Are you, like many other football/soccer fans, still mourning the end of the World Cup? Are you waiting patiently, or impatiently, for the new season to kick off? If you are like me you probably are. And with that mourning comes a loss of purpose. How did we spend our evenings, nights and early mornings before the tournament began? Considering the gathering of nations only happens once every four years, the question becomes a trivial one, but We The Nerdy might be able to help you there.
Listed below are some of the beautiful game’s best movies. Take note that best does not always mean good, but has fun not always been the embodiment of the beauty and raw enjoyment of film? Anyhow, enjoy and check out some, if not all, of the suggestions.
Escape to Victory
There are not many better films that could kick off this list than the classic footballing battle between a team of allied forces and the Nazi’s German national team. Better yet! Throw in a mixture of movie and football stars like Pele, Michael Caine, Sylvester Stalone and Bobby Moore and then an overall plot to plan a way for them all to escape. What you have here is an aptly termed ‘team goal’ beautifully constructed through an ensemble cast.
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrai
Not every entertaining entry on the big screen needs to have an injected dose of Hollywood or heightened drama to play up to the masses. Sometimes what viewers need is a look at pure brilliance. An observation of the intricacies of one individual without the need for dramatic last minute overhead kicks or off the field relationships. Every now and then ninety minutes of isolated football is what we as fans crave. We do every weekend. And that is what this documentary of sorts follows when observing Zinedine Zidane for one whole game of football. Sublime.
Goal!
Football, like every sport, requires passion. For the majority of the takes on the sport that film has provided, passion has been sorely lacking. In most cases the wants and desires of characters appear far too fabricated, but Goal! delivers the passion expertly. Charting the rise of young Mexican Santiago from gardener and part-time footballer to full-time pro in the Premier League playing for Newcastle United. The film boasts a host of slick cameos and a pulsating soundtrack likely to appeal to any football fan. Goal! is the finest representation of modern football on the big screen.
Fever Pitch
There is more to life than football, is there not? Surely not, there can’t be… That is what Fever Pitch, an adaption of Nick Hornby’s much loved book and the original to the Baseball remake, aims to tell. Colin Firth plays the lead, a PE teacher who has only one love in his life: Arsenal football club. That is until he meets a woman who might just change all of that. It is a tale of one man’s love for football and how sometimes you simply need to find a balance between the passion and everything in between.
Mike Bassett: England Manager
It seems like nowadays everyone wants to point and laugh at the English football team. That is not to say there is nothing to laugh at… it has been a calamitous affair since 1966 but who is to say that the English are not allowed to poke fun at themselves every now and then? Mike Bassett is perhaps the best example of this. The comedy is relentless, from Mike’s undertaking of the England job right down to the misfit group of players (watch out for Tonka, he steals the show).
Mean Machine
By now everyone knows the typical scenario of prison guards against convicts. You could say the idea has worn thin, but Mean Machine splashes a good bit of English football into the mix. A remake of the Burt Reynolds classic, Longest Yard, Mean Machine focuses on Vinnie Jones’ wasteful football star who is imprisoned for assault having previously been banned from the sport for match fixing. What follows is his placement in charge of the prison’s team and their match against the guards. Jokes mixed with heavy brutish slide tackles is what Jones and the cast deliver here, including a brilliant role from Jason Statham as Monk, the goalkeeper.
These are not the only fun and enjoyable football themed films, there are plenty of others to be found. It is not long until the new season starts, so while you are waiting, why not delve into these suggestions and maybe the others not listed.
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