Tag Archives: Baseball

Bang the Drum Slowly Review

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Usually you expect a Baseball film to be a rather happy one. Some kind of slice of life or really competitive sports title. Well, this one decides to switch things up a bit by being more of a dramatic, sad affair. The tone manages to still stay light for the most part but there is something looming over you the whole time. I would say how much you enjoy the film may come down to how sad you find it.

The movie starts with Bruce finding out some bad news, he is dying. He has a rare disease that is quite fatal and will begin to deteriorate his body over time. Only Bruce and his best friend Henry know about this and they decide not to tell anyone. Although naturally that begins to be a hard secret to keep for very long so eventually more and more people find out. How will Bruce handle his impending death?

Nobody knows the exact point of their death and that’s why it can always be an interesting topic. If you know that you will most likely die within the next year, how would that affect your life? I imagine for some people it would be a little liberating. For others it would be rather scary. It depends on what you believe happens after death. As a Christian I’d be rather excited since that means I’ve made it to the end of the road. Of course you’d rather not deal with the pain and all but there’s nothing scary about death. If anything it can be seen as something to look forward to, although of course you can’t rush it.

If you don’t have a solid future to look forward to, then of course it’s going to be sad and depressing. The film is definitely banking on this being a really sad affair and so that’s where I’d say it doesn’t land quite so effectively. It’s not a bad film by any means but I’d put it near the middle. It has some pretty funny scenes and I actually thought the humor was really on point when it would let the jokes fly. If anything this film would have been a really good comedy and they could have just had the doctor show up at the end and say it was a false positive. Of course it’s just not that kind of film but that would have been an interesting way to go about it.

Throughout the film, Henry shows himself to be a great friend. He helps Bruce out a lot with getting everything straightened out and also doesn’t let the guy get taken for a sucker by a lady with big ambitions. It would have been nice if he could have gotten Bruce to really understand what was happening a bit more but when love is involved that can get really tricky. In the worst case, you could blow up the friendship right when Bruce needs it most. So Henry made the tough call and things worked out well enough.

Even though Bruce was the one dying, Henry certainly had to endure a whole lot on his end as well. He even crashes out at one point which is fairly obligatory in films like this but still more on the annoying side. That was a whole lot of property damage after all. Meanwhile Bruce wasn’t the smartest guy around but he did his best to always be a nice guy. By the end he even started playing a little better and everyone started being nicer to him. So at least he got to end things off on a high note.

Meanwhile there is a subplot where the coach is trying to figure out what is going on and keeps on getting closer to the truth. I really liked how determined he was and no amount of lies could keep him away. It’s why he was a good coach, he knew his players inside and out. It can be tough to call out a lie but he never backed down. The scenes are also played up quite a bit with the humor and they end up being quite funny.

The writing is solid throughout and the pacing is pretty good as well. On a technical level I didn’t really have any problems with the film. It will just have a hard time keeping your attention the whole time because there just isn’t a whole lot to it. It feels like the film is missing something and it’s hard to say exactly what that would be. One possibility would be to have continued the film after Bruce’s death and now Henry has to fight that one lady in court. That could have been a pretty interesting climax even if it would be a bit far away from Baseball at that point. Alternately maybe more Baseball scenes? I’m not quite sure if that is what would really take things all the way through to the next level but just some things I’d throw out there as possibilities.

Alternately maybe a first act to see more of Bruce’s dynamic with the team before he actually gets really sick. That could work as well and really show us more of a contrast on how they all act after they find out that he is dying. We certainly have less screentime of the original dynamic compared to the new one. The team never really struck me as bad guys either. Yes there was quite a bit of ribbing but that seems normal for any kind of sports team. Maybe I’m just too used to it at this point but for example nothing in the film felt particularly malicious. They did their best to walk on eggshells later on and be extra nice but for some, they’d probably prefer to keep going with the banter and act normal.

Overall, Bang the Drum Slowly is a reasonable film. It doesn’t have a whole lot of replay value and could have probably either focused more on the humor or added another subplot to keep you engaged. That said, it’s a very unique kind of Baseball film so you could definitely check it out on that basis. It’s certainly not trying to be a clone of anything else or being generic in any sense. There is even a sad song that plays at one point during the film to try and drill the message home.

Overall 5/10

Little Big League Review

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It’s time for a wholesome Baseball film. Imagine if you woke up one day and were the owner of a professional baseball team? There’s a lot that could go on from there. Admittedly if you’re not an ambitious person you may just immediately sell the team and collect your hundreds of millions of dollar. Nothing wrong with that but if you are a competitive person then it’s time to prove your skills on the biggest audience you have ever encountered. It makes for a fun film that does have some cheesy moments here and there.

The film starts off with introducing us to Billy and his grandfather. They would always go to the games together and since grandpa owned the Minnesota Twins, they got great seats. Well, one day his grandpa dies and leaves the team for Billy. Billy’s still just a kid but he is eager to continue his father’s legacy and get a good victory. As the film goes on Billy learns more about the inner workings of the sport but also starts to lose his humanity. Has the power and fame gotten to him?

Billy is probably the most annoying character in here because of how quickly the power corrupts. He doesn’t have a very strong moral compass as he forgets about his friends and even about his ethics. He is quick to use his newfound powers to rent movies that aren’t appropriate and doesn’t seem very apologetic the whole time. They say that money and power bring out the bigger version of you and this absolutely exposed Billy for the person hat he really is. It was an unfortunate situation on all sides. By the end he slowly starts to get better but it would have been really nice if he could have stayed strong the whole time. He could have shown that perhaps a kid can be a good owner.

His team certainly wasn’t the best though. A bunch of them were just total quitters the whole time. They punched in to do their jobs and then they dipped. Not the best way to go about things. I guess when it’s hopeless then you can see how people would check out but the fact that some of them were still throwing games just to spite Billy was pretty bad. It shows that they did not have the right priorities here at all so in a way you don’t even want to root for them. Perhaps they deserved the original coach who was always yelling at them.

The most important Baseball player here is Lou because he has a crush on Billy’s Mom. Sorry guys but this was a pretty bad subplot. You can’t be dating the owner’s mother. Yes, he likes her before Billy became his boss but by that point it was all over. He needed to break it off. There are way too many conflicts of interest here and of course as this is a classic rebound, it’s no a romance plot that I could really go for. For better or worse the relationship would need to wait until after Billy retired.

Additionally, Lou enters a slump around this time and while the timing might be coincidental, I’ve never really put much stock in coincidences. They’re just hard to believe if you ask me. Things tend to happen for a reason in most cases and in this case I think Lou was just too distracted. Too busy with romance instead of hitting the books and working on his batting swing. That’s a real problem.

Meanwhile Billy’s other friends weren’t really much better. They were quick to abuse their power as well to pick on the new kid once Billy left. Seems like a rather vicious cycle. Obviously this is all played for laughs but it’s still not a good look for the kids. They aren’t exactly the most humble kids out there.

The movie is at its best when focusing on the actual Baseball. It was nice to see Billy showing off his knowledge and the players actually getting to put it into practice. There are definitely ways you can help someone even if you aren’t a Master’s level expert in Baseball or anything like that. I can buy the kid being an owner to a degree since he would just have to hire the right talent who would take care of the day to day. Actually going out there and talking with the team? That would be more of a distraction for sure.

I think the movie could have even been more fun if they aged the kid up a bit. It would have allowed him to really contribute a bit more and you could still have the players being defensive about having to listen to a teenager. Yeah they would look petty but to be honest they already look petty here so it’s not like it would be much different. Good advice is good advice regardless of who is giving it.

While this is something you can always do for yourself anyway, it was really nice seeing the huge spreads that the Baseball players get after each game. It would certainly help take the sting out of the defeat for me. It wasn’t even anything too fancy, chips and sandwiches but the fact that they were endless was awesome. As the owner you would be able to partake in the meal each time too. Just another one of the endless perks of being an owner.

Overall, The movie is pretty fun and has solid pacing. I think it could have stood to have a little more fun with the premise and focus on Billy being a generational coach instead of letting all of the drama get more important. That said, the premise alone makes this a pretty fun film. Who hasn’t thought about being a boss while you were still a kid right? There would be a whole lot of things that you could do and you feel like you would be able to handle it better than the grownups. Whether that is true or not would certainly depend on the adult in question but that’s the idea. I’d like to see more films like this one. You could definitely do it without making the kid super unlikable though. Have him keep his confidence from the opening scenes without any of the drama and corruption later on. No helping throw water balloons at people or falling asleep during games. That made him look terrible.

Overall 6/10

The Pride of the Yankees

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It’s time for a Baseball film with a lot of hype but also one that deals with tragedy later on. After all the movie is about Lou Gehrig who was well known for getting quite sick at one point. It definitely put him through a lot but most of the movie happens before that at least. They do a good job of showing Lou to be a really nice guy and the Baseball scenes are fun. So all in all there’s not a whole lot to dislike about the film.

It starts with Lou growing up as a big Baseball fan even though he plans to be an Engineer when he grows up the way that his Mom wants him to. Baseball is just not something you really aim for because so many people end up crashing out early. Well, he’s scouted for the Yankees anyway and ultimately ends up going for it. He becomes one of the best Baseball players out there and gets married to Eleanor. The two of them get to have many good times before he eventually ends up passing.

There’s not really an antagonist in this film at all. Sometimes a film like this may try to at least have a really tough reporter or someone like that to shake Lou up but that doesn’t really happen here. There is one heckler who tends to bet against Lou but it’s never really played in a mean spirited way. The guy struck me as being competitive but not actually nefarious. He was actually pretty entertaining the whole time. Meanwhile Lou’s mother was a tough customer about Baseball and then being jealous of his wife for a while but eventually she got better. I was glad that Lou stuck up for Eleanor there and helped her out.

At the end of the day your wife is supposed to be the head of the household when it comes to decorating, equipment, and any of the rules there. Lou’s mother was nice enough in most instances but even if she was to have been perfectly kind, it’s just not her place anymore. Eleanor ultimately should have been a little more determined and stuck up for herself too though. Allowing herself to be on the backfoot the whole time definitely didn’t help matters. It made her look a bit too timid the whole time. If you’re not able to have an honest conversation with your husband then the relationship doesn’t feel too sound.

That’s where I have to criticize Lou as well though. When he gets sick, he tells everyone not to tell his wife so she won’t worry. I would consider this to be selfish in the highest degree. She absolutely has a right to know, particularly since others already do. To be the only one left out like that is pretty awful. Yeah she figures it out pretty quick but I think he owed it to her to tell her directly rather than her having to confirm with alternate sources.

The writing is pretty solid and the script is always on point. Lou can appear to be a bit naive at times but that’s how it goes sometimes. The film is long and it does feel long so perhaps the pacing isn’t perfect but they did have a whole lot to cover. I would say that by and large they did manage to cover a whole lot of it excluding the Baseball parts which was definitely more on the unfortunate side. We definitely got to see that Lou really had a lot of support among his fans and friends to the very end though. The montage of everyone rooting for him was rough even if he ultimately could not end up beating out the illness. Sometimes you just are not able to overpower it like that. Particularly since this is based on true events it’s not like they could change the ending. So instead I’m glad that the film doesn’t dwell on it for too long.

I feel like a modern movie might try to milk that part a bit more. Letting us see the main character in tears on multiple occasions or something like that. Bringing up the sad music and everything to amp things up to the next level. I definitely prefer the more subtle touch, it’s the way to go since you still feel the sad impact without it absolutely taking over and starting to drown out the happy beginning. After all Lou still got to live a very complete life with a whole lot of highs so I imagine he would still have been pretty satisfied with the end result.

Overall, The Pride of the Yankees is definitely a celebration to Lou and they do a really good job of that. Fans of him should be pretty pleased with his portrayal and of course the Yankee fans will like seeing all of the home runs and the glory days here. I would have liked to have seen more of the actual Baseball action myself considering how long the movie was though. They definitely should have been able to squeeze in at least another 45 minutes or so right? Especially if you play it like an extended montage you could have squeezed many more scenes in. Ultimately this is more about the man than the ballplayer although it hits both to an extent. Either way it’s a film worth checking out.

The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training Review

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It’s time for the return of the Bad News Bears! Unfortunately they have lost all of their skills from the last film so in a way you could almost treat this as a pseudo remake/reboot instead. As you’d probably expect, the most entertaining characters tend to be the adults while the kids can be more on the annoying side. There is definitely a lot of in fighting among the kids as they all get in each other’s way. They are not a well oiled machine.

The movie starts with a lot of Bad News for the Bears. Their coach is gone along with their top tier pitcher and also their best overall player. They’re going to be travelling to Texas to take on one of the best teams out there but as they are now they would be absolutely crushed. So they have to do something about this but what is there to do? Well, first thing’s first, they are going to need a coach. Kelly has a plan on this and meets up with his father Mike hoping that he can help. The two have a very strained relationship as Mike left the family and it’s been years since they met up. Mike agrees to help out but is Kelly actually okay with this?

In a lot of ways Kelly is probably the most annoying character here. I say that because he asked Mike for help and Mike agreed to do it. That should have been the end of it but then you have Kelly still throwing fits and not being sure if this is what he really wants. Mike decided to be the bigger guy and help out, Kelly should be grateful about this. You don’t have to be best friends or anything like that but I would at least expect some basic common courtesies and respect. Instead Kelly is just super ungrateful during the entire film. At the end he has his big emotional moment where he admits that he would have went looking for Mike even without the baseball experience and I have my doubts on that. So it undercuts the emotional vale of the moment just a bit.

We do get a lot of Baseball so that’s good at least. It’s a little rough to see the main team doing so poorly though. They get absolutely smoked at first which doesn’t make much sense. Yes, without their star pitcher they will give up more runs but they can’t even hit the ball anymore. That’s just plain embarrassing. Maybe the team isn’t quite as into Baseball as they try to get us to believe. They’re just in it for the fame and fortune.

It would also be nice if they could actually get along for 20 minutes without always trying to fight each other right away. There are so many moments in the film where the characters are on the bus and just start fighting each other. It always has to be broken up and you are reminded that the players are not very professional at the moment.

I felt bad for their fake coach who they manipulated in order to leave town though. The poor guy wasn’t actually invited to go along and was probably stressed the whole time. After all it would be easy for any parent to run into him and then what can he say? The guy was not particularly smart which is part of why he was easy to fool but by the same token that means it would be easy for him to spill the beans as well.

The film can also go into some rather generic territories. For example there is one kid who talks really tough throughout the movie. He’s the new pitcher and one of the best in the business. Well, of course it turns out that he can’t play. In fact he can’t even pitch a slow ball. He is possibly the worst player there at first and that’s rough. So that was definitely a bit much, I’d have preferred that the tough talking kid be someone who can actually hold his own. In a way that would have been a good twist.

Now I will say that the climax is pretty solid though. The idea that the kids’ match would be grounded so the adults could play does feel like something that could happen. I wouldn’t be shocked at least since the average fan wouldn’t care about the kids game too much. Sure there would be a lot of outrage and a public apology later on but in the moment? Yeah that could happen but I was glad that everyone united to stick up for the kids. It was a good climax and solid way to end things.

Ultimately the movie is just a bit more aimless than the first film. The first Bad News Bears had a very solid plot with an interesting angle and we got a good film out of that. This one is trying to copy a lot of the same plot elements which don’t work quite as well the second time around. Some of the plots are new like Kelly and Mike but that one wasn’t executed super well. I felt like a lot of the reasons that Kelly was made at him made no real sense. It was forced drama to extend the film and you didn’t really need that. Give us more scenes of Mike training the team so they can be a solid unit instead. That would have been better.

Overall, Bad News Bears 2 is an okay movie but probably not one I would really want to rewatch. It’s not bad but it does come across as rather pointless at times. You feel like there just has to be more to this film than what you’re seeing but then that doesn’t change as the film ends. There were some good ideas in concept but they just weren’t executed. The film is also a little restricted since most of the characters are kids and they don’t tend to be nearly as interesting. You just need to really enjoy the kids having their little banters and skirmishes. Otherwise this will definitely not be keeping up and I would recommend you watch most other mainstream Baseball films instead.

Overall 5/10

The Sandlot Review

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The Sandlot is one of those films that I would say has not aged very well. It ends up being more annoying than anything with all of the kids being rather obnoxious. The whole time you are waiting for them to change into better characters and it doesn’t really happen. Hey, they’re all rather young so you can cut them some slack but even so, I just expected better out of these guys. There’s also not enough baseball here which definitely hurts.

The movie starts with Scott moving to a new town again. It’s been rather tough for him to make friends as a result but he gives it his best effort. He heads to the local park where the kids are playing Baseball and tries to fit in but the problem is that he doesn’t actually know how to play. They eventually teach him and now they’re all one big unit. The question is, are they good influences…or bad ones?? Only time will tell.

Okay so right out of the gate the biggest problem here is that none of the kids are likable. They’re all super annoying and constantly getting into trouble. It’s quite telling that they were all super mean to Scott until he learned how to play. The main kid had to rig the game to have the others even give him a shot. It makes you wonder how many other kids they bullied. Yeah Scott was no good at the game but it’s still not a reason to be mean like that.

Then we have the whole lifeguard scene which is the low point of the film. The kid pretends to drown and tricks her which all of the other kids find to be hilarious and even something to be admired. No, that’s just an awful moment and shows that all of the kids are morally bankrupt. It’s just rough and you know that these kids could and should do better. So the film is ticking all of the wrong boxes here and it’s tough because they be getting away with all of this with no real repercussions. That’s another problem right here. If they were getting punished or yelled at then they could at least have some character development but that never happens.

The film also takes the low road of crude humor later on. We have kids barfing and it’s definitely not what you’re trying to see here. These scenes don’t exactly enhance your cinematic experience. Again, where’s the character development? Where are the fun scenes? They are nowhere to be found. To really show that the kids haven’t learned much about being responsible, Scot steals his step father’s baseball with a super rare signature. Things don’t go very well there and the whole thing was Scott’s fault.

I wasn’t super thrilled with how the ending played out. The chase scene with the big dog could have been fun but the whole time you are worried that the dog is going to get injured and of course he does. So that’s just writing in a terrible scene. The dog was really cool and I liked how much power he had in every scene but he should have ended the climax without any real injuries. Now that would have been a good way to close things out. At least I will say that the montage of coming up with ideas to get past the dog was easily the best part of the film. This was a time where the film was actually entertaining even if it wasn’t for long.

I already mentioned the most of the worst moments of the film so I guess all I can say about this is that otherwise the film just could get kind of boring. You weren’t as invested in the various characters and scenes as you could have been because of the characters. Even when they picked a fight with another group, I was rooting for them to lose because in the banter I felt like the main characters were being a lot meaner about it.

Another issue with the climax of the film is how things went for the neighbor. He’s a nice guy to be sure but losing his prized possession ball to give to some irresponsible kids wasn’t great. I know the step Dad will take good care of it but the neighbor is the one who really earned it. I know it’s supposed to be more on the heart warming side but I thought it was just plain annoying. The kids didn’t really deserve that.

Most of the film is also really focused on the kids so the subplot about Scott feeling awkward around his Step Dad doesn’t get a lot of focus. On one hand he is hoping to bond so they can be friends but on the other hand Scott is really bad at the whole Baseball thing at first. The fact that he can’t even throw is rather rough since he runs the ball over. I don’t think Bill hit Scott in the face with the ball on purpose though. Bill could have been gentler and better with the throws but I think generally he just wasn’t sure how to teach at all. He was also just shocked at how bad Scott was. Usually you at least have some fundamentals but this time he didn’t.

The only good kid in the film is Benny. He never makes fun of Scott and really helped him to fit in from the start. He stayed humble all the way through even though he was the best player. Benny was the only one brave enough to confront the dog in the end and he has a real sense of responsibility. He almost felt out of place next to all of the other kids who could only think about their own agendas. So yeah I wanted to give him a shoutout because in all fairness he was a legitimately good character.

Overall, The Sandlot isn’t really my kind of film and that’s to be expected. Generally I am not a big fan of coming of age type movies. Usually that’s because a film like this is pretty much guaranteed to have annoying characters. Part of the whole point is to have the characters learn some lessons about life as they grow up. That’s great, it means that the ending should usually be good but you will also have to be enduring the main cast for the whole film leading up to that which is a much taller order. It’s just not going to work because a film should be good for most of its scenes, not just at the very end. That’s where this one falters big time.

Overall 3/10

The Kid From Left Field Review

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It’s time for a retro Baseball title. This one as a kid as one of the main characters so I was wondering if he could really keep the film together but it ultimately works out. My main issue is with some of the adults who really don’t do anything to help him out at all. At the end of the day if you want to improve at anything, whether it be Baseball or video games you’re going to have to be ready to put the work in!

The film starts by introducing us to Coop who works as a peanut salesman within the Baseball stadium. He used to fancy himself as a good player but unfortunately he was never all that great. The folks around the stadium are nice enough to keep the act up so he can look good in front of his son though. I thought that was a really nice thing to do. Unfortunately the local team has been dreadful for a long while now and Coop knows what is wrong with them. The problem is that he has no credibility. When his son Christie passes on an off-hand remark to Pete, one of the players, the team begins to do better. This gives Coop and Christie an idea, they can help the entire team and Coop will have Christie be the go between. Now they can finally win the World Series!

Of course this plan would not work if Christie had no Baseball knowledge so it works out that he is experienced in the game as well. In fact he was managing his own team in the kids division. Even in the pros, while Christie mainly uses Coop’s ideas, he quickly begins to have ideas of his own that work out well. The team goes from being the laughing stock of the sport to suddenly being a top rated contender. There is really just one problem though which is that eventually someone is bound to figure out what is going on. Can Christie keep on being manager until they’ve won it all or is he doomed?

I think the only main problem I have with the film is that the conflict if a little forced. The team is winning ballgames now which is really the only thing the owner and coaches should care about. Why worry about who is giving the orders when the results are this good? I disagreed with Coop’s concerns throughout the whole experience but even worse is that the film gives him some ammo here with how the coach threw out the kid.

Midway through the film, the coach finally figures out without a shadow of a doubt that Christie is the brains behind the operation so he yells at the kid and fires him. You’d think that the players would say something the very instant they saw the kid wasn’t around or go to the owner right? Instead it takes a few losses before they storm the base and bring him back. It also makes no sense why the coach would do that since without Christie, he would be taking losses again and proving himself to be a bad coach. So what was the point of all of that? I didn’t feel like the film made a whole lot of sense in these moments and just made everyone look rather bad.

Christie did his part and the team should have had his back from the jump. Meanwhile Coop needed to be braver. It was nice to see him get all excited about working with Christie and being a secret hero of sorts but it took too long for him to finally get involved on the front end. Even right to the climax he was prepared to ditch the team which would have been rough. When the chips are down you have to deliver.

During the adventure there is a subplot with Pete who of course was in a huge slump before Christie showed up. His relationship with Marian is getting rocky as we come to the time tested dilemma of choosing his job or her. Marian wants him to leave the game because she figures he’s washed up and she might be right. Pete doesn’t want to just ditch his team in the middle of the season though and especially not when he’s suddenly had a big comeback. This time I felt Marian was not being very reasonable. Pete didn’t exactly have a lot of options here and he has people who are counting on him. I think Christie could have helped to train him up further and get the guy a few more accolades first.

So when the film gets dramatic is mainly when I had my doubts here but otherwise it is a fun Baseball film with a lot of action. This time you do get to see a whole lot of plays and any Baseball fan should be satisfied here. The turnaround is also believable since often times the difference between a big play and an error can really just be a single bad habit. These players were terrible because they had no coaching and didn’t really know where to start. So it makes sense that having actual coaches help out and show them the ropes would make for a huge difference.

If you want to get a bit technical again though, it is odd that no player ever complained about how bad their coach was. By all accounts he never even tried to teach them anything so isn’t that a good thing to mention to the owner? They should want to win too since it increases their salary so now I have to give them at least part of the blame. Look it’s not like I want to do this but it makes the most sense logically. The fake coach should never have lasted for even a fraction of how long he did.

Ultimately the film probably should have gone on for at least a few more minutes to really show us the ending but you can guess what would have happened next. So I was pretty satisfied all the way through and can confirm without a shadow of a doubt that this is a movie which puts Baseball first. The writing is good enough where you don’t mind the kid being one of the main characters. If you look at the film too deeply then some parts of the story don’t hold up quite so well but either way you’ll have a good time.

Overall, The Kid from Left Field is a good movie and definitely one to check out when you have the time. It’s a fairly short film so it’s not like it’ll take a ton of time and at the end of the day there’s not much to dislike here. While you will have to stretch your disbelief, you will be having fun the whole time which is what counts. I also am glad to see that snacks have come a long way since back in the day. Roasted Peanuts never sounded all that interesting, give me potato chips or something like that instead if I’m watching a game live.

Overall 7/10

The Pride of St. Louis

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One of the toughest things to come to terms with as an athlete is when you are finally washed out. No matter how good a player you are, you will eventually not be able to play with the best of them at some point right? Well, it’s even worse if an injury cuts things short because then you really know that you had more left in the tank. The film shows this off in a rather light hearted way and we see that Dizzy had to go through a lot.

The film introduces Dizzy as a very confident ballplayer. He has been around the sport his whole life and it is really his favorite thing to do. The scouts don’t totally see it his way yet as he has to go through the minor leagues instead of straight to the pros. Dizzy uses this time to win games either way though and also impresses a girl named Patricia enough to marry him. Dizzy even goes on to convince the teams to hire his brother Paul so they can star in the pros together. It’s all going super well until one day both Dizzy and Paul get massive injuries that are basically career enders. Paul takes this as well as he can but Dizzy is in denial and believes that he can still make a comeback. Is he right?

Most of the drama by this point is really about Dizzy making himself look bad with how he thinks he can still play while no doing so good. It goes on enough to the point where Patricia ultimately ditches him. I thought this part was definitely a bit much. Sure they’re still married but Patricia is nowhere to be found and doesn’t even show up to support him when Dizzy is being attacked by the media. The film could have made their dynamic a little nicer since I felt like neither side was very reasonable. Dizzy would never listen and Patricia took rather drastic steps right away.

As the main character, Dizzy is fun when playing baseball but he can be rather annoying. The fact that he isn’t able to hold a conversation without going on different tangents definitely explains the nickname. And of course there’s nothing wrong with still being a kid at heart but he does take it rather far. Patricia is never really able to get through to him and it’s also hard to see how they can have a proper romance when he just doesn’t have too much time for her. He’s always wanting to play and talk Baseball which isn’t always a good way to show where his priorities are.

His brother Paul was slightly more reasonable although also a space case compared to most characters. The best character here was probably Johnny who was a good friend to Dizzy and helped him out when the going got tough. Without him, Dizzy would have really been in a jam since nobody else was really in a place to help him out at all. So it’s definitely good to have at least one real friend who has your back.

The climax gets a little intense with a battle between the media and the school association. I thought that Dizzy gave up a little too quickly here. I know he thought that he was doing the right thing but when you give up like that you really are hanging everyone out to dry. Everyone who was supporting you through thick and thin are basically tossed to the curb. As you can probably tell with this film, my main problem was definitely with Dizzy for a decent portion of it. I thought he could have been a lot better.

The writing is solid as you would expect from an old film though. The pacing is good and the characters always sound very reasonable. I still enjoy the retro way of talking. The film is also on the shorter side and never drags on. The pacing is pretty good at all times, they did a good job of including a whole lot of story lines and plots here. You see Dizzy at his highest and at his lowest here. It’s a good reminder to never turn to drinks and gambling when you’re in a slump because that only makes things get even harder. It certainly backfired for Dizzy as you would expect.

While the drama could be a bit much, the sports were always good at least. It was interesting to hear the play by play broadcast from back in the day. I think Dizzy was probably a bit too scattered even for that as I don’t think I would necessarily want him as the commentor for a game I was watching. Of course I don’t really watch Baseball because I feel like it moves too slowly so it’s possible that you’d want to be distracted from the game with a lot of stories to make the dead time go faster. That’s definitely a possibility.

Overall, If you’re up for some Baseball then this is a good film to check out. I wouldn’t say any of the characters are too likable but none of them are awful or anything like that. The film is still able to stand on its own regardless. Be warned that while the themes of Baseball are a central part of the film, it doesn’t actually have a lot of game time in it. The moments where we see someone playing are actually rather brief. I definitely would have liked to have seen more of the game itself. It seems like a pretty accurate telling of Dizzy’s story though even if you have to take the ending aside. At the end of the day it’s a fairly pleasant film and one that you can watch at any time.

For the Love of the Game Review

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Time for some Baseball action. This film also throws some romance into the mix but it’s probably the weakest part here. Ultimately this is a classic story of having to choose between your love for someone else and your love of the game. There’s a lot of drama over here and what is going on ends up being bigger than any single game.

The movie starts with Billy getting ready to pitch his final game. He’s gotten quite a bit older and can’t really throw the way that he used too. He’s just too old and he knows it, but he doesn’t want to leave the game either. He’s had a great career so his coach Frank is reluctant to pull him out but at the same time he does want to win. Billy can continue his career if he really wants to do so, but it will be on a different team. He reflects on his life as the game goes on and how it all led to this.

A big part of that is in his romance with Jane. So this one falls flat for a few reasons. One of which is that they hook up almost immediately without really knowing each other so both come off as really desperate. Jane tries to say later on that she isn’t usually that kind of person but it’s a bit late for that and then Billy certainly proves that he is that kind of person when he cheats on her later on. They just never really ended up connecting in the long run and so the romance wasn’t one that you could really root for.

Put it this way, if Billy was able to cheat on Jane after a single disagreement then he was never too serious about her in the first place. You just don’t cheat on someone like that, especially so quickly. It was really a terrible look for him. Jane really shouldn’t have even attempted to bridge the gap here after that. From the start another red flag was that their relationship was going to be a long distance one where they aren’t supposed to call each other or even think about each other. They were supposed to live their lives and just hang out when they’re in the same town. That doesn’t sound like a winning way to go through life now does it?

The Baseball scenes are fun though even if they never feel like the main part of the story. The final game in the present is certainly dramatic since Billy wants to go out on a high note. No better way than to try and pitch a shutout right? That’s extremely rare in any game and almost never happens. Billy also has a good team by his side. There’s the up and coming outfielder who initially has a hard time not messing up on the field but learns to tune out the media and just play ball.

There’s also the catcher Gus who was with Billy every step of the way. Billy would also fight to keep Gus on the team when the coach wanted to put someone else in. They made for a good duo and clearly had a great career even if the time was almost up there. So the movie’s got a lot of emotional stories going on and especially plots about how age always catches up to you. Sure enough, it’s not something that you can escape forever. Ultimately it will always return to make you retire at some point.

Jane’s daughter Heather also gets to appear for a bit. She’s used in a way to try and patch things up with Billy and Jane. Heather’s nice enough even if she starts out as a bit of a rebel. She can give Billy a hard time at first but warms up to him later on. Her role isn’t super large but she does appear near the end of the film in the current timeline and she’s now more of an outgoing person. Perhaps Billy had a positive effect on her there.

I would have liked to have seen some more Baseball action though. That’s really what I’m here for and I felt like it didn’t really get a big role. More Baseball games would have been nice, maybe take us through the whole season as Billy’s play began to deteriorate more and more. Particularly given the title of the film focusing on that would be best and by constantly seeing Baseball games in the flashback, it would also be a meta way to show the audience that it was still the first thing that he thinks about every day. It could further show Jane that she ultimately made the right choice in deciding to head out.

The writing’s decent enough here. You’ll be invested as the film goes on and the pacing is good too. It doesn’t drag out or anything like that either. I wasn’t a fan of the two main leads here but I did like the friend and the coach. Ultimately the coach especially has a tough job here since he needs to keep the locker room happy while also making the tough business decisions so that the team can keep on winning. The whole thing is impossible to keep impersonal here since everyone has known each other for so long. Still, he does a good job of it and is also careful to make sure Billy isn’t overdoing it.

Overall, The film’s main weakness is that the romance doesn’t really work. Both characters made massive mistakes with how the relationship was started in the beginning and then Billy ruined it beyond repair. The Baseball scenes were always great but they were just so few and far between. I really think we should have gotten more cool Baseball moments and that also could have let us meet more of the team. When you think about it, we didn’t actually know too many of the players.

Overall 5/10

Nine Dragons’ Ball Parade Review

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All right, we have another cancelled Jump title so lets jump right into it. You can make the case that there has not been a truly definitive Baseball title yet. Tennis has Prince of Tennis, Football has Eyeshield 21, Soccer has Whistle, Basketball has two separate options in Slam Dunk or Kuroko’s Basketball, (Either will suffice) Volleyball has Haikyu, etc. For Baseball the top one would likely be Cross Game which was good to be sure but you can picture Baseball going even higher up. This one had a lot of potential and unfortunately it just didn’t last long enough. From the cancelled Jump titles I’ve read so far this would have to be one of the best so it’s a shame that it ended.

The series follows a kid named Azu who has always wanted to make it on the Baseball team. Unfortunately though he is rather scrawny and doesn’t really have the physique needed for the game. He trains his whole life and even leads his team to victory during tryouts but the coach explains that his team needs power and skill, not brains. It would appear that all is lost but that’s when Ryudo appears and asks Azu if he wants to be on a team with him. A girl named Karin shows up and says her school is even coming up with a team known as the 9 Dragons and they can use that to be the greatest in the world. Azu is reluctant but this may be the only way to achieve his dream. Can he dare hope for success?

Of course they’re going to need some more players since any Baseball team needs 9 players. Pretty much the whole series is spent on gathering these players. That seems to be part of why it was cancelled since it was moving slowly but it’s a shame since I actually liked the approach. I’ll go into my steps on how this series could have avoided being cancelled but I’m not really going to oppose the structure because I understand why you would want to have a slow burner approach.

There are two ways to doing this, 1 is to have the whole team already assembled and we learn about them as the series goes on and the other is to slowly build each one from the ground up. Ironically all of the big sport titles use option 1 while mostly it’s the action titles like Samurai 8 and One Piece that use the later option. Perhaps people feel like it doesn’t work for sports but the author was really putting a lot of care into each one of these characters until the end where you could see him starting to rush.

As far as Azu goes, I have to say that I was not a fan. My main gripe with him is how he’s reluctant to join the team with Karin and Ryudo. Why? His whole goal in life was to be on a Baseball team so it’s quite annoying to see him suddenly be hesitant and think that it’s not worth it. Who cares if they aren’t the best, at least it is a team right? Azu spends a lot of time grumbling in the opening chapters before actually getting on board. By that time he’s better but I just really didn’t like that as an intro for him.

I’ll give him props for working out and training nonstop to be Baseball ready at least. Even with that he can’t keep up with the others but dedication is certainly important. Then you have Ryudo and it’s no surprise that he’s more up my alley. Ryudo is an ace pitcher who is supremely confident and doesn’t let the odds get to him. When he has a goal he just completes it and always goes with the flow. He was all for starting this team right away and never looked back.

While Azu is the main character, you can also see Ryudo getting all of the screen time if the series had continued. At least it would be more like a Toriko dynamic going on here. Ryudo stays strong for the entire run and continues to grow even stronger. This is not a guy that you want to underestimate at any cost.

Then you have Karin who is effectively the coach of the team. It’s nice to see that she is also very dedicated to getting this team formed and all set up. She has more gusto than Azu and while she doesn’t play Baseball, she does try to learn so she can support the team a little better. Her backstory involving why she wants to form this team is emotional and all in all she’s just an inspiring character. I think she’ll do well as the coach.

The first member we meet is a guy named Tsurugi. He’s going to be the batter of the team but he retired to help his father mind the shop. Fortunately his skills have not deteriorated over time. He has a good rivalry going with Ryudo and is a really important member of the team. After all, you absolutely need to score Home Runs at the end of the day in order to win. The Runs won’t come by themselves.

Aside from Ryudo he’s my favorite member of the team. He balances well with the rest of the team. Then next you have Tsubaki who plays shortstop. This guy is supremely confident in his abilities and the only reason he isn’t already signed on to one of the established team is his attitude. The guy really ends up disagreeing with the refs and coaches to the point where he’s always being taken out of the ball game. The problem is that Tsubaki believes he is absolutely the best player ever and is always telling the others to worship him.

It’s an interesting enough gimmick but ultimately I wouldn’t say he’s as likable as the others. I do like confidence but when it’s overblown like this I feel like it loses a bit of its steam. He’ll certainly be a great asset to the Nine Dragons though since you know that the main characters will be able to handle him. Nobody’s going to stop their climb to the top.

Next up is Kido and he’s the final member to get his own story and full character arc. This guy’s a solid all around player who has never really stood out because he always played alongside a true all star. As a result every team passed him up and even Kido doesn’t think he’s all that good. Fortunately the heroes grab him and convince the guy to give their team a shot. I could see this guy being difficult to give a solid role in the future but all around characters definitely have their perks.

There isn’t a whole lot to Kido beyond just being a nice guy but sometimes that’s really the only trait that you need right? So at this point we’re around halfway through the series or maybe over it so I guess someone told the author to speed things along. Right now we’re at 5 members and we still need 4 more. Well, two guys show up out of nowhere and ask to be on the team. You’ve got Taiga who is the self proclaimed rival of Tsurugi. The guy doesn’t remember Taiga but that’s fine. Taiga seems confident but doesn’t really get a chance to do anything in the series.

Accompanying Taiga is a kid named Horaguchi who is the small & nimble member of the group. He is scared of everyone and everything though. He only trusts Taiga and otherwise he really just keeps to himself. I can see this guy getting annoying pretty fast but he also doesn’t have a chance to do much of anything. The final two spots are filled out by characters off screen who don’t get any real dialogue. Something tells me if the series ever returns with a sequel or something that they’ll be cut. Even their designs don’t feel like real designs and just background characters.

The series is able to introduce two villains before it ended. First up is Shiro who is the son of the principal from the top ranked school. The entire dynamic is ripped straight from Assassination Classroom. It’s a good dynamic though so I’m all for it. Shiro doesn’t get to do a whole lot yet but he has a brief scrimmage against Tsurugi and absolutely dominates the guy. It was a humbling moment for the team since they had seemed to be all but unbeatable prior to that. It just goes to show that there is always someone better. I think Shiro would definitely have ended up being one of the best characters in the series.

Finally you have Hibuse who calls himself the Star of the universe. So he’s another confident character but one who can back it up. Not only is he the star player on every sports team that he has ever been on but he wins the Baseball games almost single handily. If you know anything about Baseball you know that it’s a team sport so it’s hard to win on your own. The game is built in a way where that should pretty much be impossible and yet he pulls it off.

At first it may be easy to write him off as just another villain but what sealed the deal for me was when we learned that he was also the top strategist on the team. The guy acts all cocky to get his opponents to lower their guard and then he slams them. It was a really impressive performance and I actually ended up picking him as my favorite character in the series. He just dominates whenever he is on screen and I’d look forward to seeing him again in a rematch if the series were to continue.

So that’s the character roster for Nine Dragons. It’s a pretty solid cast and one benefit of the slow boil approach is that most of them already had well defined character personalities and a good amount of screen time. We also did get some Baseball action during the recruitment whether it was a 1 on 1 scrimmage or a full game.

The art is pretty solid and so you’re able to get drawn into the actual Baseball games right away. There are a lot of good speed lines and the author did his best to really give this the same intensity as something like Prince of Tennis. It nails down the concept of a Baseball game which is really good. If there weren’t so many breaks I’d be a much bigger fan of the sport myself and of course for a manga that would definitely not be an issue as we see here. The main pitch is even drawn like a Special Beam Cannon.

We do get a rather random time skip for those final two characters I mentioned but as I can see why it happened to move things along. I wouldn’t advise the series do this too often while it’s early on in the series though since you’ll miss a lot of big character moments. If there was pressure to do it though then that’s fine. As it is, it’s not like any of the characters changed in this instance. Perhaps it was purely because there was no tournament for a while and they didn’t want to waste time on a training arc. (That would definitely not have gone over well this early in the series)

The Baseball games are interesting and of course I’ve always enjoyed sport manga titles so I’m not really surprised. The writing is on point and this is really a title that had a lot of potential. Honestly this may be the one that I’m saddest to see get cancelled. It’s close with this and Candy Flurry since of course I love action as well but this would have really had a ton of potential if it could have been a full ongoing. All of the proper fundamentals were there.

So, how would I have kept this one from being cancelled? Well, this one is trickier than the rest. I think I would change the character perspective from Azu to Ryudo. Keep Azu as the main character of the first chapter similar to Manta in Shaman King but then have Ryudo take over when he shows up. He’s a much more dynamic main character and personally I prefer that character type over the analytical ones. Azu does well with his studying but as a lead he just isn’t as charismatic.

I also think there will be less ways to show off the planning and such as the game goes on while with the pitcher there is a whole lot you can do. Especially with the art direction here, making the pitches look more and more intense won’t be too hard. So definitely make him the lead and we’re in business. Again, you could change the slow burner approach to just having all of the characters there from the start and maybe introducing them via flashbacks but I wasn’t opposed to this tactic.

The other option is you could add some more stakes. Not sure you really need this in a sports title but maybe Ryudo’s parents were kidnapped and he has to win Koshien within 3 years or it’s game over for them. It may feel kind of forced but that would add immediate tension into the mix. It may be hard to do that without changing Ryudo’s character though since he probably wouldn’t be nearly as laidback anymore.

Ah well, ultimately the series just didn’t work out which is too bad. It really had quite a bit of potential. They can’t all be winner but at least this is a title that I’ll definitely remember. Who knows, maybe somehow it will return someday. Personally it’s hard to picture any of these coming back when they get cancelled so soon but you never know I suppose. In the meantime we’ll see if another Baseball title comes into play at some point or if that’s it for them for a long while.

Overall, If you like Baseball then you will definitely like this series. It’s a very basic, down to Earth story about a group of teens putting together a team to be the very best. There isn’t a whole lot of time for much else though so if you’re looking for a full season’s journey then this won’t be for you. Due to how quickly it got cancelled, the series also ends on a pretty direct cliffhanger so you will have to use your imagination to decide how it ends. Suffice to say, I have to put Shiro as the world champion for this year because it’s hard to see him being stopped.

Overall 7/10

The Natural Review

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It’s been a little while since I saw a film about Baseball. The last one was probably the Field of Dreams and that didn’t actually have a lot of Baseball action in it. This one changes all of that and it makes for a pretty fun adventure. It’s a well written movie that is long enough to really go into depth on the various events occurring. It’s almost surprising that it’s so long because at first the movie moves very quickly but a Baseball season is quite long and the film shows that.

The movie starts off by introducing us to Roy who is a Baseball prodigy. He has been interested in the game ever since he was a kid. One day he even strikes out a fairly well known pro batter. It looks like the sky’s the limit but unfortunately the fame goes to his head. He immediately cheats on his girlfriend and promptly gets shot by the temptress mafia style. This takes almost 20 years to heal. Can Roy make a comeback and still live out his Baseball dreams or is it all over for him?

Most of this review will be for talking about all the solid points of the movie because there are many. I really only had one issue with the film and that’s the main character. I never found Roy to be all that likable and I didn’t even feel like the film was trying to redeem him much until near the very end of the film either. Women are clearly his vice right from the start of the film but he just never learns his lesson.

Take the initial instance of cheating for example. He gets shot immediately afterwards because of that so you kind of figure that he won’t make the same mistake again right? Well, one of the villains hires a girl to mess with him and this works incredibly well. If not for having to do some rather obvious actions like giving him poison candy, the girl would have definitely kept Roy under wraps the whole time.

It feels more like Roy was forced to get past this since she couldn’t follow him on some of the away games as opposed to actually realizing he was messing up his life. By the time he confides to the original girl, it all just feels a little too late. This guy just wasn’t serious enough about Baseball or about his own convictions. He likes to think of himself as an honorable guy but we learned that this wasn’t the case early on. Roy’s even lucky to get away with arguing with the coach.

He defied the coach’s orders in front of the whole team and then refused to go back down to the B league. Good thing Roy was a solid player because he would have been doomed otherwise. I do question how the coach had never seen him batting before though. Perhaps it’s normal that a coach would skip the practices? I’m certainly less familiar with Baseball compared to Football, Tennis, or even Basketball and Soccer. Still, I’d expect the coach should have at least been told that Roy has been playing amazing since the start especially since the team was winless and badly needed any kind of spark.

Pop was a great supporting character though. I always like a coach who really gets heated along with the players and storms the dugout. He’s a very old school kind of coach who gets the job done and pushes his players to the limits. He’s also in a pretty tough position with how he may lose the team to the villainous Judge.

Judge is a very memorable villain here because of how over the top he is. The guy bribes everyone, is super rich, and even has a villainous looking room since he keeps the lights off. The guy has a flair for the dramatic and it has served him well over the years. His inclusion helped to raise the stakes in the film so it was definitely a good idea having him around.

Then you have another one of the villainesses in Memo. Not to be confused with the first lady who tricked Roy, this one was a little more subtle and doesn’t take the gun out until the end. She’s a decent villain I suppose but in most of her scenes you’re just shaking your head at Roy. He’s finally close to achieving his dream and is quick to just toss it all away just like that. Watch closely during the montage of him losing every game. He isn’t nearly as broken up about it as you would expect.

Finally you have Iris who was the girl from the opening scene. She ends up appearing in the second half of the film. If I were her I probably wouldn’t give Roy a second chance in the arena though. As a friend, maybe, but that would be it. She’s a reasonable character though and has done well for herself in the meantime. Not only did she manage to keep the farm but she’s able to support her kid as well and has a pretty decent home. Iris is definitely a go getter who put a lot of work in.

The Natural is a fairly serious film but one that is able to squeeze in a good amount of humor as well. The jokes tend to land well and the writing is solid so throughout the movie you are interested in what is going on. The cast is also rather big when you consider the other players running around. Most of them don’t get a big role but some do get a little important by the end. Then Judge has a few minions as well. The movie may be well over 2 hours but it doesn’t drag on which is really the important thing.

The Baseball scenes are also handled well. They’re always exciting and actually make Baseball look fun to watch. After all, you don’t have to worry about commercials or the waiting in between pitches. In the movies you just go right to the action and it works quite well. The scene where a Baseball is cut in two after a solid hit was certainly memorable as well. The effects for that were on point without a doubt. We even got a little thunder and lightning for when Roy first went up to bat in the big game.

Overall, The Natural is a solid film. It really doesn’t have any big issues and you’ll have a good time watching it from cover to cover. Really, if the film just made Roy more of a likable character then the film would be even better. After all, he has a lot of good moments like when he outwitted the psychic using his two gold coins and the banter he has with the villains. A lot of the best scenes involve Roy so he had a lot of the traits you’d want to see in a lead. Either way if you like Baseball then you should definitely check this film out.

Overall 7/10