"AIR - Courting a Legend "

Last week I was fortunate enough to watch the press screening of "AIR - Courting a Legend ".

The biographical sports drama film directed by Ben Affleck and written by Alex Convery. 

The film stars Matt Damon (Sonny Vaccaro), Ben Affleck (Phil Knight), Jason Bateman 

(marketing legend Rob Strasser), Viola Davis (Deloris Jordan, Michael's mother, which Jordan 

insisted on for the role), Chris Messina (David Falk - Jordan's Manager) and Chris Tucker 

(Howard White, today's vice-president of the Jordan brand). 

It's plot chronicles the origin of the Air Jordan shoeline and how Nike, Inc. employee Sonny 

Vaccaro goes above and beyond to strike a business deal with rookie basketball player 

Michael Jordan, building the company into the international shoe and athletic apparel giant it 

is today.

Now for those of you who might not know, I am a cineast and huge movie addict (I watch a 

minimum of 4 movies at home and visit the cinema at least once a week).

I did not watch the film with any expectations as seeing terribly shaped retro sneakers being 

placed as OG pieces in the trailer already and was worried about that lack of details in the 

rest of the movie, but apart from the missing OG shapes and models being used, I must say 

I was pleasantly surprised!

Viola, Matt and Jason play their parts beautifully and overall the storytelling keeps a nice 

dynamic. 

The movie is filled with fun facts and background information on the brand and the exceptional 

deal it's portraying, without even showing Michael's face once; so lots of great tidbits for those 

who have not spent the past quarter century reading up on the subject.

Also I noticed the film takes inspiration from famous sneaker movies that came before, as I 

believe I saw a little snippet from the 'Just for Kicks' graphics in the opening sequence.  

In addition there are tons of nods towards what was and what was to come in the Nike universe: 

Wheaties boxes, a ton of the old Nike Posters designed by John Brown & Partners and some 

of Phil Knight's insane neon outfits are just a few of the many details I enjoyed spotting.

And for those who are checking the movie out of the sneaker bubble; it is still a very 

entertaining and informative piece about the complications of putting a price on passion 

and dedication and at the same time highlighting what an exceptional deal the Air Jordan line 

was for the athletes that followed;

A precedent for athlete's autonomy and sponsoring/testimonial contracts.

Over all some very enjoyable 118 minutes filled with fun facts and insights. 

A big thank you to André Langenfeld and Hilde Läufle from Rubi-Pr for the invitation!

The Archive Room

On Tuesday I spent a wonderful evening with Ernie at the size? x adidas panel talk in the 

saatchi gallery where currently the amazing 'Beyond the Streets' exhibition is being 

showcased.

We had the pleasure spending a short time almost by ourselves checking out the impressive 

collection and where in awe of the curation and mass of inedible rarities!

Ernie himself exhibited 32 pairs of his Adidas basketball collection, and I felt honored to see 

my SQ Rivalry amongst his selection.

After some last touch ups on his pairs, the displays where sealed and the doors opened.

At the following panel discussion we had the chance to speak about my favorite subject with 

f3lix and DJ Semtex - the socio-cultural background of various sneaker models.

A quick meet with Jason Coles and Thomas Turner was the icing on the cake.

A big thank you to Size? for this great short trip and to everyone who came out even though 

I hardly got to talk to most of my guest. Hope I see you again soon

All pictures after the jump

London, I am coming to the Archive Room

Join me this Tuesday at the Saatchi gallery from 7:30pm where size? will be partnering up with 

adidas originals and Beyond the Streets to bring you The Archive Room. 

There will be a footwear exhibition consisting of legendary vintage adidas basketball silhouettes plus a 

panel discussion with Ernie Beckmann, yours truly and Felix Young plus a special guest host.

Tickets are free, so click the link now to sign up. 

Saatchi Gallery

Duke of York’s HQ

Kings Road

London

SW3 4RY

What needs to change in Women's Sneaker Releases?

Thank you Sneaker Freaker for this feature and post!
For giving some female opinions a platform in an industry that tends to only show a tiny slice 
of everything that females are and strive to be.

Some great statements by these awesome women:

@imsimplyb @mimiplange @stephanie.endstate 

Read through the whole article here