Currently I am in a hotel in Plymouth Meeting, our rugby team has a tournament in Philly tomorrow, and were staying here over the night. On the bus ride down to Philly we watched two movies. First Blades of Glory. Funny movie, but thats about it. The second movie we watched was Remember the Titans. Much better.
Although I have to admit, at first I cringed when the choice was made. I dont know what it is, maybe there's only so much of kid version Hayden Panettiere I can handle, she's quite the brat at times. Or maybe its just that I've seen Remember the Titans literally a thousand times. Literally. But even though I never seek out or choose to watch Remember the Titans, I still get sucked in every time, without fail.
I blame Denzel. He's just so damn good at what he does. He somehow makes over acting look good. He's terrifying and always gets his characters spot on. I think I remember Arturo saying something about how hard he is too work with, which actually makes complete sense. He seems like he could be a little bit on the crazy bipolar side. And you can clearly see how he can go from 0 to all up in yo face in half a second. Sure, his reputation also probably doesn't help his attitude on set, but isn't that the case for all, or at least most, top-notch A-list actors? Every actor has an attitude problem. I feel like its a requirement to have an inflated ego if ou want to be a good actor.
Anyway, Denzel's a great actor, but I could definitely see how he can have an attitude problem. Yeah, I really wasn't sure how to end this blog post, so.......
As mentioned earlier in the year, I love to watch sport movies because they can be inspiring to a lot of audiences especially to the minds of younger adolescents. What makes the sport movie worthwhile besides the adrenaline of the action is the quotes that come from the movie that are inspirational besides just being plain AWSOME. Inspirational quotes from sport movies give the movie that extra boost in what inspires kids and could teach them moral values.Here are some quotes that I love to hear when I watch sport movies...
1. "Heroes get remembered, legends never die"- Art LaFleur as Babe Ruth in The Sandlot.
This was a great movie watching as kid that followed nine boys who played baseball on their old beat up looking sandlot field. It was a summer film and these kids did nothing but play baseball all summer long. However, when a ball signed by Babe Ruth is hit over the fence of a neighbor with a supposedly killer dog their summer of baseball turns into a thriller as they do everything in their power to get the ball back. When all seems lost, the leader of the group, Ben Rodriquez, has a dream that Babe Ruth visits him and tells him to jump over the fence to retrieve the ball and says this quote that inspires him to do just that.
2. Death Crawl from "Facing the Giants"
I couldn't come up with the words to describe this scene, but when you watch this scene you can very well be inspired as I was. This is the story of Grant Taylor who is going through a tough time in the community. Not succeeding at being the greatest coach, the parents and student are through with his coaching and want him replaced. He is struggling financially, and him and his wife are struggling to have a kid. In this particular scene he teaches his players especially his captain the importance of giving all you got and not giving up until you can go as far as you can go. There is no telling how far you will go, but give everything your best and hardest and don't quit.
3. Billy Bob Thornton as Coach Gaines halftime speech in "Friday Night Lights"
I love this scene from Friday Night Lights because it can describe a moment from experiences I had on the field playing football in high school. When our team made it to the semi-finals in the state tournament, we were losing pretty bad at halftime and we came away losing 66-8. We played a rough but great team, but at halftime our coach told us almost exactly what Billy Bob Thornton told his players in this scene. From our coach he said "Being perfect is not what we accomplished this year, it's how you all can look into your teammates eyes and tell each and everyone of them that you did your best and didn't let them down. Being perfect is how we accomplished where we came this year by playing as a team, a family."
4. Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in "Remember the Titans"
Save the best for last I always say. Probably my favorite sports movie of all time and my favorite inspirational speech of all time comes from Denzel Washington as Coach Boone in Remember the Titans. Throughout the beginning there was problems with the team as African Americans joined the once all White titans team. There was much discrimination and fighting in the movie until Coach Boone takes them on a run to the site of the Battle of Gettysburg and makes his famous speech about coming together and playing as one. My most favorite line in the history of motivational speeches as to be when he says "If we don't come together, right now on this hollow ground, we too will be destroyed, just like they were. I don't care if you like each other or not, but you will respect each other and maybe...I don't know maybe we'll learn to play this game like men." I can't tell you how much this movie amazes me every time I watch it how they overcame their differences and learned how to play together.
My life completely revolves around football. I have played football since I was 7 years old and I haven't stopped since. My Dad coaches for Assumption College, my Uncle coaches for Wagner University, and I play football here at Ithaca. Every time my family gets together for the holiday's it pretty much all we talk about. I love the game and what is has taught me. On the eve of our sixth game of the season, I decided to pop in one of my favorite football films, Friday Night Lights. This got me and my roommates in a debate over our top three football movies of all time. After a long discussion I finally came up with my list.
1.) Friday Nights Lights is my number one football movie. The Texas football scene is the perfect setting for a football movie. Billy Bob Thornton fits the role of Coach Gary Gaines perfectly. This movie depicts the life of a high school football player in an environment that loves it's local team. My favorite character in this classic film is Don Billingsley played by Garret Hedlund. Billingsley is the teams fullback and is a typical football meat head. He loves football, beer, and girls. Everything else in his life pretty much goes to the wayside. The group of characters in this movie are what makes it so relatable to football players like myself. This is the reason why FNL is number one on my list.
2.) Coming at number two, directed by Oliver Stone, is Any Given Sunday. Any Given Sunday takes a look at football at the professional level. Al Pacino is the lead actor and plays the role of coach. In one of my favorite sports movie moments, Pacino delivers the goods in an epic speech during halftime of a pivotal game. The movie takes a look at athletes with money and what they chose to do with that money. Also, the movie goes into the business aspect of professional sports which is interesting to look at. Any Given Sunday is great for the drama of what it means to be on a professional sports team. My favorite character is "Steamin'" Willie Beamen. The third string QB who is forced to start after array or injuries turns in the star who you can't help to root for. That is why Any Given Sunday comes in at number two on my list.
3.) The Disney film, Remember the Titans comes in at number three at my list. The cast is lead by Denzel Washington who plays Coach Boone. Coach Boone has just taken over at a high school which has just been racially integrated. Boone challenges the team throughout the movie to become one team. Throughout many hardships the Titans starts to realize that they can't win if they don't accept each others differences As the racial barrier is divided the wins starts to pile up in this heart warming story. That is why this movie comes in at number three on my list.
