Life of a King (2013)

Very disappointing...

As Good As It Gets

Easily the biggest piece of Right wing non sense propaganda I ever saw.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

After spending 17 years in prison "Eugene Brown" (Cuba Gooding Jr.) goes back to his home in Washington D.C. and tries to make an impact in the lives of young men and women who are forced to grow up under the same conditions as himself. Since he is an ex-convict he doesn't have many choices and so he decides to use chess as the means to get his message across as all too often the high school students react rather than think ahead or plan. One particularly bright student named "Tahime" (Malcolm M. Mays) becomes the focal point of Eugene's efforts as Tahime is at a definite crossroads in life due to a hopeless family situation, peer pressure and the lack of any substantive alternatives available to so many in the inner city. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that the director (Jake Goldberger) did a reasonable job in staying focused and presented the plight of young African-Americans trapped in poverty and despair with few recourses other than a life of crime and subsequent imprisonment. Although the performances of both Cuba Gooding Jr. and Malcolm M. Mays stood out I have to say that there were other unknown actors who performed quite solidly as well. In short, this was a pretty good movie and I rate it as above average.

I'm all for using movies about chess, or about any other matter, to tell a story with intent.But in real life, in real chess games, unless you have above average or even good understanding of the game, it is boring. So they stepped up the tempo a tad for good storytelling. Although to some real players, they'll immediately spot the inaccuracies.The principal did not demonstrate any knowledge whatsoever about chess. Nothing shown on the movie that is. And yet she had that ominous comment while she was watching the 'bad guy's game that he was "really good". The scene where T just won the last match on his first tournament and what do you know, a second after that the tournament admin shows up and tells him he was disqualified because he didn't have complete credentials. In real life, that guy would be in trouble. From EVERYONE there. Why did they let him finish the tournament and THEN spring the news to him? Might as well say, "Oh, you know what, you're disqualified. But thank you for wasting a lot of time and energy on this tournament. We hope we didn't break your heart and discourage you at all."And that help the chessman was supposed to coach T about? He started out with describing how his opponent would use the queen to hammer him, or some such. In real life, that is JUST NOT how you coach chess if you have decent enough skills to actually coach it. At least it should have been something vague, like how the guy would like to play a closed game. Preferred openings. Something like that. Not a specific piece that the opponent likes to use to win games. That's just ridiculous.In other words, they could have paid a little more respect for people who actually like and play the game on a regular basis. You know how some movies make you cringe, not in horror, but because there are just some scenes that are downright terrible? That's because most likely, the scene is an insult to your intelligence. And for chess players, there are scenes like that.Don't get me wrong though. Aside from these inaccuracies, it's a great movie. Worth watching at least once.

"This is a king. This is your life. One mistake and it can be taken away." Eugene Brown (Gooding Jr.) is an ex-felon who is struggling to find a job and relate to his kids. After finding a job as a high school janitor he is asked to watch the detention kids one day until they can find a replacement. When he brings up the topic of chess he begins to change the lives of the "troubled kids" forever. I love movies based on true stories, but I was worried about seeing this going in. One one hand a true story with Cuba Gooding Jr, that is good. On the other hand though I thought how many times can they remake Lean On Me? After movies like that one and Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Fame, etc... I wondered how different can this one be. While I have to admit it wasn't 100% different it was very very good and much much better then I was expecting. The best part about this movie is that it stayed just a step or two away from being way to cheesy to be enjoyed but it did a good job of changing things just enough to keep it feeling real while keeping the emotion that it needed. Different enough from the previous "helping inner city kids" movies to make it interesting and worth seeing. Overall, very good and never took the over-the-top cheesy way out that so many of these types of movies do. That is a good thing and because of that I highly recommend the movie. I give this an A-.

Well you are never going to believe me, but this is the darnedest truth right here. I just watched a good movie staring Cuba Gooding Jr.. I am still a bit surprised but, let's get to the movie. Solid, well acted, and heart warming. In no way a new story, but a true one. It is most like Stand and Deliver, or Dangerous Minds, but in no way a copy of either, it will just make you think of those. Even a bit of The Principal in there, but just a bit. There is no shortage of heart, even if the rival gang does give up just a bit too easy. I can only guess that they saw the positive impact as better than easy money themselves eventually. I Enjoyed the really well developed relationships between all of the characters, and the fact that Cuba's hero is strong enough to be what people need. I recommend this one to anyone, the violence is quite muted, the main story is spent mostly around the chess boards, the language is mostly tame, and there are none but the best of values to be learned from here. Really should only be an 8 the way they have PG-13 the heck out of it, but I really think you will enjoy it to the nines.