Movie Journal - Essay Example

Movie Journal Whip It is a 111 minutes comedy-drama film co-produced and directed by Drew Barrymore in 2009 (Barrymore Film).The movie revolves around the life of a teenage beauty queen called Ellen Page (Bliss Cavendar) who is in love with the roller derby team against her mother’s wishes who likes her to engage in beauty pageants. The movie has a turning point when Bliss discovers a women's roller derby league in Austin and decides to join the team. Bliss lied about her age to attend the team’s try outs where she proved to be whip fast, and joins the Hurl Scouts where she performs well (Barrymore Film). The movie introduces an aspect of love when Bliss falls in love with a guitarist, Oliver. However, Oliver heartbreaks Bliss by going on a tour around the states with his band. Another turning point suffices when the police unravel the scheme where some roller players like Bliss are underage. Bliss’s parents know about her involvement in Roller Derby. The movie brings the aspect of intimacy where Bliss and Oliver make love (Barrymore Film). Bliss thinks she is old enough to decide on herself while her mother keeps pampering her. Bliss gets heartbroken on realizing that Oliver is cheating on her and seeks comfort from her mother who coerced her to participate in the Blue Bonnet Pageant. However, the pageant and the roller derby match were taking place the same day and Bliss chose to participate in the pageant to please her mother. Nevertheless, Bliss’s father coerced Bliss to participate in the derby to the dismay of Bliss’s mother. Ultimately, Bliss pursues her passion for Roller Derby (Barrymore Film). The movie shows how love supersedes pressure in one’s career and in sports as well as how roller derby solved Bliss’s emotional problems. The movie had 58 songs of different genres. Although the movie received positive reviews, it recorded financial losses thus becoming the greatest underdog sports movie. Personal Best is a 124 minutes movie directed and produced by Robert Towne in 1982 (Towne Film). The movie revolves around the lives of four sports women personalities and their efforts in trying to qualify for the American track-and-field team that would participate in the 1980 Olympic Games. During their preparations, Chris Cahill, a young experienced athlete meets, Tory Skinner, a more experienced athlete where Tory guides Chris on how to improve his performance to qualify for the American track-and-field team (Towne Film). Nevertheless, this generates conflict in the movie where Terry Tinghoff, the coach insists that Chris should only follow the coach’s advice. Moreover, the conflict and anger persists when Tory and Chris develop an intimate relationship and Chris further engages in a heterosexual relationship with Denny (Towne Film). Nevertheless, despite the athlete’s efforts to qualify for the American track-and-field team, United States announced its boycott of the 1980 Olympic Games for political reasons leaving the athletes with only their “personal best” records from the training sessions and a chattered sporting dream (Towne Film). The movie presents the complexity in relationships between coaches and athletes as well as the challenges of being a woman athlete. Indeed, the movie displays the position of sexuality in spots. More so, the movie depicts distinct sexual relationships in the training camp as well as rewards, uncertainties and risks involved in athletics (Towne Film). Although the movie did not succeed in the box-office, it attracted positive reviews and therefore making a good movie (Towne Film). Sugar is a 120 minutes sports drama film revolving around the life of a baseball player, Miguel (Sugar) (Boden Film). Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck directed and produced the film in 2008 where Miguel seeks to deliver his family from poverty by participating in professional baseball leagues (Boden Film). Indeed, his call to the United States' minor league system marked his breakthrough in sports when he was just 19 years old (Boden Film). As a result, Miguel became a celebrity in his small village and a star and source of hope for his family. Indeed, he was even building a family house from his sports earnings (Boden Film). His prowess led to his invite to the fictional Kansas City Knights. Nevertheless, despite the support from Jorge, Miguel encountered various challenges in the new community. Notably, Miguel struggled to communicate in English that developed to a feeling of isolation (Boden Film). Moreover, the movie depicts a critical turning point where Miguel suffered a long-term injury and Kansas City Knights cut Jorge his hometown teammate from the team thus jeopardizing his baseball career (Boden Film). This faltered his play and led him to examine his single-minded life as his dreams crumbled (Boden Film). Indeed, he decided to leave baseball and pursue another dream. Nevertheless, he found himself playing baseball with rejected players from the minor leagues (Boden Film). The movie presents the challenges in the baseball career that include injuries, single-mindedness, and poor communication skills. The movie attracts positive reviews and is thus a good sports movie. Cool Runnings is a 98 minutes American sports film that revolves around the story of a fictional Jamaica national bobsled team in their debut in the bobsled competition of the 1988 Winter Olympics (Turteltaub Film). Jon Turteltaub directs the movie and depicts the influence of Irv Blitzer a fictional American bobsled two times Gold Medalist who faces a disqualification for cheating (Turteltaub Film). The movie shows two Jamaican athletes that include Derice Bannock and Sanka Coffie who are seeking the coaching services of Irv to compete in the 1988 Winter Olympics as bobsledders. However, upon joining the participating teams, the movie uses fiction to depict the discrimination that the Jamaican team suffered from the East German team (Turteltaub Film). Unfortunately, the primary judge meeting briefly disqualified the Jamaican team because of receiving coaching serves from Irving. Irving confessed his cheating mistake and argued that the primary judge meeting should not disqualify the Jamaican team for his mistake. Ultimately, the primary judge meeting revoked Irving’s 1972 Gold Medals and reinstated Jamaicans to the competition (Turteltaub Film). The Jamaican retuned to the competition with great zeal, developed their style, and qualified to the final day with a fast time. Unfortunately, one blade of their sled fell off when the Jamaican team was only a few meters to the finish line (Turteltaub Film). Nevertheless, the team recollected themselves and finished the competition to the amazement of the spectators. The movie had a reggae soundtrack by Jimmy Cliff and enjoyed international recognition (Turteltaub Film). Notably, the film depicted the consequences of cheating in athletics, the reward of consistent efforts, and the need for a winning spirit (Turteltaub Film). As a result, the film received positive reviews and hit position three in the Box office. As such, Cool Runnings is a good sports film. Bad News Bears is a 113 minutes movie directed by Richard Linklater in 2005 (Linklater Film). The movie displays Morris Buttermaker who is a washed-up alcoholic minor-league baseball player suffered a suspension from professional baseball for attacking an umpire (Linklater Film). The movie depicts Morris coaching a children's baseball team with poor playing skills called Bears. The Bears loses their first game and Morris leaves the game before it ends. Nevertheless, movie presents a turning point with the entry of Kelly Leak and Amanda who is a skilled pitcher that helps the Bears to start winning games (Linklater Film). As a result, the Bears join the championship game. In one of the championship games, the movie displays the fight between the Bears and Yankees as Morris goes ahead to change the lineup of Bears (Linklater Film). Unfortunately, the Bears lost that game and despite the loss, Morris gives them non-alcoholic beer to celebrate their participation. The movie seeks to derive the satisfaction of participating in a competition and the need to admit that winning does not come at all times (Linklater Film). Moreover, the movie shows the need for skilled players and effects of unethical behavior in sports. This average movie has a lot of humor (Linklater Film). Indeed, it only hit number 5 in the domestic box office. Happy Gilmore is a 92 minutes sports comedy movie directed by Dennis Dugan in 1996 (Dugan Film). The movie presents the tax arrears accrued by Happy’s grandmother, which are leading to the proposed seizure of their house. Happy realizes his talent in golf and starts looking for golfers with his hockey slap shot-style swing. Luckily, a former golfer, Chubbs Peterson notices his talent and convinces Happy to join a local tournament. Notably, Happy wins the local tournament and earns a spot on the Pro Golf Tour (Dugan Film). Nevertheless, Happy faces many challenges in the tour that includes lack of golf etiquette, poor putting style, and unethical behavior that prompts his enemy, Shooter unsuccessfully request the commissioner of the tour, Doug Thompson to suspend Happy from the tour. In the meantime, Happy cooled down, started behaving professionally, and improved his game. Additionally, Happy got a deal with Subway thus getting enough money to buy back the house. However, the house came up for auction and Shooter outbid Happy in buying the house but proposed a deal where Happy was to quit the tour for him to have the house back (Dugan Film). Happy, proposed another deal where Happy was to leave the house if Shooter places higher than he does in the upcoming Tour Championship. Again, Shooter conspired to eliminate Happy from the tour by paying Donald to hit Happy with a Volkswagen Beetle but despite ramming into a television tower, Happy refused to leave the tournament (Dugan Film). Instead, he used the Chubbs Peterson’s tricks to make a trick shot and win both the house and the tournament to the dismay of Shooter. The movie presents the need for realizing one’s talent, coaching lessons, professional behavior, ethical traits, perseverance, and objectivity in sports. Moreover, the movie depicts the challenges, conspiracies, jealousy from other competitors that demeans one’s chances of succeeding in sports (Dugan Film). Notably, the movie attracted mixed opinions and one should watch it to draw a personal opinion. Works Cited Barrymore, Drew, dir. Whip It! Fox Searchlight Pictures, 2009. Film. Boden, Anna, and Ryan Fleck, dir. Sugar. Sony Pictures Classics, 2008. Film. Dugan, Dennis, dir. Happy Gilmore. Universal Pictures, 1996. Film. Linklater, Richard, dir. Bad News Bears. Paramount Pictures, 2005. Film. Towne, Robert, dir. Personal Best. Warner Bros, 1982. Film. Turteltaub, Jon, dir. Cool Running. Buena Vista Pictures, 1993. Film. Read More

 

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