Miracle (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: "I am not looking for the best players...
Review: I am looking for the right ones". And that is really what this movie is all about: the power of people working together as a team instead of individually. Nowadays, we are tired of seeing superstars in different team sports that think that they are the greatest thing in the world and that their teammates are just the supporting cast. This is true in the US mostly in football and basketball, and in other countries in the word mainly in soccer.

I was born in Uruguay and lived there until the year 2000, and therefore am a big soccer fan. I am tired of seeing the players from my country excel in their European clubs only to see them fail miserably when they play for our country. The reason is that several of them think they are stars when they come to play for Uruguay and neglect to play as a team. They should all get together and give this movie a try!

Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is the new coach of the US men's hockey team that will compete in the Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid and has a huge task ahead of him. The Soviets dominate the world's ice hockey and US was embarrassed in their last attempt in the Olympiads. But this is not all that Herb has to face in order to succeed. Right from the start he has to fight against the politics surrounding hockey in order to be able to select the players he wants instead of the ones he is supposed to choose. Also, several players carry grudges from their college games and are unwilling to help each other.

The movie revolves around the challenges faced when trying to create an efficient team, the stress of competition and the spillover of work into one's personal life and the strain this causes. Of course, if you like ice hockey you are probably going to enjoy this movie a lot. However, if you do not like or understand the sport, you can still enjoy the storyline. In my case, working in a company that has season tickets for the current champion of the National Hockey League, the Tampa Bay Lightning, it was easy enough to start learning about the sport and loving it before watching this production.


Rating:
Summary: Miraculous
Review: Miracle is the best historical sports movie that I have ever seen. When you are watching the movie you are taken back to a different time and place as well as a difficult period in America's history. The story about a team of twenty kids who gave the country hope when it desperately needed it is very moving. The movie isn't very central character wise other than Herb Brooks and maybe Jim Craig but as Kurt Russell said as Herb Brooks in the movie it's about the team not individual players. The fact that when I went to see this at the movies and I knew what was going to happen and that it was still thrilling and exciting then and it is every time I watch it says plenty about the caliber of this movie.

Rating:
Summary: A bruise on the leg is a hell of long way from the heart..
Review: When watching this movie all I could think about was how amazing this was, to defeat the Soviet's in a game the Soviets dominated for twenty years. Here we have the underdogs of USA vs. the best team in the world hands down; not to mention that USA was just a bunch of college kids that have never played with each other before only against each other. Not only did the kids from team USA have to beat the Soviets and every other team in the Olympics but they also had to become united. Of course it's not that hard to become united, but with a bunch of rival college kids playing as a whole it was. Team USA had to put aside their differences and become a team more importantly to become a family.

I think it was Mark Johnson who said, "We're a family" as they were leaving for the Olympic Games in lake placid. And that's exactly what they had become. When you are on a hockey team you become so close to the guys you are with it's amazing. The best feeling in the world is being in that locker room with those guys and knowing when you step on that ice they are right with you. It's a bond no one can ever take from you. The movie depicted this so well that I was floored when watching how close every player was with each other. If you notice the way they acted when the players first practiced: O.C and Rob got into a fight over what had happened in the past. Later in the movie you notice the camaraderie especially on Christmas when the team goes to the doc's house for a team party.

Kurt Russell also did an outstanding job playing the part of Herb Brooks. From the way he talked right down to the style of coach he was. It was amazing to see the way Herb coached from the inside of the locker room. All I knew was what was said about him in the past. Now we went inside of Herb Brooks and really understood him as not just the coach that beat the Soviets but as a man and his passion for the game.

The other interesting part of the movie was that all the players actually had to work very hard to imitate the plays. Every game is almost the mirror image of what really happened. The directors and players broke down every move and goal and worked on it endlessly to make the perfect miracle on ice.

The way the players on Team USA showed their emotions made me really believe I was watching the real miracle. From the way loved the game to playing the game with all their heart. Herb Brooks told Rob Mclanahan in the game vs. Sweden that "a bruise on the leg is a hell of a long way from the heart" and this changed the attitude of not just Rob but they rest of team USA.

"Do you believe in Miracles?" If not then you have never seen this spectacular movie.