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Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius
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Starring: Caviezel, James Forlani, Claire McDowell, Malcolm Northam, Jeremy Ray, Connie Rice, Brett McDowell, Malcolm Gearhart, Devon Gearhart, Devon Albright, Dan
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Director: Herrington, Rowdy	Rating: PG	Running Time: 2 Hours 8 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.5/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby Digital Surround

Barnes & Noble Still regarded as the greatest golfer in the game's history (Tiger Woods notwithstanding), Bobby Jones was a bona fide superstar of international standing. He appeared in magazine ads, on the radio, and even in movies, demonstrating his skills to such cinematic luminaries as W. C. Fields and Joe E. Brown. And yet he retired from competitive play in 1930, at age 31. This fascinating biographical film, directed -- rather surprisingly -- by Road House auteur Rowdy Herrington, stars Jim Caviezel as the legendary golfer, whom he portrays as a man obsessed, a compulsive competitor tortured by some deeply repressed inadequacy. Caviezel's naturally intense mien makes him the perfect choice to essay this particular role, and he brings just as much conviction to this part as he did to his star-making turn for Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ. Claire Forlani, who has not received especially rewarding parts to date, is genuinely affecting as Bobby's supportive wife, who understands his need to compete while wishing he'd quit the game and spend more time at home with her and their children. Although there was more to Jones than his preternatural ability, Herrington doesn't lard Stroke of Genius with trumped-up melodramatics. He conveys Jones's pain -- which was quite real and not restricted to his emotional makeup -- without making every match a titanic struggle against overwhelming odds. And he succeeds to a surprising extent in making a decidedly non-cinematic game visually appealing, something that the recent Legend of Bagger Vance, for instance, failed to do. This is a family-friendly movie that all can enjoy, but we suspect Stroke will find its most appreciate audience among those who can appreciate a good walk, spoiled. Ed Hulse All Movie Guide Based on the real-life story of golf legend Bobby Jones, Bobby Jones, Stroke of Genius features Jim Caviezel as the temperamental but highly talented amateur who threw a wrench in the golf world of the mid-'20s. Though Jones would eventually become the founder of the internationally renowned Augusta National Golf Club, which is father to the prestigious annual tournament known as The Masters, the combination of his ambition and tumultuous relationship with the media interfered with his personal life to such an extent that his future in the sport seemed doomed. With the help of his wife, Mary Malone Jones (Claire Forlani), the gifted, oftentimes tortured golfer was forced to balance his family life and the public scrutiny regarding his golf career, lest both of them dissolve entirely. Directed by Rowdy Herrington, the film also stars Jeremy Northam, Aidan Quinn, and Malcolm McDowell. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide PRODUCTION AND TECHNICAL NOTES: Presentation: Wide Screen Sound: Dolby Digital Surround Features: Bloopers; Deleted scenes; Director commentary with special guest Prof. Richard Brown; "Celebrating the Legend" - The making-of Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius; Featurettes on The Bobby Jones Legacy; Photo gallery; Previews; Narrative track for the visually impaired Language: English, Fran�ais SubTitles: English, Fran�ais, Espa�ol, Portugais, Korean, Thai Time: 2 Hours 8 Minutes

Bull Durham
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Starring: Costner, Kevin Sarandon, Susan Robbins, Tim Wuhl, Robert Wilson, Trey O'Leary, William Neidorf, David Gans, Danny Gans, Danny Williams, Lloyd T.
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Director: Shelton, Ron	Rating: R	Running Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 7.1/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video Bull Durham is about minor league baseball. It's also about romance, sex, poetry, metaphysics, and talent--though not necessarily in that order. Susan Sarandon plays a loopy lady who just loves America's national pastime--and the men who play it. At the opening of every season, she attaches herself to a promising rookie and guides him through the season. Unfortunately, the player she bestows her favors upon does not really deserve it. She knows it, and veteran Kevin Costner knows it. Her choice, a dim bulb played for laughs by Tim Robbins, is the only one who doesn't know it. The film, directed by its writer, Ron Shelton, a former minor league player, is rich in subtle detail. There are Edith Piaf records playing in the background, fast-talking managers, and minor characters as developed as the leads. Sarandon's retro-'50s outfits make you think she's just another bimbo, not an English teacher very much in control of her life. And Costner's clear-eyed, slightly vitriolic performance is devastatingly sexy and keenly witty. The love scenes, though tasteful, are almost as humorous as they are hot. Sarandon's character likes to tie her players up and expand their horizons by reading Walt Whitman to them, "'cause a guy will listen to anything if he thinks it's foreplay." How can you not love a movie with such a wicked sense of humor? --Rochelle O'Gorman --This text refers to the DVD edition.

Cutting Edge, The
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Starring: Sweeney, D.B. Kelly, Moira Dotrice, Roy Kelly, Moira Brown, Dwier Benson, Chris Peeks, Kevin Flatman, Barry Flatman, Barry Sears, Steve
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Director: Glaser, Paul Michael	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 42 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.4/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com As far as ice-skating movies go (or those that prominently feature the cold-bladed sport), this romantic movie is one of the best, thanks to utterly charming performances by underrated actors D.B. Sweeney and Moira Kelly. The couple play, respectively, a washed-up hockey player and a prima-donna skater who end up in doubles figure skating together at the Winter Olympics. Of course, the mismatched pair fall in love. In between, there's a lot of verbal sparring, talk of toe picks, and surprisingly skillful directing by Paul Michael Glaser (Kazaam, The Air Up There). Direction here is critical--unlike in Flashdance, where the dancing was done in the shadows, face and feet obviously shot separately--and credibly highlights the actors and their professional stand-ins. This is such a fun, sweet story that the facts the film takes liberties with--including the alacrity with which a hockey player takes to Olympic-level figure skating--are easily forgivable. --N.F. Mendoza --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Eight Men Out
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Starring: Cusack, John James, Clifton Strathairn, David Sheen, Charlie Cusack, John James, Clifton Sweeney, D.B. Sayles, John Sayles, John Sheen, Charlie
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Director: Sayles, John	Rating: PG	Running Time: 2 Hours
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 7.3/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Eliot Asinof's detailed book Eight Men Out illustrates how the system of American sports collapsed in 1919, the year the Chicago White Sox threw the World Series. Filmmaker John Sayles worked on his script years before the 1988 film (or before he had the rights to make the film) as a labor of love. Sayles's adaptation proves one can make a historically accurate film in the day and age of artistic license. And what a story. Although many know about the "Black Sox," made famous--again--in the 1989 hit film Field of Dreams, the details of the saga are far less known. The center of Dreams, Shoeless Joe Jackson (portrayed correctly by D.B. Sweeney as illiterate and left-handed in Eight), is not the core of this film; it's ace pitcher Eddie Cicotte (Sayles favorite David Strathairn), who took the money, and third baseman Buck Weaver (John Cusack), who did not. The film fits nicely into Sayles's (Lone Star) strong suit: the ensemble drama. We are introduced to bickering owners, famous crooks, high-minded judges, lowlife gangsters, investigative reporters (played by Studs Terkel and Sayles himself), and, most of all, players who are at the breaking point when it comes to low salaries and degrading rewards. While some may feel the film is not as visceral as it should be, there is a great amount of verisimilitude when watching finely tuned athletes telling their bodies to play poorly--heartbreak on the nation's diamond. Beautifully detailed (like Sayles's previous labor-drama, Matewan), Eight Men Out gives us powerful lessons in which everyone lost: players, gamblers, and especially the fans who love the game. --Doug Thomas --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Field of Dreams
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Starring: Costner, Kevin Madigan, Amy Jones, James Earl Hoffman, Gaby Liotta, Ray Lancaster, Burt Whaley, Frank Liotta, Ray Liotta, Ray
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Director: Robinson, Phil Alden	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 46 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating:	Color DTS 5.1-Channel Surround Sound,

From All Movie Guide "If you build it, he will come." That's the ethereal message that inspires Iowa farmer Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) to construct a baseball diamond in the middle of his cornfield. At first, "he" seems to be the ghost of disgraced ballplayer Shoeless Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta), who materializes on the ballfield and plays a few games with the awestruck Ray. But as the weeks go by, Ray receives several other messages from a disembodied voice, one of which is "Ease his pain." He realizes that his ballfield has been divinely ordained to give a second chance to people who have sacrificed certain valuable aspects of their lives. One of these folks is Salingeresque writer Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), whom Ray kidnaps and takes to a ball game and then to his farm. Another is Doc Graham (Burt Lancaster), a beloved general practitioner who gave up a burgeoning baseball career in favor of medicine. The final "second-chancer" turns out to be much closer to Ray. That "magical" field in Dyersville, Iowa still draws thousands of baseball-happy tourists each year. Hal Erickson

For Love of the Game
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Starring: Costner, Kevin Preston, Kelly Reilly, John C. Malone, Jena Cox, Brian Simmons, J.K. Malone, Jena C. Reilly, John C. Reilly, John Raimi, Ted
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Director: Raimi, Sam	Rating: PG-13	Running Time: 2 Hours 18 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.1/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Billy Chapel (Kevin Costner) is having a bad day. His girlfriend Jane (Kelly Preston, stunning as ever) says she's leaving, and his boss (Brian Cox) says he's selling the business and ace employee Billy may be out of job. Sounds like business as usual for an old-fashioned veteran. However, the business is baseball and for Billy Chapel, the 40-year old former all-star for the Detroit Tigers, it means his career--and his life--is at a crossroads. Although it is no Bull Durham, For Love of the Game finds a solid and very believable role for Costner. The film is based on Michael Shaara's (The Killer Angels) stream-of-consciousness novel (the rough manuscript was found after his death 1988). The entire film takes place on Billy's day on the mound against the Yankees, a meaningless late-season game for the Tigers, but everything for Billy. In flashbacks, he lingers over his long relationship with Jane and his baseball career (from World Series heroism to a career-threatening injury). His one viable link to the game at hand is his catcher, played winningly by John C. Reilly. Costner, like Chapel, is looking for one more great performance, but the film is too simplistic and loopy at times to resonate. The love story has an extra helping of cuteness, and legendary baseball announcer Vin Scully nearly takes on a leading role, waxing grandiloquent. It's no grand slam, but a solid double. --Doug Thomas

Hardball
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Starring: Reeves, Keanu Delon Ellis Jr., A. Sweeney, D.B. Warren, DeWayne Lane, Diane Gatins, John Hawkes, John Griffith, Julian Griffith, Julian Perkins, Michael
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Director: Robbins, Brian	Rating: PG-13	Running Time:
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.1/10 (IMDB)	Color DigitalSound

Brian Robbins (VARSITY BLUES) directs another sports-related picture with HARDBALL, an uplifting story about a man who finds redemption when he's least expecting it. Keanu Reeves stars as Conor O'Neill, an underachiever whose gambling addiction has gotten him into seemingly insurmountable trouble. Desperate for money, he begs his friend Jimmy (Mike McGlone) to bail him out one more time. Jimmy agrees to give Conor a weekly stipend, but only if Conor agrees to coach a little league baseball team in Chicago's inner city. At first, Conor realizes just how unequipped he is for this particular task, as the assembled team goofs off, fights, and curses, paying no attention to his authority. Eventually, however, he gains their respect, and pretty soon, they're winning games. Meanwhile, off the field, Conor finds himself falling for the children's schoolteacher, Miss Wilkes (Diane Lane). He also places a potentially life-threatening bet with a high-level bookie, but after a miracle saves him and he begins to fully embrace his new role as a coach and father figure, tragedy strikes and teaches Conor a much more valuable life lesson. Based on the non-fiction book by Daniel Coyle, HARDBALL is an uplifting story that gets a boost of energy from its non-professional cast of youngsters.

Ice Castles
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Starring: Benson, Robby Johnson, Lynn-Holly Dewhurst, Colleen Johnson, Lynn-Holly Huffman, David Warren, Jennifer Reilly, Diane McCullen, Craig T. McCullen, Craig T. Lilyholm, Leonard
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Director: Wrye, Donald	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 48 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 5.4/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com Not half-bad, this lightly engaging, potboiler romance concerns an ice skater (Lynn-Holly Johnson) who loses her vision in an accident but goes on to excel on the ice with the support of the guy (Robby Benson) who loves her. When she takes up with some rich schmuck, however, intertwining problems in her work and in love throw a shadow over everything. Nice performances, nice skating--the whole thing is a pleasant distraction. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition.

Miracle (Widescreen Edition)
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Starring: Russell, Kurt Clarkson, Patricia Emmerich, Noah Emmerich, Noah West, Nathan Cahill, Eddie Demsey, Patrick O'Brien Coristine, Michael Coristine, Michael Schneider, Billy
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Director: O'Connor, Gavin	Rating: PG	Running Time: 2 Hours 16 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com The miracle about Miracle is that it gets so many details right in telling its 24-year-old story about the historic victory of the U.S. hockey team at the 1980 Olympic Games. It's typical for Hollywood to compromise such period details as hairstyles and fashion when catering to a contemporary audience, but Miracle looks and feels right in every detail, capturing the downbeat mood of post-Watergate America while showing how obsessively determined Minnesota hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) managed to assemble a once-in-a-lifetime team and whip them into a victorious frenzy over their Soviet champion opponents. With sharp support from Patricia Clarkson (as Brooks's wife) and Noah Emmerich (as his long-suffering assistant), Russell grounds the film with a well-balanced combination of aloofness, intimidation, and closely guarded strategy. No doubt the real Brooks (who died in a car accident shortly after filming completed) would have approved. Thanks to director Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds) and the producers of the similarly laudable sports films Remember the Titans and The Rookie, Miracle brings plenty of heart--and historical accuracy--to an old, familiar formula. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition. E.M. Swift - Sports Illustrated "Kurt Russell is perfect as Herb Brooks, and the hockey scenes are nothing short of spectacular." Was this review helpful to you?

Mystery, Alaska
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Starring: Crowe, Russell Reynolds, Burt McCormack, Mary Meaney, Colm Azaria, Hank Reynolds, Burt Davidovich, Lolita Maury Chaykin Maury Chaykin Northcott, Ryan
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Director: Roach, Jay	Rating: R	Running Time: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.4/10 (IMDB)	Color Stereo

Amazon.com When it comes to the subject of community, David E. Kelley--the prolific writer-producer behind television's The Practice and Ally McBeal--falls somewhere on a continuum between directors Howard Hawks and Robert Benton. While Hawks's professional characters are bound by a knowledge of how to do what they do even if they don't know why, Benton's people, professional or not, have long ago substituted their own eccentric reasons for that elusive why. Thus we get the kind of in-house, oddball rituals sandwiched between passages of actual work on Ally, and the affectionately entangled personal and professional ties between small-town folks in Kelley's earlier TV series Picket Fences. Kelley's script for Mystery, Alaska (co-authored by Sean O'Byrne) takes that level of eccentricity to a geographical and spiritual extreme. The film revives the hackneyed Rocky formula, setting a lopsided hockey match within a remote, self-contained hamlet where the members of a tiny population all have to wear multiple hats and still keep neighborly ties intact. The story concerns the town's chief source of identity and pride: so-called "Saturday games," in which local men divide into teams and play pond hockey for the locals. When a prodigal son (Hank Azaria) of Mystery shows up with a television network offer to bring the New York Rangers in for a televised match against the homegrown team, the town fathers agree. Coaching falls to the town sheriff, John Biebe (Russell Crowe), an admirable man and a longtime player recently bumped from the team. John, however, doesn't want the job: everyone knows the real coach in those parts is Judge Burns (Burt Reynolds), but he wants no part of it either. All of that changes after a sad tragedy forces everyone to reevaluate their positions and pull together in order to beat the Rangers. Following the success of Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Jay Roach proves to be an able director of drama, swift action, and low-key, character-driven comedy not unlike that in Benton's Nobody's Fool. He has to deal with some pure corn at the end, but Roach pulls it off and guides the actors to and through far better moments. --Tom Keogh

Natural, The
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Starring: Redford, Robert Duvall, Robert
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Director: Levinson, Barry	Rating: PG	Running Time:
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Category: Sports	User Rating:	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video From the sun-dappled heartland, a young man (Robert Redford, in soft lighting) emerges as maybe the best baseball player anybody's ever seen. On his way to the majors, he is cut down by an enigmatic black widow (Barbara Hershey) and vanishes for many years. When he reemerges, a silent mystery, he lands a spot with the New York team and begins tearing up the league--he's still the natural. Fans of the Bernard Malamud novel will be dismayed at the pure mythical hokum of this film, but baseball fanatics have been known to watch and rewatch this one; after all, it's constructed as a kind of shrine to the national pastime. Barry Levinson (Rain Man) directs the movie with an unabashed devotion to the game, although the film could use more of the realities of chewing tobacco and pine tar. Redford is fine, and Kim Basinger and Oscar-nominated Glenn Close are effective as the women in his life. The crowning touch is the soaring, extraordinary music by Randy Newman, the singer-songwriter turned orchestral composer. --Robert Horton --This text refers to the VHS Tape edition. Description Nothing was going to stop Roy Hobbs from fulfilling his boyhood dream of baseball superstardom. Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable that begins when 14-year-old Hobbs (Redford) fashions a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. He soon impresses major league scouts with his ability, fixing his extraordinary talent in the mind of sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs' career. But a meeting with a mysterious woman shatters his dream. Years pass and an older Hobbs reappears as a rookie for the New York Knights. Overcoming physical pain and defying those who have a stake in seeing the Knights lose, Hobbs, with his boyhood bat, has his chance to lead the Knights to the pennant and to finally fulfill his dream.

Rocky
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Starring: Stallone, Sylvester Shire, Talia Young, Burt Stallone, Sylvester Young, Burt Weathers, Carl David, Thayer Stallone, Frank Stallone, Frank Silvani, Aldo
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Director: Avildsen, John G.	Rating: PG	Running Time: 1 Hour 59 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 7.7/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com The only remaining evidence that Sylvester Stallone might have had a respectable career, this 1976 Oscar^� winner (for Best Picture, Director, and Editing) is still the quintessential ode to an underdog and one of the best boxing movies ever made. After writing the script about a two-bit boxer who gets a "million-to-one shot" against the world heavyweight champion, Stallone insisted that he star in the title role, and his equally unknown status helped to catapult him (and this rousing film) to overnight success. The story is familiar, but it's handled with such vitality and emotional honesty that you can't help but leap and cheer for Rocky Balboa, the chump-turned-champ who stuns the boxing world with the support of his timid girlfriend Adrian (Talia Shire) and grizzled trainer Gus (Burgess Meredith). Oscar nominations went to all the lead actors (including Burt Young as Adrian's hot-tempered brother), but four sequels could never top the universal appeal of this low-budget crowd pleaser. --Jeff Shannon Description Rocky Balboa, club fighter from the mean streets of Philadelphia, gets an unlikely shot at the heavyweight championship of the world by taking on champion Apollo Creed. The irresistible story of the boxer who gives his all to win the championship title won Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director and catapulted Sylvester Stallone to superstardom.

Rookie, The (Widescreen Edition)
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Starring: Quaid, Dennis Griffiths, Rachel Hernandez, Jay Grant, Beth Jones, Angus T. Hernandez, Jay Gonzalez, Rick Lindberg, Chad Lindberg, Chad Applegate, Royce D.
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Director: Hancock, John Lee	Rating: G	Running Time: 2 Hours 7 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 7.2/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com Jim Morris, the real-life hero of The Rookie, has an inspirational story all but guaranteed to put a smile on anyone's face. Happily, this G-rated Disney drama, based on Morris's published memoir of the same title, is suitable for an all-ages audience. Blessed with an awesome fastball, Morris nursed dreams of pitching for Major League Baseball during his 20s; injuries and bad luck, however, forced him to give up hope and become a teacher and coach. Years later, pressed by students and colleagues to try out for "the Show" one more time, Morris discovered he still had a powerful arm, and he was signed by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. The Rookie is at its best throughout this first chapter in Morris's midlife adventure, though the rest of the film finds fresh angles on more familiar baseball-movie conventions. Dennis Quaid is soulful and charismatic as Morris, perfect in his depiction of a man both thankful and startled that destiny has given one of the good guys his due. Appropriate for ages 4 and up. --Tom Keogh --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.

Tin Cup
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Starring: Costner, Kevin Russo, Rene Marin, Cheech Marin, Cheech Hart, Linda Burkley, Dennis Linn, Rex Myers, Lou Myers, Lou Perez, George
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Director: Shelton, Ron	Rating: R	Running Time: 2 Hours 15 Minutes
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Category: Sports	User Rating: 6.2/10 (IMDB)	Color Dolby

Amazon.com essential video One of the better romantic comedies of the 1990s, this quirky love story stars Kevin Costner as washed-up golf pro Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy, who has the singular misfortune of falling in love with the girlfriend (Rene Russo) of his arch rival (Don Johnson). Although he is inspired to re-ignite his golf career, challenge his opponent in the U.S. Open, and win the affection of the woman of his dreams, McAvoy has just one flaw: he's a show off when he should just focus on playing the game. Reunited with his Bull Durham writer-director Ron Shelton, Costner fits into his role like a favorite pair of shoes, and costar Cheech Marin scores a memorable scene-stealing comeback as McAvoy's best buddy, Romeo Posar. Mixing his love of sports with his flair for fresh, comedic dialogue, Shelton takes this enjoyable movie down unexpected detours (although some may find it a bit too long), and his characters are delightfully unpredictable. --Jeff Shannon