Author: MJ-A
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‘The Game of Their Lives’ (2005) in a historic USMNT win
Maybe like me, you fell asleep during The Game of Their Lives (retitled The Miracle Match on DVD) when it played on the big screen in Apr-2005. Although directed and written by the same guys who did Hoosiers, the pace is very slow in this telling of the USA victory over England at World Cup…
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‘Joyeux Noel’ (2005) the WWI Christmas Truce
Some of the movies I’ve reviewed were difficult to get hold of. Joyeux Noël was one such movie. I stayed in a hotel in Avila Beach where they had this DVD in their library! It’s a fairly well done movie, but like The Boys in Company C, it is really an anti-war movie, not a…
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‘Soccer Dog: European Cup’ (2004) so silly it’s fun
It’s kind of strange that, of the little information on the web about Soccer Dog: European Cup, most of it is incorrect. Back in 2012, the imdb description used to say that this movie was about a pornstar running a Scottish team. Other sites say this sequel to Soccer Dog: The Movie is about an…
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‘Air Bud World Pup’ (2001) dogs and funny referees
In the Disney Air Bud franchise, a dog named Buddy plays on all the sports teams at a high school. In Air Bud 3: World Pup, Buddy’s owner joins the soccer team because of the new girl from England (who is the best player).
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‘Atlético San Pancho’ (2001) cows and Coca Cola
When a red Coca Cola soccer ball falls from the sky, the school janitor takes this as a sign that he must revive the soccer tradition of his village. With the help of a former pro who has come home to run his father’s tiny store, janitor Don Pepe assembles team Atlético San Pancho. The school…
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‘Soccer Dog: The Movie’ (1999) well done in good fun
In Soccer Dog: The Movie, a 34 year old man, who grew up in a orphanage, moves to a true soccer town. Realizing he can’t participate in the fun without a son, he and his wife return to the orphanage to adopt a young teenage boy, who subsequently brings home a stray dog.
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‘The Big Green’ (1995) a timeless Disney soccer movie
The Big Green is a formulaic Disney movie about an underdog soccer team. Disney knows how to create a film that doesn’t age and that can be shown to successive generations of little kids for decades. The Big Green is the Disney equivalent of a Twinkie.
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‘Pilkarski Poker’ (1989) how to bribe Polish referees
In Pilkarski Poker (aka Soccer Poker), Laguna is a former star player who has risen to the top of the referee ranks despite his drinking. A co-op of owners bribe him to make calls that will ensure which team will win the premier league and which will be relegated. But Laguna hasn’t taken bribes before,…
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Hard to care about this ‘Coach’ (2010)
Coach is a straight-to-DVD film by first-time-feature Writer-Director Will Frears. Hugh Dancy is a slacker and soccer bum in New York City. He doesn’t need to work, but he finds romance and purpose when he takes a job coaching middle school kids to the league championship.
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‘Gracie’ (2007) – made by people who love the game
Gracie is one of the few fictional movies where the director and producer work hard to make the soccer look authentic. It’s the story of a soccer-crazed family whose first born son dies in high school, so his younger sister Gracie tries to take his place on the boys’ soccer field. In the 1970s in…
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‘Vasermil’ (2007) an Israeli downer
Writer-director Mushon Salmona conceived the idea for his first feature film Vasermil after making a documentary about the marginal lives of teenagers in his hometown of Beer-Sheva, in southern Israel. The three boys in this story all come from broken homes and have to grow up quickly, although they are ill-prepared to do so.
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‘Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal’ (2007) British Hindu issues
In Dhan Dhana Dhan Goal, a South Asian community in England has a struggling semi-pro football team. They need to win the league or the stadium will be sold for redevelopment. Sadly, their star is enticed to play for their better all-white rivals. But the star player encounters racism on his new team. He returns to his…
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‘Inspector Mom’ (2005) not worth watching
Danica McKellar has grown up from being Winnie on the Wonder Years, to Inspector Mom. This TV movie led to a short-lived series about soccer mom Maddie Monroe, a former police department employee who is a pretty good sleuth on her own, ala Angela Lansbury in “Murder, She Wrote”.
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‘Studs’ (2006) a revived Irish comedy with theatrical roots
Studs is an Irish soccer comedy with a good performance from Brendan Gleeson (Harry Potter’s Professor MadEye Moody). Gleeson plays a mysterious manager whose seeming identity inspires a ragtag Sunday team to a Cup final. But the downer ending left me very ambivalent.
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‘Garrincha, Lonely Star’ (2003) wasn’t all that lonely
Manuel Francisco dos Santos, commonly known as Mané Garrincha, was second only to Pelé as one of Brazil’s greatest players. Garrincha – Estrela Solitária is a docudrama that shows his dribbling flair on the field and his sexual exploits.
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‘A Shot at Glory’ (2000) largely misses
A Shot at Glory starts off with a bit of fun — the ashes of a long time fan are poured onto the Kilnockie stadium turf so that he can “be with the lads”. It’s during practice, and as the team distractedly stands in respect, they juggle the ball from one to another down the…
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In ‘Fever Pitch’ (1997) long-suffering Arsenal fan enjoys 1989
Funny how British soccer movies analyze the game’s joyless effect on its fans, in minute detail. I watched 3 of them in 2 days and realized that deep-down, the Brits hate soccer! Or at least, British screenwriters do.
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‘Those Glory Glory Days’ (1983) Tottenham Spurs a first love
A sports nut since childhood, Julie Welch was the first female soccer sports writer on Fleet Street. She was asked to write a screenplay for a British television series that would capture the passions of first love.
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Why do so many like the Stallone movie ‘Victory’ (1981) ?
It’s sad that many think Victory is the iconic American soccer movie, because this movie is pretty ordinary and has aged poorly. Victory is a World War Two POW movie that pays heavy homage to The Great Escape; the POWs escape while playing against the Nazis.
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Well done but little soccer in ‘The Boys in Company C’ (1978)
The Boys in Company C was one of the first films to portray the senselessness of the Vietnam War. It’s a war movie and not a soccer movie by any means. But, to borrow a phrase from Susan Jeffords, this film asks if a soccer game is a “thing worth dying for”.