#20 Movie Win Win and #21 Movie Red Dog

Double movie review here.  Both of these movies were nice but did not really blow me away.

Win Win is a gentle drama starring Paul Giamatti as a lawyer by day and volunteer high school wrestling team coach in his spare time.  Business is slow for Mike and money is tight, but he hasn't found a way to tell his wife yet.  Then an opportunity comes along when a rich elderly client with an estranged family starts to have some issues with dementia and needs care.  Mike promises the court he will take the monthly commission from Mr Poplar's wealth and become his guardian letting him stay in his home.  He then promptly puts him into an aged care home, telling him the court has ordered it.  It's a desperate act by a desperate man who just wants to keep the status quo going.  He at least visits Mr Poplar to make sure he's okay.  But things get complicated when Mr Poplar's grandson turns up in town, running away from his drug addicted mother and past problems.  Mike convinces Kyle that his granddad's situation is unavoidable and takes Kyle in until his mother gets out of rehab.  Lo and behold it turns out that Kyle is a great wrestler who can turn around the fortunes of Mike's struggling team.  Can you see where this is going?  Things get all messed up when Kyle's mum turns up demanding to know why her father is in an aged care home, but her intentions are anything but pure.  How it all plays out is fairly predictable but there are a few surprises thrown in the details.  There was quite a but of humour in this film, mainly from Bobby Cannavale as Mike's best friend and Jeffrey Tambor as his fellow coach.  The performance by first timer Alex Shaffer is pretty amazing as young punk/star wrestler Kyle is pretty amazing.  For once in a Hollywood film a teenager acts and talks like a real teenager!  It was a good solid movie but not something that's really going to linger with you unless you're particularly fond of those "good people making bad decisions" type of thing.

Red Dog I went to see with my Dad on Father's Day.  This is a really nice movie to go and see with your family and kids.  I really liked how Australian it was, it's a great look at the little outback mining town in the late 70s.  It starts off with a truckie driving into town and finding the hotel unattended he walks into the bar and finds the locals thinking about putting down a dog who's sick.  But they can't bring themselves to do it as he's such a special mutt.  The truckie asks the publican (Noah Taylor) why the dog is so special and the stories begin.  It's just a series of stories about Red Dog told by the locals, but done in flashback to make it interesting.  Based on a true story of a real dog known throughout WA and the NT, it is a rollicking tale of what was obviously a special dog.  I'm not a dog lover but the dog who plays Red Dog is very expressive.  And the human characters are pretty good too.  Loved the fashion on show too, those short Stubbies and singlets are a real hoot.  *Spoiler alert, look away now if you don't want to know too much about the ending. * The ending is a bit sad so don't take the kids if they have recently lost a pet.  I saw a few kids coming out in their parents' arms crying buckets and even the adults were a bit sniffly.  Not just one for the dog lovers, this is a record breaking Aussie movie that deserves to be seen.