Recommended Films

[Bondvillain]

Hopefully he wins that award as I don't think anyone wants you eat that.

You're right. It would be selfish of me to deprive so many people.

[Bondvillain]

Anyway, Watchable sports movies

Baseball : Bull Durham, Field of Dreams*, The Natural*

American Football : The longest Yard (Reynolds, not sandler), Any Given Sunday, The last Boy Scout (Kinda)

Horse Racing : Phar Lap , Murphys stroke, Seabiscuit*

Nascar : Talladega Nights.

Basketball : Best Shot*, Hoop Dreams, Space Jam. (It has Marvin the Martian in it. Automatic A+)

Boxing Movies : Cinderella Man* , Raging Bull, Midnight Sting (Coolest. Sports movie. Ever.)

Football : Escape to Victory, Shaolin Soccer, The prisoner's pitchside Commentary Scenes from "Mean Machine"

(Rule of Thumb for football movies - Avoid anything starring Northern English actors who say "lad" a lot : Jimmy Grimble, When Saturday Comes, Goal! or anything featuring American 'Comedians' who say "saccer" a lot : Ladybugs, the Big green, Kicking and screaming)

Not an exhaustive list, but should keep you going.



(*High Sugar content. Avoid if Diabetic)

[tetsujin1979]

American Football : The longest Yard (Reynolds, not sandler), Any Given Sunday, The last Boy Scout (Kinda)

Add Friday Night Lights to that list. Top film.
Haven't seen much of the TV series spinoff, but I hear good things about it.

[deecay]

Malcolm X,I would say the best film ive ever seen apart from a bit to much of a love story.193 mins long

[Aberdonian Stu]

For sports movies I'd add Rocky and Rocky Balboa to the list but would ignore the 4 in between, although Rocky III has moments of sheer comedy gold.

Also Blue Chips is a great basketball movie with Nick Nolte. If you count pool, which I do, then The Hustler is a classic. I've never seen Slap Shot, which like The Hustler stars Paul Newman, but I've only heard great things about it.

[Risteard]

Loved the Mighty Ducks when I was about 10.

Million Dollar Baby is very good.

[osarusan]

Boxing - The Harder They Fall. A brilliant film with Bogart.

[Billsthoughts]

Give the storyline to some one else and you would have had a TLJ US Marshall helicopters galore splash.
It's not about likable characters but excellent characterizations of people in unusual circumstances. However the hunted man didn't have to go back to the scene for "unfinished business", his sense of duty was strong.
The characterizations in the scenes where people are responding to unusual situations, the shopkeepers, the border guard, the 3 young men to the injured hunted, the 2 kids to the man with the bottle, all are superb.

The film makes an initial mark and then grows, then more questions come and then demands to be watched again.

actually your right. it was a steaming pile of pretentious ****.

[onceahoop]

They're all rubbish, but some are more entertaining than others.
Any Given Sunday is a decent American football film starring Al Pacino and Cameron Diaz. Escape to Victory is silly fun.

It's a long time since I watched it but Any Given Sunday was excellent. A great scene where Pacino gives the most brilliant motivational team talk.

Enjoyed Field of Dreams also

[cheifo]

Boxing - The Harder They Fall. A brilliant film with Bogart.

Agreed, really enjoyed that.There is another excellant B+W boxing film -cant remember what it is called for the life of me.
This Sporting Life is a good yarn.
Must google Midnight Sting.Have'nt heard that one.
Suprised by some peoples reaction to No Country for Old Men.Did'nt think it was in any way abstract...just a damn good film but different folks..different strokes.Was reading about the"clever marketing"(like Blair witch Project its secrective marketing strategy is designed to appeal to peoples curiousity) for forthcoming "Blockbuster" Cloverfield.Apparantly there is a huge big monster in it that tears the Head of the Statue of Liberty..which is a bit rude if you ask me.

[geysir]

Popcorn time on Film Four last night, they showed Two Lane Blacktop from 1971 as well as another screening of Infernal Affairs.

In 2 Lane, I had forgotten about the mechanics compulsion to clean the jets every 10 minutes, solved all engine tuning issues.

[bennocelt]

Loved the Mighty Ducks when I was about 10.

Million Dollar Baby is very good.

yeah if you like sentimental dross, which Clint does very well
It doesnt even stand up as a realistic boxing movie

Raging Bull is the best

[Bondvillain]

Agreed, really enjoyed that.There is another excellant B+W boxing film -cant remember what it is called for the life of me.

There's a few!

Ignoring the original "Champ" with Wallace Beery, which has classic status, but has not aged well due to it's high sugar content, The Set up is the main one, starring Robert Ryan (From the Wild Bunch & the Dirty Dozen) as a fighter who's past his prime (a la "Rocky Balboa") who gets one last shot, not knowing that the mob have bet heavily on a result that dosent tally with the one Ryan is going all-out to get. Probably the best of the film noir boxing movies, and is notable for being shot in 'real time' - 72 minutes of movie = 72 minutes of actual life.

John Garfield's Body and Soul is another that has the "washed up fighter crosses organized criminals" motif, but is nonetheless very good, if a little stagey.

Kirk Douglas featured in Ring Lardiner's Champion the fictionalized story of Irish American boxer Midge Kelly. Champion was nominated for 6 oscars & won one, and is an early ( albeit very mild ) prototype for Raging Bull, with its in depth character backgrounds and organised crime overtones.

Moving into the colour era, The Great White Hope with James Earl Jones ( NOT the Great white Hype with Damon Wayans. 2 decent jokes does not a decent comedy make) Fat City with Stacey Keach and the Ali Documentary "When We were Kings" are all worth watching, as is the Ali movie itself, if only for Jon Voight as Cosell and to see Will Smith not ACT as Ali, but rather give a flawless impersonation of him. Great, if impersonations are your thing...


Regarding Midnight sting, it's an extremely knowing nod to the old days of 'sporting shyster' movies, reminiscent at times of "The Sting" but with many genuinely thrilling scenes, and many more laugh-out-loud moments.

The pitch perfect casting helps, James Woods is the fresh-out-of-jail con man/ promoter stuck in a hillbilly town, forced to organise a boxing match to pay off a debt, Oliver Platt his equally loose-moraled sidekick, Louis Gosset Jr escaped from the never ending conveyor belt of Iron Eagle sequels just long enough to put in a cracking performance as Wood's chosen gladiatior, 'nearly-was' Prizefighter Honey Roy Palmer, and Bruce Dern epitomises raw, inbred evil as the Patriarch of the small southern town where Woods has been bullied into staging the impossible debt-clearing bout.

Even the smaller parts are filled to perfection, Heather Graham is devestatingly cute in an early role as a southern Girl-Next-door type, the Coen brothers favourite muscleman Randall Tex Cobb makes a brief appearance to establish the plot, and Jim Caviezel features in only his second movie as a hick towndweller.

It's funny, it's cheeky, and although the Fight scenes are brilliantly choreographed, it's light & doesnt take itself too seriously. Well worth a look. (Try searching for Diggstown - it suffered an unfortunate name change to Midnight Sting over here as us idiot European folk would have obviously thought it was a bleak mining town drama..)

[Only1Rovers]

Dont know if this film has been mentioned before on this threat,

but I rented Days of Glory a few days ago.

Its a cracker, about soldiers from North Africa enlisting to fight for the French army during WWI.

Some fanstastic acting (althought it is subtitled, making harder to identify dodgy acting) and good action.

its available from Xtra-Vision & Chartbuster. It was nominated for best foreign language film at the Acadamy Awards but lost out to The Lives of Others.

The movie deals with the discrimination that Algerian Soldiers suffered from the French during the war, this discrimination continued preventing North African Soldiers being paid their army pentions, until the French Authorities watched the film. All soldiers were payed the pensions including back-pay - following the release of the film.

[jebus]

Just watched No Country for Old Men, great story, acting and movie, highly, highly recommended

[Neish]

Dont know if this film has been mentioned before on this threat,

but I rented Days of Glory a few days ago.

Its a cracker, about soldiers from North Africa enlisting to fight for the French army during WWI.

Some fanstastic acting (althought it is subtitled, making harder to identify dodgy acting) and good action.

its available from Xtra-Vision & Chartbuster. It was nominated for best foreign language film at the Acadamy Awards but lost out to The Lives of Others.

The movie deals with the discrimination that Algerian Soldiers suffered from the French during the war, this discrimination continued preventing North African Soldiers being paid their army pentions, until the French Authorities watched the film. All soldiers were payed the pensions including back-pay - following the release of the film.

Seen it a couple of weeks ago, best film I saw it a good bit.

Rented The Bourne Ultimatum on friday probably my least favourite of the 3 but still a good show

[cheifo]

Thanks for that BV.The set up is the film I was thinking about.Must track down Midnight Sting.When James Woods is on form he is capable of putting in a very good performance particularly in man on the edge scenario.Salvador was a fantastic performance and Oliver Stones best film IMO(would'nt be hard a lot of people would say).
Saw Two Days in Paris last night.Not my type of thing to be honest but had me laughing in parts.

[pete]

Looking forward to No Country for Old Men but because of the hype will probably be disappointed.

Seen it now & excellent film & a must see.

It is not often that they live up to such hype but best film I have seen in years. If Bardem does not walk away with every award going I will be surprised. The lack of any soundtrack really works & adds to atmosphere.

Without giving anything away the best scenes are gas station dialog & waiting in the hotel room.

[cheifo]

Sorry but forgot to acknowlege BV,s reference to The Wild Bunch.What a fantastic film from opening shot to the best shootout ever seen on Celluloid.

[Bottle of Tonic]

Seen it now & excellent film & a must see.

It is not often that they live up to such hype but best film I have seen in years. If Bardem does not walk away with every award going I will be surprised. The lack of any soundtrack really works & adds to atmosphere.

Without giving anything away the best scenes are gas station dialog & waiting in the hotel room.

Really looking forward to seeing this. Looks like a proper Cohen brothers film as oppossed to that horsedung last couple they brought out.

No soundtrack? Interesting. A major part of plenty other of their flicks.