Cool News
THE LAST GAME Comes To ESPN!!
SPOILER ALERT !!
And I never thought I’d live to plug a show airing on ESPN, but that’s where this one is airing.
At noon Tuesday PT. Set your VCRs. Because “Moriarty” proclaimed last March that …
… the film is fucking magic.
I'm not a big sports freak, but I can appreciate the poetry of each particular game. Baseball has its distinct charms. I've always been partial to watching basketball, myself. And then there's high school football. For much of America, it's not a sport; it's a culture, a way of life. High school football is what makes it all go around. Towns rise and fall based on how their team does. There are great stories told every year, with every new season, all over the country. This is one of those great stories, and it was captured and assembled with astonishing finesse by Alex Weinress and Tim Murray. This film takes us through the last year in the head coaching career of Mike Pettine, the man who gave CB West High School a 45-0 record during his last three years, who delivered three state championships in a row in addition to all the titles his teams won before. A documentary like this ultimately either works or doesn't based on how much you want to watch the main character, and Pettine is endlessly interesting. He's a ball of fire when he's coaching, yelling and browbeating his players, terrifying when things aren't working, but he's also shown with his grandson in some sweet, quiet moments. His relationship with his grandson, still just a toddler, is uncomplicated, a marked contrast from his relationship with his son, called "Junior" by everyone, who is the head coach for North Penn High School's football program, one of the main rivals of CB West, and the final regular season opponent they'll face in the season.
If someone were to have written this story as a screenplay, you'd never believe it. The cast of characters is too rich, too well-defined. The makers of ANY GIVEN SUNDAY and REMEMBER THE TITANS may have been after very different things as filmmakers, but they both could have learned valuable lessons from this film. Here, the storytelling involving the characters is clean, simple, precise. We learn a lot from the smallest of moments. The players themselves are a constant surprise, and I'm not going to ruin it by describing them to you. They are all remarkable kids in their own ways, and getting to know each of them over the course of the film is a joy. The games themselves are very well-shot, and they are cut so that even if you don't understand football, you'll understand what's going on here. CB West is awesome to behold at their best moments, and they roll through the 1998 season without looking back. On the few occasions they find themselves up against genuinely demanding teams, they rise to the occasion in ways bordering on the miraculous.
It all comes down to a game on a field in Hershey, Pennsylvania that is an emotional roller-coaster. Watching the way it unfolds is one of the purest film pleasures I've had in a while, and the ending is a powerhouse. I'd love to see this with a crowd of people who really got into it. To me, this is the sort of ending that every weak-ass ROCKY rehash of the past 25 years has been trying to accomplish, and it's real. Once again, I find that a great documentary manages to give me a rush that fiction simply can't match. These are real lives we see unfolding in this film, and the accomplishments they manage as a team are inspirational. … Seek it out. It's a great movie about family and community and success and the price of dreams, and it was easily the highlight of my week.
"Moriarty" out.
To order coffee mugs and boxer shorts adorned with the image of a green, handicapable “24” fanatic, click here.
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I love Rocky. See you in Hell.
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I was in the C.B. West Marching Band (Go Bucks!) when our guys began their winning streak in state championships back when I was a junior in '97. I missed the big end to it with that special technique which I won't reveal, since I was off in college. Pettine really is a living legend around here, though some have found him traitorous lately for a stint as an advisor to Mike Jr. But it's pretty clear now that the dynasty is over, so this film did indeed capture something. There's nothing like playoffs, watching every second on the clock and not knowing if your musical services will be needed the next week, AND THEN THEY GO INTO OVERTIME; the atmosphere is second to none and though in the film you get the sense of what inevtiably will happen, I think they put that feeling up on the screen. All I have to say is EGADS (poit, narf, zoot), and, didn't they air this already?
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Dec 10, 2002 12:47:43 AM CST
I take it herc was not a fan of Craiggers on Sportscenter
by dyslexicheart
This film looks to be very interesting and better than anything Hollywood could concoct. I can only guess ESPN is a year away from thier first dramatic series, possibly surrounding characters or stories like this(let's just pray they don't create an Arliss-clone).
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I don't like football at all. It is simply too slow for me. Now, in high school there is already too much emphasis on athletics, especially football. Take this article for example:
http://www.troymessenger.com/news/1202/12-06_cheer.html ...4 Cheerleaders were nearly kicked off the squad because they decided to take the ACTs... and all this time I thought school was for learning... -
Yeah, this played on ESPN a few months ago (although I'm pretty sure it was part of their documentary series "The Season"), and I have to second the recommendation. I'm not generally a fan of sports movies (Rocky and The Running Man excluded, of course), but this captivated me from the moment I surfed by. One thing striking was the different approaches the father and son took to life, how it presented itself in their coaching, and how they both found success with their disparate methods. I loved looking at the two coaches on the sidelines during the games, the elder with mostly positive reenforcement, the younger doing nothing but yelling at his players. Sure, both teams achieve success, but the coaching methodologies had me rooting for the favorites over the underdogs; the opposite of most sports films I've encountered.
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Thalya, you are right, this has been on ESPN before. 5 times already. However, this is the first time I have heard it hyped as much as it is. Hell, Jim Lampley of NBC Sports and HBO Boxing fame was on the Jim Rome Show today (radio), talking about how this movie is going to be on ESPN tomorrow. I am pumped, I saw the trailer on the website (http://www.sportofwar.com), and caught part of the movie on ESPN when it was on before, but this will be my first chance to see it start to finish.
RonB -
and obsessing endlessly about movies and TV isn't?
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Been waiting to see this film since I heard it mentioned at the festival on this site. Thanks for the heads up!
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So, obsessing about who's going to punch up the latest Aliens V. Austin Powers movie, or worrying about who's going to be the show runner on Buffy the anorexic Vampire Slayer is a good use of time but sports is a waste of time....
Curios -
big fucking deal. It's High School football not life and death. Why stress so much over it. The parents and coaches are trying to have their failures in sports erased by these kids who 98 % of them won't make it past HS. Only thing worse is the college fans who drool over the incoming freshmen to see who has the best recruiting class(Texans, Floridians, Ohio St fans.) ESPN should just show Hoop Dreams instead
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Dec 10, 2002 5:04:12 PM CST
I played HS football 4 years ago, and I have to say this team ma
by darth yddet
I'm sitting here watching the end of this show as I type this and while I agree that this is a good documentary, I have to say that this team makes me sick. I played high school football for four years in Wichita Falls, TX and I'd like to think, rather I know, that if I talked to my coaches the way these ass holes do, I'd get my ass kicked. Most of the kids on this team are so disrespectful, it's pathetic. And don't get me started on that fullback ... dear God. And the whole deal about the students in relation to the football players and the hate/popularity toward them. Give me a break. While this was an amazing story, people need to see and experience what a truly great team with more respectable coaches is really like.
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How did I know this would be the one place to bash sports? As an admitted sports junkie, arn't even these talkbacks a waste of time? Isn't anything besides the basic necessities of life a waste of time? Hell this whole website is an admitted waste of time. So what,exactly, is your problem with useless wastes of time again?
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Dont think anyone is takin the bait however!
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Alright, for those that say that this is just as much a waste of time as seeing this movie or participating in HS Sports, well I got something to say there.
1: Sports has taken up the budgets of schools across America. While important programs, like Music, Art, Science, and MAthematics don't get the funding or support required. 2: It has never shown that Sports alone improves the child. In fact there are several studies that proves otherwise. While in other extra-curricular activities (band, art, language courses, etc...) have not shown such negative numbers. 3: School sports are just for drunk tank-top wife beater shirt wearing hicks to get all wriled up about. Any adult that watches this stuff should be investigated for being pedophiles, especailly if they like watching the cheerleaders. I sure as hell won't watch this movie.
PS: Don't try to troll me about my FORMER e-mail address. I haven't checked that thin for like... ever. I just use it for a spam catcher now. So if you take that as bait, I'll be more than obliged to slam you. CAuse you don't know how to REALLY be a troll.
ph33r z0n3 z3r0.
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