The Crane Pool Forum

Air is now streaming on Prime , it tells the story of a mid 80s plucky Nike and how they wooed Michael Jordan away from Adidas and Converse, everyone knew Jordan was going with Adidas... Anyway interesting movie, is it all true ? Probably now

I certainly have trouble believing that the line from Jordan's mom, 'the NBA isn't going to be promoting my son, it's going to be the otherway around', actually occurred.

Frayed Knot wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 11:57 am I certainly have trouble believing that the line from Jordan's mom, 'the NBA isn't going to be promoting my son, it's going to be the otherway around', actually occurred.

Right?

And if that line is bullshit (as it almost certainly is) I really don't have a problem with it. It's a movie so, like most, it's a story built around a real story but then embellished for
entertainment purposes. They can't really show MJ himself because an actor pretending to be him would look unrealistic so they focus the story around him and give more
credence to others in his circle such as his parents especially seeing as how stuff like that helps to get his approval for the story, and that is his voice on the phone at the end.

The Damon & Affleck characters are of course real. Sonny Vaccaro (Damon) started out as a somewhat sleaze-ball sneaker rep dealing with summer leagues for teenage
prospects before eventually turning himself at least slightly more respectable. I suspect the movie smooths those rough and often exploitive edges off him. Phil Knight
(Affleck) ran track at U of Oregon under legendary coach Bill Bowerman and the two formed the beginnings of Nike back then by selling shoes Bowerman would mold
sometimes using his wife's waffle iron to make the tread and selling them out of the back of a station wagon at track meets as many runners felt the established companies,
such as Adidas, weren't making the kind of lighter-than-light shoes that runners wanted. By getting into the basketball business via Jordan (and others) Nike was essentially
going after Adidas/Puma/Converse instead of just side-stepping them on the running circuit.

I might get around to seeing this if and when it hits a platform that I actually get. Or they can keep it exclusive and I'll never see it.
I'm pretty much fine with either course.

I'm just disturbed that Damon and his top-shelf Q-rating are being deployed for corporate propaganda disguised as commercial films. On top of Ford vs. Ferrari, that's a pattern. And I'm wondering if this is where high-end films are going to be headed whole-hog.

The marketing budget on this thingie seems to be enormous.

It was okay. I actually met Phil Knight in the '90's and he's a bit of a weird dude. Great cast, and not actually showing Michael was a good thing. Everyone knows what he looks like and seeing someone else play him would have been distracting.

Fine for streaming, but I'd never pay to watch it in a theater.

Edgy MD wrote: ↑Tue May 16, 2023 9:18 pm I'm just disturbed that Damon and his top-shelf Q-rating are being deployed for corporate propaganda disguised as commercial films. On top of Ford vs. Ferrari, that's a pattern.

Not sure that I see Ford v Ferrari as a corporate propaganda film. Ferrari is going broke as the film progresses (though they fudged the timeline a bit to make it fit the story) and
Ford culture certainly doesn't come off very well as it's the two independent mavericks, the driver and the designer, who are the heroes of the film butting heads with the bulk
of Ford execs along the way.

'Air' certainly seems a little more problematic. I have to say 'seems' since I've not seen it but upon first hearing of the movie my initial reaction was, 'Oh great, not only does this
country have an odd penchant for worshiping gym sneakers to an unhealthy degree but now we're taking to celebrating the more than a bit sleazy folks who brought us the holy
grail of status sneakers.'

I see your concern but without buying the idea that it's part of a pattern due to the two films sharing a single actor.

I'm not sure I do, either. In fact, I probably never would have suspected such a thing, and wouldn't have started wondering about Ford doing some sort of back-door financing deal, if it wasn't for all the icky marketing of this latter film that's been seemingly targeted directly between my eyes.