Downhill Racer: Criterion Collection
November 24, 2015
There are few good sports films that aren’t riddled with clichés and there are even fewer good films about skiing. Downhill Racer (1969) is one of those rare exceptions. Based on Oakley Hill’s 1963 novel, The Downhill Racers, Paramount Pictures optioned...
Hoop Dreams: Criterion Collection
April 14, 2015
For every Allen Iverson or Shaquille O’Neal that makes it to fame and fortune in the NBA, there are hundreds that don’t. Hoop Dreams (1994) is a documentary that follows two Chicago inner-city boys from their freshman year in high school to their...
Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor
October 18, 2011
Some have called it the most extraordinary playing ever seen in this spectacular sporting competition, and the DVD will no doubt confirm these statements. The tournament was in Wales and the scenic Celtic Manor Resort was the first time host, however,...
On Any Sunday
September 12, 2011
As a youngster, the revered director of surf movies, Bruce Brown, was inspired to get his first bike by Steve McQueen’s motorcycle memorable scenes in The Great Escape. Brown turned to the sport of motorcycle racing in 1971. This quintessential motorcycle...
Secretariat
January 18, 2011
After failing to win an Academy Award in 2002 for her brave performance in Unfaithful (losing out to Nicole Kidman in The Hours), cynical pundits surmised that Diane Lane took on the role of Penny Chenery, the owner of the legendary race horse Secretariat,...
Downhill Racer: Criterion Collection
November 19, 2009
There are few good sports films that aren’t riddled with clichés and there are even fewer good films about skiing. Downhill Racer (1969) is one of those rare exceptions. Based on Oakley Hill’s 1963 novel, The Downhill Racers, Paramount Pictures optioned...
The Wrestler
April 22, 2009
Many critics heralded The Wrestler (2008) as the resurrection of Mickey Rourke’s career but for fans of the mercurial actor, his comeback started with small, but memorable roles in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Rainmaker (1997), Buffalo 66 (1998), and...
Semi-Pro: Two-Disc Unrated Version
June 3, 2008
Semi-Pro (2008) proved that Will Ferrell is no longer bulletproof at the box office. The film was not well-received by the critics (nothing new for Ferrell) but failed to connect with his fans like Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) and Talladega...
Invincible
January 3, 2007
Underdog sports movies, when done well, can be a surefire formula for success. Get a sympathetic protagonist and pit him against insurmountable odds with a satisfying ending so that everyone leaves the theatre feeling all warm and fuzzy. Case in point:...
Nacho Libre
November 3, 2006
Mexican professional wrestling (or Lucha libre as it is known) is the subject of Jared Hess’ (of Napoleon Dynamite fame) new film, Nacho Libre (2006). The sport started in the early 1900s and was mainly a regional phenomenon until wrestlers were brought...
