Scoring at the Movies Ryan Ellis & Chris Di Gregorio

We've arrived at the series finale of Scoring At The Movies!
 
We're wrapping up this every-other-Thursday chat show about sports films by digging into Rocky...again. Rocky Balboa is filled with emotion, nostalgia (oh, is it nostalgic!) and many references to previous films in the franchise, not to mention a slew of quirky, Rocky-specific details. It's one of the best of the first 5 sequels as it highlights the lonely ex-boxer struggling mightily with the death of his beloved Adrian. Sylvester Stallone's return to the series after the failure of Rocky V represents some of the best work he did in the original 6. He even gets to end Balboa's improbable boxing career on a "full circle" high note. Then after our hour-plus gab about this cheesy/fun movie, we spent around 15 minutes summing up our feelings about doing this podcast for the past 5 years.
 
So race up the steps for the last time and get rid of the stuff in the basement as Ryan & Chris ring the final bell on Scoring At The Movies.
 
To contact us, use email (scoringatthemovies@gmail.com) or Twitter (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies).

We're talking about baseball for the last time as Kevin Costner plays a Detroit Tigers pitcher in For Love Of The Game. The film spends about an equal amount of time between the Costner/Kelly Preston love story and him trying to achieve something monumental: throw a perfect game.
 
We thought the romance had too many tonal problems to take it seriously, although you can't say it was shoehorned in. It's essential to the way director Sam Raimi tells the flashback-heavy story. Even though we admired a lot of the action depicted on the diamond, we were pedants about A LOT of the errors. Costner's 3rd baseball flick is just a frustrating experience, although there are some moments that are as exciting as a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 9th.
 
So clear the mechanism as we talk to ourselves on the mound and maybe shed some tears in our penultimate episode about For Love Of The Game.
 
Our email address is scoringatthemovies@gmail.com and our Twitter accounts are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies.

In our 3rd-last episode, we're talking about a cynical, sci-fi movie about a made-up sport called Rollerball. Norman Jewison's dour 1975 film juggles a lot of balls and comments on many social issues (as Jewison often did in the films he directed), but he didn't draw either of us into his take on a dystopian future. James Caan mostly just mutters and sulks. He's not at his tough-guy best, although at least he and the stunt performers are convincing when they're playing this ultra-violent game. We agreed that the picture is absolutely well-made, showing a 2018 that was grounded in reality, not The Jetsons. It's just not a picture we ever care to see again. So instead of gleefully exploding trees with a hand cannon, why not be true to yourself and buck fascist authority figures, no matter who gets hurt? And while you're doing that, we'll be over here trying to figure out Rollerball.
 
Oh, and for the record, we've covered 3 poker movies on this channel, not just 1 or 2: Rounders, Casino Royale and Molly's Game.
 
Our email address is scoringatthemovies@gmail.com, while our Twitter handles are @moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies.

Since we're counting down to our final podcast on June 7th, this represents both our final basketball movie and our final documentary. More Than A Game shows a remarkable amount of archival footage and plenty of behind-the-scenes home videos of LeBron James and his high-school teammates, but did Kristopher Belman ask them any truly hard questions? For instance, were the other 4 guys in the Fab Five jealous about just how rich and successful their megastar friend ended up?  And what's it like to be best friends with arguably the greatest player the NBA has ever seen? We got into a long discussion about that exact point too...just who is the best ever, whether it's LeBron, Michael...or someone else. Chris didn't love the way Belman structured the doc with all the time-jumping and we both felt unsatisfied by the lack of real answers to the scandal that saw LeBron get suspended during their senior year. Still, the movie is fast-paced and very ntertaining. So get ready to root for the overdog as we spend a solid hour chatting about More Than A Game.
 
Oh, and for the record: the boys went to Buchtel High School, not "Beck-tel". Also, LeBron won 2 NBA championships with Miami, 1 with Cleveland and 1 with the Lakers, so he's won 4 NBA titles, not 5.
 
You can email us (scoringatthemovies@gmail.com) or type out some tweets (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies).

Chariots Of Fire is one of the most-respected movies we will ever cover, what with all the critical & financial success, not to mention the Oscar for Best Picture. It's just a shame we didn't care more about this true story. All the religious talk definitely didn't help us connect with the material. Ian Charleson runs blissfully for God (except when he won't) while the Jewish character played by Ben Cross runs his heart out, even though he has to fight against quiet-but-cruel anti-Semitism. Then they and their fellow upper-crust, subdued, white Great Britainers head to Paris for the 1924 Summer Olympics to try to run faster than the (white) Americans et al. It's a pretty simple story handled well by director Hugh Hudson, who never topped himself after this film. We just wish his crowning achievement touched us more. So dash on the beach in slow motion as a famous song plays along while we enlighten you about the acclaimed Chariots Of Fire.
 
Oh, and for the record, there were only 44 nations competing in the 1924 games while more than 200 countries have been competing in recent years.
 
To make your voice heard, you can shoot us an email (scoringatthemovies@gmail.com) or hit us with some tweets (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies).

On the day the 2023 MLB season begins, we're discussing the sequel to one of our favourite baseball movies. Of course, Major League II is pretty much the same film, as the Cleveland Redacteds bicker, stink, bond, then strive to win it all, even though nobody believes in them...again. It doesn't help that David Ward's follow-up to his iconic original doesn't have much new up its sleeve and it's rated PG to appeal/pander to kids. There are also some idiotic screenwriting choices in the big game at the end. Yet this movie was raked over every coal by critics, even though it made us laugh---Bob Uecker!---and the baseball action is certainly worth your time. These guys are pretty believable athletes too, especially Charlie Sheen and David Keith. Oh, and as a bonus, Ryan did a brief review of Bang The Drum Slowly at the end of this episode because that was our original film this week.
 
So don't brawl on the field with your own teammates. Instead, think about lingerie magazines to distract you from your hang-ups as you blow it out certain body parts and enjoy us speaking better of Major League II than almost anyone else ever has.
 
You can contact us by tweeting (@moviefiend51 and @scoringatmovies) or by email (scoringatthemovies@gmail.com).