Miracle

MacGuffin · December 08, 2003, 09:12:15 PM

Call me a sap, but I'm kinda hyped to see this. I'm a big fan of Kurt Russell and this looks like it could be one of his best performances. It's a shame he doesn't have at least one Oscar nomination. I hope this will be it.

Trailer

Release Date: February 6th, 2004 (wide)

Cast: Kurt Russell (Herb Brooks), Eddie Cahill (Jim Craig), Patricia Clarkson (Mrs. Brooks), Noah Emmerich (Craig Patrick), Michael Coristine (Young Herb), Joe Cure (Mike Ramsey), Patrick O'Brien Demsey (Mike Erizione), Pete Duffy (Robert Suter), Bobby Hanson (Dave Silk), Eric-Peter Kaiser (Mark "Magic" Johnson), Stephen Kovalcik (Dave Christian), Michael Mantenuto (Jack O'Calahan), Nate Miller (John Harrington), Kenneth Mitchell (Ralph Cox), Samuel Skoryna (Steve Janaszyk), Nathan West (Rob McClanahan)

Director: Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds; he's also got Pride and Glory in development)

Screenwriter: Eric Guggenheim (feature debut)

Premise: This is the true story of coach Herb Brooks (Russell), who in 1980 had the distinction of having been the last player cut from the U.S. hockey team the last time the team won the Gold at the Olympics (in 1960). Brooks got his chance at being part of a medal-winning team, however, when he led the U.S. hockey team to victory over the Soviets (who had won the medal the last four times: 1976, 1972, 1968, and 1964 since that 1960 U.S. win) at the 1980 Winter Olympics (at Lake Placid) despite overwhelming odds. For a country still entangled in a decades-long "Cold War" with the U.S.S.R., the sports victory was seen as patriotic and symbollic of "our side" beating "their side".

modage · December 08, 2003, 09:30:55 PM

i love the poster art, (remember when artists used to do them? instead of cutting and pasting big heads over a landscape.) and think the line at the top is really funny. its also the studio that brought us Santa Clause 2 and other steaming piles of shit. so what? couldnt they atleast dig up a producer or something that means not much? cause thats really stretching. "the studio that brought you". haha. i love kurt russell too.

Gamblour. · December 08, 2003, 11:25:03 PM

Quote from: MacGuffinCall me a sap, but I'm kinda hyped to see this. I'm a big fan of Kurt Russell and this looks like it could be one of his best performances. It's a shame he doesn't have at least one Oscar nomination. I hope this will be it.

Yeah, I saw this trailer and honestly, the quality looked pretty good, it looked enough like the 70's to me, especially his hair. Except I hate all the 'united' shit and they called the most important sports event in history...uhh, yeah, I've never heard of it, so it's not important, wow, it was a symbolic victory against the Soviets? But anyhow, looked good.

cowboykurtis · December 09, 2003, 10:41:24 AM

doesnt get my blood pumpin.

TheVoiceOfNick · December 09, 2003, 12:43:23 PM

I've been waiting for a new hockey movie ever since Slapshot!

OmegaSlacker · December 11, 2003, 01:50:31 AM

Granted it's a remake, but it's a shame that Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell's character, the coach) won't be able to see the movie since he died recently in a car accident.

I've never seen the original, but I hope, HOPE that they don't end the movie with the USA team beating the Russians because (and not very many people realize this) USA didn't beat the Russians to win the Gold medal. The Russians were a semi-final game and they still had to go on to beat an almost equally strong Finland team in what was another huge upset, but is downplayed and almost forgotten due to America not being in a cold war with Finland.

©brad · February 06, 2004, 12:18:56 PM

sure is a lot of red, white, and blue in the poster/trailer, but i'm a sucker for sports movies, so i'm sure i'll like it.

pete · February 06, 2004, 12:20:32 PM

looks like Mighty Ducks: The College Years.

Fernando · February 06, 2004, 12:25:23 PM

Kurt Russell is very underrated, I liked him a lot in Vanilla Sky and Dark Blue, just to mention his most recent work.

I do wanna see this too.

©brad · February 06, 2004, 02:11:40 PM

he is good. i think it was cameron crowe on the vanilla sky commentary who said he was the best kept secret in hollywood.

Myxo · February 06, 2004, 03:28:23 PM

Quote from: MacGuffinCall me a sap, but I'm kinda hyped to see this. I'm a big fan of Kurt Russell and this looks like it could be one of his best performances. It's a shame he doesn't have at least one Oscar nomination. I hope this will be it.

It's a good thing we are at war or this movie would totally tank.

Finn · February 07, 2004, 09:47:19 PM

This movie didn't quite work for me. There's some good stuff in there, but it's so typical and predictable that it's just the same storytelling all over again. It's just like Remember the Titans on ice.

Gloria · February 07, 2004, 09:47:30 PM

I just saw this today and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Kurt Russell is really amazing in this role. I was expecting a big, cheesy movie with the usual sport movie cliches. Thankfully, this movie steered clear of a lot of the cliches (but not all of them). I was surprised how the movie focused more on the hard work and sportsmanship of the game rather than the 'player dramas' that drag sports movies down. The hockey game scenes were amazing. This was the first movie I went to where the audience clapped during and at the end of the film. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.

©brad · February 09, 2004, 11:46:23 AM

Quote from: GloriaI just saw this today and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Kurt Russell is really amazing in this role. I was expecting a big, cheesy movie with the usual sport movie cliches. Thankfully, this movie steered clear of a lot of the cliches (but not all of them). I was surprised how the movie focused more on the hard work and sportsmanship of the game rather than the 'player dramas' that drag sports movies down. The hockey game scenes were amazing. This was the first movie I went to where the audience clapped during and at the end of the film. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.

good. i'm gonna see it.

sports movies do all have that same structure: team does shitty, something happens and they start to do good, something else happens and they start to do really, really shitty. then something amazing (amiracle, if you will) occurs and then they win.

...but, that doesn't mean they're not fun.

i think the only sport movie that successfully avoided the cliche was a league of their own. (which is so so great)

Myxo · February 11, 2004, 07:41:05 PM

Quote from: ©brad
Quote from: GloriaI just saw this today and I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. Kurt Russell is really amazing in this role. I was expecting a big, cheesy movie with the usual sport movie cliches. Thankfully, this movie steered clear of a lot of the cliches (but not all of them). I was surprised how the movie focused more on the hard work and sportsmanship of the game rather than the 'player dramas' that drag sports movies down. The hockey game scenes were amazing. This was the first movie I went to where the audience clapped during and at the end of the film. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie.

good. i'm gonna see it.

sports movies do all have that same structure: team does shitty, something happens and they start to do good, something else happens and they start to do really, really shitty. then something amazing (amiracle, if you will) occurs and then they win.

...but, that doesn't mean they're not fun.

i think the only sport movie that successfully avoided the cliche was a league of their own. (which is so so great)