Category: Suspense
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‘Punto Rojo’ (2021) breathes cinema
Sometimes when I am looking for a football film to watch, I just get lucky and come across an entertaining movie by accident. I found this DVD at the San Mateo County library! Punto Rojo is an Argentine thriller that grips you and drags you through a ton of brutal fighting with a touch of…
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‘Thirteen Lives’ (2022) entertains but is not the best rendition
I wasn’t planning to review Thirteen Lives, Ron Howard’s dramatization of the 2018 Thai Cave Rescue. After all, I had already reviewed 3 other films covering the story, and this isn’t really a soccer movie. In fact, wikipedia has placed it in the genre of “biographical survival film”. But I noticed that search engines were…
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‘Cosmoball’ (2020) is a visual adventure
It’s such a shame that Cosmoball had its theatrical release during the pandemic, dooming it to financial failure. Because this movie is a hoot. If you are curious about the Russian ability to make a CGI Marvel-universe type blockbuster, watch this film. Right now you do not need to pay extra to watch it with…
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‘Champion’ (2019) – the 2nd best Indian soccer drama
Released just 2 months after Bigil, one might write off Champion as a literal poor man’s version of that big budget production. Champion‘s star (Vishwa K as Jones) is an unknown newcomer, there are no dance scenes or music videos, and there is no CGI. Both films relate to criminal life in the slums, but…
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The soccer is murderous in ‘Kick – Sudden Death’ (2015)
Is it fair to write a review when I abhor horror movies? To add to my dilemma, I could not force myself to finish watching Kick – Sudden Death because it simply defied logic. Maybe that’s what horror movies do; since I don’t watch them, I can’t really judge. So to compensate, I will keep…
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‘Sikandar’ (2009) and terrorism in Kashmir
Sikandar opens with the activities of a small Muslim village in a beautiful mountainous setting. As school lets out, children stream downhill to the market plaza. A child spies a loose soccer ball, kicks it, and it explodes, blowing apart everything and everyone in the plaza. Welcome to routine life in Kashmir.
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Football frames ’90 Minutos’ (2020) of life in Honduras
90 Minutos is an excellent first feature from Pulsar, a young Honduran filmmaking company. Director Aeden O’Connor Agurcia and Writer Daniel Frañó fused 4 disparate stories from Honduran life, each with a connection to football. But soccer is mainly a vehicle to capture movie-goers’ attention in a futbol-crazy country.
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‘The Arsenal Stadium Mystery’ (1939) is a classic football film
The Arsenal Stadium Mystery is one of those old-time whodunits that would normally disappear in the depth of film archives but for one redeeming grace: it has unique football scenes of Arsenal FC. It is also touted as the first feature film where football is a major part of the story. Based on a popular…
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Just say No to ’The Wrong Student’ (2017)
The actress Vivica A. Fox has had 2 key roles that convey strength or a killer instinct (Independence Day and Kill Bill). She has leveraged these traits to produce a series of 14 “Wrong” movies for Lifetime TV, of which The Wrong Student is the 2nd film.
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‘Jada’ (2019) soccer and suspense in Chennai
Jada is an uncommon mix of soccer, drama, romance, comedy, and suspense. Some reviewers deem it a confused mess from first-time Director Kumaran. But if you go along for the ride, there is a lot of entertainment value in this multi-faceted football film from India. And if you’re shut in, it will occupy 2 hours…
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‘Lost in Africa’ (2010) doesn’t flinch
Behind the benign title of Lost in Africa is a thriller that embodies every mother’s worst nightmare: her child vanishes. It’s not really a soccer movie as much as it is a reflection of the hard and dangerous life in Kiera, a Kenyan shanty town.
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‘Final Score’ (2018) is a rocking good time
When West Ham United decided to demolish its 112 year old Upton Park stadium, maybe you wanted to protest or pronounce good riddance. Instead, Producer Marc Goldberg conceptualized “Diehard in a football stadium”. The Brothers Lynch quickly put together a script, and in Feb-2016, Scott Mann signed up to direct a movie that had to be…
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‘Lethal Soccer Mom’ (2018): Not Worth Watching in a Lifetime
The last time I watched a film with Lethal in the title must have been Lethal Weapon 2, 3, 4, or 5. (Is there a Lethal Weapon 5?) I figured Lethal Soccer Mom was a click-bait film that would be a grind to watch.
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In the Hooligan genre: ‘White Collar Hooligan 3’ (2014)
After The Football Factory, I swore I wouldn’t watch any more Hooligan movies. They seem to be a genre of violence, sex, and drugs, with a little bit of football as context. As in, we gotta go to a West Ham game on the way to the violence, sex, and drugs we are going to…
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‘Below the Earth’s Surface’ (2008) can this stadium be saved?
Below the Earth’s Surface (or Gaping Abyss) is a German TV action movie in a stadium, it is not really a soccer movie. But it has good production values and rolls along at a tense pace.
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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”.
