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CHICAGO – Patrick McDonald of HollywoodChicago.com audio review for the doc series “Charlie Hustle & the Matter of Pete Rose,” about the rise and bitter fall of the major league legend, the MLB’s all-time hits leader, only to be banned from the sport because of gambling. Streaming on MAX and on HBO since July 24th.
Film Review: Oscar-Winning ‘Undefeated’ Stands Among Best Sports Docs
Submitted by BrianTT on March 2, 2012 - 2:07pm
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Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Undefeated” review.
“Undefeated” was directed by Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin. It was released in Chicago on March 2nd, 2012.
Undefeated
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company
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CHICAGO – “Undefeated” takes some time to connect. It’s like a football team that starts slow and can’t quite find the right play calls for the first quarter. I’ll admit to being nonplussed at the start of the film as it seemed unfocused and a bit disconnected. Then something amazing happens. These guys start to connect. They start to become real. You start to root for them. Feel for them. Even care about them. This is one of the best sports documentaries of the last few years and while I don’t think it should have won in a VERY good year for non-fiction film, I’m really not upset at all that it did.
 Rating: 4.5/5.0 |
Damn, 2011 was amazing for documentaries. Werner Herzog made two (“Into the Abyss,” “Cave of Forgotten Dreams”). Steve James made one nearly as good as his “Hoop Dreams” (“The Interrupters”). Cameron Crowe (“Pearl Jam Twenty”) and Wim Wenders (“Pina”) delivered gems. “Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory, “ “Being Elmo,” “Hell and Back Again,” “We Were Here” – in many ways, it was a better year for docs than any other kind of film. Which makes it all the more remarkable that a story about a small-town high school football team stole the Oscar, took all the glory, and will probably make more than most of its competitors. The Manassas High School Tigers will not be beaten.
| Read Brian Tallerico’s full review of “Undefeated” in our reviews section. |
It hasn’t always been easy for Manassas. In fact, it’s been the opposite. This low-income school has not produced a team that has won even a SINGLE playoff game in over 100 years. 100 years!!! And you think Detroit Lions fans have it tough. But they never had Bill Courtney, the coach at the center of “Undefeated” and a man who doesn’t understand how to give up. What he does understand is the best way to look at football, how the sport can make winners not through pure conditioning or athletics but through the more important elements of life. He opens the film by saying, “You think football builds character, which it does not. Football reveals character.” He’s almost right. It reveals it but the coach can shape and impact it as it’s being revealed. Such is the story of “Undefeated.”
Continue reading for Brian Tallerico’s full “Undefeated” review.Undefeated
Photo credit: The Weinstein Company
