Scoring at the Movies

The 11th Scoring At The Movies episode lines up our checks and doesn't splash the pot as we yack about the Damon/Norton poker picture Rounders.

Those two are terrific together, but John Malkovich's infamous take on how a Russian mobster acts steals the show and robs the flick away from everyone else. His goofy work also allowed us to do a series of bad impressions of that wacky Malk accent. But there's a lot more than that in this ep, so settle in for a long session.

Chris is a bonafide card sharp, so he's in his element with this movie. Deal!

Scoring At The Movies hits the airwaves for the 10th time and the boys have a complicated one this week: Kingpin! 

Well, complicated considering the dopey subject matter.

The bad-haired dudes (Woody, Quaid, Mister Murray) are tremendous, but we’re split on the work of the good-haired Angel. Also, the Farrellys directed a funny flick, but does it suffer in comparison to their more legendary laugh-fests Dumb And Dumber and There’s Something About Mary?

Ryan also unleashes some moral outrage about people who get outsmarted by hustlers, Roy Munson’s ability to bowl with a rubber hand and more. Mister Literal over here.

So marvel at the sight of so many great athletes as we chew the fat about a bowling pseudo-classic.

The fictional & half-decade-early-in-reality rise of the longtime laughingstock Cleveland (redacted) is the order of the day in our 9th dose of Scoring At The Movies as we discuss Major League.

Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Wesley Snipes and the dynamite cast hit a ringing triple in David Ward's crap-to-great baseball story. Why not use the tired cliche and just say they hit a home run? Well, the flick is stuffed with controversy (sexual assault and stalking, not to mention the team's name), but the movie is still fun personified. So...let's call it a triple.

When it comes down to it, if you can't find electric joy in the "Wild Thing" scene, then you might as well just move to Florida!

For episode #8 of Scoring At The Movies, we nail our first jump shots in a basketball movie, which remains one of the funniest sports flicks of ’em all, talking about White Men Can't Jump.

Chris has issues with one of the 2 leads (not the charismatic fellow's performance, just the character’s selfishness) and has plenty of justification for that bad feeling. Still, Wesley & Woody have chemistry out every cool (and nerdy) pore, while Rosie Perez just about walks off with the whole movie. And hey…Jeopardy! Everything is made better with liberal doses of Jeopardy.

Stay in the zone, man, and, as always, listen to the woman (and also to our podcast).

Lucky #7 edition of Scoring At The Movies injects some steroids into the run-time and gives you our most in-depth (read: longest) episode yet, as we discuss Any Given Sunday.

Chris & Ryan were conflicted about this one, admiring a lot of parts in the bombastic flick, but not truly connecting with other parts. But Al Pacino & Jamie Foxx nail it and the movie as a whole feels like an accurate depiction of the dirty machinations behind the football scenes. In fact, we talked about those angles almost as much as we talked about Oliver Stone’s opus.

So let the concussions and body trauma begin!

The 6th shot of Scoring At The Movies does the NASCAR thing with Will Ferrell, John C. Reilly and Sacha Baron Cohen goofing it up as race-car drivers in Talladega Nights.

This podcast could have been a quote-fest (and we definitely enjoyed referring to the best lines), but we also steered down some chat-worthy avenues. Is the movie homophobic? Is it a bit too hard on NASCAR fans, especially those from the south?

Also, this became the unofficial Tom Cruise podcast, partly because Mister Scientology is hilariously referenced in Talladega, but also because we just felt like branching off into Cruisian territory.

The 5th Scoring At The Movies podcast covers Ryan’s second-favourite “sport”… and that’s watching Tom Cruise be goofy, as we chat about The Color of Money.

Okay, the intense superstar playing it silly is fun, but really the love is of pool. This solid sequel to The Hustler has Paul Newman reprising his classic role of Eddie Felson, now a liquor salesman who takes the flaky but wickedly talented Cruise on the road to learn and earn. But what are Eddie’s true motivations for taking Vincent under his wing? Is Eddie doing as well in life as he portrays or is it a sham? And does it even matter which of the two leads is the better pool player?

Make your aggressive break on the snap…but then hear what what we have to say about Marty Scorsese’s pool opus.

The 4th kick at the Scoring At The Movies can gives Ryan & Chris their first chance to talk about baseball, chatting about Angels in the Outfield.

And what an ignominious movie that gives us that first chance! T’aint good, but its crappiness is part of the fun. We dole out some much-needed Batman impressions. We question why a violent man would be awarded custody of 2 small children. We also branch off into a whole discussion about sex, but only because the movie sports some pretty risque innuendo (in one scene anyway).

Oh, we forgot to promote ourselves! Don’t forget to tweet Ryan @moviefiend51 and Chris @scoringatmovies

Crane-kick the 3rd Scoring At The Movies epidode right in the schnoz as Ryan & Chris wax (on) fairly eloquently about this childhood fave: The Karate Kid.

Mr. Miyagi is the most relatable character here, although Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio were both typecast in their famous roles. But questions abound. Is this really just a soccer movie disguised as a karate movie? Why so little backstory for a film that’s more than 2 hours long? Does Ali pose a bigger threat to Johnny than Daniel does? And is Daniel-san really the bad guy?

There’s only one way you’re gonna find out, so start finding!

The 2nd installment of Scoring At The Movies finds Chris & Ryan knocking it onto the green (after a monumental number of bad strokes) while discussing Tin Cup.

It’s the Costner/Russo (and, really, the Costner/Cheech) lovefest… with golf! Chris is a student of the links, so he’s got you covered with credible details and history about the Game Of Checkered Pants, but we’ve got a lot more than just minutia about 3 woods and shanks.

Wanna bet? If you don’t, then you can’t be a golfer.