Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
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Movie Reviews of Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
Movie Review: ENGAGING AND INFORMATIVE DOCUMENTARY ABOUT STEROIDS
Summary: 5 Stars
Chris Bell grew up idolizing Hulk Hogan and believed that if he "said his prayers and took his vitamins" that he too could one day be the best that he could be, and be a hero like the Hulkster. Only one problem with that; it was a facade and Hulk Hogan testified in court to having taken steroids for 12 years. After that Cris saw his sports heroes go tumbling down one by one in his purist mind by finding out the steroid dirt on all of them. The tooth fairy isn't real and neither were all of those muscles on television. It was a rude awakening for a short, chubby kid who believed that if he followed Hulk Hogan's mantra that he could be Mr. Everything.
That's the introduction but this documentary goes far deeper than that. It is an exploration of Chris's family as well as an evenly balanced look at the opinions on the pros and cons of steroid usage. He has two brothers who are power lifters, as is Chris, and while he's clean his brothers are on steroids to lift the most possible weight that they can. In one scene in the film his steroid-taking brother benches over 100 pounds more than him in competition.
Chris spends ample time dissecting his own family and WHY two of his brothers turned to steroids while getting the entire panorama of opinions on the true consequences of steroids.
He begins with how they came to be made and then how they came to be seen for what they can do for, and to, ones body.
His brothers seem to be detached from reality by their answers to Chris's questions but they're very muscular and that's what they want. Even when they have many great things going for them that steroids can possibly derail. That's the true definition of addiction. Chris quizzes everyone and is genuinely attentive to their opinions. He seems to be making his mind up as the documentary proceeds.
Along with the various interviews and videos of congressmen, doctors, steroid practitioners and advocates, and people from the modeling world Chris interviews and AIDS patient whose life has been extended and whose T cell count has gone up as a result of using steroids. The film vacillates between people who are helped and harmed by the drugs. You are simply presented with what the documentarian finds and allowed to make up your own mind as Chris seems to be considering everything with you.
One section that I found to be particularly telling is his exposure of the modeling industry as a complete sham. They add six pack abs and make bodies look bigger by using computers. Also, he examines the bodybuilding supplement racket and how it isn't regulated.
This is one of the most sincere and entertaining documentaries that I have ever seen and this film couldn't have called it right down the middle any better. Thought provoking, entertaining, and well crafted. I give this gem 5 stars and look forward to Chris Bell's future efforts.
Kevin W. Mattingly
Harrisburg Times.
Movie Review: Excellent!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
Finally the truth about the Ben Johnson' case. The whole world know that the american athletes only compete "in juice". Always there were stories about a tam arriving in a country to a competition and, when knew that they have a dopping test, the whole team returned to america. Also, is was commom, some years ago, that always when a no american athlet won a international competion, some "dopping test" take back the medal and it fall in american hands. We, that live in another countries always was intrigued how it can happen ,if american atlets are always " in juice"?!!
This docummentary show how, explainin that Ben Johson/Carl Lewis controversy and we have only a honest conclusion to this: in a competition wiht all athletes juiced, the real champion was Ben Johnson, not Carl Lewis. However, this film show much more than this and help to clear some myths against steroids.
A much more message dominates the whole film: Why these poor people think that they only worth if they "the first one, the better one, the bigger one"? This point apperas to in Bowling for Columbine. What is wrong with a view of a whole society that can not be happy being good husband, good worker, good friend, good father or mother? THIS IS RESULT OF A IDEOLOGICAL BRAINWASH! You have no right to happiness if you are not a "perfect gear to the system".
Only a point I think that is a little exagerating: Arnold Schwarzenegger is the "dark ship" in this film. Please, when he began, so much muscles was a obstacle, not a advantage, to actor career! He launched a new standard because he is a PERSONALITY. The secret never were his muscles or he never would act in another movies beyond adventures. We always like his face, his voice, his charisma, and if in USA there are thousands of musclemen, the most in juice, how explain that they are not so famous as Schwarzenegger? The muscles never was the answer to success, there is no shortcuts to explain this, some people have qualities that, as unique human beings, help them to be a success in some goals and are obstacles to another, and the most of them are innate qualities, not created qualities, as a brainwasher ideology would like the people believe.
The problem with steroids is the truth: if the champions always tell the truht and the people can choose if they want to risk their health to be "hugge" or "the first one", or if they will choose ohter goal or other heroes that do't use them. For example, if you know that a man 5'9" only can reach 220 lbs with natural training you can be satisfied and a sucess weighting 200-220. But if you, because steroids, believe that a man 5'9" can wieght 280lbs, you will kill yourself trying to reach this, and when you reach ONLY 220lbs you can think that you are a failure. If you know the truth you can choose the truth or the cheating, and analize your sucess in a more realistic base (220 to natural, 280 to juiced). The truth free us, always!
Movie Review: Godspeed Mike Bell
Summary: 5 Stars
"Mad Dog" Mike Bell, a Northeastern independent talent best known for enhancement work in the WWF and a regular performer during the latter end of ECW's run, passed away this afternoon at the age of 37, according to several who were contacted by his brother, former WWE creative team member Chris Bell.
Bell broke into the business in the early 1990s, often teaming with future ECW Baldies and ROH Carnage crew team member Tony Devito doing jobs during Northeastern WWF TV tapings and a lot of the early Monday Night Raws at the Manhattan Center. Bell usually worked as a heel, so he was in the ring with a lot of the top babyfaces of the period.
Bell regularly worked the Northeastern independents and later earned a regular roster spot with the original ECW, in a lower card position, during that company's run on TNN. I don't believe he ever worked any PPV bouts for the company but worked a number of house shows and TV tapings.
At one point, Bell relocated to the West Coast and worked for Rick Bassman's UPW as both a wrestler and trainer (including working with a very young John Cena and one-time WWE talent turned actor Nathan Jones) while also appearing for Dave Marquez' New Japan satellite events in the Los Angeles area and other California-based companies.
Despite all the years he worked in the business, Bell may best be remembered by fans for an incident that took place in May 2001 at a WWF TV taping. Bell was to do the job for then-WWF wrestler Perry Saturn at the Nassau Coliseum. When a spot went awry during an enhancement bout being taped for the Metal/Jakked syndicated series, Saturn threw Bell out of the ring with reckless abandon, then stiffly smacked his head into the metal steps outside the ring. Saturn ended up with a lot of heat over the incident at the time. The beating pretty much aired unedited shortly after it happened.
Bell was used in dark matches as late as 2003 by WWE but was never signed by the company.
Bell was featured in the steroid documentary "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" which came out last year on the festival circuit before a short theatrical run and DVD release earlier this year. The film, which was directed by his brother Chris and featured a look at how steroid use affected all three brothers in the family, two of which looked to get into the wrestling industry and one, who was a professional bodybuilder.
There is no known cause of death at this time, although in the documentary, he had previous health issues that were noted It was also reported when the film began getting reviewed in the national media that Bell had previously attempted suicide.
Our deepest condolences go out to Bell's friends and family during this sad time.
credit pwinsider
Mike you will be missed.....
Movie Review: Compelling!
Summary: 5 Stars
From STRONGANDFIT.NET
Synopsis:
Christopher Bell and his two brothers were typical kids of the 80's. They grew up watching Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Like their idols, all three of the Bell brothers began lifting weights. Christopher's brothers even pursued wrestling careers, and used steroids to enhance their performance. Bigger, Stronger, Faster explores the impact of steroid use on Christopher's family and America as a whole.
My Reaction:
This movie hits close to home on many levels. Christopher is my age, and like me, he's a formerly chubby kid who to turned to weights in his teenage years. I can also relate to his admiration of Hogan, Stallone, and Schwarzenegger (I bought Arnold's Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding) when I was a teenager.
I think this is the best documentary I've ever watched. Here are a few of my impressions:
*I'm embarrassed by the amount of time and money our government has put into the "steroid problem"--is this really a national crisis? All we have to show for their efforts is legislation based on zero research.
*There's a great deal of hypocrisy in the way America looks at steroids. Getting corrective eye surgery is not cheating, but steroid use is. We pay millions to watch athletes to perform at super-human levels, but we get upset when they use every means necessary to do so.
*The people you "meet" in this movie are fascinating case studies. They represent our obsession with both physical perfection and false hopes.
*I love the way Bell exposes the media hysteria regarding steroids. Bell neither promotes nor condemns steroid use. Instead, he attempts to present both sides of the issue.
If you want to see a brutally honest look at the steroid issue, buy this movie.
[...]
Movie Review: Absolutely brilliant
Summary: 5 Stars
Like the title says. This is a great movie. It touches on what people think about what it means to be a man, what it means to be American, what it means to succeed, what is 'moral', what is cheating, and peripherally on the 'war on drugs'.
Three moments stand out for me:
Chris Bell's meeting with the father of a high school kid who was supposedly driven to commit suicide because of steroid use. Bell questions what else might have been going on in that kid's life. The father mentions that the family lives in a town where achievement is very important. We get to see the kid's room -- it is stuffed with sports trophies. (Maybe dad was pushing his kid too hard?) It turns out the kid was taking Lexapro -- which has been implicated in suicidal thinking. Dad wants to blame steroids, so he bats away all of Bell's questions. Meeting with that kid's father and diverging from the standard "steroids are evil" script took a lot of nerve, but it was done well and respectfully;
The second moment came with (then senator) Joe Biden's grandstanding against steroids in a Senate committee meeting. Biden says that the thought of athletes using anything but what God gave them to win at their sport offends him -- this from a guy who got hairplugs and dental veneers for a leg up in his game (coincidentally, Biden's the same idiot who pushed the RAVE Act, which made possessing a baby pacifier at a party illegal), and;
The third moment was Arnold Schwarzenegger's being named GHW Bush's chairman of the Presidential Council of Sports and Physical Fitness -- after the president signed the bill outlawing steroid use. Arnold never would have been 'Mr. Universe', or a movie star, or governor, had it not been for steroids.
And someone once said Americans don't do irony.