Rating: 
Summary: MIRACLE IS INSPIRATIONAL
Review: Miracle is a very good movie from start to finish, it takes you from the lows to the highs. It is by far the best hockey movie I have ever seen. Kurt Russell gives an oscar worthy performance as Herb Brooks, the U.S. Olympic Hockey team coach. Miracle is an inspiring movie for all to see.
Rating:
Summary: A truly inspirational story
Review: I'm not very interested in hockey and I was born in 1980, so I wasn't around to witness the events of this film in "real life" .. but my fiance heard about the movie and said it was such an inspiring story that we HAD to see it! I am so glad we did because it was truly a phenominal film.Most probably know the plot, so I won't waste too much time summarizing it. Kurt Russell plays Herb Brooks, a hockey coach who gets the job of putting together the team for the 1980 Olympics. His methods are unorthodox and his choice in players a little odd, but he has a plan to put together a team specifically created to beat the Soviets. While I knew the ending going in, I knew nothing of the story around it. I was entranced throughout the entire film! The acting, especially by Kurt Russell, was wonderful. He played Herb Brooks as a man with a mission that he will stop at nothing to succeed on, despite it causing problems with his wife and (at first) making his players dislike him. Patricia Clarkson plays his wife, and does an excellent job. His assistant was also great, played by Noah Emmerich. I didn't recognize any of the actors playing the hockey players, but I do think they all did a great job as well. The final scenes of the gold medal game between USA and the Soviets was so well done, I was sitting on the edge of my seat even though I already KNEW USA won! When the buzzer sounded and announced USA as the winner, with the crowd chanting and screaming .. I cried. It was a beautiful moment. :) The credits at the end of the film were extremely well done too, giving information on what each player is doing now. I highly recommend this movie! It was very well done, and I believe did the true story justice.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the best movies of 2004 so far!
Review: This is the first movie I have seen in theatres this year, and I saw this movie today. And this movie is based on a true story of Herb Brooks and the 1980 US Hockey Team that beat Soviet Union in Febuary of 1980, and piror to that day that he didn't win a gold metals, he was apart of 1960 hockey team but was cut before the big game. I am sure you all know that the real Herb Brooks died August 11, 2003 in a car accident. Right after this movie was made, now I don't know if the real Herb Brooks knew this film was being made. And when the end credits began a tribute to Herb Brooks came on the screen with the words "he didn't need to see it, he lived it", and I pretty much agree, he lived though this advent, taking a hockey that is an underdog, and being a good team. As the movie opens, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is in a meeting at the olympic office. And when he returns home, he plays hockey with his kids, notfying him that he has been picked to coach the Olympic USA Hockey team in Febuary. And although his wife Patti Brooks (Patricia Clarkson) doesn't get way he has to start work in 2 weeks, (it begins in 1979). At try outs, he picks his team early, without watching the kids try out for a couple of hours. And though he does neglect his family, with his work coaching his team before the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, this is all that I am going to say about what happens in the movie. But if you like sports movies, hockey movies, or not much a hockey fan, you will all pretty much like this, whether or not you where living at the this time at the story, where professional alethetes wasn't yet allowed to play in the Olympics.
Rating:
Summary: The 21st Guy....
Review: The producers of "Remember the Titans" and "The Rookie" are seeking to bring to the quasi-sophisticated American viewing audience, films that bring American values through sports stories to the forefront. In "Miracle", their latest and greatest effort, they've truly succeeded, not only in making their audience feel good, but also in presenting an amazing moment in our history that could too easily be forgotten. "Miracle" tells the story of the US Olympic hockey team of 1980,
and their heart-stopping victory over the Soviet team, in winning the gold medal for the first time in decades. Set amongst the turbulence of the times, Miracle is beautifully filmed and edited, and succeeded in making the audience I viewed it with cheer for the team, perhaps nearly as much as we all were cheering at Lake Placid. Raised on hockey in Minnesota, I'd seen Herb Brooks for years before the Olympics, and veteran actor Kurt Russell gives us more of what he showed us in "Dark Blue". His portrait of meticulous, self-reliant Brooks, is right on target, down to the plaids the coach was known for wearing. His is a dominant portrayal, although he's surrounded with young hockey players who are craftsmen, and supported by fine actors Patricia Clarkson and Noah Emmerich. Russell doesn't try to be popular with the audience any more than Brooks wanted popularity with his teams or his fans. He plays it much as the obsessive Brooks, "the 21st guy" on the 1960 Olympic hockey team, who was cut before the games, would have wanted it. Brooks died before he could see the film. Although the movie is unabashedly formulaic, the combination of the dream, the reality, the beautifully filmed and tense hockey sequences, and the sheer joy of the team and the country, at a time when there was not much else to cheer about, has succeeded in a way that most sports films can't. A great movie, sure to be full of great features on the DVD!!!!
Rating:
Summary: The Best Film I've Seen Since I Can Remember
Review: This film is perfection, and Kurt Russell's best performance yet. It tells the story of Herb Brooks and the U.S. hockey team that lead the country to victory against the Soviet Union. The story takes place during a time when Americans were disillusioned. Still haunted by the bloodbath of Vietnam and the treachery of Watergate, the American public is losing faith in the American way. These catastrophes are followed by Soviet Agression abroad, the seizing of the American embassy in Iran, and inflation and energy crises at home. This is a country in the midst of despair, desparately in need of a moral boost. Enter Herb Brooks, the Minnesota coach who fully understands the hellish trials that lie ahead on the road to victory. In getting his team into shape, he has to confront adversity on all fronts; his wife; his team; the beauracracy he works for; even his own assistant coach is resistant to his harsh methodology. Deep down, Brooks is not a harsh man; he is simply doing what it takes to get the job done. To succeed, he has to do things that cause him tremendous personal suffering- and he is forced to bear his pain alone. He is the only one who understands the relentless, well-oiled machine that is the Soviet hockey team, and the hellish ordeal that his team must endure to beat them. This man, and his team, are bearing the hopes, the dreams, and anxiousness of an entire ocuntry upon their shoulders. Great performances, cinematography, and direction convey the direness of the situation with perfect clarity. This film is a shining example of the payoff that results from endurance and a strong will. Don't miss it! Now I'm not known for being a softie (Mel Gibson's Passion didn't even affect me). But in the end, when the Americans won, I actually cried. Powerful stuff. Make it a point to see this one!
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: I have seen this movie twice, although if I had enough money it would be more. This movie held my attention throughout the entire time. I'm normally not a huge fan of hockey but this was great. And another high point is, if Jim Craig (played by Eddie Cahill) isn't the most beautiful man on the face of this earth, I don't know who is. Wonderful movie, I recommend it to anyone!
Rating: 
Summary: Too slow for children
Review: The movie is mostly a series of slow paced discussions about how having the players hate the coach will (magically) cause the players to act as a team instead of as individuals. Meanwhile that same coach who is supposedly tricking his players into being a team, is a also failing to be part of his family (the most important team). However, the coach does spend much time watching films of the Soviet team. Then he successfully teaches his team how to use the same tactics as the Soviet team. He also works his team so hard that they become physically conditioned and also learn how ignore pain. Players who are not as passionate as the coach are cut from the team. As a result, the U.S. with the home field advantage (and a U.S. friendly ref), just barely defeats the Soviets. Although hard work, studying, and a very strong passion for defeating the Soviets in ice hockey is hardly a biblical miracle, the film could have been fun to watch. Unfortunately the pace of the movie is too slow. Older adults may have enough nostalgic, Cold War memories to let them reflect through the slow parts, but I would encourage them not to torture their children with this slow paced film.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding
Review: I wasn't going to see this movie because I had seen the original back in the 1980's. and I couldn't believe it could be duplicated....well I saw it and sure enough the original was something, but so is this movie. For those who were not around in the 80's it's a "must see. I almost think it sould be required watching for our youngsters. The acting, skating, and the story are really something....and to think, it's all true.
Rating:
Summary: Miracles can happen
Review: This movie defined perseverance. Herb Brooks, played by Kurt Russell, never gave up on his team. He knew that he could beat the Russians. He studied their skills on the ice and their facial expressions. He was determined to bring the US home with a gold medal. It was a big inspiration for me. Despite how unemotional he was, his crew saw that he was proud of them.
At times, we get angry at the ones that try to help us, but they are just giving us the boost that we lack. Sorry that he passed away, but at least he lived for that moment.
It was a big inspiration to me. I cried when they made the shot. They were out there on the ice playing with their hearts and minds. It was a cathartic for me because life is triumphant and one cannot give up on the self because of a barrier.
Rating:
Summary: Do you believe in miracles?...Yes!
Review: This one's for you! This is for those of you who grew up waiting for the temperature to drop below freezing so you could strap on your skates. This is for those of you who can still smell the steamy sweat of the warming house or the locker room. For those of you who grew up wearing corduroy letter jackets and hockey mullets. For those of you who grew up watching movies like Slap Shot and Youngblood. For those who remember watching the Gophers play in the old Mariucci Arena. For those of you who were so in love with the game that you would play tape hockey in the hallways of hotels during tournaments. For those who know that a barn is not a place for cows, but an arena where boys came to do combat. This movie is for those of you who have stopped believing. For those of you lost faith in America over the last year, or the last decade. For those of you who no longer see this country as the best country to live in. For those of you who have forgotten that democracy is not a given, and not guarantee; democracy and freedom are not concrete, they are ideals that must be worked towards. This movie is for those of you who need a reason to be an American again. For those of you who need a reminder of why our parents and grandparents and forefathers (and mothers) fought to preserve this Great nation, and why our spouses and siblings and children and friends continue to. Do you believe in miracles? Your faith may have been shaken in the past, but this movie will remind you that things were bad, very bad, before and that something as seemingly insignificant as a hockey game was powerful enough to reunite a nation. Watch this movie and may your faith be restored.
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