Author: MJ-A
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Every sport parent should watch ‘Concussion’ (2015)
This is a public service announcement. Concussion is not a soccer movie, but every soccer parent should watch it. Writer-Director Peter Landesman used to be an investigative reporter, and he brings that kind of intensity to his film. No one watching this movie can stay in denial about the long-term effects of TBI – Traumatic…
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‘Inshallah, Football’ (2010) explains India’s Kashmiri situation
Inshallah, Football touched me, but I wasn’t sure why I felt that way. The answer was so complex, it took me 3 days to research and understand Director Ashvin Kumar’s persuasive documentary about the decades of conflict in Indian administered Kashmir, aka Jammu and Kashmir.
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‘La Dream Team’ (2016) is mighty fun for the family
Add La Dream Team to the list of really good soccer movies that have sprung forth for our viewing pleasure in the past few years. Réalisateur Thomas Sorriaux accomplishes what American directors seldom do: work comedy into a family film that appeals to both kids and adults.
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The Danish giant-killers of ‘Sommeren ’92’ (2015)
Small country. Wasn’t supposed to be there. Fairytale run. Are we talking about Iceland at Euro 2016? Nope! Before Iceland’s feel-good story, there was a more unbelievable tale. In Sommeren ’92, Writer-Director Kasper Barfoed immortalizes Denmark’s giant-killing performance at the 1992 UEFA European Championship.
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‘The Magnificent Eleven’ (2012) dancing nude footie
Asked what The Magnificent Eleven is about, 80 year old actor Robert Vaughn boiled it down to: “Dancing footie players, nude.” This film is a little more than that, but it does put that nudie footie player thing front and center quite a bit. Or front and to the side. Or mostly, flabby rear end…
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![[Review] Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016)](https://soccermoviemom.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/pele-2016.jpg)
[Review] Pelé: Birth of a Legend (2016)
In their Pelé biopic, Directors Jeffrey and Michael Zimbalist create a loving, lush, and longish ode to the Beautiful Game of Brazil. If you sit back and absorb, there is a lot to enjoy. But it might be the kind of movie that only a soccer fan can love.
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‘Sassy Player’ (2009) is a trans-gender soccer romp
You can look at Sassy Player in two ways: either it’s a screwball comedy, or it’s an LGBT coming of age in Thailand soccer movie. Director Poj Arnon’s film แต วเตะตีนระเบิด is a weird combination of the two genres. The 16 new boys in a formerly all-girls high school are forced to form a school…
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‘Walter’s War’ (2008) leaves much unexplained
While the facts of Walter Tull’s life are exemplary, the fictional film Walter’s War leaves too much unsaid. Tull’s unique achievements, as one of the first Black British footballers, and then as the first Black British officer in Europe’s trenches, are now heralded.
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‘Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero’ (2008) preserves his legacy
Nicholas Bailey says he spent 7 years trying to get this documentary made, and soccer movie enthusiasts should be glad he persisted. Walter Tull: Forgotten Hero covers Tull’s life from childhood to Black British footballer to World War 1 Black British officer and member of the Football Battalion.
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A zany improv mockumentary in ‘Mascots’ (2016)
Watching Christopher Guest’s Mascots, I hadn’t heard such laughter in a theater since It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. 1,400 people showed up for the special San Francisco Film Society screening at the Castro Theater on Oct-4-2016.
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‘Trainer!’ (2013) may stifle your coaching aspiration
How good is Trainer? It’s so good, you will never want to become a soccer coach in Germany. Director Aljoscha Pause follows 3 coaches in the 2nd and 3rd divisions of the German leagues during the 2012-2013 season. The men are under constant pressure from the media. But they are also constantly pushing themselves to…
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‘No Ball Games’ (2012) is darkly funny, twisted humor
No Ball Games is a 7-minute short film that might turn off a typical soccer movie fan. I found humor in it but my hubby did not. It reflects the director’s sense of humor, entrancing the viewer with a boy whose ball goes over a wall into a secret garden.
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‘Planet FIFA’ (2016) 40 years of corruption in 94 minutes
Thank Jean-Louis Pérez for making this documentary. La Planète FIFA is an easy way to trace 40 years of corruption in 94 minutes. Perez specializes in documentaries that center on money and economics as the root of evil, and FIFA gives him plenty of fertile soil to till.
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The villain in ‘Underdogs’ (2013) goes full Zlatan
Why did Underdogs go straight to DVD? This is a fun family film, and to my knowledge is the first soccer movie that is an animated full-length feature film. I saw the trailer at the theater and ever since, I had been keeping an eye out for its release.
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The history and passion of Table Soccer in ‘Subbuteopia’ (2012)
Subbuteopia captures the history and passion for the game of Subbuteo (Table Soccer) and its enthusiasts, who persevered despite Hasbro’s cancelling the product.
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US Soccer history should not forget ‘Redemption Song’ (2016)
Redemption Song is an important piece to watch on US soccer and Afro-American history. It is the true story of the Howard University all-black Mens Soccer team, compressed into a woefully short 16 minutes. The team won the 1971 NCAA championship, only to see it perhaps unjustly vacated and the team put on probation. To prove…
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‘Golden Shoes’ (2015) a Cinderfella with cleats
Many of the customer reviews of the film Golden Shoes are brutal, but IMHO this is a fairly good kids soccer movie. It is a Cinderella story, and most of the acting holds your attention.
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‘In the Game’ (2015) in Chicago
In the Game is a moving ethnographic study that captures both the hope and the hope deferred of girls on a high school soccer team. It is a great video example of how sports, taught by a coach with an unwavering positive attitude, can have a meaningful impact on girls of low-SES (low socioeconomic status).
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Every referee should watch ‘Soccer’s Hard Men’ (1992)
No other soccer film so proudly demonstrates the types of foul play that can end players’ careers or easily result in a mass confrontation. An important archive of English football history, Soccer’s Hard Men is a 1992 film that every referee should watch.
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‘The Brothers Grimsby’ (2016) fight to save an English final
The Brothers Grimsby is a new path for Sacha Baron Cohen. Instead of giving us a narcissistic Borat, Bruno, or Ali G, his Nobby is a likable character: family man, loyal brother, wasted England fan, and unlikely action hero. That is, when Cohen isn’t delivering his usual shtick of male sex organs and anal violation.
