More Excitement Than The Real NFL "Draft Day"

Draft Day (2014)

Rated R (language)

Starring Kevin Costner, Chadwick Boseman, Jennifer Garner, Arian Foster, Frank Langella, Denis Leary, Josh Pence, Ellen Burstyn, Tom Welling

Directed by Ivan Reitman

The Story:

It's Draft Day for the NFL and the Cleveland Browns General Manager, Sonny Weaver (Costner) needs to make a splash in the draft.  To do that, he makes a fateful decision to move from # 7 to # 1 by giving up 3 First Round draft picks to Seattle for a new QB (Pence).  The Coach (Leary) is furious, and so is their current QB (Welling). The owner (Langella) is pleased to no end.  However, as the countdown to the draft continues, Sonny isn't sure whether he made the right decision or not. 

What a great movie.

Strangely, I didn't realize it was rated R at all.  I'm wondering if that's a typo? 

Aside from a bit of language sprinkled throughout, there was nothing in here worth slapping that rating on the film.

Cleveland. 

If you need to pick a franchise for a down on their luck sports story, Cleveland is the go-to city of choice.

My hope?

That this film will do for the Browns what Major League did for the Indians.

Shortly after the release of that film, the Indians finally started winning and making a run in the playoffs.

If any franchise ever needed a return to greatness, this is it.

Stolen from the city and moved to Baltimore, the Ohio fans could only watch in horror as their team won it all, under the banner of the Ravens.

For a nearly 2 hour movie, Draft Day moves along at a great clip, never dragging nor spending too much time on anything that could slow the pace.

You'll bounce from person to person, city to city, all the while Costner anchors the film as the  beleaguered misunderstood figure at the helm.

By the time the draft begins, you will be engrossed by what has happened, but know that the movie isn't done.

Not just yet anyway.

There's still a surprise or two up Sonny's sleeves.

If only the real NFL Draft was this much fun.

Final Grade: B+ maybe even an A-.  Either works.

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I would happily own this one, and it is definitely a contender for Best of the Year status.

Celebrate America's Birth With America's Game..."Major League"

Major League (1989)

Rated R for language

Starring Tom Berenger, Charlie Sheen, Corbin Bernsen, Wesley Snipes, Bob Ueker, Margaret Whitton, Rene Russo, Dennis Haysbert

Written an Directed by David Ward

The Story:

The owner of the Cleveland Indians is dead.  His widow (Whitton) decides to field the worst possible team that money can't buy so that attendance will drop so low, she will be able to leave Cleveland and take her talents to South Beach.

Hey wait a minute...

:)

There's no crying in baseball.

But there is laughing, and Major League will score laughs from beginning to end.

One of 2 classic baseball movies released in 1989 (Field of Dreams), both have endured as baseball classics, and I would say it is safe to say, movie classics as well.

For a quarter of a century, these two have ranked, easily, in my top 5 baseball movies, and also part of a great bumper crop of classics released in 1989.

Strangely, I'm not really a baseball fan, but I do love a good baseball movie.  I guess because they are inherently faster, and things actually happen.

:)

Needless to say, the team and coach defy expectations and rally to turn the franchise around, and make the Cleveland Indians a respectable team.

Shortly after the release of Major League, the Indians actually began to turn their franchise around.

Life imitating art.

Pretty cool.

As you can see by the cast, I've left several people off the list.  While Berenger was the "star" of the film, it really was an ensemble with every player being an important part of the team. 

It was a breakout role for Snipes as Willie Mayes Hayes.

It was also the big screen debut of Rene Russo.

And Bob Ueker nearly steals every moment he's in the film with his play by play.

There's a lot to like about this film, so get to it!

Watch the movie, especially if it's been anywhere close to 25 years since you last saw it.

Otherwise you might risk offending Jobu!

:)

Currently available to stream on Netflix as of this writing.

Final Grade: A+

Rewatchability/Purchase Factor: I already own it, and it gets a spin every so often.  Hilarious every time.

100 Greatest Movies of All Time...That I Own. # 79 ~ Major League

Should I begin today's look at the Top 100 with a confession that I don't even like baseball?  I can appreciate the sport.  Heck, I can appreciate just about any sport, I just choose not to watch most of them.  Baseball tops that list.  And no, golf and tennis are not sports, they are pastimes.

Perhaps if baseball was simply as entertaining as it seems to be in the movies, I would be more interested.

I do know, that baseball movies are vastly more entertaining than just about any game I've ever watched.

So moving on to today's movie, we start with one of baseball's best:  Major League.

The tale of the beleaguered Cleveland Indians, who are so bad, they're Cleveland.  Well, apparently they have been so bad for so long, that the newly appointed owner can get out of their lease and move the team to a bigger market if they continue to be a lousy team.

Soooo...

She works long and hard to ensure that she gets her way, and cuts costs, players and does whatever it takes to make the team as awful as possible.

But a funny thing happens on the way to the ballpark...

With an on-field lineup of Tom Berenger, Corbin Bernsen, Charlie Sheen, and Wesley Snipes among the starting lineup, it's one classic gag after another as the team goes from bad, to awful, to wait just a minute...they're winning!

Despite, and to spite, everything that the owner throws their way... the Indians start to mesh into a real team and begin to thwart the plans of their evil owner.

The sequels never quite recapture the charm and magic of the original, but they are all worth a spin.  You've definitely seen worse.

Especially if you've sat through any real baseball game.

Zing!!

: )