A cult classic, acclaimed as "one of the top ten sports movies ever" (Sports Illusdtrated, ESPN.com, The Sporting News), this irreverent and outrageously funny look onto the world of professional ice hockey has Paul Newman as the coach of the Chiefs, a third-rate minor league hockey team. To build up attendance at their games, management signs up three odd looking players whose job it is to literally attack and pulverise the opposition, to the delight and cheers of a steady increasing throng of fans. SLAPSHOT'S hockey sequences, reminiscent of the football games in M.A.S.H., THE LONGEST YARD and the gruesome ROLLERBALL, offer a freewheeling mixture of slapstick and grisly physical violence.
Anyone who likes Kevin Smith movies should look up Slap Shot. Considering the balance between filth and poignancy, plus the fact it's about hockey, it had to have been an influence. Otherwise, it feels like it belongs somewhere between Animal House and The Cannonball Run, though comedy is more subjective than any genre and it might actually be better, with a great script by Nancy Dowd, peppered with quotable lines and based on her brothers experience in minor league hockey where violence was becoming the main attraction.
It's a typical sports movie plot with a collection of odd-balls making up the Chiefs, but what sets it apart is the slapstick violence and the underlying cynicism (the Chiefs only find success and popularity comes once the three brothers turn matches into bloodbaths), with one of the funniest moments being the match where everyone gets beaten up before it has even started! Paul Newman is fantastic, as you'd expect, and his foul-mouthed rant at the team owner is jaw-dropping. Still, it isn't all punch-ups and violence. It has a heart too, in particular with the sub-plot about Lily, the wife of the star player, who is quickly turning to drink. It's a very funny performance by Lindsay Crouse who was once married to David Mamet and who you may recognise from season four of Buffy The Vampire Slayer.
This feels like Newman cutting loose a little and I suspect a bit of a stitch-up considering this was his third collaboration with director George Roy Hill. They previously did Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, then The Sting. You can't get much further away than Slap Shot!
Stars: Ryan Newman as Little Girl Steve Buscemi as Nebbercracker Mitchel Musso as DJ Catherine O'Hara as Mom Fred Willard as Dad
Plot: Young DJ always knew there was something strange about the old Nebbercracker house across the street. When the house becomes a living, breathing monster, DJ enlists his pals Chowder and Jenny to learn the secret that keeps the house alive. Suddenly, they find themselves in a hair-raising battle with an unstoppable entity and must save the neighborhood from total devastation. Robert Zemeckis (The Polar Express, Back To The Future) and Steven Spielberg (ET, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones Trilogy) present Monster House - the movie The New York Times A.O. Scott hails "... smartly written and a lot of fun."
Extras:
Scene Access
Audio Commentary
Bonus Trailers
Featurettes
Gallery
My Thoughts:
This is a pretty cute animated movie... though I have seen better. The film went in an obvious direction and I had a hard time caring about the characters. But in spite of all of that... It is definitely worth the time put in to watch it. The story takes place on Halloween so I can see myself watching this one for my October marathon each year.
Star Trek: The Next Generation 7.11 Parallels Writer: Brannon Braga (Writer) Director: Robert Wiemer Cast: Patrick Stewart (Capt. Jean-Luc Picard), Jonathan Frakes (Cmdr. William T. Riker), LeVar Burton (Lt. Cmdr. Geordi La Forge), Michael Dorn (Lieutenant Worf), Gates McFadden (Dr. Beverly Crusher), Marina Sirtis (Counselor Deanna Troi), Brent Spiner (Lt. Commander Data), Wil Wheaton (Wesley Crusher), Patti Yasutake (Nurse Ogawa), Mark Bramhall (Gul Nador), Majel Barrett (Computer Voice (voice))
Worf jumps between different parallel universes. It's fun to see different realities of the Enterprise crew. For example Worf's reaction when Deanna is coming onto him because they are married in the reality he jumped into.
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May 18, 2024, 03:42:22 PM
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