Miracle (Full Screen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Movie
Review: This is an outstanding movie. It chronicles the 1980 US Hockey team from the choosing of Herb Brooks as coach in the summer of 1979 until the game with Russia in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, NY in Feb. 1980. Kurt Russell did an outstanding job as Herb Brooks. If you want to see a movie that is all about triumphant, see this movie!

Rating:
Summary: PLEASE DISREGARD ALL 1-STAR REVIEWS....
Review: Don't know exactly what agenda those 1-star reviewers had(something about Russia throwing a game and hip-hop music). If you have nothing better to say.....DON'T SAY ANYTHING!!!!!! This was a GREAT movie. Outstanding acting by the otherwise ordinary Kurt Russell. Enjoyable all around....please don't pay attention to reviewers who don't have a clue.

Rating:
Summary: Re-live the game for the ages.
Review: Kurt Russell is perfectly cast as Herb Brooks; a gruff, stern,taciturn,coach of a patchwork bunch of underachieving cocky group of college hockey players.

Not necessarily the best and the brightest, Brooks took this group of misfits and molded them to HIS liking against all odds, and against the convential wisdom of everyone within the realms of amateur hockey, to take them to the very pinnacle of superstardom; an Olympic Gold Medal.

Like multiple millions around the world, I watched that game live and rubbed my arms as chills convulsed my body in wave after waved as the clock wound down "10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-0."
The feelings were still the same watching this wonderful movie, both in the theater, and on DVD.

As a hockey fan, I was greatly impressed with the quality of the skating in this film. The action is breathtaking, and like I said, for a moment in time I was swept back to that special Olympiad when the impossible dream was made possible.

This film makes a great gift for the hockey fan, young and old alike. My 11 year old hockey player loved this film so much, he too wants to be in the Olympics. (I bought it for him for his birthday).

A truly sensational film, and one of the all-time great sports movies.

Rating:
Summary: Greatest feat accompished in hockey, possibly all sports
Review: I am a HUGE hockey fan (poor me, no hockey this season) and miracle is definitely the best hockey movie ever made, and it ranks high on the top sports movies ever made. Miracle really was a hard movie to make, because they needed to make sure the hockey scenes were believable, but the acting had to be there too. They chose to do the right thing, which is teach great hockey players how to act rather than having actors have stunt doubles play hockey for them. This way they can do head shots while they are on the ice and make it way more believable rather than just seeing feet skating along the ice. The Mighty Ducks movies (though great for kids) really lacked in the hockey scenes, as most people know. Another thing that makes the movie so hard, is that now that they have good hockey players, they still need to make the goals/assists/body checks as close to the real thing in 1980 as possible. On the special features they show you tape of a real goal scored against the Soviets, which went right through the goalies legs, and they show you the movie version...its a spitting image. Amazing job on the directors part, and the hockey players who, in a sense actually have to "act" while playing hockey. All in all, Miracle does a great job at showing how much of an underdog U.S.A. was (though i wasnt born then, i can only imagine what it was like) and how amazing of a feat it was to beat the russians. Miracle also ties in some smaller stories that make the movie better, such as Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) and his family life and how his coaching gets in the way of being with his wife and kids. I could go on forever about Miracle, but the only way to end this is to go with Al Michaels' famous line counting down the last 3 seconds of the game against the soviets : DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!

Rating:
Summary: GOOD SPORTS
Review: The amazing thing about the film version of the 1980 USA Hockey team's incredible victory over the Russians is that even though we know how it ends, director Gavin O'Connor makes us feel the tension so that the result is as exhilarating as if we'd never known.
MIRACLE is one of the best sports movies I've seen. Starting with a fresh uncompromising script, a lot of heart and an incredibly controlled performance by Kurt Russell, this movie shows us how the twenty diverse young men who had never played together before as a team, learn how to become a team. At first, it may seem Coach Herb Brooks is way too harsh on his team, but as the movie unfolds, we see that he was smart in knowing exactly what had to be done to get the team to the point it reaches.
The fiercely unrecognized Patricia Clarkson is marvelous as Brooks' understanding, yet outspoken wife. Noah Emmerich is very good as Craig, Brooks' assistant coach who takes a while to fully understand Brooks' sometimes questionable coaching tactics. All the guys playing the hockey players are perfect, with Eddie Cahill and Patrick Sean Dempsey standing out. But as in the case with the hockey team, it's not a solo effort, rather a group performance helmed by Russell's outstanding performance. It's sad that the real Herb Brooks never saw the completed film; he surely would have been proud of what the filmmakers did with this envigorating and inspiring true tale. If more sports movies had this much heart, they'd be better movies.

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.