TheRetroCritic

Loosely based on real events, Cool Runnings was a surprise hit for Disney back in 1993 and it's still one of the most beloved sports movies out there. The story of the first Jamaican bobsled team charmed audiences with its lighthearted tone, likeable cast and Olympic spirit. The film introduces us to the main players as they fail to qualify for the Olympics as sprinters and decide to team-up in the hope of making it to the Winter Games as bobsledders. They hire the help of has-been champion coach Irv Blitzer (John Candy) who, like everyone else in town, doesn't believe in them at first but soon realises they might actually stand a chance. The idea that everyone in Jamaica would be literally laughing out loud at the thought of a bunch of guys putting together a bobsled team is not all that convincing, especially in the over-the-top way the film portrays that. Granted, the lack of ice in Jamaica and the bobsledders' inexperience would no doubt prompt some skepticism but

Several years before messing up Tom Cruise's face and going all sci-fi in Vanilla Sky , Cameron Crowe made this romantic comedy about a sports agent turning his life upside down after one night of sobering honesty which sends his career seemingly spiralling down the tubes. It was a huge hit and, back in 1996, no moviegoer didn't yell out "Show me the money!" whenever possible. The film follows sports agent Jerry Maguire (Cruise) as he loses pretty much all his clients in one day after writing a much too honest memo/mission statement. One of his last remaining clients is Cuba Gooding Jr.'s football player whose attitude problem doesn't exactly make him the easiest guy to help get a $10M contract. When Jerry is inevitably fired, he takes some fish with him (they have manners) and is followed into the unknown by a single mother working in his office called Dorothy (played by Renee Zelwegger). Jerry tries everything to make his career work as an independent b

Talk about a weird movie idea... BASEketball was Trey Parker and Matt Stone's acting follow-up to Orgazmo but this time, neither of them was on-board as director or writer so with David Zucker (of The Naked Gun fame) in charge, this was always going to have a different vibe altogether. Luckily, these two guys are likable enough to keep the movie afloat throughout. That said, had they not been the stars of the show, it's unlikely that BASEketball would have been as watchable as it is. For one, it's unclear whether the movie is a straight-up parody of sports movies in general or just a goofy, not-so-gross-out comedy with a spoofy vibe to it. The core concept is an interesting one with sports having become so bloated and inaccessible that the world has basically given up on them. So when two random dudes come up with a new (if ludicrous) one, the world embraces their fresh, genuine, playful take until that sport finds itself in danger of falling into the same money-d

 Hey, remember that film where Joey from Friends befriends a chimp and they start sharing a flat and playing baseball together? Sure you do. Ed is one of those films which had a rubbishy trailer in every single VHS tape bought in and around 1995. You'd basically see it and rejoice that you only owned the trailer to this odd creation rather than the entire thing. 16 years later and there I was in a train witnessing Ed for the very first time in its entirety. Feeling the initial awkwardness of trying to figure out whether the ape was real or not (mostly not), flashing back to a simpler time when Matt Le Blanc was pretty much everywhere and feeling the slight embarrassment of being a grown man watching a fake ape and Joey piss in the same toilet 16 years prior. Although I can never fully relate to any sports movie, I know I would have enjoyed that little nonsensical treat as a kid. Even now it's pretty harmless and watchable, although when my adult brain is