SuperSport 1’s festival of the greatest sports movies of all time continues from Monday 4 May to Thursday 7 May with ‘Blades of Glory’, ‘Faster’, ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ and ‘Million Dollar Arm’

“Thanks to the spirited performances of a talented cast – particularly Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as rivals-turned-teammates – ‘Blades of Glory’ successfully spoofs inspirational sports dramas with inspired abandon,” claims the Rotten Tomatoes review.

Tuesday’s sports film feature at 20:30 is ‘Faster’, a 2004 Mark Neal-directed documentary which revolves around a world as competitive as it is dangerous: the MotoGP world championship.

Filmed throughout the 2001 and 2002 seasons, the documentary is narrated by renowned Hollywood star Ewan McGregor and features appearances by Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi (with their bitter rivalry forming the central narrative), Australian veteran Garry McCoy and young American John Hopkins.

Several former world champions are interviewed, including Mick Doohan, Kevin Schwantz, paralysed former racer Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene.

Wednesday brings the gentle game of sport to the fore in SuperSport 1’s film festival, with ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ at 20:30.

This 2005 film, directed by the late Bill Paxton and starring Shia LaBeouf in the leading role, tells the story of amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, who competes against his idol Harry Vardon, the world’s greatest player, for the U.S. Open Championship in 1913.

Renowned film critic Roger Ebert, in his review, claimed he is”not a golf fan but found [the film] absorbing all the same… Paxton and his technicians have used every trick in the book to dramatize the flight and destination of the golf balls.

We follow balls through the air, we watch them creep toward the green or stray into the rough, we get not only an eagle’s-eye view but a club’s-eye view and sometimes, I am convinced, a ball’s-eye view.”

Thursday at 20:30 sees baseball takes centre stage with ‘Million Dollar Arm’. This 2014 film, directed by Craig Gillespie and starring Jon Hamm, is a biographical drama based on the true story of baseball pitchers Rinku Singh and Dinesh Patel, who were discovered by sports agent J. B. Bernstein after winning a reality show competition. The film garnered critical praise and earned a box office total of $39.2million from a budget of $25million.

Variety described ‘Million Dollar Arm’ as a “sharp, slickly produced addition to the Disney sports movie canon [that] works as both a stirring underdog tale and as a revealing look at the expanding the global footprint of the American sports-entertainment machine.”

‘Blades of Glory’, ‘Faster’, ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ and ‘Million Dollar Arm’ in numbers

– 70% – The Tomatometer rating of ‘Blades of Glory’ on film review website Rotten Tomatoes.

– $145.7million – The box office return of ‘Blades of Glory’, the highest-grossing film featured on SuperSport 1 this week.

– 103 minutes – The running time of ‘Faster’.

– 90% – The audience rating of ‘Faster’ on film review website Rotten Tomatoes.

– 1 – Francis Ouimet, the subject of the film ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’, became the first amateur player to win the US Open.

– 2 – ‘Million Dollar Arm’ was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards – Choice Movie: Drama and Choice Movie Actor: Drama for Jon Hamm’s performance.

‘Blades of Glory’, ‘Faster’, ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ and ‘Million Dollar Arm’ trivia

– ‘Blades of Glory’ features several former professional and Olympic skaters in its cast, including Sasha Cohen, Nancy Kerrigan and Scott Hamilton, amongst others.

– ‘Blades of Glory’ star Will Ferrell is a part-owner of Major League Soccer club Los Angeles FC.

– ‘Faster’ was first released at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival.

– ‘Faster’ narrator Ewan McGregor is a renowned motorcycling enthusiast and has filmed several documentary films on road trips alongside friend Charley Boorman.

– ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ was the final film directed by Bill Paxton, who passed away in 2017.

– Rinku Singh, one of the baseball players whose story is the basis for the film ‘Million Dollar Arm’, is currently a professional wrestler signed to the NXT brand of WWE

Home omonaijablogSkating Spills, Racing Thrills And Ball Skills – Don’t Miss SuperSport’s Continuing Film Festival ~Omonaijablog

Skating Spills, Racing Thrills And Ball Skills – Don’t Miss SuperSport’s Continuing Film Festival ~Omonaijablog

by –Omonaijablogon – 08:56:00

Monday, at 20:30 CAT on SuperSport 1, brings the comedy ‘Blades of Glory’ in which Will Ferrell and John Heder play two rival figure skaters, Chazz Michael Michaels and Jimmy MacElroy, who are permanently banned from the sport when their gold medal tie results in a fisticuffs melee on the arena ice.

This 2007 film was a critical and commercial success, returning a box office of $145.7million from a budget of $61million. “Thanks to the spirited performances of a talented cast – particularly Will Ferrell and Jon Heder as rivals-turned-teammates – ‘Blades of Glory’ successfully spoofs inspirational sports dramas with inspired abandon,” claims the Rotten Tomatoes review.

Tuesday’s sports film feature at 20:30 is ‘Faster’, a 2004 Mark Neal-directed documentary which revolves around a world as competitive as it is dangerous: the MotoGP world championship. Filmed throughout the 2001 and 2002 seasons, the documentary is narrated by renowned Hollywood star Ewan McGregor and features appearances by Valentino Rossi, Max Biaggi (with their bitter rivalry forming the central narrative), Australian veteran Garry McCoy and young American John Hopkins. Several former world champions are interviewed, including Mick Doohan, Kevin Schwantz, paralysed former racer Wayne Rainey, Kenny Roberts and Barry Sheene.

Wednesday brings the gentle game of sport to the fore in SuperSport 1’s film festival, with ‘The Greatest Game Ever Played’ at 20:30. This 2005 film, directed by the late Bill Paxton and starring Shia LaBeouf in the leading role, tells the story of amateur golfer Francis Ouimet, who competes against his idol Harry Vardon, the world’s greatest player, for the U.S. Open Championship in 1913.

Renowned film critic Roger Ebert, in his review, claimed he is”not a golf fan but found [the film] absorbing all the same… Paxton and his technicians have used every trick in the book to dramatize the flight and destination of the golf balls. We follow balls through the air, we watch them creep toward the green or stray into the rough, we get not only an eagle’s-eye view but a club’s-eye view and sometimes, I am convinced, a ball’s-eye view.”

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