REEL CRITICS:

The early years of professional football in America were a pale shadow of the highly respected college game of that time.

Pro football players in the 1920s were less than stellar as athletes and role models. On the surface, “Leatherheads” focuses on the rascals who played the game and the businessmen who financed the teams hoping for a national audience.

But at its core, this movie really strives to revive the screwball comedies of the 1930s with a good measure of success.

Renee Zellweger is the smart babe and George Clooney is the debonair man. The two trade sharp one-liners with each other as they dance around their romantic attraction.

She plays a newspaper reporter sent to investigate the real story behind the latest superstar college player turning pro under questionable circumstances.

Clooney directs and stars in this first-rate production.

It features a good number of sharp laughs generated by the snappy zingers in the dialogue.

It’s a bit long at almost two hours. But there’s some good acting plus enough twists and turns in the formula screenplay to keep it joyfully entertaining.

‘Shine a Light’

Is there anything more suited for the giant IMAX screen than The Rolling Stones in concert?

Director Martin Scorsese captures the energy and sound of the world’s greatest living rock ’n’ roll band in a live performance filmed in 2006.

Between blistering renditions of their classics such as “Live with Me” and “Shattered” are interview clips from 40 years ago. It’s startling to see these “bad boys” in their handsome, soft-spoken youth.

Anyone of a certain age may be shocked that the Stones are still alive, much less performing, in their 60s.

One could say they haven’t made any groundbreaking new music for quite a while, but what is amazing is that both they and the audience can still have a good time listening to their vast catalog of great songs.

Even craggy-faced Keith Richards looks happy, as evidenced by his lopsided, demented grin.

Onstage, Mick Jagger has the energy of a man 30 years younger and Scorsese keeps the camera’s main focus on his moves as he struts, leaps and preens across the stage.

The music is never better than when they perform with guest artist and blues legend Buddy Guy.

“Shine a Light” doesn’t touch your soul like Scorsese’s 1978 masterpiece, “The Last Waltz,” but it’s a fitting testament to this seemingly eternal band and their music. I know, it’s only rock ’n’ roll, but I like it.

JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator for the Orange County public defender’s office. SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a financial services company.