribe]

Brad Renfro would've made it an Oscar certainty.

 

[Bob Cook]

Here's the feel-good South African rugby movie of the year:

 

[Football_Bat]

Bumping, now that the movie is hitting the screens.

My old boss just texted me and says he's got his jersey and is ready to roll.

 

[Moderator1]

Saw Freeman and Eastwood on Today today. Freeman had something on his hand, some kind of wrap but it did not look like a cast.
The Today segment was enjoyable. I'll give the movie a whirl.

 

[dooley_womack1]

Freeman as Mandela is pretty much guaranteed a best actor nomination, right?

 

[Bubbler]

I dunno. Every time I see an ad for Invictus it makes me thinks it's Victory II: Apartheid Boogaloo.

 

[bigblueman]

The film will be good for USA Rugby. If memory serves, South Africa toured the U.S. to get ready for the World Cup in 1995. I think they played a match in Houston, and another in Chicago, and there were a few more, but my information is word of mouth and pretty sketchy. Anybody need a good enterprise story, go ahead and run with it and let us know what you find out.

 

[slappy4428]

Brad Renfro would've made it an Oscar certainty.

Among other awards.... like the Lazarus,
Has Tigervols not seen this or is he conspicious by his absence?

 

[Highway 101]

I'm saving this movie for Dec. 25.

Catching a movie with my folks on Christmas has become a new tradition since I got a real job.

I think all of our Christmas movies have involved either Clint Eastwood or Will Smith.. oh and Aviator was in the mix one year too.

Anyhoo... the Highway family is looking forward to this movie with great expectations.

After all, the Eastwood-Freeman connection is 2-for-2 in the Oscar's Best Picture category with Million Dollar Baby and Unforgiven.

Full Disclosure: I'm an unabashed Eastwood "homer."

 

[Point of Order]

Saw this today. It was pretty good I guess. I thought Freeman was great as Mandela, but I'm not sure the script had enough depth for his performance to be Oscar worthy. The in-game scenes were picturesque, but drug on too long.

I'm really into geo-politics and have read Mandela's outstanding autobiography Long Walk to Freedom, so I enjoyed the political angle of the film. I'm not sure if someone who isn't interested in either rugby or Mandela would enjoy this.

 

[Shoeless Joe]

I just saw this today. Don't see a lot of movies in the theater. Figured some others are like me and wait for it to come out on HBO.

I thought it was right good. I was entertained and learned a few things. It was a well-spent couple of hours.

Morgan Freeman as Mandela was a home run. I can't compare Damon to his real life counterpart, but he did a good job.

I really liked the play between the black and white guys on the security detail. I also thought the deviation from clear, "movie" scenes to putting Freeman into "stock" footage was a nice touch.