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I figured not having very high expectations of The Replacements would prepare me for the film. But, no, it still sucked so hard I felt like I had entirely wasted half an afternoon.

I knew I had to suspend disbelief a little bit, to buy into things like that somehow the cheerleaders in the movie were on strike, too. But none of that could save me from a horrible Keanu Reeves, Jon Favreau embarrassing himself, and all the characters being much more like incredibly shallow caricatures, and not even funny ones at that. The whole movie was like that; it followed the classic underdog-sports-movie formula, but was an awful, stereotypical entry into the genre. I was mildly amused by the footballer smoking on the sidelines, but only the first time. Not the ensuing 17 times the joke was used.

Oh, and there was so much awful 90′s fashion. And music. And then IMDB tells me this thing came out in 2000?!? I don’t remember 2000 being this bad.

So I wasn’t really fully-aware that Brian’s Song was made for TV until I looked it up on Wikipedia, but that explained the fades-to-black and pacing that felt like commercial breaks (they were!) and the low-budget feel of the flick, including the 70′s Horror Movie soundtrack. Though I commend the use of actual game footage (wide shots only, of course) throughout the film, I got a kick out of that. I’m too lazy to do the research, but I’d guess the only way they could afford to do such a thing was cause those games aired on ABC (the network that made the movie). That would sure explain why it was cheaper than just re-creating the plays.

But, really, I can see why this is supposedly the one movie guys are allowed to cry during. This film is all about the “Bromance” – it’s not the same relationship seen for decades in buddy comedies, these guys are total (interracial!) BFF’s. You can tell it’s a Bromance when if you imagine one of the dudes is actually a girl, it’d be a prototypical romantic comedy. I especially felt this early on, like in the scene where they are sprinting and Brian teases Gail, saying he was letting him get falsely confident so he could take him down. That was straight-up flirting on Brian’s part, if you ask me.

But, overall, it was a pretty good movie, though it felt awfully short – cause, you know, it was TV movie. The pacing was probably a bit off without those planned commercial breaks, too. It sped through the years really, really quickly, and an extra 15 minutes in the middle could’ve made a world of difference in detailing these two dudes’ relationship. Additionally, I was surprised that I was able to buy Billy Dee Williams as anybody besides Lando Calrissian (or some analog of Lando) – though I was laughably resistant during the opening scene, since I had done no research and didn’t even know he was in the movie, and it caught me off-guard. I’d be hard-pressed to name this one of the top-3 greatest football movies ever (at this point), however, as many have.

*At this rate, I think I’ll get through all the movie on my list for this recurring feature by, oh… 2017?

College Basketball is over. My season tickets are already purchased. This weekend’s NFL draft will just serve as a painful reminder that people like Mark Sanchez won’t be back for college football this fall.

Only 135 days left until kick-off.

To tide me over through this horrible time of year I call “Baseball Season”, I decided to take on a project I miserably failed to do last year: watch a crapload of football movies. Hopefully this will get me excited about next season, or gain a new perspective on and appreciation for sports cinema. Or just provide additional motivation to get more than one movie a month from Netflix.

So, I started with a list. Browsed some websites, perused Netflix’s suggested movies, etc., and came up with 25 movies to start with (and I am very open to suggestions for movies to watch!). That’s gonna be one or two movies a week until I can’t close my eyes without thinking of underdog stories, dramatically-timed injuries, heartwarming endings, and bone-crushing simulated football action scenes. I’m gonna hope that by the end I can’t recognize every stadium ever used and re-used as a film location, but there is a distinct possibility I will have gained that ability.

First up, in no particular order, was Remember the Titans, a classic by which many more recent football movies are judged, and which I’ve seen many times but not very recently. Filmed in Georgia, apparently, and starring lots of people I didn’t even remember were in it – Ethan Suplee, a very tiny Hayden Panettiere, and Donald Faison as the same character he plays in everything he’s ever done.

It was a good movie overall. It’s one of those films that’s great the first time you see it, but it gets so over-hyped and over-played that it means nothing to you for a long time, until you end up like me and go without seeing it for something like six years, and then it’s fresh and entertaining again. At least up until near the end, when I remembered that this was one of those team-captain-gets-permanently-injured movies, and it felt unoriginal and unnecessary, even though it was based on a true story. Then about ten minutes later I realized it only seemed that way because I’m pretty sure this movie started that whole trend.

But all-in-all, a good football movie; it’s easy to see why this is one of the “definitive” films of the genre. It’s got it all – a period soundtrack, drama within the team, evil-doers with really bad sportsmanship, etc. It was a good one to start off my football-movie-watching journey.

Stay tuned as I tackle (ha!) more films, and please send me any movie suggestions you think I should include in my list!