Life of a King (2013)

We were able to view this movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is based on the real life of a man who spent 17 years in prison and came out to help others follow a better path in life. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Eugene. While in prison he learned a bit about chess, enough to know that as a board game it can be a metaphor for life. In chess all the other pieces protect the King, and "Life of a King" can represent what each of us goes through. Jobs are hard to get for convicted felons but he manages to get a job at the neighborhood school in Washington, D.C. as a janitor. On a whim he is asked to watch a group of unruly students in detention after the usual teacher walked out in fear. He got them interested in chess but when it came to light that he had lied on his application, saying he had never been convicted of a felony, he had to be let go.But he found some property in disrepair that he could rent cheaply and formed the neighborhood chess club. It wasn't without significant obstacles and setbacks, but over the years it has been successful in giving disadvantaged students a better chance at life and has turned out a number of chess competition championships.Good movie and good job by Gooding, Jr.

Cuba Gooding is an ex-con looking to make amends to his kids for not being the father he should have been. He finds himself teaching troubled inner city kids chess in a bid to put something back to society whilst trying to regain the trust of his own alienated kids. Life of a King is a small movie and has familiar themes that we have seen in many other inner city dramas. What sets this one apart and makes it a must watch is the standard of the acting and a script that doesn't waste a scene. Cuba Gooding Jr is hugely charismatic and excels in this. It's something of a surprise that he isn't a bigger star though maybe he just wants it that way. Whats more of a surprise though is the quality of the mainly unknown young actors in this who all do a fantastic job especially Malcolm M Mays, showing both realism and passion. This is a mainly gritty tale but also wonderfully inspiring with an ending that pays off. It is almost impossible not to like Life of a King which is one of the best feel good movies I've seen. This film deserves a much higher profile.

I'm all for using movies about chess, or about any other matter, to tell a story with intent.But in real life, in real chess games, unless you have above average or even good understanding of the game, it is boring. So they stepped up the tempo a tad for good storytelling. Although to some real players, they'll immediately spot the inaccuracies.The principal did not demonstrate any knowledge whatsoever about chess. Nothing shown on the movie that is. And yet she had that ominous comment while she was watching the 'bad guy's game that he was "really good". The scene where T just won the last match on his first tournament and what do you know, a second after that the tournament admin shows up and tells him he was disqualified because he didn't have complete credentials. In real life, that guy would be in trouble. From EVERYONE there. Why did they let him finish the tournament and THEN spring the news to him? Might as well say, "Oh, you know what, you're disqualified. But thank you for wasting a lot of time and energy on this tournament. We hope we didn't break your heart and discourage you at all."And that help the chessman was supposed to coach T about? He started out with describing how his opponent would use the queen to hammer him, or some such. In real life, that is JUST NOT how you coach chess if you have decent enough skills to actually coach it. At least it should have been something vague, like how the guy would like to play a closed game. Preferred openings. Something like that. Not a specific piece that the opponent likes to use to win games. That's just ridiculous.In other words, they could have paid a little more respect for people who actually like and play the game on a regular basis. You know how some movies make you cringe, not in horror, but because there are just some scenes that are downright terrible? That's because most likely, the scene is an insult to your intelligence. And for chess players, there are scenes like that.Don't get me wrong though. Aside from these inaccuracies, it's a great movie. Worth watching at least once.

"This is a king. This is your life. One mistake and it can be taken away." Eugene Brown (Gooding Jr.) is an ex-felon who is struggling to find a job and relate to his kids. After finding a job as a high school janitor he is asked to watch the detention kids one day until they can find a replacement. When he brings up the topic of chess he begins to change the lives of the "troubled kids" forever. I love movies based on true stories, but I was worried about seeing this going in. One one hand a true story with Cuba Gooding Jr, that is good. On the other hand though I thought how many times can they remake Lean On Me? After movies like that one and Dangerous Minds, Freedom Writers, Fame, etc... I wondered how different can this one be. While I have to admit it wasn't 100% different it was very very good and much much better then I was expecting. The best part about this movie is that it stayed just a step or two away from being way to cheesy to be enjoyed but it did a good job of changing things just enough to keep it feeling real while keeping the emotion that it needed. Different enough from the previous "helping inner city kids" movies to make it interesting and worth seeing. Overall, very good and never took the over-the-top cheesy way out that so many of these types of movies do. That is a good thing and because of that I highly recommend the movie. I give this an A-.