Directed by Martin Scorsese
Written by Paul Schrader and Mardik Martin
IMDB

A biopic about the boxer Jake Lamota, focusing on his troubled relationships with his brother, wife and everybody else.  He’s an asshole.
Excellent film from the master filmmaker Martin Scorsese.  It is in black and white, which really works for this film.  It feels fresh and old at the same time.  Movies don’t get much better than this.


10/10

Directed by David O. Russell
Written by Scott Silver, Paul Tamasy and Eric Johnson
IMDB

I may not be an avid sports fan (aside from professional wrestling), but I love a sports movie.  I figured “The Fighter” would be more of a character piece or straight drama than a sports movie, but I was wrong.  Either way, I’m sure David O. Russel would have done a good job.  This is a great film.
The film follows “Irish” Micky Ward through difficulty with his family, finding love, and rising up the ranks of professional boxing.  His brother, the once great Dicky Eklund, is now addicted to crack and doing a poor job of training Micky.  When Dicky gets arrested, Micky takes the opportunity to seek new management, leading him to an impressive series of victories.
Sports movies are fun because they give you somebody to clearly root for, and a contest to root for them in.  They give you a clearly defined climax and winner.  I was very excited by the climatic fight of this film, and even raised my arms in celebrating Micky’s victory.  How can you not?  It’s exciting.  Great film.


9/10

Directed by Bennett Miller
Written by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin
IMDB

The general manager of the Oakland Athletics decides to employ a statistics-based strategy to make a winning team with the meager budget allotted.
A great film.  I rented this basically just because it was nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards.  Had I known that Aaron Sorkin co-wrote this, I would have rented it for that reason.  Either way, it was rented.
I do not watch sports, besides the occasional women’s tennis match, but I love a sports movie.  Hell, I even liked “Real Steel” and it’s not even about a real sport.  I absolutely hate baseball, but this movie had me enthralled.  It could have been another 40 minutes and I wouldn’t have wavered.


9.5/10

Directed by Peter Manoogian
Written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo
IMDB

Looking for a movie to watch tonight, I ran across this ready-to-expire title.  The plot summary caught my attention immediately and I knew I had to see this film.  A short order cook gets into a scuffle with an alien on a big space ship.  When he finds out that the alien was a fighter, he decides to enter the titular arena and fight some aliens and attempt to become the first human champion in over 50 years.
How could I pass this one up?
The special effects are pretty sweet.  It's pretty much all rubber suits and cool space ship back drops and metal sci-fi tubes.  I feel like the more reality-based special effects (as opposed to CGI) come off as more realistic when done well, and ultra fake when done poorly.  They're done right in this film.
The performances are fine.  The fighting is pretty good, though.  This is a sports movie, which tend to pull me in even though I don't really like watching sports.  Hell, Friday Night Lights is one of my favorite TV shows and I have never been entertained watching a football game.  It is easier to root for the protagonist of a sports movie because there's a storyline behind him/her/the team.
I highly recommend this film.  It's not for everybody, of course.  If you are adverse to b-movies then stay away.  If you don't mind a little cheese, then this is a cheesy and very entertaining good time.
What an awesome poster.

8.5/10

Directed by Ernest R. Dickerson
Written by Steve De Jarnatt and Robert Hewitt Wolfe
IMDB

Set in the year 2025, this film explores a popular (perhaps the most popular) sport of the future, aptly named Futuresport. Dean Cain portrays the most famous and popular of all Futuresport players. He foils a terrorist plot, even (via a game of Futuresport). Vanessa Williams plays a famous news anchor/journalist. Wesley Snipes is the man who created Futuresport, a sort of Jamaican-esque individual.
A really fun and completely dumb movie. The plot is so outrageous and fun that it is hard not to enjoy yourself during this crazy flick. It sort of reminds me, in spirit only, to Snakes on a Plane. Very much worth watching if you're looking for something dumb.

7.5/107

Directed by Warren Beatty and Buck Henry
Written by Elaine May and Warren Beatty
IMDB

When an overly excited angel yanks a NFL quarterback's (Warren Beatty) spirit from his body moments before a non-fatal car crash, killing him, it causes some problems. Beatty must be returned to a body, but he insists on a body that will continue to let him play football in the NFL. Until they can find him such a body, they put him in the body of Mr. Farnsworth, a wealthy business owner (sugar refineries, power plants, stuff like that). Farnsworth's wife and her lover/his personal secretary, are trying to kill him. Meanwhile, Beatty is falling in love with a reporter and the angels are attempting to find him a new body. When they do, Beatty does not want to leave Farnsworth's body because he is in love with the reporter.
A very ridiculous, but good film. I like the aspect of the angels/dead people having to return to Earth so much that I am currently writing a book using the device. I watched this partially as research and partially for entertainment. This is probably the best you are going to get from this shallow genre. Beatty is really funny (but played straight) as a meathead football player taking over a huge company and not knowing exactly what to do. Well worth watching.

8/10

Directed by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly
Written by Bobby Farrelly and Peter Farrelly
IMDB

A washed up bowling star (Woody Harrelson) finds a talented young Amish bowler (Randy Quaid) and attempts to manage him to a $1 million dollar tournament in Nevada. Quaid needs $500,000 to save his farm. Along the way, Vanessa Angel joins their party.
A silly comedy with a few unnecessary gross-out moments. It worked in the 90s, but in 2010 the gross-out humor is played out (and it worked better in There's Something About Mary). Still, bull semen drinking aside, this is a pretty good movie. Bill Murray is great as the creepy villain, Big Ernie. The music is horrible, most of it being third wave ska or Blues Traveller.

7/10

Directed by Drew Barrymore
Written by Shauna Cross
IMDB

Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, Whip It, is a sports movie about roller derby. Why it's worth saying that it's a sports movie is because it follows many of the classic sports movie cliches, but not in a bad way. It also injects a lot of heart into the mix.
Bliss is a small town Texas girl who pines to get out of her boring town and away from beauty pagents. While buying shoes she sees a flyer for roller derby. She goes to see it and falls in love. She tells one of the ladies that she's her hero, and the lady encourages her to join up. She joins up behind her parents' backs.
Obviously the team she's on is the worst and she's just what they needed to start winning. It's a sports movie after all. A pretty fun one at that.

7/10

Directed by Michael Ritchie
Written by Bill Lancaster
IMDB

An alcoholic former pro baseball player (Walter Matthau) is hired to coach a children's little league team. His team is by far the worst in the league. After their crushing defeat in their first game, the coach decides to get a ringer, the daughter of a woman he dated a couple years before. A young rebel also joins the team. Soon they are winning games.
What makes The Bad News Bears such a great movie isn't the now played to death 'terrible team is all of a sudden great' formula, it's because of the real life situations. The alcoholism of the coach. The other parents pushing their kids way too hard, and the father who hits his son at the end of the film. The racism/homophobia of the young children. This is what makes this one of the best sports movies. I loved this movie as a kid and I might love it even more now.

10/10

Directed by Rob Daniel
Written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman
IMDB

Michael J. Fox stars as the titular teenager/wolf. When Fox finds himself going through some changes, he soon finds out that he's from a family of werewolves. Instead of people hating him, he becomes extremely popular at school. He uses his wolf powers to play basketball better.
Teen Wolf is overall a pretty dumb movie, but it's fun and I have a certain nostalgia for it. The best part: Styles' t-shirt that says "What are you looking at dicknose?" That shirt was always the funniest thing to me. The movie itself has a few funny parts, but not many. It's okay.

6.5/10

Directed by Bruce Brown
Written by Bruce Brown
IMDB

This is a compilation of Bruce Brown's earlier films. The surfing footage is beautiful as usual and the skits are silly and dumb. I'm becoming a huge fan of Bruce Brown. I could watch the surf scenes all day. Perhaps it's because I've never seen a real wave in my life. I watched this because it's one of three Bruce Brown movies on Netflix that I can stream. This was the last of the three, sadly. I'm not sure if I want to waste a DVD rental on one of these documentaries when there are so many great movies I haven't seen. Maybe I'll get a box set if one exists (and is not very expensive).

7.5/10

Directed by Bruce Brown
Written by Bruce Brown
IMDB

Bruce Brown's fourth surfing documentary offers the beautiful shots of surfing that are to be expected. It also offers a few obviously staged scenes that kind of disrupt the flow.
What I loved about The Endless Summer was its loose story (if you can call it that). It's about a group of guys who are searching for the perfect wave and chasing summer around the world. This movie was lacking that direction.
Those are my only negative feelings toward it. I happened to really enjoy this movie for the most part and I definitely enjoy watching the 60s surfing footage.
The DVD version (well, I streamed it off of Netflix) I watched had a good introduction from Bruce Brown and a new narration track because he lost the original. I liked that about it, because he would tell you what became of the people onscreen and how the places they are changed over the years.

7/10

Directed by Bruce Brown
Written by Bruce Brown
IMDB

This is by far Bruce Brown's most famous surfing documentary. Two young surfers travel around the world looking for the perfect wave. They also meet some interesting locals on their trip.
Beautiful documentary with some truly great surf footage. The only sound in the movie is what is dubbed over the footage (music and narration). This is a must-see for fans of documentaries or surfing.

9.5/10

Directed by Robert Rossen
Written by Sidney Carroll and Robert Rossen
Trailer
IMDB

The Hustler is a movie I didn't know existed until earlier this week. The Color of Money is the sequel to this, and also one of my favorite movies. Paul Newman's character Fast Eddie Felson is the subject of both of these movies. These flicks are part pool hustle and part character study. The co-mingling of the two is phenomenal.
This movie is deliberately slow. It doesn't rush anything and it leads you astray at sometimes, while at other times the plot points it indicates do take place, sometimes with a surprising twist.
Nearly every actor who spends more than ten minutes on screen got an Oscar nomination, and while none of them one, they all deserved the nod. The director crafts a masterful movie with the help of excellent framing by the cinematographer (who did win an Oscar). This movie is a pure joy to watch, not in the way that it is light and funny. It is a joy to watch a movie that is crafted by an amazing director, stars an amazing cast and has a great story. It also has people playing pool!

10/10

Directed by Ron Shelton
Written by Ron Shelton
Clip
IMDB

Tim Robbins is the hot new pitcher for a minor league team, the Durham Bulls. He can throw fast, but has a hard time throwing straight. The Bulls bring in a seasoned veteran, Kevin Costner, to teach him how to play better ball. Susan Sarandon is a baseball player groupie. She is fucking Robbins, but wants to be fucking Costner.
I like this movie up until a point. Toward the end Robbins leaves to go to the Major League. The rest of the movie is romantic scenes between Sarandon and Costner, which to me derail the movie a bit. It's really fun and funny up until that point. The clip I included is my favorite scene of the movie.

7/10

Directed by Tanya Rosenberg
Written by Craig Clyde, James Hennessy and George Saunders
IMDB

A group of young women travel around the country hustling people in softball. They beat a group of rednecks. When their coach goes out to get the money they're owed he takes a little too long. A couple girls go out after him, but almost get raped. The coach gets stabbed. As they are fleeing they accidentally kill one of the redneck's, the son of a mercenary. The mercenary calls for a bounty of $1,000 for every dead girl. Now the girls are being hunted and fighting for their lives.
I consider this movie to be a classic. It's got a little bit of everything: baseball, girls with guns, nudity, rednecks, mercenaries, hunting humans and a respectable body count. Some of the movie is pretty tense. I don't like seeing rape in movies, and this one had a lot of near rape-- which I find uncomfortable, but not even close to full on rape. Also, how often do you get to see a movie like this directed by a woman?

10/10

Directed by Danny Lee
IMDB

Stephen Chow stars as Lung, a descendant of Bruce Lee, who doesn't take martial arts seriously. He spends his time playing Buddha's Palm instead of fighting with his father's female student, Mo. He also uses his martial arts skills to play snooker.
His god uncle comes to visit them and needs to borrow some money, which Lung's father agrees to give him in exchange for taking Lung to HK with him. Lung cannot return until he is famous.
Lung's god uncle is in a ton of debt and gambles on some snooker. The game is interrupted by Lung and they restart with Lung playing instead of his god uncle. Lung easily beats him and is soon playing snooker against everybody and becoming famous, but he doesn't know that his god uncle is gambling. When he finds out he can no longer play and ends up losing his father's land in a game against Jimmy White. He then has to try to get it back, of course.
The Legend of the Dragon showcases Stephen Chow's comedic genius and his ability to bring his martial arts skills into a sport. There are a few fight scenes, but they are fairly quick, but there's a lot of silliness and good snooker scenes. This is a movie you should see, unless you hate Stephen Chow, and they who gives a fuck about you anyway?

8.5/10

Directed by Minoru Kawasaki
Written by Minoru Kawasaki and Masakazu Migita
IMDB

A wrestler wins the world championship, but isn't even given time to celebrate before a giant squid attacks him. Soon everybody wants to see the squid and the champ in a match, but the squid won't work a fixed match. They agree to do it shoot-style. In the meantime, the squid steals the champs girlfriend.
The first 45 minutes are fast-paced and outrageous. During the last half the novelty wears a little thin, but the story keeps you immersed until the end. Lots of absurdity in this one. If you want to see a squid wrestle and octopus then pick this one up.

8/10

Directed by Harold Ramis
Written by Brian Doyle-Murray, Harold Ramis and Douglas Kennedy
Budget: $6,000,000
IMDB

Danny needs money for college and he works as a caddy. Sometimes he caddies for Chevy Chase, who plays golf purely for fun. Danny gets wind of a caddy scholarship so he begins to caddy for, and kiss up to, a judge played by Ted Knight. Ted Knight hates Rodney Dangerfield. Bill Murray battles wits with a dancing gopher. A classic.

9/10

Directed by Rob Daniel
Written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman
IMDB

Michael J. Fox is a basketball player who is also a teen and werewolf. This movie is fairly funny and fast-paced enough for you to not question any of the gaping plot holes. I've seen this movie at least 15 times in my life.

7.5/10