Scoring at the Movies

Scoring at the Movies

By Ryan Ellis & Chris Di GregorioTV & FilmSportsLeisureFilm Reviews
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Scoring at the Movies episodes

  • Ep. 91 - The Peanut Butter Falcon

    If you've always hoped to see a combination of Shia LaBeouf and backyard wrestling with a Huckleberry Finn framework, The Peanut Butter Falcon is your answer.

    This debut by Tyler Nilson and Michael Schwartz (who both wrote and directed) has such a huge heart. Their film is compassionate and loves all its quirky characters, including real-life wrestlers Jake Roberts and Mick Foley. As far as the leading characters go, Dakota Johnson is warm and charming in one of her best performances, but it's the chemistry between LaBeouf and newcomer Zack Gottsagen that makes the movie work. 

    Okay, so what about that ending? Is it real? Is it fantasy? Something else? We discuss. So run away from retribution, launch a raft, eat some peanut butter and practice your wrestling moves as you listen to us heap praise on this delightful indie hit.

     
    If you tend to tweet, look for us @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies. As for email, you can contact us at [email protected]
    49 min
  • Ep. 90 - The Way Back
    Like so many movies last year, The Way Back was hurt badly by the pandemic after theatres were shut down. We recommend you rent or stream Ben Affleck's high-school basketball picture though because it's one of the best films we've talked about all year.
     
    The subject matter of alcohol abuse hits very close to home for Affleck, of course, but Gavin O'Connor's direction finds all kinds of effective ways to carefully ladle out information about why this damaged coach is the way he is. There are cliches in The Way Back, but without getting maudlin, O'Connor makes it heartbreakingly real and he even pays off his set-ups better than MANY movies we've covered.
     
    So abide at least half of the dress code, but for the love of your b-balling boys try harder to curb your swearing as we unfurl our gab on this Veterans/Remembrance Day.
     

    Discover us on Twitter (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies) or buzz us with an email ([email protected])

    50 min
  • Ep. 89 - Ali
    If you're looking for a chat about The Greatest, you're going to have to tune in our latest. We threw around words about butterflies and birds, but we also did agree about that bad man Ali. Muhammad's extraordinary life is given short shrift because Michael Mann's film is too slow and yet too swift. M
     
    ister Ali of course did so much more than just fight in the ring, but Mann's attempts to jam so much in makes the movie feel lacking. Will Smith is normally a charisma machine, yet here he's mostly quiet and serene. Then again, everything is too tamped down and muted in this biopic about a world champion who was undisputed.
     
    So just days before the Rumble In The Jungle's anniversary, we hope you don't rope a dope, but just listen to our podcast about Ali.
     

    Our Twitter contacts are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies and our email is [email protected]

    51 min
  • Ep. 88 - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
    It took Jim Carrey nearly 10 years to become a movie star, but the super-talented, one-of-a-kind comic finally hit it big with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective.
     
    Tom Shadyac's football flick (yes, it actually is a sports movie) is a mystery masquerading as a ridiculous comedy that somehow finds a way to be clever while also being very dumb. It's also crude and tacky and sometimes very tasteless with all that mean-spirited transphobia, which should have been considered over the line even 27 years ago.
     
    In any case, Ace Ventura is a movie that aims for laughs at any cost and you have to admire what Carrey will do to get them. So keep the laces out and please let go of old grudges, but DO go in there and download our surprisingly in-depth chat about the zany Pet Detective.
     
    Contacting us is easy. On Twitter we're @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies while our email address is [email protected]
    45 min
  • Ep. 87 - 61*
    61* is pure gold for baseball lovers, especially for those who love statistics & history. Actually, our chat was more about stats than Billy Crystal's TV movie was, but this isn't the first time we've spent half an episode discussing some of our favourite MLB numbers.
     
    We also talked so much about the infamous McGwire/Sosa home-run derby that you can almost call this "98". Anyway, the charismatic Mickey Mantle and the quiet Roger Maris are the stars here, just as they were the stars of that 1960s Yankees dynasty.
     
    Crystal's direction is often heavy-handed, but he gets the authenticity of the period right and he also gets top-notch performances out of his entire cast...especially Thomas Jane as Mantle & Barry Pepper as Maris. So make sure the doctor gives you a safe flu shot in your hip and don't let the pressure from the media drive you insane as 2 men talk about 2 other men chasing history.
     

    You can throw some tweets at us (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies) or you can rip off an email ([email protected])

    1 hr 9 min
  • Ep. 86 - Battle of the Sexes
    The 1973 man vs. woman tennis match that was the Battle Of The Sexes represented an important event in history, but this Dayton/Faris biopic greatly disappointed one of us. That "one" is Chris and he didn't appreciate the murky route the filmmakers took to tell this story, nor was he sure who to root for. We agree that Emma Stone & Steve Carell did the best they can with inconsistently drawn characters. We also spent time hashing out tennis then vs. tennis now and carefully sifting through the role of gender in sports. 
     
    So whether you're a showboat has-been like Bobby Riggs or a serious (and seriously underpaid) young superstar like Billie Jean King, you'd be well-served to hear us yap about this mediocre movie.
     
    Our Twitter handles are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies, plus you can email us at [email protected]
    55 min
  • Ep. 85 - The Waterboy
    The Waterboy was a huge hit for Adam Sandler. This was one of the first of his goofy, rage-filled comedies, but it also has lots of sweetness to offset the fury. The Sandman is actually very likable as the Louisiana linebacker.
     
    The Waterboy also features one of the best casts in any of his blockbusters. Kathy Bates and Henry Winkler are game for the silly stuff, but they also lend the project credibility. Then the two of them just go ahead and walk off with the movie.
     
    So don't be a sheltered footballer who can't be honest with his overbearing mother about who he loves or what he loves to do. Instead, gear up for the start of the NFL season by listening to us jaw about the angry college football player who just might make you smile a time or three.
     
    You can tweet at us, if you care to: @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies...or you can email us at [email protected]
    43 min
  • Ep. 84 - The Running Man
    The Running Man is about as deep as a puddle, so it's fair to say that we put more thought into the plot details than the people who made the movie did.
     
    Ah-nuld is the innocent man falsely accused in this pure '80s kill extravaganza. He's miscast, but the bigger problem is that the script (based on Stephen King's terrific book) is mostly just a string of repetitive one-liners. However, the flick was prescient about pop culture and reality TV, not to mention fake news (no, ACTUAL fake news). Also, smarmy game-show host Richard Dawson gets to play a smarmy game-show host. Oh, and if you like Predator, then the other action pic that Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura made together that same year came up a lot too.
     
    So place your bets on the overdogs, you bloodthirsty wagerers, as we underdogs have fun racing through The Running Man.
     

    If you're a Tweeter, do it at us (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies) or email us ([email protected])

    53 min
  • Ep. 83 - Snatch
    Snatch is slick, cool and funny, but it also owes so much to Quentin Tarantino that it's easy to call it "Diet Pulp Fiction". This is also a film that neither of us really cared about all that much once the credits rolled. That's not exactly a dig, just a reality when you watch Guy Ritchie movies. On the very bright side, the huge cast is so much fun (especially Brad Pitt , Alan Ford and Vinnie Jones) and they're fully committed to Ritchie's exercise in style. 
     
    So don't speak unintelligibly and act goofy while you knock guys out with one punch and REALLY don't let your dog swallow squeak toys and enormous diamonds. Instead, avoid prison or death by just settling in to hear us talk about Snatch.
     
    The Twitter-verse has to deal with us: @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies
    45 min
  • Ep. 82 - Without Limits
    One day in advance of the opening ceremonies for the 2020 (2021?) Summer Olympics, we dig into Without Limits, the long-distance running flick that almost nobody saw back in 1998.
     
    Billy Crudup is well-cast as the often unlikable, running-obsessed Steve Prefontaine, but Robert Towne's writing & directing of the "rube" and his running buddies is not the smoothest. Pre tries to expose the corruption in amateur athletics, but then that storyline doesn't really go anywhere. Monica Potter is Pre's love interest, but she's given almost nothing to do. At least it's the sexiest movie we've had in a long time. Pre loved the ladies. He also loved (and also bristled against) his coach Bill Bowerman, who's played by Donald Sutherland in one of the best performances of his long career. So if you're not a quiet shoe designer or a front-runner going on pure guts, well, perhaps you'd enjoy hearing us talk about people who are!

    Tweet at us, near us and around us: @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies
    51 min

About Scoring at the Movies

From the publisher's feed

Join Ryan and Chris every other Thursday as they talk about sports films. Prepare to sweep the leg of critics, revel in the fine art of training montages, have pedantic arguments over romantic…