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PHL 9th best economy for female entrepreneurs

THE PHILIPPINES was rated 9th in a global study of conditions conducive for the development of female entrepreneurs, MasterCard said in a statement.

It cited the results of its MasterCard Index of Women Entrepreneurs, which gave the Philippines a score of 68.0 on a scale of 100. The index measured the “top 10 markets with the strongest supporting conditions and opportunities for women to thrive as entrepreneurs.”

New Zealand was considered the top country on the list with a score of 74.2, followed by Sweden (71.3), Canada (70.9), the US (70.8), Singapore (69.2), Portugal (69.1), Australia (68.9) and Belgium (68.7). Rounding out the top 10 behind the Philippines was the UK with a score of 67.9.

The statement said “ budding and established women entrepreneurs around the world continue to progress despite gender-related cultural biases that can create significant roadblocks hindering them from advancing their businesses.”

“Women entrepreneurs have made remarkable strides as business owners around the world, even as they work to achieve their full potential. We believe that by drawing attention to their efforts, we can further support and empower women in their drive to run successful businesses and lead richer, more fulfilling lives,” Martina Hund-Mejean, Chief Financial Officer of MasterCard, was quoted as saying.

MasterCard said many of the top 10 are developed countries, although even in New Zealand “society is less receptive towards female entrepreneurs. Despite these circumstances, women business owners in New Zealand have risen above the challenge, pulling their market to the top — and for the second year running.”

MasterCard’s study of female business ownership also showed that Ghana had the highest percentage of female owners at 46.4%, followed by Russia (34.6%), Uganda (33.8%), New Zealand (33.0%), Australia (32.1%), Vietnam (31.3%), Poland (30.3%), Spain (29.4%), Romania (28.9%), and Portugal (28.7%).

MasterCard found that key conditions were critical for the development of female entrepreneurship, including access to financial services, ease of doing business, strong support for small firms and quality of governance.

Key hurdles to female entrepreneurship were gender bias, lack of self-belief, and lack of access to venture capital, MasterCard said.

The study evaluated 57 economies representing 78.6% of the world’s female labor force.

GERI says 90% of Alabang West Village lots sold

GLOBAL-ESTATE RESORTS, Inc. (GERI) continues to see robust take-up of residential lots in its Alabang West Village township, riding on the positive prospects for developments south of Metro Manila.

In a statement issued Thursday, the leisure arm of Megaworld Corp. said it has sold about 90% of the 788 residential lots inside the estate, valued at around P14 billion. Alabang West Village is the company’s integrated community in Muntinlupa City.

The company noted property values in the 62-hectare township have surged to P70,868 per square meter (sq.m.) from P47,000 per sq.m. at its launch in 2014.

“We see property values in Alabang West to even double within five years as we witness this side of Alabang to be growing rapidly,” Megaworld Global-Estate, Inc. Vice-President for sales and marketing Mary Rachelle I. Peñaflorida said in a statement.

The company cited a study by independent research firm Cuervo Far East which showed property prices in the Southern Manila West Growth Area will register an average annual appreciation of 10-15%.

The Andrew L. Tan-led firm is now turning over residential lots, and has also started construction on the 12.3-hectare commercial area inside the township. Part of Alabang West Village’s commercial properties will be a 1.2-kilometer stretch to be called Rodeo Drive, which will feature rows of commercial and retail establishments.

“Our vision is to make this area to be the new, exciting side of Alabang. The master plan shows that the commercial area, which will take inspiration from LA’s Beverly Hills, will further enhance Alabang’s shopping, dining, and leisure experience,” Megaworld Senior Vice-President Kevin Andrew L. Tan was quoted as saying in a statement.

A Landers Superstore covering two hectares of land is expected to open by the first half of the year.

GERI almost doubled its attributable profit in the first nine months of 2017 to P1.13 billion, against the P666 million it realized in the same period in 2016. Revenues increased by 11% to P4.89 billion during the nine-month period.

Meanwhile, Megaworld’s attributable profit was up 11% in the January to September period to P9.98 billion, boosted by the positive performance of both its residential and office developments. Revenues for the period stood at P35.4 billion.

Shares in GERI climbed four centavos or 3.01% to end at P1.37 apiece, while shares in Megaworld added six centavos or 1.27% to close at P4.80 each at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday. — Arra B. Francia

Cranberries to release album despite lead singer’s death

NEW YORK — Irish rockers The Cranberries said Wednesday they would go ahead with a new album despite the sudden death of singer Dolores O’Riordan in January.

The surviving three members of The Cranberries said that O’Riordan had already recorded vocals for a new album, which the band now hopes to finish and release in early 2019.

The Cranberries said that they also would move forward with a 25th anniversary reissue this year of their debut album, Everyone Else is Doing it, So Why Can’t We?, after putting work on hold following O’Riordan’s death.

“After much consideration we have decided to finish what we started,” the band wrote on Facebook.

“We thought about it and decided that as this is something that we started as a band, with Dolores, we should push ahead and finish it.”

The 1993 album proved to be an international success led by “Linger,” a wistful song about a first kiss.

The reissued edition will be remastered and feature previously unreleased material from the era, the band said.

O’Riordan was found dead in a London hotel on Jan. 15 at age 46. A full inquest into her death is set for April 3, although authorities are not treating her death as suspicious.

With a voice that merged florid traditional Celtic singing with the ferocity of punk rock, O’Riordan defined the sound of The Cranberries whose major hits also included the politically charged “Zombie.”

The Cranberries last released an album of new material, Roses, in 2012 after a gap of more than a decade. — AFP

China Bank to raise up to P50B

CHINA BANKING Corp. (China Bank) is set to conduct fund-raising activities to expand its business.

In a disclosure to the local bourse on Thursday, the Sy-led China Bank said its board of directors approved a funding program of up to P50 billion through a combination of long-term negotiable certificate of deposit (LTNCD), retail bonds and/or commercial papers.

Like regular time deposits offered by banks, LTNCDs offer higher interest rates. However, LTNCDs cannot be pre-terminated but can be sold on the secondary market, making them “negotiable.”

China Bank said the peso-denominated program will be used to fund the bank’s initiatives and expansion, particularly its lending business.

“This program will be used to fund the bank’s strategic initiatives and expansion, specifically in relation to the expected growth in the lending business,” China Bank’s disclosure to the bourse read.

“This is in line with bank’s intention to be an active participant in the ongoing economic expansion of the country and the government’s infrastructure initiatives.”

Recently, local banks have been conducting various fund-raising activities to expand their operations and beef up their capital buffers.

Earlier this week, Rizal Commercial Banking Corp. said it expanded its medium-term note program to $2 billion from the previous $1 billion to raise additional capital.

Last month, UnionBank of the Philippines raised P3 billion from the first tranche of its P20-billion LTNCD program.

China Bank ended 2017 with a P7.4-billion bottom line, 15% higher than the P6.5 billion the lender recorded in 2016, on the back of sustained growth in its core and fee-based businesses.

Latest data from the central bank showed China Bank was the seventh largest bank in the Philippines in asset terms as of September 2017.

Shares in China Bank finished unchanged at P35.10 apiece on Thursday. — Karl Angelo N. Vidal

SEC upholds halt order vs Calata’s Krops

THE Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has denied the petition of businessman Joseph H. Calata’s group to lift the halt order on the initial coin offering (ICO) of online agricultural marketplace Krops.

In a decision dated March 2, the SEC en banc declared as permanent the cease and desist order (CDO) against Black Cell Technology, Inc., Black Sands Capital, Inc., Black Cell Technology Ltd., and Krops.

The commission emphasized the Black Cell group’s offering of Krops tokens through an ICO was illegal, as the company failed to register the securities with the SEC.

ICOs are typically used by start-ups to raise capital, where a company issues a percentage of the virtual currency it holds to interested buyers in exchange for fiat currency, another virtual currency, or another asset or security.

In its petition seeking to lift the CDO, the Black Cell group argued the Krops tokens were not securities after failing to meet one of four elements in the Howey Test, a measure used to evaluate investment contracts.

The company cited a similar case in the United States involving Bytom’s ICO. In this case, the US SEC ruled Bytom was not a security since profits are gained from the use of the Bytom, not merely by holding it.

“This is similar to the instant case. The profits to be gained are not primarily from the mere holding of the token by its use,” the Black Cell group said.

The Philippine corporate regulator, however, ruled the Krop tokens were securities, noting the Bytom case cited by the group was false, wherein the comment came from a San Francisco-based law firm, instead of the US SEC.

“To dress this opinion as a US SEC decision constitutes a patent deceit on the part of respondents,” according to the SEC.

The Black Cell group further argued the SEC cannot prevent it from conducting the ICO as it was a global exercise, whereas the regulator’s jurisdiction covered only the Philippines.

The SEC treated this as an admission that the company has been offering unregistered securities within the Philippines.

According to the company’s Web site, the Krops ICO is currently closed following strong demand from investors. The offering will continue on March 15. — Arra B. Francia

Singer Calum Scott makes debut with very personal album

BRITISH SINGER Calum Scott, who first came into the limelight as a finalist for Britain’s Got Talent in 2015, has finally released his debut album — Only Human — featuring 14 songs which he describes are “just about living.”

“[The album] is just about self-love and self-acceptance. I wanted to be as honest as I could in this album and celebrate who I am and who I love,” said Mr. Scott during a press conference preceding a concert held at Shangri-La Plaza Mall in Mandaluyong City on March 4.

Promoting his album will take Mr. Scott on a multi-date tour across Europe, with the Philippines being his only Asian stop. During a press conference, MCA Music, Inc. awarded him a Gold Record for 7,500 in combined digital sales in the Philippines of “Dancing on My Own” and “You Are the Reason.”

The singer said that he had once visited the Philippines when he was younger and that he had wanted to come back.

Scheduled to be released by Capitol Records on March 9, Only Human is led by its first single “You Are the Reason,” a ballad about transforming pain into beauty and finally becoming a story of a celebration of “how the love you feel for the people in your life is more powerful than anything else,” he said.

The song’s music video, released on Jan. 5, has so far garnered more than 59 million views on YouTube.

“At first I got caught up in trying to write the kind of songs I thought people wanted to hear. But after a while I realized that the more honest and real I was, the more easily it flowed. It ended up becoming a process of getting out everything that’s been on my mind over the years, and it felt very therapeutic,” Mr. Scott said of his album in a press release.

Other songs in the album include his 2015 breakout hit “Dancing On My Own,” a cover of British singer Robyn’s 2010 hit. His version has so far garnered more than 550 million streams worldwide according to MCA Music. The album also features “Not Dark Yet,” a cover of Bob Dylan’s 1997 hit.

“What I Miss Most,” described as soaring and bright, talks about Mr. Scott’s longing for his Yorkshire hometown, while “Won’t Let You Down” was written for his sister, who signed him up for Britain’s Got Talent after hearing him sing at home.

“There’s so many different songs reflecting different parts of me in this album,” he said, noting that “Hotel Room” is a song he would love his fans to hear.

“It’s about meeting a guy and becoming so enamored with him, then finding out he’s not gay and feeling confused as hell. When that happened I blamed myself for leaving my heart open — like ‘Why do I have to like that person? How come I can’t just turn a corner and forget about it?” Mr. Scott said in the release.

Only Human, distributed by MCA Music, Inc., drops on March 9 and will be available in all major streaming sites. — Zsarlene B. Chua

The Shape of Water and cinema’s love affair with monsters

LOS ANGELES — In the charm stakes, he’s hardly Cary Grant, but the goofy-looking amphibian in The Shape of Water upholds a tradition of monster movies that has captured the public’s imagination since the early days of cinema.

Guillermo del Toro’s genetically modified story of love blossoming between his merman-like star and a mute human underscored the popularity of the genre on Sunday, with Oscars wins for best picture and director.

The old Universal creature features, modern Japanese ghost stories, and innumerable gorefests involving the undead in various states of decay might trouble even the sturdiest constitution.

But the monster movie straddles numerous genres other than horror — from comedy and fantasy to science fiction — and Del Toro is capitalizing on cinema’s love affair with the cuddly, loveable end of the market.

“Monsters aren’t always frightening or evil. The monsters of Pixar’s Monsters, Inc. and certainly the title character of Harry and the Hendersons were charming and sweet,” writes John Landis, director of An American Werewolf in London (1981), in his book Monsters in the Movies.

“Even the most famous monster of them all, the Frankenstein Monster as portrayed by Boris Karloff in Frankenstein, is vulnerable and sympathetic.”

Paul Wegener’s 1915 German silent film The Golem is widely regarded as the first creature feature, while Nosferatu, still one of Germany’s most iconic horror films, came along seven years later.

US filmmakers got the bug in the 1930s, producing a series of German-influenced gothic tales about Dracula, Frankenstein, the Mummy, and the Invisible Man.

Spool forward a few decades and Jurassic Park (1993), Cloverfield (2008), Troll Hunter (2010) and Del Toro’s own Pacific Rim (2013) have all proved critical and commercial hits.

King Kong (1933), perhaps the most popular behemoth of them all, has become a cultural icon through various Japanese and US movies, with the most recent iterations, King Kong (2005) and Kong: Skull Island (2017), recouping more than $1 billion worldwide.

NUCLEAR PARANOIA
Other milestones include the stop-motion monsters of visual effects guru Ray Harryhausen, from Mighty Joe Young in 1949 through Jason and the Argonauts (1963), and Clash of the Titans (1981).

Harryhausen’s dinosaur flick The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) ushered in the wave of 1950s creature features capitalizing on the nuclear paranoia of the age.

The Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954) provided the inspiration for the look of Del Toro’s amphibian humanoid in The Shape of Water.

Kendall Phillips, a Syracuse University professor and author of the recently published A Place of Darkness: The Rhetoric of Horror in Early American Cinema said the “otherness” of monsters frightens us.

But it also provokes empathy, he maintained, because “deep down inside, all of us sometimes feel a little bit like a misfit and a monster.”

“King Kong is a horrible threatening monster that does dangerous things, and yet one cannot help — whether it’s the 1933 version or the most recent version — to have a certain level of sympathy,” he told AFP.

Demons from the deep aren’t always cinematic gold, of course, and among the failures Phillips highlighted Universal’s The Mummy (2017).

The Tom Cruise actioner was supposed to launch the studio’s “Dark Universe” franchise, rebooting all its classic monsters, but it flopped spectacularly, scoring a 16% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and losing an estimated $95 million.

‘LOVE LETTER’
“It’s funny that the same year, Guillermo del Toro releases a movie that is a beautiful love letter to that era, that really captures the spirit of all of those monsters beautifully,” Phillips told AFP.

The academic said The Shape of Water proved to be the perfect antidote to America’s divisive culture wars, with their unrelenting message from certain politicians and other public figures to “fear the other.”

“Here we have this movie that tells a beautiful love story really, about two entities who feel disconnected and not part of the world, and are somehow able to bridge that gap,” he said.

Not all resonant movies win Oscars, of course, and one of the main strengths of The Shape of Water, according to many critics, is its middle-of-the-road inoffensiveness.

While it may not have been as beloved as the best picture favorite Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, it wasn’t hated either, and likely didn’t rack up last place rankings on voters’ ballots.

Three Billboards, was acclaimed by critics but is likely to have garnered as many last-place votes as top rankings due to a backlash over how it appears to absolve one of its main characters, a violent, racist police officer.

Daniel Montgomery, of awards Web site Gold Derby, said he had expected The Shape of Water to win best picture despite its “unorthodox interspecies romance.”

“Granted, films don’t always need to feel good to win Oscar. Just look at gritty best picture winners like The Departed (2006), No Country for Old Men (2007), and The Hurt Locker (2008),” he wrote.

“Three Billboards would have fit that darker mold. But on a preferential ballot, it might help to be huggable.” — AFP

Airbus says 3,700 jobs hit by slower A380, A400M deliveries

PARIS — Airbus will cut production rates for its A380 superjumbo and A400M military aircraft, it confirmed on Wednesday, adding that up to 3,700 jobs would be hit in France, Germany, Britain and Spain.

Dubai’s Emirates saved the A380, the world’s largest passenger jet, from death row in January with an order worth $16 billion at list prices. But demand elsewhere remains weak and Airbus said it would fall to six A380 deliveries a year by 2020, from an expected 12 deliveries this year.

In a sign of the challenges Airbus faces with the 544-seat A380, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar al-Baker said the planemaker needed to improve the double-decker jet’s fuel efficiency before it would look at another order.

The A400M program, meanwhile, has been beset by glitches and cost overruns. Deliveries of the new troop transporter will slow to eight in 2020, compared with 15 this year and 11 in 2019.

Airbus has presented the adjustments to its European Works Council and will now enter formal negotiations with staff representatives at European and national levels, the company said in a statement.

“About 10 sites will be impacted in Europe. Most workers will be redeployed,” an Airbus spokesman said.

Trade unionists present at the meeting said that Britain’s Filton site, Spain’s factory in Sevilla and plants in Germany’s Bremen and Augsburg would be the main ones affected.

Yvonnick Dreno, a senior Force Ouvriere unionist said that 1,925 jobs would be affected in Germany, 860 in Spain, 465 in Britain and 470 in France.

“We believe the redeployment to other programs will be relatively easy in France,” he told Reuters, adding that reassigning workers would be harder in Spain and Britain, where production is more focused on the A400M.

Emirates’ order for 20 of the double-decker A380s, with an option of 16 more, rescued the slow-selling aircraft, in service for only 10 years and one of Europe’s most visible industrial symbols overseas.

At a delivery rate of six a year, the A380 program will make a loss. Airbus hopes the Emirates agreement will spur orders from other airlines, but some will be hard to win over.

“In the current form we are not interested in any more A380s,” Qatar Airways boss Baker told reporters in Berlin. “It is very heavy. It needs a lot of modifications. It needs a lot of improvement in its fuel burn to make it economic.”

IAG, which operates British Airways, Iberia, Vueling and Aer Lingus, said on Tuesday that it would consider buying more A380s if the aircraft was cheaper.

Sales of the A380 have disappointed in the face of strong competition from smaller, more flexible twin-engine jets that are at least as efficient.

Airbus struck a draft deal last month with European buyer nations of the A400M — Europe’s largest defense project — to revamp delivery schedules and ease cash retention clauses but was forced to write off another €1.3 billion on the loss-making project. — Reuters

Hong Kong seen draining liquidity with currency near weak end of peg vs dollar

HONG KONG’S central bank will probably take steps to tighten liquidity in the financial system as the city’s currency approaches the weak end of its peg against the greenback.

That’s according to 15 of 19 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg from March 2 to 6, who said the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) will offer extra Exchange Fund Bills (EFB) this year, although not all agreed currency weakness would be a factor in the sales. Twelve respondents said the exchange rate will breach the weak end of its HK$7.75-7.85 band for the first time since it was imposed in 2005.

As a global financial center with open capital borders and a currency peg, Hong Kong has limited options when it comes to controlling liquidity — which is currently plentiful. Extra bill sales may help slow the local dollar’s drop, but they risk undermining a monetary system in which the HKMA is not supposed to target interest rates. Once the currency reaches the limit of the band, the HKMA will be forced to buy Hong Kong dollars, thereby shrinking the monetary base and effectively raising rates.

“HKMA will act preemptively before HKD hits the 7.85 level,” said Christy Tan, Singapore-based head of Asia markets strategy at National Australia Bank Ltd.

She added that the local currency could breach the HK$7.85 level quickly as it becomes more volatile around the Federal Open Market Committee meeting on March 22 and if local interbank rates known as Hibor remain low. “HKMA may need to spend more to defend the peg system in this circumstance, as speculators may see this as an opportunity to test the peg,” Tan said.

The market has started to show it expects higher rates. One-year interest-rate swaps jumped to the highest intraday level since 2008 on Thursday, while basis swaps — which let holders exchange floating Hibor-based payments with those based on dollar Libor — rose above zero last week for the first time since late 2016. Twelve-month forward points rose to the highest since January on Thursday.

The Hong Kong dollar has weakened 1% since end-2016 to HK$7.8344 as of 9:45 a.m. on Thursday, near its weakest level since 1984. That trend was interrupted only when monetary officials announced EFB sales totalling HK$80 billion ($10.2 billion) in August and September. Still, gains in rates proved temporary as money flowed into the stock market and liquidity remained flush after massive inflows fueled by global monetary easing. The one-month Hibor is around 100 basis points below the US equivalent of Libor, the biggest spread since 2008.

To be sure, the HKMA can sell EFBs regardless of currency moves. It stressed last year that the bill sales weren’t aimed at pushing up rates and only served to meet strong demand. HKMA Chief Executive Norman Chan said in December it had no plans to offer the debt. Six of the surveyed analysts who said they expect more of the debt sales indicated the spot rate won’t be a consideration.

Still, selling EFBs now could create the impression that they are aimed at pushing up Hibor and hence the exchange rate. Many analysts say the HKMA prefers using bill sales over being forced to buy local currency when the exchange rate reaches HK$7.85 — which it has not had to do since the band was widened in 2005.

“Mopping up liquidity again and again would put the credibility of the Linked Exchange Rate System in question, which would be risky to the whole financial system,” said Iris Pang, an economist at ING Groep NV in Hong Kong. — Bloomberg

PCC clears Ayala Land’s acquisition of CAT property

THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) cleared Ayala Land, Inc.’s (ALI) acquisition of a Tarlac City property owned by Central Azucarera de Tarlac (CAT).

In a decision dated March 6, the antitrust body’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office said the transaction “does not result in substantial lessening of competition, considering that the parties are not operating in the same relevant geographic market.”

Ayala Land is buying around 290 hectares of CAT’s land in Barangay Central, San Miguel in Tarlac City. CAT’s sugar mill, refinery, distillery and carbon dioxide plants are located in Tarlac

Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed.

Ayala Land is ramping up spending this year, setting aside P110.8 billion in capital expenditures. The company expects strong demand for residential properties to continue. Around 43% of the capex or P47.4 billion will be allotted for residential projects, 17% or P18.7 billion for mall projects, 12% or P14 billion for land acquisitions.

ALI’s attributable profit grew 21% to P25.3 billion in 2017, driven by the 14% increase in revenues to P122 billion amid strong demand for residential projects in the country.

The PCC earlier this week released the revised guidelines for the mandatory notification of mergers and acquisitions, raising the threshold for the size of person to P5 billion and the size of transaction to P2 billion. The new guidelines will be implemented on March 20. — Janina C. Lim

Netflix to give parents more control over content access

NETFLIX, INC. is rolling out features that will give parents more control over access to content by allowing them to block individual movies and specific shows.

Users can currently restrict content with only a specific maturity rating by using a numeric password.

The new features will be available globally in the coming months, Mike Hastings, Netflix’s director of enhanced content, wrote in a blog post.

Netflix has more than 100 million users across the world and spends billions of dollars in creating original shows such as The Crown and Stranger Things.

Nudity is common in several of its popular shows such as Sense8, Orange is the New Black and House of Cards. Those shows, however, come with a “adult” rating.

Netflix added that it will “more prominently” show the maturity level of a film or a series once users play it.

Separately, Netflix released a teaser of the final season of its hit political drama House of Cards, in which Robin Wright plays the role of the first female US president, after Kevin Spacey’s exit from the show.

Netflix cut ties with Spacey, who earlier played protagonist Francis Underwood in the drama, after allegations of sexual misconduct against him. — Reuters

The five best Olympics movies of all time

By Richard Roeper

AS THE 2018 Winter Olympics played out in Pyeongchang last month, NBC introduced the audience to dozens of athletes via well-crafted background packages that often played like mini-movies.

Of course, the most memorable stories emerge organically from the games. And those are the stories that often inspire full-length movies.

In order of preference, here’s my top five Olympics movies and a handful of honorable mentions.


5. Chariots of Fire (1981)

It became one of the most memorable scenes in motion picture history: that glorious, time-capsule, slow-motion sequence of joyous British runners, circa 1924, racing along the beach to the sound of Vangelis.

It also became one of the most parodied movie moments ever, but even that is a compliment to the lasting impact of the scene.

Chariots of Fire took us by surprise in 1981. Few of us knew the story of Eric Liddell (Ian Charleson), a devout Christian who gave all credit for his success to the glory of God, and Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross), a Jew who overcame anti-Semitism both subtle and overt in his quest for Olympic glory.

Director Hugh Hudson and screenwriter Colin Welland did a masterful job of sticking relatively closely to the historical facts while delivering a crowd-pleasing sports story with two complex but quite likable heroes to root for.

The film won Oscars for best picture, best screenplay, best costume design and yes, best score.


4. 9.79 (2012)

The title of Daniel Gordon’s 30 for 30 documentary refers to Canadian Ben Johnson’s almost unbelievable world-record time in the 100-meter dash at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

Turns out it WAS unbelievable. Or at least unattainable without an illegal boost.

Three days after the Olympics, Johnson was stripped of his medal after testing positive for steroids, and the gold was awarded to the American Carl Lewis.

But that doesn’t necessarily make Johnson the evil, cheating villain and Lewis the lovable hero. Gordon’s film takes a look at the steroid epidemic of the 1980s, noting six of the eight runners in that Olympic final have been implicated for PED use (though some continue to maintain they were always clean). Gordon conducted extensive interviews with Lewis and Johnson and shows us two talented, competitive, complicated, flawed, very human individuals.


3. Miracle (2004)

To this day, the all-amateur, US men’s hockey team’s upset of the vaunted professionals from the Soviet Union in 1980 just might be the most stunning upset in Olympics history.

With a perfectly cast Kurt Russell as coach Herb Brooks and a group of little-known actors playing the then unknown players, an unapologetically heart-tugging screenplay from Eric Guggenheim and Mike Rich, and sure-handed direction from Gavin O’Connor, Miracle follows the underdog-sports movie blueprint with little deviation — and that’s why it’s so dang enjoyable.

When real life has given you all the ingredients for a classic sports film, why mess with the recipe?


2. Foxcatcher (2014)

A brilliant film about an American tragedy.

The meticulous and greatly talented Bennett Miller specializes in fictional films that bend and shape the facts, but still carry essential truths, e.g., Capote and Moneyball. He does it again with Foxcatcher, which tells the story of the eccentric and ultimately criminally paranoid John E. du Pont (played by the uncanny Steve Carell), his obsession with wrestling and his recruitment of the Olympic gold medal wrestlers Mark Schultz (Channing Tatum) and his brother Dave (Mark Ruffalo).

Although much of Foxcatcher takes place at the training facility on Du Pont’s property and not the Olympics per se, there are some sobering insights about the quest for Olympic glory — and the reality that for athletes in non-glamour sports such as wrestling, winning the gold meant almost nothing once the games were over. The reason Mark Schultz was so quick to accept Du Pont’s help and allow himself to be financially and emotionally seduced by the wealthy oddball was he had little else going for him.


1. Munich (2005)

True, this is not a sports movie, but for better or worse, from the triumph of Jesse Owens at the 1936 Berlin Games to the US boycott of the 1980 Summer Games to discrimination against athletes of various ethnicities and faiths, the Olympics have always been about much more than the pure competition.

Steven Spielberg’s searing historical epic starts with the unspeakable tragedy at the 1972 Summer Olympics, when a Palestinian terrorist group killed 11 Israeli Olympic team members and a German police officer.

Written by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner (Angels in America) and Eric Roth (Academy Award winner for Forrest Gump) and starring Eric Bana, Daniel Craig, Ciaran Hinds, Omar Metwally, Geoffrey Rush, and Mathieu Kassovitz, Munich is one of Spielberg’s most controversial films. It’s a rough, violent, debate-provoking interpretation of Israel’s alleged secret and vast campaign to exact revenge on the surviving members of the Palestinian terrorist group.

Munich might not be the movie you want to watch when hoping for a glorious Olympics that’s all about the athletes and the spirit of competition. A film such as Miracle might be the way to go.

But it’s one of the best films of any kind of the 21st century, and if you haven’t seen it, perhaps you can place it in your queue for future viewing.

Honorable mentions: I, Tonya, Cool Runnings, One Day in September, Personal Best, and Downhill Racer. — Chicago Sun-Times/Andrews McMeel Syndication

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