As another year is coming to an end, there are a few things that we can always count on: we will make New Year's resolutions, boss out and drink top shelf liquor, and have to listen to about 50 million end-of-the-year/decade countdowns of some sort.
Well, here is 50,000,001...because I fricken love countdowns.
I have compiled my top 10 list of the top sports movies of the past decade, which, by the way, don't hold a candle to the sports movies of the 90's (Mighty Ducks trilogy...enough said). But nontheless, there have been some noteworthy films throughout the 2000's.
Now, whilst reading this list, there are a couple things you need to keep in mind:
I am a 21 year old college senior. I am not Ebert and Roeper, Jeffery Lyons, nor am I Gene Shalit. I enjoy crude and sophomoric humor, as well as awesomely-bad films. Not all of the movies on my list are going to be highly regarded by the Academy.
I will not be putting formulaic, feel good sports-story movies on my list. The Hollywood sports movie factory has mass-produced some predictable, corny films all throughout the 2000's. These films include, but are not limited to: We Are Marshall, The Rookie, Gridiron Gang, Miracle, Glory Road, Radio, and Coach Carter.
Without further ado, here is the top 10 best films from 2000-2009.
10. The Replacements (2000)-Loosely based off the 1987 NFL strike, it was the story of quarterback Shane Falco (played by the brilliant Keanu Reeves) getting a second chance in the NFL after choking in the Sugar Bowl in 1996 as a "scab" during a League strike. He led a group of has-beens and never-was-beens to a playoff birth in the final four games of the Washington Sentinals' season.This movie had it all: the "wiry" foul-mouthed, cigarette smoking English place-kicker, the retard-strong middle linebacker, and the "I'm so fast but have no hands" wide receiver. And it even brought back disco with a jail cell Gloria Gaynor song and dance.
9. The U (2009)- I may be a victim of the moment on this one, but this ESPN 30 for 30 documentary about the University of Miami football program was very entertaining. This stylish film documented the program and chronicled how they went from giving away free tickets to their games at Burger King to winning four National Championships with three different coaches in a decade. All while stealing car stereos and selling cocaine. Impressive.
8. Remember the Titans (2000)- Now, I know I said I wouldn't put feel-good formula movies on this list, but I will give this movie some credit. They were the pioneers of this and were what all of the other factory movies modeled themselves after. Denzel Washington was great, and everyone secretly knew Hayden Panettiere was going to be a stone-cold fox. And if you were to tell me you have never yelled "strong side, left side" to your buddy on the football field, then I will call you a liar.
7. Ali (2009) - The self-titled biopic was, in my estimation, Will Smith's best performance (no disrespect to the Fresh Prince). It covered Muhammad Ali's boxing career from 1964-1974 (the only part people really care about), from his battles with Liston and Frasier, his conversion to Islam, and The Rumble in the Jungle with the grill man himself. Plus, the movie gave us every high school's senior graduation song for that year from R. Kelly (pre-pissing on kids).
6. Bring It On (2000)- Hey Mickey! This movie finally shed some light on the cut-throat world of competitive cheer and really made us all aware of the years of pain and suffering the inner-city squads have had to go through from getting their cheers stolen by the Kirsten Dunst. But I feel like we all learned something pretty valuable from Bring It On: never hire Sparky Polastri to teach you spirit fingers.
5. 61* (2001)- Directed by Yankees die-hard Billy Crystal, the movie chronicled the 1961 season where Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle were trying to break the Babe's single-season home run record. They both felt the immense pressure from the race, with Maris losing his hair and Mantle shutting it down at the end of the season with a gaping infection on his leg. As we all know, Maris got to 61, but I would still rather party with Mantle.
4. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004)- Dodgeball took the popular gym class sport that is all about violence, exclusion and degradation and brought it to the silver screen for the first time. Patches O'Houlihan taught us the five D's of dodgeball, Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn gave us quintessential performances, all while trying to figure out who Steve the Pirate was. This movie will go down as one of the best sports comedies of all time. Thank you Chuck Norris!
3. Million Dollar Baby (2004)- Clint Eastwood directed and starred in this Academy Award winner as a down-and-out trainer trying to bring an amateur female boxer (Hilary Swank) to the top. It was tough to tell who was more badass: Eastwood as his usual grizzled, take no shit self, or Swank straight knocking bitches out. And the narration was done by, you guessed it, Morgan Freeman. That's who I would want to narrate my life story. I would give this movie a higher rating, but at the end of the day, it's still women's boxing, which until that movie came out I was unaware was a real sport.
2. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)- The best movie about NASCAR (sorry Tom Cruise) and possibly Will Ferrell's funniest. The movie was pitched to the studio with six simple words: Will-Ferrell-as-a-NASCAR-driver. You've got to love a movie that makes fun of its core demographic, and they STILL love it. I could easily have a conversation using solely Ricky Bobby movie quotes. So thank you six pound, eight ounce, sweet baby Jesus for letting this movie be made.
1. Friday Night Lights (2004)- This is in my top five sports movies of all-time, the story of the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers in the West Texas town of Odessa. Friday Night Lights is the antithesis of all the sports movies I hate (see above). It's a drama about how F-ing nuts people are about their football in West Texas, and the pressures the players and coaches have to go through. Though it was based off a true story, I liked how the team lost the championship game, it was completely un-cliche. But does this movie make me want to move to West Texas and become an obsessive high school football dad? Kind of.
*Best of the rest -Out Cold (don't know if it's a sports movie) -Air Buddies (one of the billion sequels in the Air Bud saga) -Grind -Lords of Dogtown -Rocky Balboa
Decent (Shindler's) list you got there. One thing you got wrong (turn) was not including Air Buddies in the top (gun) 10. That didn't make me very happy (gilmore).
You lost me when you called Keanu Reeves brilliant. There are many things Keanu is, but brilliant is most definately not one of them.
Remember the Titans deserves better in this list as well, and Million Dollar Baby was AWEFUL. I guess it won some Oscars or something, but I still think it was a terrible, depressing movie.
I haven't gone over the whole list of 2000 sports movies, but if that's really the best of them (and it might be), I think we'd have to say that the 2000's were not a good decade for sports movies. 80's and 90's produced much better.
-1
... written by TXdad25,
December 29, 2009
Just a note. There was no year "0," so there are two problems with your list:
1) The year 2000 was actually the last year of the '90's, not the first year of the "aughts." That would appear to eliminate three or four of your movies.
2) There's one more year remaining in this decade, so you're ignoring fully 10% of the sports movies yet to come.
@Kris1 I think, or at least I hope, Devin was being facetious when he called Keeanu brilliant. Keeanu is brilliantly awful. He's fun to laugh at.
+0
retard-strong? written by mike210,
December 29, 2009
give me a break. what's with using the word retard? It's a slur that hurts people with special needs. that should be enough to get you to stop using it.
@Kris1 Keanu Reeves is awesome, and I'd like to know on what authority you're making the claim that he 'most definitely' isn't brilliant. Go to your room and watch The Matrix.
+1
... written by Inkhuldra,
December 31, 2009
@Bobby B Why do you read facetiousness into a person's opinion on an actor's performance, just because you yourself don't agree? Is your opinion more worth than Devin's, you think? Why don't you go ahead and tell us why you think Keanu Reeves was NOT brilliant as quarterback Shane Falco. That is, if you ever actually watched the movie at all.
@inkhuldra Abakingpowder? If he loves Keanu, then that's fine with me. My opinion is clear in my comment. He's an awful actor, period. I've seen the movie and my opinion of him as an actor does not change. Next.
+0
... written by sloppy,
January 01, 2010
Keanu is a shitty actor, he read it exactly how it was intended...I didn't know Keanu's acting ability was such a hot button topic.
-1
Same ole same ole... written by Seer,
January 01, 2010
I didn't know Keanu's acting ability was such a hot button topic.
Not hot button just knee jerk, he's somewhat the designated 'critic's whipping boy'. Like there is for 'pulp romance', there's an actual formula for critiquing this man's work which 'critics' appreciate, easily copied, calls for little original thought.
Reviewing his films is a 'plumb assignment', with the formula the work is already done for you so it's finished quickly to easily meet deadlines - you don't even have to watch the flick..
Interestingly enough all of the 'critical' bashing has had little to zero effect on his long-lived and varied career (there's a message in that which few 'critics' ever allow themselves to recognize).
Keanu Reeves is the lazy critic's favorite subject.
@Seer Meh. Do you care to share actual reasons why you think Keanu Reeves is a good actor and why you've dedicated an entire site to defending/stalking him? It's not rocket science; either he's good or he sucks. It's pretty subjective, so I doubt there is a "formula" for it at all.
True, I did misspell plum for the context didn't I? It's always interesting how those who disagree with a post manage to make sure they point out spelling and grammatical errors .
The web site is not mine, another truth, nor is it a stalker site. It is however probably the best site in terms of a 'paper trail' on interviews and film subjects dealing with Keanu Reeves. It also contains many of his movie scripts which make for interesting reading in tandem with viewing the films, and it is probably the only site which has no 'drool' gallery. And if you take the time to read the site in it's entirety you'll find it's not so much in defense of the actor as it is a defense of him and his work. There's a difference between the two, and for WinM it's a question of balance with regards to that formula I mentioned .
Now if you'll actually read my post I did not say that Keanu is a 'good actor' did I? When I address that directly I most often say that he is not the best - nor is he the worst actor. Yes indeed it is subjective and always personal opinion - but what it is not is 'either he's good or he sucks' - that's where the 'subjective' comes in, there's an entire spectrum between 'good' and 'sucks'.
My reasons for appreciating Keanu Reeves and his work? I generally like the subject matter of the films he chooses to do, they're usually well done, the cast is worth watching, and there's almost always a message, and I happen to like films that I can think about.
And finally I personally enjoy the way he acts, he is 'every man' in nearly every character portrayal, I can easily see what the character is going through and how he feels about what's happening, just as I can with the people around me in everyday life. Keanu Reeves doesn't insult my intelligence nor waste my time with exaggerated emotions (a kind of acting that comes across better in stage work).
The formula I mentioned has to do with the subject I was addressing in my post - that roughly 75% of 'critical' reviews of Reeves are formulaic - ergo the 'same ole same ole' subject line. The only difference for most is the author's identity, most of them are saying the same things - sometimes word for word.
This author's review of The Replacements wasn't a formula review however (regardless of what was meant by 'brilliant'). Addressing the film and why they liked it - as well as making it clear up front that it was an opinion piece. Critics often forget that their reviews are all opinion pieces.
Unfortunately the public often forgets this as well .
@Bobby B. Hi, WINM webmaster here. The site exists precisely because of comments like yours. I doubt many people believe, if they were completely honest with themselves, that Keanu Reeves is truly the worst actor in Hollywood. Yet he is constantly declared as such, often without thought because it's become the cool thing to do.
Which is just unfair both for him and for his fans, especially when this is then used as a jumping-off point to make some very negative and wrong conclusions about Keanu's personality, or intelligence, or integrity which are in complete contrast to what we know of Keanu from his interviews and other real life behaviour.
Both from watching and reading about him, and from what people who know or have met him have said, everything about Keanu points towards him being a highly intelligent (IQ: 160), extremely well-read, humble, witty, and kind person, and he really does not deserve a quarter of the flak that gets directed at him. As fans, we'd like to do something about that because the constant stream of negativity is frustrating at best especially when it's so far from the truth. I would stick up for a friend who gets wronged, so why not for an actor I admire?
As you pointed out, yes, acting is a subjective thing, which is why it's strange that you immediately follow that by saying that he's either a good actor or he sucks. That's an objective standard you're proposing, not a subjective one.
As for why I think Keanu is a good actor, firstly his genre versatility has always impressed me. Not many actors would be able to pull off playing both Neo and Ted and get typecast as both the introverted computer geek and the extroverted dumb surfer dude. He's done films in drama, comedy, scifi, action, romance, and had success in all of them.
In terms of acting, I like Keanu's minimalist style and how he always leaves some room for the audience to interpret a character. He rarely gives a full portrayal; some see that as bad acting, but it is precisely that incompleteness that allows every viewer to take something different away from a performance, depending on what they bring to it. Keanu leaves it to the audience to fill in the blanks of a character, providing merely the template of a personality. There is space for the viewer to make that character their own, to identify with, to relate to, or to recognise as an embodiment of a specific set of traits. At the same time he has a very neat, measured, technical style of acting, which might be accused of being mechanical or robotic but there is something about the control evident in it that appeals to the perfectionist in me.
I've seen bad acting - often overstated, dramatic, fake, unnatural, self-conscious, inconsistent and messy, and Keanu's acting has never struck me in that way; always the opposite. But that's probably just a matter of taste.
+0
well, well, well... written by Bobby B,
January 04, 2010
I never imagined this sports post on my sports blog would develop into a full blown debate about Keanu Reeves, but here we are...
@Seer I was merely pointing out that plum(b) assignment is redundant for posterity's sake.
@Seer & @anakin I'm fine if you like Keanu and his acting. I've seen most of his movies and I'm allowed to come out and say he sucks without a preemptive explanation because this isn't an actors review site. My problem is with you, those who do have a website dedicated to defending/following him (more or less), rummaging through the interwebs for people who make comments that don't coincide with your own opinions and then making blanket accusations, implying we're lazy critics when really we're not here to talk about how smart and witty Keanu Reeves is in real life so we should like his versatility in movies -- we're here to talk about sports.
Anakin, you're right I seem to make an objective standard for a very subjective topic, but I think you misunderstood me. I meant that there is no SPECIFIC formula for breaking down an actor and coming to the conclusion that he either a) sucks or b) doesn't (those are just hypothetical conclusions). Ultimately, it DOES require a full analysis, and there are plenty of ways of going about it, but ultimately it does come to a somewhat loose conclusion that you either a) like him as an actor or b) don't.
Since you both spent quality time explaining to me why you do like him, I will explain why I think he's not so brilliant. When I'm watching a movie, I want to believe it as if it's real, I don't want to laugh at how fake it seems. To me, I find myself laughing at his acting more than actually enjoying it -- often serving as a distraction to the movie itself. It's not because it's the cool thing to do or because he's the critics' whipping boy -- I didn't even know it was a big deal to hate on him until I read the premise of your website. It's just how I feel.
There's no dispute that he has played a wide array of roles, and I do think that's impressive to be casted as such, but I don't think that gives him an automatic ticket to brilliancy. I think a lot of times in film an actor can make the film, but at the same token, a film can help make the actor. I think this is the case for Reeves in a lot of his films -- he benefits from a strong story and supporting cast and his shortcomings are easily ignored or overlooked.
I don't know how else to explain it without it taking up more time than I want to since it's already gone on too long... (I do know that I don't care if the guy is smart or a dumbass, monogamist or womanizer in life outside the movie, I care about the movie and the acting within, period so you can save the 160 IQ and does a great interview comments because that's all irrelevant as to how he displays himself on the silver screen).
As for your comments about me in your forums... well, I guess you should refer to #1 in your own guidelines...
Focker. Out.
+1
... written by sloppy,
January 04, 2010
What do you think Keanu Reeves is more brilliant in: Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure, or Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey?
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The Bloguin Network allows advertisers to promote their products and services to our ever-growing number of visitors. We offer both site-specific ad placements as well as the ability to run a network-wide campaign. If you're interested in working with Bloguin to meet your advertising needs, please contact us.
The Bloguin Network is always looking to expand. We're specifically looking for blogs in the sports, entertainment, and video games field, but are open to adding any type of quality site.. If you're a blogger and interested in joining our network, please fill out our application form.
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