Scoring at the Movies

Our recent trend of biographical sports pictures continues with Invictus, but the poker princess, the rock-climber, the chess prodigy and the walk-on football player have nothing on the one and only Nelson Mandela.

 

Morgan Freeman does a terrific job and it feels like he was born to play the Madiba in Clint Eastwood's rugby flick. Eastwood's filmmaking style certainly isn't subtle, but using sport to try to bond a country that's been ripped apart by apartheid is an effective approach. If you don't know much about rugby, you aren't going to learn much by watching Matt Damon and company play it in this movie, but that's just a clothesline for the racial reconciliation that Mandela was trying so hard to achieve anyway.

 

So get into a scrum and empathize with someone different than you as we chat about Invictus.

 

Also, a couple of corrections: Eastwood will be 91 this May, not in December, and Dina was his much-younger wife, not his daughter, when they were making this movie over a decade ago.

 

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We wanted to do something bawdy for our 69th episode, but we're disappointed to report that BASEketball just isn't as hilariously crass as expected.

 

Bad language aside, this silly comedy doesn't really earn the R rating. Also, despite having Trey Parker & Matt Stone in the not-so-lovable leading roles and Airplane co-director David Zucker at the helm, this won't go down as one of the best laugh-fests for any of them. In any case, we two dudes have some air balls and psyche-outs to pass along in #69, so stop reading and start listening.

 

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Are you looking for a lighthearted baseball movie? Well, look elsewhere!

 

The Fan has Robert De Niro playing a psychotic stalker going after Barry Bonds-ian superstar Wesley Snipes in this schizophrenic movie. The first half about toxic fandom is a lot better than the second half about child abduction and murder. There's also a lot of (unintentional?) subtext in this macho movie.

 

There are more levels of race relations, sexual oppression and even homosexuality in this movie than anyone seemed to notice 25 years ago. Still, this baseball flick knows nothing of baseball and does not portray it well at all. Tony Scott was always an ace at directing slick violence, but he's not good with the action on the diamond. Anyway, there's a lot to chew on here, so don't be a know-it-all on a call-in radio show, but DO give us an hour of your time to hear about Bobby D in prime Cape Fear mode.

 

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So it's come to chess, huh? Well, there's obviously no athleticism in all these innocent moves, but this "sport" is actually a polite version of war.

 

Searching For Bobby Fischer shows us a clash of sober thought with speedy brute force. What this is more than anything though is a family movie where people, especially the adults, learn life lessons. There are many lovely moments in this picture, but it's far from perfect. Chris felt director Steven Zaillian's portrayal of chess was disappointing, especially compared to the fascinating way it's shown in the recent miniseries sensation The Queen's Gambit. Anyway, give us a listen on Christmas Eve while you play speed-chess to impress a bunch of guys in the park.

 

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A film about rock-climbing sounds like a strange choice for a sports-movie podcast, but Alex Honnold is truly one of the greatest athletes we've ever seen. He's mastered this one-of-a-kind mix of art and science. He also does what all great athletes do...practice, practice, practice. As we discover early on, he's also literally fearless. Anyway, it's a joy just to sit and stare at this breathtaking movie, both for the incredible camerawork and for the beautiful people in it. So if an Oscar-winning documentary about an obsessive mountain climber sounds good to you, then listening to us yap about Free Solo will be great for you.

 

Our Twitter handles are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies

Picking a football movie to jaw about on the American Thanksgiving is a no-brainer, so it's too bad the football movie in question isn't one with a lot more zing.

 

It's not like The Replacements doesn't have a talented cast, because Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman play the two leads. Keanu is as likable as he usually is as the cheerleader-romancing, picket-line-crossing quarterback. Hackman is just playing this football coach the way he played the basketball coach in Hoosiers, but the man is still pretty good in this because he was always good. Let's just call this inoffensive entertainment that you'll forget about 10 or 20 minutes later. What might not be so forgettable to those who don't like unions is our discussion about strikes and organized labour. We have sympathy both for union members AND to scabs who cross picket lines. It's a complex issue.

 

Anyway, DON'T sack your own QB, but DO sack that play button.

 

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If you thought we'd never talk about a poker/skiing movie, well, you clearly underestimated us. Or maybe you vastly overestimated us...

 

Anyway, in Molly's Game, Jessica Chastain is as solid as a rock in the title role and she's also the chillest drug addict you've ever seen. Her quip-filled scenes with Idris Elba are filled with chemistry and heat, but we questioned if all the legal scenes helped or hurt the film. Besides, if you're going to have these two actors spark off each other like this, then, for once, we want a romance in a sports movie! At least the poker scenes are authentic and Tobey Maguire is a highlight at the card table. Wait, that's Michael Cera! We had an amusingly hard time keeping that straight. So don't go on tilt or take a rake, but DO be a poker princess (or prince, we aren't here to judge) as we jabber about Molly's Game.

 

Our Twitter handles are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies

We've covered some goofy flicks over the years, but Rookie Of The Year is definitely one of the goofiest. It's also among the worst...

 

The people who made Rookie of the Year seem to know absolutely nothing about baseball. In fairness, if we were still 12 years old like Thomas Ian Nicholas is in the film, maybe this episode would sound a lot different. Then again, even 12 years old have a little bit of taste and knowledge about their favourite sport. Anyway, we disagreed about Gary Busey's uncharacteristically subdued performance and there's a rare role reversal concerning which of us liked the movie more. So play ball and hear us rag hard on the only movie Daniel Stern has ever directed. Sorry, Danny, but there might be a reason a studio never gave you the bullhorn again.

 

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In a nice coincidence, we talk about basketball in Los Angeles just a few days after the Lakers won yet another NBA championship, as we discuss Love & Basketball.

 

Sanaa Lathan & Omar Epps share the court and the bed in this one and they're good together, even though Epps has to play an unlikeable jerk for a whole bunch of the movie. That said, it's hard to find fault with a flick that features strip b-ball between 2 young people in love.

 

Director Gina-Prince Bythewood definitely knows how to craft a fun & romantic film. So get out of your child-sized bed, throw a blanket and a pillow to the neighbour who's crashing on your floor and toss back our Love & Basketball gabaroo.

 

Whether you prefer the Lakers or the Clippers or neither, tweet us: @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies