The following 5 "new and old" Sports Biopics recommended by TAT Productions can teach us life lessons worth learning and appreciating.
Besides, don't you just love real-life heroes? A hero is someone who overcomes negativity with laser-sharp focus and an ever-growing prowess in the process of creating change.
Any of the kids you can see in the above video snippet shot at a community sports park could be the hero in a sports biography movie one day!
People just love watching sports in general. Check out this story about a real team making history in a Nebraska town where 92,000 fans turned out to break a world record. Each one of the team members in the women's volleyball match must feel like a hero today.
Does watching sports make us happier? Sports biographies are not just entertaining, though, they are enthralling for their INSPIRATIONAL, informational, and formational power in society and the young people exposed most of all. Here's a credible article about why watching sports makes us happier: Perhaps we could lead a happier life if we watched more sports and learned about their journey to find the power of the overcomer!
A continuación, enjoy TAT's own curated list of five of the best sports movies to stream selectively vs. randomly or 'same old-same old.'
Athletes mirror our journey to success and failure in our life's ascending and descending fortunes. In the end, what matters is the life lesson learned.
Making TAT's list are sports films ranging from General Audiences (G) to Restricted (R), including UNRATED (UN). Every film has a lesson or moral to share with the world. They are inclusive and motivational in the realization of our personal journey.
Additionally, the list of the 5 best (to TAT) sports biopics also meets the new "wokeness" meter standard for being inclusive, raising awareness, giving back, and enlightening.
Without further ado, here are the five best sports biography stories curated for you to brighten your path this going-back-to-school season.
1. An oldie but firstly, The Perfect Game, Rated P, is an international cooperative film partly shot in Mexico and the US. With a $12MM Budget, it only grossed $3.9MM, but its international appeal and social lesson legacy make it TAt's favorite.
The Perfect Game: After Cesar's baseball career ends in the USA, he moves to Mexico and is recruited to coach a rag-tag team and compete in the 1957 Little League World Series.
Directed by William Dear with a budget of $12MM, it grossed $3.9 MM worldwide, This heartwarming true story about returning to our roots to give back hits home.
It is possible that athletes can be EASILY taken advantage of on their way to stardom as agents and producers steer them in any direction they please without equal representation. The lesson to be learned then is to first conceive equal representation Clearly, in the case of a minor, IT MATTERS MOST. Inspirational movies have a bonding effect with the heroic characters for their grit through thick and thin. The athlete's endurance, courage, dedication, and hard work to achieve success elate our spirit as we identify with the hero.
However, not all SPORTS biopics are made the same.
Take, for instance, The Blind Side, would you identify with Bullock's white savior role? Can anybody really go through that much ego-polishing to look perfect in every situation, every day, all day long? You gotta be an OCD nutcase. It was Leigh Anne's way or the highway 'cuz she was a member of the NRA. Not very democratic.
2. The Blind Side makes number 2 on the list for all the wrong reasons. Rated PG-13, this sports drama biopic was directed by John Lee Hancock, who also wrote the script based on Michael Lewis's book "The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game." However, the original story belongs and should have been recognined and included in the deal from pre-production to Box Office and Streaming deals made.
Click this link to watch The Blind Side.
With a $29MM budget, the film grossed $309MM worldwide at the Box Office, garnering Sandra Bullock "Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar in 2010. She also received the ASCAP award for MOST HELPFUL WHITE PERSON. (Didn't know that was a thing.) Bullock's upfront salary in The Blind Side was $5MM. But no one really knows or tells what the deals behind the door may have been. One thing is true, they didn't include Michael Oher, the hero. Well, in this movie, the "white savior" was the hero.
After years of dealing with the distortion of his character, Michael Oher, the youth whose life story the film is based on and should have been paid a considerable sum upfront for his original story rights, is suing the family that helped him out, alleging the film created a false representation of himself and furthermore asking for his share of the pie. Does this CNN article have all the facts?
Perhaps The Post does! After all, CNN has an all-time low credibility score.
3. I, Tonya is a tragic comedy with an estimated $11MM budget grossing 54MM at Worldwide Box Office. Director and Writer Craig Gillespie created a dramedy out of this one.
Check out this film review of I, Tonya:
"Harding’s arch-rival on the ice, Nancy Kerrigan, on whom a vicious attack was orchestrated due to which Tonya was banned from skating for life in addition to a number of fines, said she never got an apology from Tonya."
However, some true stories end up a pretty bad mess, like the film I, Tonya, directed by Craig Gillespie based on the true story of a young woman whose greed was greater than her courage. How this film made the comedy category is a must-see. With an estimated budget of $11MM, it grossed $54MM worldwide.
"Tonya Harding catapults to stardom at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships. But when her ex-husband intervenes to eliminate a rival, one of the most sensational scandals in sports history transpires."
Often, the painful vision of defeat propels even the best to lie. Athletes are known to hide their use of drugs to enhance their performance and risk everything for the gold, the title, the "fame and fortune" they have sacrificed so much for. But would you go as far as putting others in danger to get ahead?
What makes a story compelling is, of course, the high stakes involved in the plot's points. The greater the drama, the more emotion gathered. After all, Drama is America's favorite genre, according to Ranker.com. Here is a list of the best sports movies based on true stories by Fandango:
4. The American Underdog (2021), a Lionsgate production directed by Andrew and Jon Erwin, is #4 on the list of the best 5 biographical sports films to watch on your overseas plane ride or on a family movie night. Its inspirational power grows in proportion to the size of the obstacle. Overcoming the hurdles and crossing the line is what America is all about. This true story makes any of us a hero would be.
Kurt Wagner accomplished the unheard of; after years of setbacks and dead-end jobs stocking merchandise, he won the NFL XXXIV Superbowl title.
Furthermore, The American Underdog meets TAT's criteria for the best sports biopic based on a true story that you can watch with the whole family. Here's a film that shows us the spirit of the overcomer in all of us. This 2021 film was produced with a budget of $25MM, it grossed $27MM in the WW Box Office.
Watching a sports biopic movie is like going on a PERSONAL journey with the hero, we cheer for him or her and visit new places in our minds. Athletes are real-life heroes whose trials and errors make them the winning factor in their sports performance.
5. I am Durán , to top it off with another Hispanic athlete hero, this film shows true grit and endurance in sports.
I am Duran is a UR (unrated) documentary Biographical sports film directed by Mat Hodgson, known for The Four Year Plan, with a stellar cast including Oscar De La Hoya, Robert De Niro, and Robert Duran. There is no Box Office date for this film. Therefore, it must not have had a theatrical release.
I am Duran's filming locations include Florida, New York, Washington, and England. It was released in 2019 by Universal Home Entertainment, and "The Numbers" labels its production location as the United Kingdom.
Always on the lookout for ways to SHOW DON'T TELL opportunities in my writing, and as a mother, grandmother, and friend, these biopics offer lessons in Character education that we can internalize in our own lives.
To get the student in your life, or someone close by, exposed to content creation, you can start with storytelling elements and devices that inspire, The following writing activity books lend their support. One of the most used paradigms is a sentence completion exercise that goes: "someone wanted to......... but........."
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