Weekly Theme

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

chrismorrell — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 09:19:07 GMT

chrismorrell:

Can i be so bold as to add the theme's title "This Sporting Life (1963)" with a young hulking Richard Harris virtually playing himself,as a Rugby League player,who aims "above himself" as it were, in a "class war" drama of the sixties from Lindsay Anderson.

Because i'm a motor racing fan,and i went to see them when they came out,i should add Grand Prix andLe-Mans with steve McQueen

A couple of additions "Rollerball" with the mighty James Caan.(it's gonna happen!) and "Dodgeball" , a sporting classic...

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

chrismorrell — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 22:13:15 GMT

Can i be so bold as to add the theme's title "This Sporting Life (1963)" with a young hulking Richard Harris virtually playing himself,as a Rugby League player,who aims "above himself" as it were, in a "class war" drama of the sixties from Lindsay Anderson.

Because i'm a motor racing fan,and i went to see them when they came out,i should add Grand Prix andLe-Mans with steve McQueen

A couple of additions "Rollerball" with the mighty James Caan.(it's gonna happen!) and "Dodgeball" , a sporting classic...

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

leeroy711 — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:34:31 GMT

I watched Speed Racer last night. Definately a hero's journey sports type movie. It wasn't great, but not completely unwatchable either. I really didn't like that they made the actors act like cartoons though. I really hated the end too.

A couple more that deserve mentions would be Green Street Hooligans, which I thought was a bit overrated (at least by people that told me to see it) And The Hustler and Color of Money are good pool shark movies unlike Poolhall Junkies, which sucked.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Risselada — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 16:27:26 GMT

Smooth_J:
and any surf doc. ever made (assuming that everyone agrees that surfing is a sport, or at least an "athletic competition").

It's really pretty amazing how many surfing docs there are out there. Doing a search on IMDB of all documentaries with the keyword "surfing" results in 104 results (of course some of those are from results for wind-surfing, crowd-surfing, and channel-surfing). Surprisingly a search for documentaries with the keyword skateboard or skateboarding only results in 39 results.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

unclefestering — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 02:56:02 GMT

C'mon, isn't anybody going to say it?

Jerry Maguire, you had me at hello. You had me at hello!

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Smooth_J — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 00:03:49 GMT

Risselada:

Smooth_J:
As for movies actually dramatizing sports, I've never really been a fan. In fact, I typically scoff at them, and point out everything stupid or cliched that occurs, and am one of those people that laugh when a character says something stupid in a more tragic moment. Friday Night Lights was allright though.

It is true that the Sports movie genre is one of the most cliched genres out there. I guess because it's all about competition, and rooting for someone, and if you try to thwart the audiences expectation in too many ways they will just get pissed. Just like fans of an actual sport. They will watch it week after week, hoping for the same outcome every time (that their team will win). Whether the team wins or not is how they judge their enjoyment of the game, not many other factors you can play with there.

That's an excellent way to put it. As an Eagles fan in mourning of last night's game, that is totally relevant. And, I feel like as a whole, audiences are more than willing to small tweaks to the familiar rather than a new and exciting experience that doesn't end quite as well. Instant gratification is what most people are looking for, and the best way to find it is in the heroic story (to get back to Tizzy).

I guess I've always been more partial to tragedies, because the entire range of emotion is usually encompassed, rather than an entire range of artificial emotions that are in the typical mechanical studio vehicle. Or maybe I'm just ranting and not making any sense.

On a lighter note, I forgot to mention Benchwarmers as a really stupid underdog baseball comedy, and any surf doc. ever made (assuming that everyone agrees that surfing is a sport, or at least an "athletic competition").

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Risselada — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:34:38 GMT

Tizzy:

Risselada:

Smooth_J:
As for movies actually dramatizing sports, I've never really been a fan. In fact, I typically scoff at them, and point out everything stupid or cliched that occurs, and am one of those people that laugh when a character says something stupid in a more tragic moment. Friday Night Lights was allright though.

It is true that the Sports movie genre is one of the most cliched genres out there. I guess because it's all about competition, and rooting for someone, and if you try to thwart the audiences expectation in too many ways they will just get pissed. Just like fans of an actual sport. They will watch it week after week, hoping for the same outcome every time (that their team will win). Whether the team wins or not is how they judge their enjoyment of the game, not many other factors you can play with there.

Cliched yes, but other than the Star Wars saga and most Disney films, it's hard to think of another type of movie that really embodies Joseph Campbell's hero's journey mythology like the sports movie (although with abbreviated or skipping steps).

I dunno, that hero's journey is kind of exactly what I was picturing. It seems like one of the most overused story structures. But apparently it's somehow inherent in the human perspective of what story is. So it's no surprise sports films are successful and yet so predictable.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

SkyPilot — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 23:04:51 GMT

Tizzy:

Risselada:

It is true that the Sports movie genre is one of the most cliched genres out there. I guess because it's all about competition, and rooting for someone, and if you try to thwart the audiences expectation in too many ways they will just get pissed. Just like fans of an actual sport. They will watch it week after week, hoping for the same outcome every time (that their team will win). Whether the team wins or not is how they judge their enjoyment of the game, not many other factors you can play with there.

Cliched yes, but other than the Star Wars saga and most Disney films, it's hard to think of another type of movie that really embodies Joseph Campbell's hero's journey mythology like the sports movie (although with abbreviated or skipping steps).

Tizzy: very interesting perspective, I haven't thought of sports movies that way!

Rizzo: I was trying to think of a really original sports movie, and I thought of Billy Elliot.

What a gorgeous flick. I know ballet isn't a sport per se, but the setup in Billy Elliot would parallel a girl struggling to play a "boy" sport.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Tizzy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:00:37 GMT

Risselada:

Smooth_J:
As for movies actually dramatizing sports, I've never really been a fan. In fact, I typically scoff at them, and point out everything stupid or cliched that occurs, and am one of those people that laugh when a character says something stupid in a more tragic moment. Friday Night Lights was allright though.

It is true that the Sports movie genre is one of the most cliched genres out there. I guess because it's all about competition, and rooting for someone, and if you try to thwart the audiences expectation in too many ways they will just get pissed. Just like fans of an actual sport. They will watch it week after week, hoping for the same outcome every time (that their team will win). Whether the team wins or not is how they judge their enjoyment of the game, not many other factors you can play with there.

Cliched yes, but other than the Star Wars saga and most Disney films, it's hard to think of another type of movie that really embodies Joseph Campbell's hero's journey mythology like the sports movie (although with abbreviated or skipping steps).

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Risselada — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:34:03 GMT

Smooth_J:
As for movies actually dramatizing sports, I've never really been a fan. In fact, I typically scoff at them, and point out everything stupid or cliched that occurs, and am one of those people that laugh when a character says something stupid in a more tragic moment. Friday Night Lights was allright though.

It is true that the Sports movie genre is one of the most cliched genres out there. I guess because it's all about competition, and rooting for someone, and if you try to thwart the audiences expectation in too many ways they will just get pissed. Just like fans of an actual sport. They will watch it week after week, hoping for the same outcome every time (that their team will win). Whether the team wins or not is how they judge their enjoyment of the game, not many other factors you can play with there.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Smooth_J — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:40:23 GMT

Personally, I'd say that Slap Shot is the best hockey movie, being a former long-time hockey player...it's ridiculously spot-on, besides the actual hockey scenes, which are still really funny.

I'm also among the minority that thought (figure skating) Blades of Glory was hilarious...I guess I'm just a Will Ferrell fan, because I thought (NASCAR) Talledega Nights was completely hysterical ((basketball) Semi-Pro was pretty bad though).

As for movies actually dramatizing sports, I've never really been a fan. In fact, I typically scoff at them, and point out everything stupid or cliched that occurs, and am one of those people that laugh when a character says something stupid in a more tragic moment. Friday Night Lights was allright though.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Risselada — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 19:32:45 GMT

Other than the week we did "sex" this is probably the broadest topic. I mean there are a lot of heist movies, and road trip movies, and other of the other types that come out. But sports movies seem to be a Hollywood staple. I wonder if you could find a new one every single month.

I'd have to say my favorite, is the made up sport BASEketball. I still think it's the funniest thing those South Park guys have been involved in. And it looks like David Zucker and another one of the writers of that movie are coming out with something in a month called An American Carol. Looks like a jab at Michael Moore. You guys heard of this before? I just wandered across it as we speak.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Tizzy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:46:52 GMT

I think the saddest football movie I ever saw was the original Brian's Song.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

unclefestering — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 02:45:45 GMT

The_American_Dream:

As a high-school runner, I have to lay down "Chariots of Fire" as a sports movie although not so classically sporty as the usual team over coming insurmountable odds within and without that Disney periodically cranks out with a 'Based on a True Story' tagline...

I watched Chariots of Fire again and I think it is one of the few Olympic movies that stand up to repeated viewings. (Unlike Cool Runnings.)

In terms of sports comedies I have to go with Dodgeball and A Day at the Races. Both are hilarious for different reasons. If you can't watch either without laughing your ass off, you need to see a mental health specialist.

For baseball, I'd have to go with John Singleton's Eight Men Out and The Pride of the Yankees as a double header since they show the game at it's worst and best.

For hockey, I'd pick Mystery, Alaska.

As for boxing, it's got to be the original Rocky, hands down.

And Sly comes right back for the best movie portrayal of professional arm wrestling with Over The Top.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

Tizzy — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 01:51:16 GMT

Add Rudy to that list as well (which also goes on my list of movies I resisted, resisted, resisted, then watched against my will and actually liked).

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

The_American_Dream — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 23:55:47 GMT

As a high-school runner, I have to lay down "Chariots of Fire" as a sports movie although not so classically sporty as the usual team over coming insurmountable odds within and without that Disney periodically cranks out with a 'Based on a True Story' tagline (I at least "Remember the Titans" without very fond memories). However, despite being a runner I haven't seen the classic Prefontaine movies out there like "Prefontaine" or "Without Limits". But those are the sports movies I know.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

leeroy711 — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 22:03:09 GMT

The Bad News Bears was classic. I also liked the remake.

I really liked Field of Dreams. But I thought Hoosiers was a bit better for a dramatic sports movie.

Adam Sandler's done a few sports movie, Happy Gilmore, and The Waterboy.

As far as I'm concerned, football and baseball are just filler sports to get me through until basketball season starts. Hoop Dreams and Through the Fire are a couple of good roundball documentaries.

Re:Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

rjsprague — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:42:04 GMT

I would like to add, in addition to the other children's sport films, Little Giants.

Weekly Theme for September 15: This Sporting Life

mercurial — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 21:06:51 GMT

Seeing as how my local pub that normally remains relatively dormant throughout the week is suddenly aswarm with throngs of beer-bellied gargantuans painted a la Mel Gibson in Braveheart, the start of football season has begun and thus this week shall be dedicated to all things sport.

Growing up I succumbed to the multitude of G-rated sports flicks like The Mighty Ducks, Little Big League, Ladybugs and The Sandlot. Some of which I even find myself watching again these days when nothing else seems to be on television.

I unapologetically admit to liking those sappy romantic comedies disguised as a sport movies like The Cutting Edge, Bend It Like Beckham, Aspen Extreme and Goal!

However with Caddyshack a close second, A League of Their Own and Field of Dreams definitely tie for the number one sport films in my opinion.

So lace up your cleats and get to discussing your favorite sports themed films!