Posted 4:26 PM by John A. Seafisk

An Ice Time At The Theater

I have said before I'm not much of a movie person. However, last Sunday, I did see 'Miracle', the Walt Disney film based on the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team who beat the feared Soviet Union team and eventually won the gold medal. And I liked it.

Fearful that this was a Disney movie, I was concerned about how sugar-coated and non-believeable this film might be. But I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of saccharine - no stupid love-story subplots, no cartoonishly-evil Russians, no pet dog or cat or canary swooping in to save the day...just a simple story about a team who overcame great odds and came together to lift the nation's spirits in troubled times.

Kurt Russell did an above-excellent job portraying coach Herb Brooks. I might even say it was the best acting performance of his career. All the while I was watching, I never thought that this was Kurt Russell on screen. The acting roles that impress me the most are the ones where you no longer recognize the actor or actress, but truly believe that who you're seeing is a completely different person.

That's what impressed me with Eddie Murphy's roles in 'The Nutty Professor' films. I didn't see Sherman or the other characters as Eddie in a fat suit, but as a real family. It was a great accomplishment in suspension of disbelief...namely becaue I believed it.

I never thought I'd be praising a current-day Disney film, but there you go. If a bunch of 18 to 21-year-old kids can beat a hockey juggernaut, I can give kudos to an evil company.