SoccerMovieMom

Over 450 reviews

Tag: R8

  • ‘In Search of Greatness’ (2018), born from creativity

    ‘In Search of Greatness’ (2018), born from creativity

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    If we study the Great Ones of sport, we find there are many contributing factors to their success: motivation, competitiveness, mentors, resilience, discipline, talent, and luck. Writer-Director Gabe Polsky gives us examples of all that and adds one more trait, creativity, that extends across music, art, and other disciplines.

  • ‘Adidas vs Puma’ (2016) – How the feud began

    ‘Adidas vs Puma’ (2016) – How the feud began

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    Duell der Brüder is a welcome entry in my list of football films. Titled Adidas vs Puma for Amazon, it covers a small but significant piece of sports history along with the drama of two brothers turned personal and business enemies amid the effects of World War 2.

  • Football frames ’90 Minutos’ (2020) of life in Honduras

    Football frames ’90 Minutos’ (2020) of life in Honduras

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    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.

  • ‘Elite School’ (2014) a view of a German football academy

    ‘Elite School’ (2014) a view of a German football academy

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    A Kaderschmiede is an elite training center, school, or academy, and in the case of Karlsruher SC, its purpose is to create a cadre of skilled footballers. Writer-Director Juana Guschl followed the club’s youth players for the 2013-2014 season and submitted this film for graduation from the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg in 2014.

  • Strive to be as ‘Unbreakable’ (2019) as Steve Zakuani

    Strive to be as ‘Unbreakable’ (2019) as Steve Zakuani

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    Unbreakable: The Steve Zakuani Story is an extremely well-made documentary of a man reviewing his footballing career that ended just short of meteoric. By telling his story, Steve Zakuani hopes to convince every young teenager that they can be at rock bottom but still rise again and ultimately give back.

  • ‘Cold Sweat’ (2018) – wife banned from travelling

    ‘Cold Sweat’ (2018) – wife banned from travelling

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    Many have compared Cold Sweat with the 2006 feature Offside, which is perhaps the most famous soccer movie out of Iran. But to do so is a crime, even though both dramas are about women trying to exercise simple human rights that are denied to them in Iran.

  • ‘Iron Men’ (2017) – bye bye stadium

    ‘Iron Men’ (2017) – bye bye stadium

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    People will travel to see something unique: centuries old castles and cathedrals, or even an old football stadium with 100 years of tradition and raucous, rabid, singing West Ham fans. Iron Men brings us the story of these fans, whose club moved from their 104 year old Boleyn Ground to the former Olympic Stadium.

  • Barça under Pep in ’Take the Ball Pass the Ball’ (2018)

    Barça under Pep in ’Take the Ball Pass the Ball’ (2018)

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    The Year of the Pandemic has been wickedly bloodthirsty as it feasted on the faltering FC Barcelona. Internal scandals led to Barcelona’s crunching 2-8 exit in the 2019-2020 Champions League quarter-finals, the messy Messi situation, and the attempt of Barça’s fans to expel the board. Even if you’re not a Barça fan, it’s hard to watch…

  • ‘The Great Game’ (1953) is a 70 year old time capsule

    ‘The Great Game’ (1953) is a 70 year old time capsule

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    The Great Game is a return to an innocent time and it makes — as Bill, Ted, or Wayne would say — a most excellent escape from the pandemic. It’s hard to believe the story is 70 years old, because it is almost timeless and still entertaining.

  • ’13 Lost: The Untold Story of the Thai Cave Rescue’ (2020)

    ’13 Lost: The Untold Story of the Thai Cave Rescue’ (2020)

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    13 Lost is a documentary about the unsung diving team that defied life-threatening conditions to lay the line to rescue the Wild Boars soccer team in the Thai cave rescue. This gripping film shows the bravery and calmness of these men under duress, and the technical expertise that kept them alive. Aug-2022 Note: Click this…

  • ‘Alive & Kicking: The Soccer Grannies of South Africa’ (2016)

    ‘Alive & Kicking: The Soccer Grannies of South Africa’ (2016)

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    In this charming documentary, community organizer and radio show presenter Beka Ntsanwisi explains how and why she started Vakhegula Vakhegula, a soccer club for grannies in the region of Limpopo, South Africa. Suffering from chronic diseases or traumas, these Vakhegula (grannies, also called gogos) found football made them healthier and lifted their focus away from…

  • Derby Days Berlin (2019) will make you a fan

    Derby Days Berlin (2019) will make you a fan

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    You might expect that as a reviewer of soccer movies, I would be well aware of COPA90, a company that claims to be “The world’s largest independent football media business”, delivering stories on “football like you’ve never seen it before”. I knew the name, but I hadn’t looked at their content until I watched Derby…

  • Shakhtar Donetsk is ‘The Other Chelsea’ (2010)

    Shakhtar Donetsk is ‘The Other Chelsea’ (2010)

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    Although The Other Chelsea is 10 years old, it is a valuable film to watch in the context of today’s impeachment inquiry of Donald Trump. First-time Writer-Director Jakob Preuss lays out the struggling lives of coal miners in Donetsk and compares them to Kolya, a young rising local politician and businessman who drives a Lexus and…

  • ‘Sunakali’ (2014) Empowers Nepali women through football

    ‘Sunakali’ (2014) Empowers Nepali women through football

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    Writer-Director Bhojraj Bhat is a journalist and filmmaker who assembled Sunakali without really knowing what the story was until he had accumulated a lot of footage. And so for the viewer, he unfolds the lives of girls in Mugu, a remote Himalayan district in Nepal, much as he might have discovered himself.

  • ‘Back of the Net’ (2019) mirrors USWNT values

    ‘Back of the Net’ (2019) mirrors USWNT values

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    Created just in time for the 2019 Womens World Cup, Back of the Net embraces many of the same values that propelled the US Womens National Team (USWNT) into the social media stratosphere: embracing diversity, teamwork and a can do spirit. If your child got on the USWNT WWC2019 bandwagon and wants other forms of…

  • ‘Fintar o Destino’ (1998) is a beautiful time capsule

    ‘Fintar o Destino’ (1998) is a beautiful time capsule

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    Fintar o Destino is a strikingly beautiful film, but not at all in a visual sense. Filmed in standard definition, the story immerses you in Cape Verdean village life and the regrets of Mané (Carlos Germano), a frustrated 50 year old former footballer. He didn’t leave the island when he had the chance, and to…

  • ‘Kicking Out Shoshana’ (2014) is as cute as Some Like it Hot

    ‘Kicking Out Shoshana’ (2014) is as cute as Some Like it Hot

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    You’re probably too young to have seen Some Like it Hot, an iconic 1959 comedy starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis, and Jack Lemmon. In defiance of the film industry’s Hays Code, the film flirted with topics of homosexuality and cross-dressing.

  • ‘Comme des Garçons’ (2018) – changing mentality

    ‘Comme des Garçons’ (2018) – changing mentality

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    Comme des Garçons is the first feature film from Writer-Director Julien Hallard, and it is quite an achievement. Also known as Let the Girls Play, this soccer movie is cute, smart, and well worth watching. While it takes a number of liberties with the true story of the renaissance of women’s football in France, it does…

  • ‘Final Score’ (2018) is a rocking good time

    ‘Final Score’ (2018) is a rocking good time

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    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…

  • ‘Alex & Me’ (2018) is a quality movie with good role models

    ‘Alex & Me’ (2018) is a quality movie with good role models

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    Even if you are like me and have watched over 250 soccer movies, Alex & Me provides an enjoyable fresh take on the underdog theme. Despite going straight to DVD, it is an inspiring family-friendly film that is well worth watching by pre-teen girls as well as their parents.