Rating: 
Summary: HBO DOCUMENTARY ON THE SUBJECT WAS SUPERB.
Review: "Miracle" will come and go as a decent film, inspirational to Americans (I guess) or hockey fans alike, but, as much as I would like to I wouldn't call it a great film. While it could have been about a historic moment for US sports, "Miracle" manages to do a fairly drippy job of recycling the day-old dough that passes for its story. Its lively character arcs are grossly underwritten and meekly directed, placing them in traditional roles that dumb down the entire effort. The shots from the recreated final game between the Soviet hockey team and the US team (for over 20 minutes towards the end, just FYI) were so choppy I couldn't figure out what was happening. Granted, in a film like this the actors have to be skilled hockey players in order to pull off the role, but for the most part, the acting is subpar. Russel cannot be faulted, he plays his part convincingly, Patricia Clarkson is grossly underused as a cardboard cutout wife. The script is Disney's predictable nod to building dreams, spewing out saccharine bon mots with ease. Think along the lines of Common men go nowhere; you are not common and you get the picture. The inspirational strains of swelling strings emphasize the film's desire to hammer home its milquetoast objective. "Miracles" isn't bad, but it isn't good either. The film will come and go. It didn't pull at my heartstrings as it supposedly did for so many other reviewers. The transatlantic flight I saw the film on also showed a sports documentary originally filmed for HBO, which was a lot better with original footage of the match. The movie doesn't succeed in recreating the aura of the actual game.
Rating: 
Summary: what memories!
Review: I went into this movie expecting a warm, feel good walk down memory lane, looking back on a great moment in time from my childhood. Boy did I get it and more! I was in eighth grade when this took place and can remember exactly where I was sitting when Al Michaels said that now famous line! This movie brought it all back! Sitting and watching the story unfold gave me the same butterflies in my stomach even though I already knew the outcome! Kurt Russell was wonderful in this movie! But I think what I will remember most from this movie is that fact that my husband and I took our 15 year old son to this movie. We live in a time of high dollar contracts and free agency, but to watch my son look at the screen with such intensity and totally enjoy every minute of this story was priceless. All the way home we discussed the importance of teamwork and hard work. So to Disney and to everyone affiliated with this movie, I say thank you! Thank for allowing me to relive this "miracle" with my son and for allowing us to make a memory of our own! Go see this movie!
Rating:
Summary: Heart-felt and Inspiring...A real tear-jerker
Review: I was fairly young when this great event took place but have always heard stories about it and was envious of anyone who watched that game. I'm so glad they made it into a movie. If many of the details in the movie is true, and I hear many of them are, then I'm even more envious of the inspiration and hope it generated in everyone who witnessed it. Here's a brief summary: Miracles is a story about a man, wanting to achieve a dream, brings together a group of young hockey players, trains them, manipulates them, breaks them down, and shapes them into a cohesive unit that goes on to defeat the Russian Olympic hockey team, the best hockey team in the world. It takes place in the late 70s and 1980, an era of somber disillusionment, the aftermath of Watergate, Vietnam, and the upheaval of the oil crisis. What this story does is it restores our national pride. The movie showed the long, uphill battle Herb Brooks and his coaches went through to build a great team, a conditioned team, one that could keep up with the Russians. Some major pluses: The opening scenes contain some of the major events that occurred around that time, which sets the tone for the movie; The struggles the players and the coaches go through in order to become a team; personal struggles with families; and philosophical disagreements between Herb Brooks, the head coach, and the council that hired him in the first place (Most of the time, the council wondered if Herb Brooks' training methods were the product of a crazy man.). I loved it. I can't wait for this one to come out on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: I remember it well
Review: I saw this game while I was staying with my grandmother when I attended junoir college in New York. People who were not alive during this time do not understand the significants of this game. The United States just ended Vietnam, It was still bruised by watergate and was experiencing rapid inflation and a shortage of energy. To top it off Americans were taken hostage in Iran. America needed something to cheer about. They got it in the form of a bunch of college kids who faced some of the stiffest competition in the world. We were still in the middle of the cold war, which began to flare up again when the Soviets invaded Afgansitan. Miracle greatly portrays how Herb Brooks put together a bunch of college kids together and drilled them into a team. He knew that to beat the Soviets they had to play as a team and not rely on indivisual talent. Kurt Russell gives a fine perfprmance. He has to be one of the most underrated actors in Hollywood. He definetly deserves an oscar nomination. My only complaint in that the SOviets were portrayed as being humanless machines. The only game that they re-enacted in any detail was the semi final game against the Soviets. It was as if they were saying "we beat the Soviets so we have the gold medal." They still had one game to go. THe only briefly mentioned the Gold medal game against the Swedes. The Swedes were also a tough team. But, it was good to see the United States win on their own soil. The Hockey team lit the tourch at the Salt Lake City games in 2002, then the US got the silver, loosing to Canada. In 2002 the US had the pros on their team. In general this is a great feel good movie that the entire family should see.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT MOVIE
Review: Ever since seeing the preview, I wanted to go out and see this movie. The previews alone gave me the chills. After seeing it in the theaters the day it came out, it lived up to the preview. It was a wonderful story of the greatest sports moment on the 20th century. It made me feel very patriotic, I wanted to cheer with them when they won. Even though the final outcome is known, you almost get nervous, and are swept away with the game quietly wondering, will they really do? GREAT MOVIE!
Rating:
Summary: Great Event. . .Good Movie
Review: Being a hockey player I was very psyched to see this movie since hearing about the making of it and last night I finally got the chance. I was quite impressed with most of the movie, Kurt Russell did a fantastic job as Herb Brooks and players did an excellent job portraying typical college hockey players. However, Disney did do one thing that I really didn't care for. They made the Russian hockey team out to be a group of cheap shoting hacks in the final game. On the first Soviet goal of the game the USA player takes a huge slash in the movie and goes down in agony as the puck squirts to the Russian player who shoots and the shot is deflected into the net. Alright, I have a copy of the game in my VCR right now and watched the game just a few nights ago. The player doesn't move the puck up ice quick enough and takes a slight hook where he loses the puck. It is just kind of over-dramatic and the movie doesn't need that. And many other incidents of the game are portrayed that way, when in fact it was the US that probably played a lot rougher and dirtier. But anyways, it was still an excellent movie. I would have liked to see more original footage integrated into the movie though, maybe even have used clips from the real game or the real announcing. I know Al Michaels did the game and the movie, but he isn't mispronouncing Slava Fetisov's name in the movie =).
From a hockey sense, the movie is amazing. The intensity of the practices, the comradary of the team, and the excitement and thrill of victory all are captured masterfully. Also, the subtleness of the political aspects of the game. A lot of the political influence is retrospective, not so evident at the time of the game or before it. It was after the victory that everyone looked at themselves and this country to what we are capable of.
Rating:
Summary: I Believe
Review: MIRACLE boasts the kind of bravura performance by Kurt Russell, the kind of stirring storytelling, and some absolutely phenomenal hockey action cinematography that -- undoubtedly -- this film will rank as one of the finest truly 'sports' films every committed to film. Of particular note, the camera work is stunning when on the ice, and I can't think of another thrill ride -- putting the viewer in the heart of the action -- that's been done for quite some time. Russell embodies the character, the drive, the motivation, and the faults of the late Herb Brooks (killed tragically before principal photography wrapped on the film), and Russell's work -- while the Minnesota accent comes and goes a bit during some of the lesser scenes of the film -- is easily deserving of recognition if not by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences then at least by the Hollywood community: give this man some winning dramas, and say hello to the new Kurt Russell. Truly stunning.
Rating:
Summary: A Grand Third Act!
Review: "Miracle" is a movie with great preformances, a dull first act, a better second act, and a brilliant third act. It is based on the true story of when the United States of America beat the Soviets, which is also known as one of the greatest sports events in history. The movie also does a great job in recreating the final hockey game, to the point where it feels like you are at an actual hockey game. The preformance by Kurt Russell is great. If this movie came out a little earlier, or a lot later, it probally could have been nominated for best acting for Russell. This movie came out at the wrong time. "Miracle" takes place in 1980, and we are introduced to Herb Brooks. He was kicked off of his team years back, and that team won the gold medal. He makes it his dream to be on a gold medalist team, and gets the chance to lead the American Team into the Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. He leaves his wife patti, and his two kids behind and goes to Colorado to select the team. He has to pick twenty kids, and settles on them including the goalie Jim Craig, Mark Johnson, Mike Eruzione, Buzz Schneider,Jack O'Callahan , and Robbie McClanahan. Herb wants to be in the Olympics so badly, that he coaches the team with constant tough training, that eventually is questioned by his assitant coach Craig Patrick, and the team doctor Doc. He wants to make the team well diciplined, and physically fit for the big games. As the months pass, Herb and the team prepare for the game against the "unbeatable" Soviets, a game that changed America. "Miracle" would have been a great movie if it wasn't for the first forty five minutes of so. The beginning started a little dull, and the real excitment and enjoyment took place in the middle and the end of the movie, otherwise it was good. But the movie was not about the hockey team. It was about Herb Brooks and how he changed over the months and training with his hockey team. I was surprised to learn that he died during the making of the movie, and the line at the end is "He never saw it, he lived it," which is true. I wish I could have seen the actually game, but the game depicted in the movie was a very relistic sporting event, and even though I knew the outcome of the game, it was still exciting. I do recommend "Miracle" for an afternoon or an evening showing. It was a very good film, aside from a few dull moments. It was exciting, sad, funny, and smart. Great preformance by Kurt Russell is a highlight. ENJOY! Rated PG for language and some rough sports action.
Rating:
Summary: The Moose Hole - Miracles Do Happen
Review: There comes a time when a nation faces a crossroad in its history, a time where it must choose where the country goes next. That choice, whatever it may be, will shake the nation down to its core and change that nation's populous forever. In the United States, that situation was no more prominent then in 1980. It was the final year of the Carter administration and on the domestic front, the United States faced soaring inflation, sharp increases in energy prices and high interest rates. The nation fared no better overseas as American diplomats were taken hostage in Iran and the United States butted heads with the Soviet Union over their invasion of Afghanistan. All this turmoil in the presidency of what was the "smartest" president the country had ever had, who in one speech seem to blame all his problems on the American people. No wonder Americans were desperately looking for something to believe in. That revitalization of the American Spirit came in the form of the U.S. Olympic Hockey, who came from behind to pull off one of the greatest moments in sports history. The story focuses on a rag-tag team of hockey players who get past their differences and rise to beat the greatest team in the world at the time, the Soviet Union. Herb Brooks has a real score to settle. In 1960, he was all set to be part of the U.S. Olympic hockey team and bring home a gold medal victory for the country. The end result was Brooks ended up being the last player to be cut from the team and he never had another shot at that medal as a hockey player. As for the United States, they went on to win the gold medal but it would be the last one for nearly twenty years as the U.S.S.R. (or the Soviet Union) would dominate the ice from there on out. That is until Herb Brooks becomes the coach of the U.S. Olympic team and changes the way they play hockey. Instead of going the normal route of choosing NHL All-Stars, Brooks makes a wide variety of choices that he plans to create the perfect team to beat the Russians at their own game. In the world outside the ice rink, political conflicts collide with the Winter Olympics to create a game (between the U.S. and Soviet Union) that would act as a symbolic clashing of strengths. That moment that Americans were looking for something to believe in was now. The story for Miracle, which was based on the true story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team, was surprisingly quite inspirational. Why surprisingly? When an audience goes into a 'based on a true story' film, they practically know what is going to happen, so there is usually a great lack of enthusiasm in the material but Miracle combines the right amount of sports action and patriotism to make a rare nail-biting experience. If anything, it can be said Miracle lacks star-power in its cast but that doesn't seem to hurt it one bit as the 'no-name' stars carry the film with ease. Kurt Russell, who is best known in the Disney world for his roles in such classics as The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes and Follow Me Boys!, takes center stage in the role of Herb Brooks. Russell has the role down to a T including that wonderful Minnesota accent that never feels awkward or half-assed. What makes his performance all the more special is the fact that the real Herb Brooks died shortly after principal photography of this feature was completed, so knowing that Russell put so much enthusiasm and emotion into the role before the death of Brooks shows the real dedication of the actor in his films. Patricia Clarkson, who was just nominated for an Academy Award for her supporting role in Pieces of April, gives a decent performance based on the material given to her in the role of Mrs. Brooks. Granted the filmmakers try to show the complications between Brooks' dream and his family life but her role seems too much of a distraction based on plot. The U.S. Olympic Hockey team on a whole is exceptionally played by a variety of actors, each of which contributes a piece of his talent to create a unified representation on screen. Overall, any film, based on a true story, which can produce a movie-going audience cheering in applause as an end result is worthy of praise. "Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" This shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as Disney seems to have a knack for these sports films with such successes as Remember the Titans and The Rookie. They've covered football, baseball, and hockey. Can basketball be too far behind? Despite a wonderful showing, there are some things to pick at. One is the use of slow motion in the film. Granted this is a sports film and this technique is expected to be used, but in certain moments in the film, it just felt a tad awkward and wasn't necessarily needed. Another is just political commentary on the use of President Jimmy Carter's "malaise" speech in the film. In the context of the film, the filmmakers try to make it out to be an inspirational message, foreshadowing later events in the feature, when in reality it was Carter's blaming of the problems of the nation on the American people. Could it be inspirational in another sense? Yes, but not in the way the filmmakers were attempting to make it out to be. Miracle expresses how even in a time when a nation faces an almost uncertain future, the American people can still be proud of who they are and where they are from, in just one simple moment.
Rating:
Summary: I LOVED MIRACLE
Review: I absolutely loved this movie. I have never been so into a movie before. I felt like i was at the USA VS Soviet game!
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