These flicks were picked because the casts are stellar and the stories compelling.
If you don’t like ‘em, meh, take it up with the league office.
I, Tonya (2018)
Just about everyone in the world knows about the whacked 1994 figure skating soap opera
As You Turn and Turn and Turn: Figure skating rivals Harding v. Kerrigan. But this showcases the backstory, which is coldly dark and weirdly, wildly comical, and features an Oscar-winning performance by Allison Janney as Harding’s mother.
No No: A Dockumentary (2014)
Here’s all you really need to know about this: In 1973 Pittsburgh Pirates pitch Dock Ellis pulled off one of the most mind-blowing feats in sports. He threw a no-hitter … on LSD. Um, pretty sure that’s not easy. Check it out. A total trip.
Foxcatcher (2014)
Another based-on-a-bizarre-but true-crime drama, it’s the unsettling and sad story about eccentric billionaire John du Pont, who fancied himself as a wrestling coach then opened a training facility on his estate where a former Olympic-gold medalist wrestler was shot dead.
Moneyball (2011)
Thoughtful and entertaining, it stars Brad Pitt as Oakland A’s general manager Billy Beane, who, by analyzing stats and metrics in a revolutionary way, showed MLB’s small-market teams how to become competitive with baseball’s big boys. The late great Philip Seymour Hoffman also stars, as does Jonah Hill.
Rush (2013)
Ron Howard directed this dramatic recreation of the 1970s rivalry between two disparate Formula 1 race car drivers (Chris Hemsworth, Daniel Brühl). The incredible realistically-created scenes also offer a quicker shift from this next pick about another F1 driver…
Senna (2011)
This emotionally-draining documentary zips and slows through the life and early death of legendary F1’s Ayrton Senna, a hero to many in his native Brazil.
42 (2013)
Chadwick Boseman is outstanding as Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball’s color barrier thanks to the Brooklyn Dodgers’ visionary executive Branch Rickey (Harrison Ford). Historians dispute Rickey’s intent, but, who cares because the national past time finally advanced to the future.
Concussion (2015)
Based on the true story of Dr. Bennet Omalu (Will Smith), who discovered CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), a progressive degenerative disease of the brain, mainly caused by concussions. Former NFL players, more than any other athletes, have suffered the most.
