JIM reviews film “MICHAEL JORDAN TO THE MAX” – It takes IMAX to show him in proper Perspective! =

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“MICHAEL JORDAN TO THE MAX” – It takes IMAX to show him in proper Perspective! =

Rating: 8 of 10 stars (based on a special screening).

NBA great Michael Jordan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame on 09-11-09. In honor of that, & to introduce their newly-replaced [& impressively sharp!] 60’x80’ screen, the NAVY PIER IMAX had a special 09-15-09 showing of this finely-done film (which was originally released in 2000).

The film starts out talking about how Jordan was unable to initially make the basketball team at Laney High School in NC, & how that (plus his father’s encouragement) was an impetus to make him work ever HARDER at the sport. It covers his years at the U of NC, & his arriving in Chicago to join the pro BULLS team in 1984. As coach Phil Jackson commented, he never had to “push” the other players to work hard in practices, because Mike himself did that.

Laurence Fishburne narrates the story, with numerous segments of historical footage & comments from people who knew & at times played with MJ. You can see ads he was in, his baseball years, etc. There are, of course, certain things it doesn’t cover— such as how much he enjoyed watching late comedian BERNIE MAC perform at Chicago’s Cotton Club (where I met & talked to him when I worked with the Monday Nite host JIMMY “Carwash” SPINKS).

The film especially concentrates on the 6th championship in the 1998 season— the various teams the Bulls faced in the Playoffs, what kind of effort it took to win, etc. As Jordan himself comments, he in part “pushed” himself so hard because he always wanted to give a good performance to everyone who came to watch him play. He did that, & it certainly “SHOWED”!…