Concussion (2015)

This is a pretty solid and predictable movie. No frills or surprises, just exactly what you'd expect from a sports movie--or a football game.  The movie is about Dr. Omalu, a Nigerian medical examiner living in Pittsburgh where the Steelers are king. He is good at what he does, and does his job with care and respect. When his job only asks him to find the "how" he also searches for the "why" to understand the patient as he was in life. At its heart, it is a movie about a skilled immigrant (who does the job better) trying to become an American. He does what he thinks Americans do, by "faking" it. Soon he comes to realize that Americans care about one thing only: football. And corporations care only about money.

The movie is very Will Smith-centric. He plays the man with many degrees very convincingly. He sounds smart, nailing the scientific terms. He keeps the accent on the whole movie. Apparently, he doesn't sound quite Nigerian, but he certainly sounds African. It's a singing kind of accent; his voice goes up and down a lot. There is a scene in which Omalu tries to convince the man from the NFL to "tell the truth" and he his passion for his work shows honestly. It is his best performance in a while. 

Treme (2010-3)

David Simon paints an exquisite portrait of New Orleans post-Katrina, showcasing New Orleans culture of music, food, corruption and of course Mardi Gras.  I admit that I now have a much better appreciation for jazz, both traditional and modern. The show and city are filled with music; my favorite scenes featured Delmond's modern jazz trumpet.  My least favorite music came in Davis's strange punk-jazz-folk-opera concoctions; he also does not have a very pleasing singing voice.  I also was not a big fan of Annie's French-folk fiddle.  Really, I did not enjoy the non-Jazz genres.

The show tackles lots of prevalent issues that arose in the aftermath of the 2005 hurricane.  A recurring theme was police corruption and the frustration of civil rights lawyer Toni Bernette and clean cop Terry Colson over the lack of accountability.  Our character of interest was Nelson Hidalgo, a well-connected, money-hungry, neoliberal, professional schmoozer "carpetbagger venture capitalist" from Texas.  He makes a ton of money (from the government) in the demolition and rebuilding efforts of the city, but nothing ever actually gets done.  The Jazz Center that was his focus for much of the final two seasons never gets off the ground.  And by the series end, he packs up and leaves New Orlenas for good, moving on to Galveston devastated by Ike to run a similar scheme and make a second fortune.

Simon has a very interesting manner of narrative storytelling.  There is arguably no main character in the series (New Orleans itself is the protagonist, so to speak, omnipresent and never changing).  There are several characters with independent, sometimes intersecting story lines.  The scenes alternate between characters, such that we never get a full story till the end of the season.  Of course, some characters have more interesting plot lines than others and some you just dread seeing on screen.  Because of the slow pace, you really have to be committed to watching the whole season lest the story just unravel too slowly.  It picks up a little in season two, but the third season was a bit of a lull.  The final season gives a fitting farewell to everyone.  The final season was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Miniseries after the Miniseries/TV Movie split.