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.
Rating:
Summary: Do you believe in miracles?
Review: An excellent film that really captured the reality of the 1980 Winter Olymipics. I was about 9 years old and I remeber when Mike Eruzione scored the winning goal, I was just in awe. It was an amazing thing to watch then as it is now. The whole story is about a young group of gifted hockey players coming to beat the USSR. The talented, and no stranger to these kinds of films, Kurt Russel effectively portrays the tough, no-nonsense coach whos goal is to beat the USSR and win that gold medal he almost got when he was cut from the 1960 US Olympic Hockey team. Patrick O'Brien Demsey plays Mike Eruzione who's only goal is to survive and, of course, win. Both Russel and O'Brein were just outstanding. The who movie was inspirational, fun, and very moving. This moment in time gave us a ray of hope in a world that was being flooded with "Bad News". And this movie did just that to remind us that miracles do happen when you least expect them.
Rating:
Summary: Almost makes me care about hockey
Review: People my age probably remember where they were when John and Bobbie Kennedy were shot, when Armstrong stepped onto the moon, when the Challenger blew up, when the Berlin Wall came down. Perhaps even when the U.S. Olympic hockey team beat the unbeatable Soviets in 1980. And I don't even care for hockey that much. MIRACLE is the story of that legendary upset, and the grueling training that led up to that glorious moment, told from the perspective of the coach, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell). A member of the 1960 Olympic squad, Brooks was cut from the team a week before its first Olympic match and subsequent gold medal victory. After that, the USSR Olympians dominated the sport for the next twenty years. Through his "boys", Brooks sought personal redemption and an end to Soviet hegemony. The first film of 2003 of Oscar caliber was SEABISCUIT, the story of an earlier underdog. Although, as of this review, the Academy Awards have yet to be handed out for 2003, MIRACLE is perhaps the first 2004 release deserving of next year's Oscar consideration. Not for Best Picture, but for Russell as Best Actor (though I didn't believe for a moment that was the actor's real hair). MIRACLE is about Coach Brooks. While the young actors that portray the twenty-some players do a creditable job, they're all pretty much lost against the background of team identity. And that's as it should be because their amazing victory was, and necessarily had to be, a team effort. This point is effectively made for the audience during a tortuous set of punishment drills after a poorly played exhibition match against the Norwegian national team when one of Herb's players finally correctly answers the question he constantly poses, "Who do you play for?" It's a moment of revelation for all concerned. Just as the horse race action in SEABISCUIT almost made me go down to the track and squander the mortgage payment on a first-ever bet, MIRACLE's camera work on the ice almost morphed me into a rabid hockey puck. You, the viewer, are right there in the thick of the furious melee expecting to be slammed against the boards or slashed with a stick at any moment. There's an adrenaline rush not felt with, say, curling. At the film's end, a voiceover by Russell-Brooks reminds us that, soon after the 1980 Gold Medal upset, America's Olympic hockey team was opened to pro players of the National Hockey League to thus create the "Dream Team" concept - but no Olympic squad since then has ever captured "the dream". Honor is due Brooks and his amateurs.
Rating:
Summary: Miracle
Review: Miracle is a straightforward account of the 1980 US Olympic hockey team, and how they came to be. The story is told, for the most part, from the perspective of head coach Herb Brooks (Russell) as chooses the team and then shapes them into the champions that they will become. He has many unorthodox ways that rub his players, assistant coaches, and Olympic committee members the wrong way. But, Brooks has a plan. He knows exactly what needs to be done to bring home the gold. He also has a personal stake in the matter: he was cut from the Olympic team just before they won the gold medal in the 1960 Olympics. The hockey games are well choreographed and are able to generate a level of tension despite the fact that the outcome is known to all. Russell gives a fine performance as a coach who has just one goal: to win. This is a good family that is inspiring and will leave you with a warm feeling inside after it is over.
Rating:
Summary: Fast-paced fun.
Review: This is the second Disney live-action film in recent months which I expected to be mediocre but was, instead, really good (Pirates of the C was the other). Kurt Russell's Oscar-quality performance and the terrific soundtrack drive this film forward with an exciting momentum. The film only drags when the side plot involving Brooks' wife comes into play. Thankfully, the director does not linger on this element for very long - most of the screentime going to Brooks' putting his players through the furnace in order to forge a team. I highly recommend this film as an exciting, emotional, intelligent and wholesome piece of entertainment grounded in historical reality.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Movie I have ever seen
Review: I loved this movie and it was my favorite. I can't wait till it comes out on DVD because i am going to buy it right away. Anyone is stupid not to see this movie. Kurt Russell is a great actor in it.
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