terrible... so disappointed.

From my favorite movies..

Don't Believe the Hype

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

Gleason is more than a movie, it's a life experience as well as statement on life and fatherhood. Art imitates life. You can't get better acting than real life. The main characters in the movie held nothing back. IT WAS REAL! And I mean that literally. I would be surprised if there was a dry eye in theater. My eyes started getting a little watery during the trailer. I was able to keep it together during the movie. I'm an old school guy, don't cry at movies much. Took a look at the IMDb top 250 movies, in my opinion, "Gleason" can stand its own with any of them.

My wife and I found this on Amazon Prime streaming films. She bailed on it about 30 minutes from the end in a particularly difficult scene. It pulls no punches, we get to see exactly what a person goes through in the first few years after early symptoms appear and the diagnosis is made.The subject is Steve Gleason who, after highly successful school and college athletics found himself playing standout pro football for the New Orleans Saints. He was rough and tough, also very intelligent, and seemed to never quit. At age 34 he started having some unusual symptoms and shortly was diagnosed with ALS.(As an aside I just watched 'Concussion' which deals with CTE caused by head trauma that long-time football players experience so I immediately wondered if it could also trigger ALS. The research is ongoing but so far experts in the fields have no evidence of a link.)Most of the film takes place in New Orleans, Steve married Michel Varisco, she of course has a key role in his life and in this documentary. I used to live in the New Orleans area and I recognize Varisco as a genuine family name for that area. Michel was always an energetic and happy person, and for the most part remains that way, but as the film progresses you can see the stress she experiences.When Steve received his diagnosis and his prognosis, not good, he and Michel were determined to have a child, and the result is a boy, Rivers, who it seems inherited most of his physical features from his mom. Much of the film is Steve leaving video for his son so that he will be able to see dad as he was before being debilitated by the disease.Plus the film covers Steve's work to form the foundation that among other things raises money for ALS research, and to lobby Congress for proper medical coverage for ALS victims. It is not a pretty picture, to see a formerly elite athlete deal with his quick degeneration into helplessness, but it does show how one can deal with it, and perhaps a reminder to all that life is precious, always live it as if today were your last. Don't take life, health, and relationships for granted.Steve's dad, Mike Gleason, also had a key role as related to father-son relationships.

(I thought that "O.J.:Made In America" was going to be the best doc of 2016.)This is an amazing movie. It is an intensely personal movie of a man & his wife/life partner/angel living with one of the most life-sucking illnesses known to mankind. It's tough to watch. It is worth the effort. I struggle with words 3 nights removed from witnessing this film. This is a story of courage, pain, triumph, faith (not in the way you would expect), friendship, sacrifice &, above all, love. There are so many levels deftly handled & addressed in this film. It ends with an odd subtext of man melding into a machine. (Forgive me. I love sci-fi).IDK. I do know it is one of the very films of 2016. SEE IT!

On September 25, 2006, the New Orleans Saints returned to their home turf, the Superdome, nearly two years after Hurricane Katrina had turned it into a sad, makeshift refugee camp for thousands of displaced families. On that Monday night, New Orleanians needed a rebirth. Saints safety Steve Gleason, a small, Rudy-esque standout who played his college ball with the Washington State Cougars, gave them just that when he blocked a punt that led the Saints to their first touchdown since Katrina. Gleason had New Orleans' back. Five years later, Gleason needed the city to have his back. In 2011, Steve Gleason was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). And just six weeks after his diagnosis, he discovered his wife, Michel, was pregnant with their first child. Knowing he would be able to see his child grow up, Steve began a video blog to impart wisdom to his son. That, along with interviews with family and friends, became the inspiring and heartbreaking documentary "Gleason."What can I say? If you don't like wiping tears and snot from your face as you cry your way through half of a two-hour movie, maybe you're better off not seeing "Gleason." And this isn't the work of paid actors overdoing it for dramatic effect or composers calculating which violin at which time will tug your heartstrings most effectively. These are real people struggling to live with their scary new lives. This is a candid conversation between a father and son, or a home video in the hospital after the birth of a child. Steve Gleason isn't afraid to show you himself at his worst— struggling to control his bowels, crying on camera as he tries to record a video message his son can watch when he's old enough. "Gleason" stays on message, a message of resilience in the face of adversity. But as much as it inspires and educates, above all, "Gleason" is a portal for you to access emotions you might have bottled up. But then, when it's over, stop blubbering, wipe away those tears, and contribute some money and time to defeating ALS. Because even though the ice buckets have long since melted, the cause is still very real for many people fighting to stay alive, and for the courageous spouses and family members putting in overtime to keep their loved ones with them. "Gleason" is a call to action. Heed the call.