Tom Keiser

movies

Rewatching "Draft Day," The Only Place The Browns Enjoy A Hollywood Ending

Kevin Costner's NFL front office opus "Draft Day" is alternately weird, discordant, and improbable—but then again, the real-life Cleveland Browns finally getting their shit together would be the same.
Tom Keiser
12.30.16
sportsflicks

'The Jesse Ventura Story,' the Perfect Election Movie for Our Times

The Jesse Ventura Story should not be the first place to turn to if you're looking to learn the story of Minnesota's 38th Governor. After some 17 years between viewings, it is even crazier than I remembered.
Tom Keiser
10.28.16
Shaq

Shaquille O'Neal: America's Favorite Indiscriminate Pitchman

Shaq and the cartoon General of General Insurance are fast friends in these new commercials for cut-rate coverage.
Tom Keiser
10.18.16
sportsflicks

Revisiting 'For Love of the Game,' Which Is as Dull as Baseball But Has More Kevin Costner

Kevin Costner made a lot of sports movies, and some are good. 'For Love of the Game' gets baseball's glacial pace and self-seriousness right, but not much else.
Tom Keiser
10.14.16
sportsflicks

Cuckolding, Roster Construction, October: Watching 'Major League' in 2016

When 'Major League' was released in 1989, Cleveland was only halfway through an epic championship drought. Surprisingly, the movie still feels fresh.
Tom Keiser
10.7.16
sportsflicks

There's A Good Movie To Be Made About College Football, But "The Program" Wasn't It

In 1993, "The Program" set out to address the corruption and compromises of college sports. It didn't do a very good job then, and looks even worse now.
Tom Keiser
9.16.16
sportsflicks

Revisiting "Paper Lion," the Greatest Movie Ever Made About NFL Preseason

In 1963, George Plimpton went to training camp with the Detroit Lions and wrote a book about it. In 1967, with Alan Alda subbed for Plimpton, it became a movie.
Tom Keiser
9.2.16
arena league football

The Soul Of (Arena) Football, Or A Night With A League On The Brink

The Philadelphia Soul are one of the legacy franchises in Arena League Football. In a league that's perpetually on the edge and in flux, that only means so much.
Tom Keiser
8.26.16
sportsflicks

Rewatching "Personal Best," an Almost-Great Olympic Decathlon Romance

In "Personal Best," the legendary writer Robert Towne set out to make an honest lesbian romance and a movie about training for the Olympics. He sort of succeeded.
Tom Keiser
7.29.16
Throwback Thursday

Throwback Thursday: "The Rick Camp Game," A Sloppy, Silly, Fireworks-Aided 19-Inning Classic

On July 4, 1985, the Mets and Braves faced off. The postgame fireworks didn't go off until well after 4 a.m. on July 5. What happened in between is legendary.
Tom Keiser
7.7.16
sportsflicks

Twenty Years Later, "Happy Gilmore" Is Still Shooting Right Around Par

Twenty years ago, Adam Sandler was not yet a star, let alone an emblem of fame-burnout. In "Happy Gilmore," he did his thing, squared off with Bob Barker, and won.
Tom Keiser
7.1.16
sportsflicks

Rewatching The Lost Stallone/Pelé Nazi Soccer Epic "Victory" 35 Years Later

Stallone defeated communism in "Rocky IV," but the film in which he teamed up with Pelé and Michael Caine to beat the Nazis at soccer is forgotten. Let's fix that.
Tom Keiser
6.24.16
0104