Tag Archives: Sports

White Men Can’t Jump Review

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This review is of the TV-14 edited version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for an old school comedy about what it takes to scam someone. It’s a pretty fun movie even if the characters aren’t always very likable though. As the main characters are scammers that does make sense though. The basketball battles are all pretty fun and there’s enough of them where you could call this a sports title as well.

The film starts off with Sydney hooping with his pals when a guy named Billy shows up. Billy looks like he’s probably no good as basketball so Sydney allows himself to be goaded into a 1 on 1 battle. He gets defeated though and Billy walks away with all the money. Sydney’s upset at first but then figures he can use this to make a lot of money as well. Sydney knows the basketball scene well after all so he can keep on challenging folks to 2 on 2 battles with Billy and rack up a ton of money. Can they really keep this going or will they eventually fall short?

Naturally hustling isn’t something you can really respect or admire though. I know Billy is desperate but surely there are more legitimate ways to handle this. He and his girlfriend Gloria are on the run from the debt collectors as well now and it’s all become a really big deal. This whole thing certainly hasn’t put him in the greatest position, that’s for sure. When he inevitably gets double crossed, you can’t feel super bad for him either. The guy also takes way too many risks. Risking Gloria’s money for his own pride about the slam dunk was really a bad move as well. I’m glad that Gloria stuck to her guns and ditched him there because she warned him ahead of time and he still went through with it.

That said, I wouldn’t say Gloria was a very solid heroine either. She definitely complained a whole lot while he was trying to earn some money. She could have been doing something as well instead of training for Jeopardy the whole time. The odds of being called in for the show and then of winning are so slim that it’s like playing the lotto. That’s not a very constructive way to plan for the future. She’s all over the place and has a gun at the ready but folds when the chips are down. It would have been nice if she was more supportive.

On the other side, Sydney is a fun character who delivers most of the humor in the film. He’s got a quick wit and is always one step ahead of the other characters. He’s a lot of fun and the film definitely would not be the same without him. I did think that his betraying Billy later on was rather out of pocket though. I know he wanted revenge but at that point it would seem like they were never really friends. In the film they sort everything out and team up again but I couldn’t really buy into it. No way you forgive someone when they ripped you off for more than $1000 like that. Especially when it’s money that you really needed at the time.

I don’t blame him for the slam dunk challenge though because that was completely on Billy. He did not need to try to take on that challenge and Sydney warned him against it several times. At that point, it’s all on Billy for going through with it and a bet is a bet. You have to honor it at that point. Sydney’s girlfriend Rhonda is definitely a lot more loyal to him than Gloria was to Billy. She backs him all the way without fail so that’s a pretty good dynamic right there.

As I mentioned before, the Basketball scenes are definitely pretty good. They’re fast paced and definitely deliver on the action. You may not like the two leads all that much for being scam artists but at least they are really good on the court and can hold their own. It’s why you feel like they shouldn’t need to resort to this. Just try to get serious about Basketball and win the right way. Of course if they don’t think they have the skills, they’ll get exposed real fast. Such is the risk you face whenever you enter a high level of competition though.

The script goes pretty hard on the banter so there will be a lot of laughs but it can also be a bit much/edgy at times. That’s always the risk you run with a film like this though. I would say that it ultimately succeeds a lot more than not though so that’s a good thing. I would have maybe added some kind of a main villain to spice things up though. For the most part there isn’t a central antagonist and it’s more about the characters trying to get along. The Jeopardy subplot could also be removed in its entirety. It just doesn’t have much to do with anything and you could just redo Gloria’s character. It’s a unique subplot to be sure since you’re definitely not expecting this in a Basketball film. It’s just such a long shot though, it almost would have been better if the plot didn’t go anywhere and Billy talks about what a waste of time it was.

Overall, This was a pretty fun film. We got some danger with the debt collectors but for the most part this is a light hearted film about a lot of banter. The main romance isn’t very good but the film actually addresses that directly which was nice. The writing wasn’t always super strong and the main characters could be better but I had a good time with it and in the end that’s what counts. Basketball’s definitely a fun sport to watch with how fast paced it is.

Overall 6/10

2XTreme Review

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It’s time for a title that lets you play different sports. So that part’s pretty fun since you get to really switch things up all the time. That said, none of the games will really wow you and there isn’t a ton of variety to be found here. For the most parts the games are just standard so you will have a good time but you won’t be sticking around for very long. Before you know it you will be gone and this game will vanish from your memories.

I decided to play a few levels in each gameplay style to really get the hang of it. My favorite mode was bike riding. I felt like the controls worked best for this setup. It is really hard to win though so I feel like I’m still doing something wrong. No matter how much I would accelerate, I would never catch up to my opponent. Simply put, he was just way too fast. Nobody was lapping me or anything like that but I would usually be sticking to last place. At least I still got some trophies by driving quickly and staying inside of the gates but I would have liked some more wins along with that.

The other gameplay modes like skating and blading were also pretty fun. It could be a little harder to turn in those modes but still nothing crazy. Your main objective in each mode is to go ahead and win the race. Along the way you can pull off some advanced tricks like going through each gate or keeping up a top speed. If you do that then you can earn some trophies. There isn’t much of a tournament mode here though or at least it isn’t unlocked yet. The way you select the match isn’t great though so the menus could use some work.

You have to one by one go down each setting to set them up for the match and then you can start. The problem with this? That means you can’t just jump into a match with ease. It’s probably something where you won’t even notice it once you are used to the setup for a while but it definitely could have been a lot better. Just let me have my settings straight and I can keep on switching levels with ease. This is the definition of a minor problem though and not something that actually hurts anything all that much.

As far as the graphics are concerned, the game looks good. It is definitely on the older side and of course you can tell that but it’s not sloppy or low budget. It holds up as well as I would expect. The soundtrack is more on the forgettable side though. I can’t recall any of the themes at all which is definitely a problem. So the technicals are okay but nothing to write home about which fits in with the rest of the game as well. This is a game that lets you play some sports and that’s exactly what you get. Nothing more and nothing less. So you will be satisfied if that is why you have selected this title.

There isn’t a whole lot to say about the game otherwise since it is very direct. There are no real gimmicks or items here either. It all comes down to your individual skills. How do you handle the turns and unexpected obstacles? You have to always react quickly or else that is it for you. You will be surpassed by all of the other racers and then it’s game over. Although I thought I reacted quickly and I still lost every time so it is what it is.

Overall, 2XTreme is a reasonable game. I wouldn’t call it all that good but it’s certainly not bad. There’s just not a whole lot of bang for your buck here. So you will play it a bit and get accustomed to what’s going on but that’s about it. Before long you will be ready for the next title. So if you have PS+ then you should definitely check this one out but otherwise you’re not missing much if you decide to just skip it outright. You just can’t really go wrong with the game being free.

Overall 5/10

Slam Dunk Review

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It’s time to look at one of the best all time Basketball stories out there and it’s one of the best sport titles in general as well. This one was absolutely huge in Japan and rightfully so. There are a ton of really great stories contained within this title and all of the characters get a lot to do. While I may have some issues with the ending, it is tough to have a perfect ending. Nothing will work for everyone after all but it is what it is as far as that’s concerned. The only sport titles I would have above this one are Kuroko’s Basketball, Prince of Tennis, and Blue Lock. I have Slam Dunk as the 4th best all time sports title.

The series follows a guy named Sakuragi who is basically a juvenile delinquent. He gets into a lot of fights in school and everyone absolutely fears him except for his posse and a girl at school named Haruko who treats him normally. He falls in love with her and turns away from his delinquent days. In fact, her brother is a big basketball player and she thinks Sakuragi could do well there. She is also in love with the new rookie Rukawa. All of these reasons cause Sakuragi to join the Basketball team so he can impress her and show the others up. That’s not so easy though and he quickly finds out that the sport is not so easily tamed. He’s a very stubborn kind of guy though and vows not to quit until he’s the best. What started initially as something to impress the girl he likes quickly becomes much more than that as he makes some rivals on the team and starts to really get invested. He really does want to be the best now and eventually score the famous Slam Dunk. Can he pull it off?

One thing that is impressive right out of the gate is how long the series is. There are over 30 volumes here and it’s almost hard to believe because the series goes by so quickly. Some games take a very long time to end after all which is also why the characters all have time to shine. In every big game the author tries to have all 5 starting players have a big role and often times even a few players off the bench will do big things. After all there are more than 5 big players on the team and that number grows as the series goes on.

Initially you really have 3 big players in Sakuragi, Rukawa, and Akagi. Sakuragi can barely play at all so you’ve really just got 2 big players. Then after that we have an ex delinquent show up and before you know it, other big players are jumping on. Then a few of the final years or behind the scenes players get to do their thing. So the team ends up being really well balanced which is nice to see and you get really invested here. You had to see them lose a lot of rounds before they made it to this stage in the game so this is like the big payoff. I will say that the school names tend to blend together though. Sakuragi’s team is Shohoku but other big teams also start with an S. So the best thing to do is memorize the main team’s name so you always know that any other team is their opponent.

The art style is fairly retro but definitely high tier all the way. It’s one of the cleaner art styles that I’ve seen and it has aged incredibly well. You really feel the intensity behind each of the battles. Slam Dunk is the kind of series that has some actual hand to hand battles in addition to what’s on the field so those moments are always fun as well. Sakuragi obviously has experience with his fists and one consistent thing throughout the series is that he is the absolute strongest. In a fight nobody can bring him down and I was glad that this proved to be true the whole way. The odds that there was another basketball player who was just as strong would have been a bit much. A lot of the others can fight and do their best to put up a fight but they’re no Sakuragi.

To make up for this, it takes a long while for Sakuragi to actually get good. If you’re worried about him getting good immediately, don’t be. He doesn’t actually turn the corner until the very end of the series. For a little bit there you’re even worried about just how much he will be able to contribute in the end. He still makes a lot of basic mistakes even by the end but you can absolutely see the progress. He starts by working on rebounds, then free throws, and then finally the ability to go for the slam dunk. You’re even invested enough where you get annoyed when he messes up a play or misses a shot because you are really rooting for his success. That’s the hallmark of a great character.

Now you might be wondering, why don’t I like the ending? Well, it’s virtually impossible to get into that without spoilers but it pulls the kind of ending that I’ve seen several other sport series pull and it never works. The kind of ending I want is a really satisfying one where the team leaves everything on the table. They still have a bright future and no real setbacks outside of a possible loss. I don’t mind the characters losing the big game or anything like that but you shouldn’t stockpile anything on top of that. Still, I can’t deny that it is a very tense climax all the way and one of the best Basketball games in the series.

You may be wondering, with 31 volumes, there has to be more to the plot right? Well, in a small scale yes, there is of course a lot of context and mini subplots going on here that I haven’t mentioned but in a large sense yeah this is the plot. Generally it is about all of the characters uniting to win the big tournament. Along the way there are a lot of different games and it’s not just one tournament. They get to play in all seasons so if they lose one tournament then they have a chance in the next one. Generally the only time limit is that they need to win something before the third years retire because otherwise they won’t get to see the big trophy at the end. Perhaps it is already too late for those guys but Sakuragi is going to do his best to win.

You don’t need much more than that for this kind of series. It’s the same for titles like Kuroko’s Basketball and Prince of Tennis. Playing the game and getting farther and farther is the whole point of the adventure so you don’t need anything more than that. It’s also why the volumes blend together because of the games continuing across them and a lot of them being in the same tournament. The games keep on getting longer and longer too in order to show off how intense the opponents are. In a few chapters you only really get one pass as the teams size each other up.

Okay lets talk about the characters now. There are certainly a good amount of them running around here. First up is Sakuragi and there’s not much more that I need to say about him. He’s a really fun character who always gives the team hope when they are down. He doesn’t scare easy and is the kind of person you want to have your back. He will absolutely defend you all the way. His basic understanding of the game means that he will mistakes and will fall for traps but he is always improving at a very fast rate. So give him time and he will be the best on the field at some point.

His romance plot is a little basic as he falls for Haruko right away and it almost feels like more of a gag than anything else. You can cut him some slack because clearly this isn’t a situation that he is used to and it is a big part of the series to be sure. I just wasn’t really behind the romance on this one. He needed to just focus on the game and the series barely has time for this plot for most of the duration. It’s the vehicle that got him to start Basketball but that’s pretty much the end of its use.

Haruko’s a good character though and she always does her best to be supportive. She does have Sakuragi’s back as a good friend and while she likes Rukawa, she doesn’t act really desperate about it. In fact, it’s easy to forget that she likes him at some points because it is never a really big deal here. It’s just a part of her character plot. Rukawa certainly has no time for any of that since he is busy trying to be the very best Basketball player in the world. Rukawa is a really good rival who can dish it out against anyone. Sakuragi is a very physical kind of guy after all and Rukawa responds in kind. I like his confidence and overwhelming skill.

That said, I do think that he tends to disappear a little here and there when the going gets tough. Towards the end we do have a subplot into that as he is reminded that if he wants to be the best then he should be able to defeat anyone who gets in his way. This does end up lighting a fire underneath Rukawa and he puts up one of his best performances. So while he was generally one of the most impressive players all the way, he really reached his potential by the end. He was definitely a great rival to keep Sakuragi honest the whole time.

Then you have Akagi who is basically the strong man of the group. He is always ready to land a good rebound and he is one of the only people that Sakuragi will always listen to. The lead has a lot of respect for the guy and it’s not just because he’s related to the main heroine. Akagi is a natural leader and while he may get down in the dumps once in a while, he usually keeps his head high and has good advice. He’s the cornerstone of the team and as long as he believes there is a chance, everyone fights really hard.

Of course you also have the coach but my hot take is that he’s not very good. Sure, he will show up every now and again with a good play but for the most part he leaves everyone to their devices. Not a bad idea by any means when you’ve got a lot of talent on your squad but it does mean that I don’t give him much credit when they win. After all he didn’t actually do much about that right? That’s the only way to see this. The assistant Ayako does a better job of making sure that each player has what they need. She does all of her duties smoothly and it shows. There’s also a romance plot with her going on but it’s even less of a focus than Sakuragi’s plot so you can safely ignore it.

Kogure is one of the quieter players on the team but he can still play as needed. The guy doesn’t stand out but what he does have on his side is a lot of experience. He keeps his cool under pressure and can get a few baskets in. He’s a solid example of a supporting character who would help out during crunch time even if he wasn’t an elite. The same is true for Yasuda as well. He always keeps his cool and doesn’t fall for the enemy’s mind games. So if the teams are getting fouled a lot then you can count on him to step in and save the day. Or at least buy some time, you’ll still need someone who can really score.

Mitsui is another fun member of the team who can actually fight pretty hard in real life as well as on the court. He was gone for a while at the start so the team has good reason to be annoyed with him but his skills are definitely the real deal. His three point shots get the team out of a lot of holes. It’s such a huge deal to be able to get those extra points as needed. He may not be the calmest guy and it’s pretty easy to egg him on but when you’re on a team with the wild card Sakuragi, it’s fine to have some attitude issues on the court. They will end up sorting themselves out after all.

Then you have Miyagi who is another solid player. He seems to think of himself as Sakuragi’s rival at times but I wouldn’t quite put him in the same weight class there. He is absolutely a good player and all but I never found him to be outstanding. Hey, you need a full team of 5 to go up against the opponents so he still filled in his spot really well. He was a solid guy to have on board. These are all of the big players on the main team. There are others who ride the bench and get a quick moment here and there but for the most part they won’t be making an impact in the actual game. Now it’s time to look at some of the other players on the rival teams.

First up we have one of the strongest teams in the series so you can bet that they have a stacked lineup. Their lead player is Maki who is basically the best all around player in the series. He can dunk, he can play defense, he has speed, he can do anything. I like his overall confidence and even by the end I don’t think that the rival actually surpassed him. There’s no shame in that though, this guy is seriously the real deal so that is to be expected. He’s not just some obstacle though, he gets a good amount of character beyond that. He’s actually a rather fun guy, he’s just naturally competitive on the court.

His coach Takato is also much better than the main coach although that’s true for all of them so I may as well say that now. This guy actually uses a lot of strategy and puts his team in the best position to win. Kiyota is another tough fighter who has confidence on the level of Sakuragi the whole time and this guy’s actually really good. Of course you can expect that Sakuragi will eventually be better than him but this guy is the more complete player at the moment.

Jin and Takato may not be all star players in the way that the others are but they are always put in to win at the right times. They have specific talents like the 3 point shot for example and the coach has them make a move when Sakuragi’s crew least expects it. Just another example of how important it is to have a great coach. A great coach can single handily change the way a match is going to play out. There’s no doubt of that.

Next up we have the team with Uozumi and Sendoh leading the charge. This was another great tag team. Uozumi really made for a rival to Akagi and had a lot of overall power. In a one on one he would tend to lose to our guy but one benefit of always losing is that you have more to work on down the road. So he kept up his game and now he is fully a match for Akagi, even taking the lead at some points. He’s not a dirty player or anything though and keeps everything above board which I respect. It’s easy to acknowledge him as a solid rival.

Meanwhile Sendoh was a rival for Rukawa and did well there. He does light a fire under Sakuragi as well at times but I would say that Rukawa is his main focus. This is another guy who has a case for being the best overall Basketball player. He puts a lot of effort into every part of his game and once he gets serious it is hard to beat him. His one weakness is that it takes time for him to get serious at some points but it does always happen eventually so that’s important. He’s so good it’s not like there is usually a reason for him to get serious early on.

The next team has Kawata and Fukatsu as the big two. Kawata is a really strong player who relies on his strength all the way. That’s not to say that he can’t make shots but this is his big strength to the point where it takes everything Sakuragi has to stop him. It makes for a great rivalry all the way and he’s definitely a player that you really have to account for. Fukatsu is more of the solid all around type. He calmly manages the ball and gets his whole team involved. Another player that really makes it difficult for the opponents to do much against him. This team is a bit weaker than the others in terms of the big two but it’s fairly relative at this point.

There are naturally a bunch of other players across the rest of the teams. This series has no shortage of them but these are the biggest characters that have a role in the series. They are guys that all left an impact and in general they were all good. There are no characters that I found to be super annoying or anything like that. They all had good roles and kept things interesting.

At no point in the series will you be even remotely bored either. Each of the matches are important and will have you on the edge of your sear. Sport series like this also remind you that victory is never guaranteed either so you really don’t know if they will win or not. It’s different from an action series where the characters have to win to an extent or the series is over. In this case that’s not what is happening. Sure, you can still pick up on trends and everything but it is all executed really well.

Overall, Slam Dunk is an excellent series and definitely one of those titles that you aren’t likely to forget. The games are all really great and the cast is very likable. With 30+ volumes you have plenty of time to get used to all of the characters and see what makes them tick. I would even say it probably has a stronger cast than Kuroko’s Basketball to be honest. So that’s one area where I have to give this one the edge. Whether you like Basketball or not I dare say that you can really appreciate the story. It’s just a great story about competitive nature and also what it means to really be a team.

Overall 9/10

The Bad News Bears Review

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Whenever you think of the Bad News Bears you figure you’re in for one of the toughest teams on the block. What you don’t realize is that they aren’t delivering bad news…they are the bad news! Now there’s a twist if I’ve ever heard of one right? It’s a comedy film that can be pretty fun at times but ultimately doesn’t quite do enough to get much higher than that. It will keep you entertained but won’t be a film that you’re clamoring to watch again. One playthrough is really enough for this one.

The film starts with Morris being paid to coach a kid’s baseball team. He’s not really interested at all but the money’s good and that’s what counts. He intends to give this the minimum amount of effort so he keeps on drinking all day and generally not being very helpful. What makes him even less interested is that nobody on the team even knows how to play. They are all scrubs and they even lose the first game by over 20 points. Still, the disrespect is just too much and so Morris decides that he’s going to turn this team into a bunch of winners. Is he really doing this for them though…or for himself? That’s the tough question here.

So most of the comedy here is in how bad the team is of course and how over the top Morris is in terms of being a completely inappropriate coach. It tends to work most of the time which is what keeps the film in the green. Morris has a lot of fun facial expressions the whole time and the subtle bits of character humor also work really well. Then when his competitive spirit gets going, you still have fun because of course he doesn’t know how to handle success well. I would say the film tends to ride or die based on how much you enjoy his character.

I’d say a weakness of the film tends to be the ending and any moment where it tries to take itself too seriously. The movie can’t quite handle these moments. For example, at one point Morris and Amanda have a big fight. She wants to hang out with him and at least develop a small bond but he shoots her down. Mainly the problem here is that he’s way too rude and goes too far. From that point on there is no way you can root for him to win or do well as a coach. It’s understandable that he doesn’t want to create any bonds right now but she is a child and he could have handled that a million times better. I just had no respect for him after that scene, he was just awful.

If I was Amanda I probably would have ditched the team after that tbh. Good luck winning without a pitcher! She has all of the leverage in this dynamic and ultimately she still does get injured with how hard she was playing. She’s easily one of the most likable characters here and I felt like things didn’t go great for her. Then you have the rival Kelly who is a delinquent but knows how to play so they let him on the team. He is actually very good and along with Amanda is a huge reason on why they go far. So what do the rest of the teammates do about this? They get upset at him and basically cause a bunch of trouble for no reason.

I don’t think they were justified in any way and come across as a bunch of jerks. I’ve never liked when a bunch of characters turn on someone without even giving the character a chance. At least talk to him and explain why you are upset instead of becoming all passive aggressive and sulking the whole time. That doesn’t help anyone. It’s just blowing a bunch of hot air at that point. Yeah that’s not a good thing to do. So everywhere I look, there are reasons to root against the team.

Then the kicker is the climax as we get the teamwork message. It is worth sacrificing your chance at winning the championship if you can get everyone having fun. The main problem with this kind of message is that most people don’t have any fun when they lose. In fact, if you lose the championship and you are the reason why your team lost, then you’re going to feel absolutely lousy. Morris should have had the weaker kids start early in the first inning so they could play before benching them. I just disagree with the theory on its face.

It’s selfish to sacrifice everything when the championship is something that is so hard to obtain in the first place. Again, the kids weren’t very grateful or anything so maybe it works out anyway but it was still annoying to watch. The whole second half of the film is kind of annoying come to think of it. Even the opponent coach hits a kid and gets off without any real consequences. He’s back to laughing and feeling good about himself by the end because he’s winning and there’s nothing the heroes can do about it. Sure you could say the family leaving are some consequences but I’d rather he have gotten punched or something.

So maybe the most direct way to put this is that the film had a bit of a mean streak to it. It was funny during the early comedic moments of everyone messing up and looking terrible but once the film got serious, it would just go too far. The film needed to have a little more restraint the whole time and personally I would change the ending. Not necessarily to a big win or anything like that but I wouldn’t have made the team effectively throw the match.

Overall, The Bad News Bears brings bad tidings to its viewers by the end. It’s entertaining enough where I could still say that it is a good movie, but certainly not a very good one. I wouldn’t be in a rush to rewatch this film and I have to hope that the sequels stick the landing a bit better. Just lean a bit more into the comedy and I’m sure you could do a lot with a Baseball title like this. I do have a good time with sport films after all and Baseball is the kind of sport that should translate well into a movie with so many characters running around.

Overall 6/10

Miracle

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It’s time for a hockey movie about one of the most legendary games of all time within the sport. I don’t really follow Hockey all that much at all and hadn’t heard of this big battle before so that makes watching the movie even more fun. It’s really all new content for me and I feel like I know a whole lot about what happened from this film. It really covers a lot of ground and I appreciate that.

The movie starts with the coach being picked for the USA team that will participate in the Olympics. In a way he has been waiting for this opportunity his whole life and so he is determined to do well. The Olympics only happen every 4 years after all and there is no guarantee that you will get a second chance. So he figures that he will do things his way. This means selecting all of the players personally without going through a hiring committee and additionally he will be putting them through the wringer. He intends to push each player to their breaking point and take their skills to new heights. The risk of this though is you get an increased chance of injury. Balancing the load will ultimately make the difference between victory and defeat.

One of the main themes in the film is about playing for the country as opposed to looking out for yourself. Initially just about all of the players were thinking about this as a normal game and trying to do their best but gradually they realize just what is at stake here. It’s a big honor to win the Olympic for your country and losing is a really big deal. The coach ends up having to scare them a few times to get their heads on straight but eventually the message gets through. Having that national identity is important in order to get your skills to the next level.

Meanwhile the media is doing their best to stir things up as well so you have people trying to make this into a pseudo war of sorts. Like defeating Russia in Hockey will turn into a physical victory against them and the coach is trying his best to keep that from happening. So he blocks the interviews which annoys the press but there’s not much they can do about it. I feel like nowadays you’d probably gets a lot of fines for that since you’re pretty much forced to talk to the press all the time but I’m glad he was able to stop that. At the end of the day, in most cases the questions you are asked aren’t actually that helpful and they’re just looking for some buzzwords. So it’s a lose-lose situation if you play along.

The film’s probably at its weakest when there is no hockey happening though. We get some drama between the coach and his wife for a while there which was more on the annoying side. They end up patching things back together but it felt like that plot was more on the unnecessary side. Of course this is based on true events so if that actually happened then I suppose you have to include it. Otherwise, it just felt like the coach could have handled things better at the jump and then there wouldn’t have been any problems.

The actual hockey scenes are handled really well. You feel the intensity of every play as the players get into the action. Nobody is backing down and the sport has always been one of the more physical ones in real life. So add the cinematic angles to it and this flows together really well. The final game is also really long which is nice. If I had any complaints here, it’s that we didn’t get to see the final round. I know the Miracle moment was really about the semi finals round but still give me a little glimpse of the round after that.

The film’s use of real recordings and clips during the adventure was also a good way to get the realism across. There was certainly a lot going on at the time and the film makes sure that you are aware of this even while the coach has to actively try and ignore all of this so that he can focus on the team. Crazy things may be happening but what he needs to do is deliver a win and the rest will come into place eventually.

Overall, Miracle is a pretty solid film. It’s long enough where it really gets to go into detail on the various games and on each individual player as they prepare for this event. Sports are certainly not easy and you can multiply that amount of difficulty many times over for an event as big as the Olympics. When you are competing in world championships like this, there are certainly no easy matches. If you enjoy Hockey or just like seeing a good movie about teamwork then this is a solid title to check out.

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.

Rollerball Review

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This review is of the TV-14 version of the film. All thoughts below should be addressed as such as a review of the unedited version would be more negative

It’s time for a dystopia film that also doubles as a sport title. A rather bizarre one at that but the whole movie has a bit of an odd vibe to it. Everyone is so far gone that nobody even realizes how crazy the whole setup is and it’s a grim reminder at how anything can seem normal after it has been the status quo for a while. So just be careful out there.

So the film takes place in the future where there is one sport that unites the world, Rollerball. Basically you have 2 teams of 10 players take the field and the goal is to grab the ball that is fired into the arena and jam it into the opponent’s goal area. Everyone wears rollerblades and is armed with diamond studded knuckles. 3 members of each team use motorcycles to drive around the place. There are penalties that are loosely enforced but you are still encouraged to use whatever means are necessary to get the ball and win. Victory is everything and so this is a sport where you can and will lose everything.

The main character here is Jonathan and he has become a global sensation. This becomes a problem for corporate because part of the point of the game is team spirit. The game must always be larger than the individual person and there seems to be some kind of conspiracy about keeping individuality away in general. So they want Jonathan to quit but he refuses and now corporate is going to play hard ball. They will cause him to leave the game even if it means through death. Can he defy these guys?

The first question you’ll probably have here is why anybody even plays the sport to begin with. Sure, competitiveness and adrenaline will cause you to do a lot of crazy things but playing in a sport where your only realistic outcome is either death or a gruesome injury? Maybe if the alternative is being homeless or something then that’s what you would do but the film doesn’t explore this desolate future too much outside of the game. We see that the rich people have nothing to do in general beyond the game though. They go to the forest and burn down trees for fun, otherwise they just laze around all day. It feels like the world has become empty and that’s a very interesting angle but a lot of it will end up having to be headcanon.

The other question is why are Jonathan’s teammates so slow on the uptake? We see that as early as the semi finals the other teams barely even care about the match anymore. They are focusing on just murdering all of the players. It makes sense as a strategy because then there is nobody to defend the goal. At one point 3 of them team up to execute Jonathan’s friend and it’s not like they’re hiding this fact. Jonathan retaliates by murdering one of them and so the cycle continues.

The problem is how oblivious the other players are. There’s one scene where we see one of the players reach for the ball as if this is a normal sport. He’s promptly thrown into the wiring and murdered. Did the guy not see what was happening all around him? Almost every player loses because they were oblivious like this. Look, if there are no penalties and there is unlimited time, then it makes sense that you have to take out the other team. At the very least you need to practice active self defense so you aren’t just taken out of the picture right away.

Jonathan did good in not bowing to corporate here. The whole thing seemed suspicious and so he decided to stay in the sport all the way to the end. He gave them ample opportunity to explain their position and they never did so at that point he just had to do his own thing. Jonathan was quick on the uptake which I was glad about. At one point they tell him to go in the Helicopter and he will be driven to the game so instead he takes the bus with the team. We all know that if he went into that Helicopter then he would have never been seen again.

His own fame helps protect him a little bit as the company decided not to just murder him in the streets since it would be a big controversy. I think the company may have been overthinking things though because with how brainless the masses were the whole time, they might have barely noticed. They seem to be worried that Jonathan will end up leading some kind of revolution or something but that doesn’t seem likely yet. In fact, their attempts are only making it way more possible since they are attracting so much attention.

So the actual world building was a bit underdeveloped I’d say but the game itself was interesting. While they don’t do a deep dive into the rules, you can quickly understand the fundamentals here. It can be annoying to see the games unfold with everyone acting like NPCs but the matches are handled well. You can see just how dark this future is without the film being downright exploitive about it. I thought the violence was handled well enough and didn’t go too far.

Overall, Rollerball is a decently good movie. I had a solid time with it but you do get the feeling that corporate got real sloppy on this one. It should have been a really easy win for them here but they got overconfident and in the end that was their downfall. They could have had the first girl be a little less obvious about following orders, instructed the wife to be more subtle, bumped Jonathan off with a decent cover story, etc. The ending ends up being satisfying either way though and it was the right way to wrap things up. While we don’t get all of the answers, it does help to keep in a good amount of mystery.

Overall 6/10