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Irish Examiner
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
The best sports films and what others fail to capture
There is a special subgenre in sport of gloriously slow deception. A weird trick that exists to catch an opponent off-guard and make them look foolish. Think of football's Panenka or a tennis drop shot during heavy baseline rallies. Baseball has its own version too, although it is rarely seen in the professional game anymore. An Eephus pitch is a few degrees short of a dummy. The ball is thrown incredibly slowly, with a high, floated arc that is intended to confuse the batter. It is the opposite of a fastball and therefore an oddity in a sport that is increasingly focused on power, efficiency and data-driven precision. Modern baseball, like much of life, has little room for something that simply floats. That kind of pitch is the perfect namesake for a small, independent movie called, 'Eephus,' a sports film about a Sunday league game between a bunch of casual players in Douglas, Massachusetts, the last one before the diamond field is bulldozed. Adler's Paint and Riverdogs adult-league teams have played regularly at Soldier's Field, the public pitch serving their small town. Now the road is taking them away from this place. A sleepy crackle of a local radio broadcast opens the film, listing the accident report for the local county and the breaking news of a coyote that had been terrorising local dogs had been killed. There is the unfortunate development that the Topbury candy corn eating competition is cancelled because the whiz kid who could count really fast to tally all the candy corns had moved away. Then comes confirmation that the vote to repurpose central county land has passed. The home of Douglas baseball is the casualty. There are no plans for a replacement field. Part comedy, part elegy, Eephus is a quiet delight. The story takes place over the course of a single day. It feels destined to take its place among the baseball films that have become part of the sport's cultural heritage. What boxing has been to literature, baseball has been to cinema. Bull Durham, A League of Their Own and Moneyball have another partner. It also belongs in another category. The movies where nothing really happens. Ones not really about anything but also everything. The men range from those just starting work to those close to retirement, from lean to comfortably padded. The arc begins as they arrive and ends soon after the final inning. Eephus (2025) It is about the people who turn up for the love of the game or simply through habit. Those who play just so they can light fireworks at the end. The ones who come to drink. The Italian player on a diet who is met with a volley of jibes about pizza and cannoli. The onlooking teens who rightly see them as simply 'plumbers and shit.' Those that smile and nod in agreement at one of the film's many philosophical questions: 'Is there anything more beautiful than the sun setting on a fat man stealing second base?' Co-writer Nate Fisher plays the pitcher for Adler's Paint and he makes sure the central metaphor is clear. The star component is in the dialogue. In how it shows men who do not want to talk about certain things yet find ways to talk about them indirectly. In how the old gives way to the new and sometimes you cannot even be angry about it. A school will be built on the site. The only other diamond is far away and stinks. For many of these players, this is their last ever game. Gradually they begin to realise it. It makes you stop. Stare. Think. Consider how sport has a curious ability to run alongside life. It is not only an outlet. It's not the point in itself. It is the space between those positions. Remember the early weeks after moving to Australia and searching Ticketmaster for a single ticket to afternoon AFL matches simply to have something to do. Remember looking around the back bleachers and noticing the other men doing the exact same, the realm of the solitary and the searching. Reminisce on how sport itself was the most reliable mechanism to make friends in the subsequent weeks. How bad we can be at properly talking to those friends. It is a tribute to wistful nostalgia, even when we know it can be overly-sentimental or impractical. To low-stakes shoot-the-shit toss-arounds. To embracing those toss-arounds while we still can, even if it means scouring woods for errant balls or illuminating the field with car headlights when darkness descends. And how the world is changing all around us. It is not right to say this decade of sports movies have been barren. King Richard, The Iron Claw, The Way Back were all above decent. But the landscape is dominated by corporate promos like Air or the unfocused slog that is Happy Gilmore 2. Watching Eephus from Ireland is a challenge in itself. You can read your favourite critic's review of it, but streaming is another matter entirely. The official website lists five platforms for digital viewing, none of which work in this region. It becomes another example of the familiar frustration with modern film distribution, the way the system so often feels broken, how anyone who follows the conversation can be left waiting months for the film many are talking about, left with the creeping sense of FOMO. Why it is often so difficult to see the titles that fill the annual best-of lists? In the year of 2025, they are still somehow getting it wrong. Sometimes, it feels like it is getting worse. Eephus is a shining example of show, don't tell. It explores the gap between the sunrise and fall, in the rituals that vanish quietly, the games that happen not for glory but our own sense of belonging. This is a sports film that leaves you with a sense of why these moments matter and an unspoken farewell to the stuff that is slowly fading away.
Chicago Tribune
10-07-2025
- Sport
- Chicago Tribune
Jacobs graduate Doug Feldmann finds baseball home as official scorer for Cincinnati Reds. ‘Kind of got hooked.'
Doug Feldmann won't be mistaken for actor Kevin Costner, but this college professor is living a baseball dream of his own that would be the envy of many. Costner, of course, starred in baseball movies 'Bull Durham' and 'Field of Dreams' before playing the role of fictional Detroit Tigers pitcher Billy Chapel in 'For Love of the Game,' a 1999 film. Feldmann graduated from Jacobs in 1988, the year that 'Bull Durham' was released. He's parlayed his passion for the sport to build a resume filled with baseball connections while pursuing his career in education that started at Northern Illinois and includes a doctorate from Indiana. 'I kind of got hooked,' said Feldmann, who is in his first season as an official scorer for the Cincinnati Reds. It's a job he shares with legendary Ron Roth, who's been at it for 45 years and has coached amateur baseball for 60 years. Both are employed by Major League Baseball. Feldmann, who has taught in the College of Education at Northern Kentucky for the past 20 years, has played and coached baseball, written about it and scouted for several professional teams. His extensive writing on baseball history and the sport's sociological impact on urban and small-town America include articles for Society of American Baseball Research and several books. He previously worked 15 seasons at Reds games for MLB as a data caster. 'Staring at a laptop, he sits next to the P.A. announcer and official scorer putting in all kinds of data that includes scoring and play-by-play,' Feldmann said of the role. 'At the end of the night, I'd check with the scorer to make sure we matched up, then sent a report to New York. It was fun.' With the new job comes more responsibility. Hit or error? It's an age-old question for anyone who has ever kept score at a baseball game and is still one of the most challenging decisions to make, although with all the information that MLB records and compiles, there's more help. Feldmann has 24 hours to change any call he's made and players have three days to appeal. 'Five to six years ago, they were still faxing information to New York each night, but now it's done electronically,' Feldmann. 'In my training I was told the guiding principal is, should (or) could an average major leaguer make the play? 'If someone like Elly De La Cruz ranges far to his left and dives but can't come up with the ball, how many players would even get to the ball? I'm told to trust my eyes.' Players do appeal, especially with decisions possibly impacting bonuses outlined in their contracts based on performance. 'It's dizzying,' Feldmann said of all the information that's now available in the age of analytics. How hard the ball was hit can be gauged by its speed off the bat. 'I'm kind of older school,' Feldmann said. 'I hope the beauty of the game is not lost.' His love for baseball came naturally. His father, John, played minor league baseball for both the Chicago Cubs and White Sox in a professional career interrupted by service in the Navy. Feldmann's late brother, Chuck, taught and coached football at Dundee-Crown. His sister, Julie Edwards, still lives in Algonquin. Feldmann played the sport in high school as well as basketball and football. He walked on to the football team at Northern Illinois. 'I had played fullback and linebacker at Jacobs but was the backup punter at NIU,' he said with a chuckle. 'Not a very critical position.' So, when the school reinstated baseball in the spring of 1991, Feldmann asked coach Jerry Pettibone if he could skip spring practice to try out. He was given the OK and made the team, playing mostly third base and some outfield for coach Joe McFarland. 'We were kind of a ragtag operation,' Feldmann said. 'We took some lumps but we had fun.' Feldmann taught high school for several years and coached lower-level baseball in DeKalb, Libertyville and Rockford before moving on to college teaching. There he tried scouting as a side job, assisting full-time scouts and feeding them information in a freelancer role. 'I'd love to stick with scoring,' Feldmann said. 'I don't know for how long, but I'm really enjoying being at the ballpark and going to the games.'
San Francisco Chronicle
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- San Francisco Chronicle
Brad Pitt steers ‘F1: The Movie' to a podium finish with speed and style
In Hollywood's eternal drive to make auto racing interesting, 'F1: The Movie' finds itself on the podium thanks to an appealing performance by Brad Pitt and director Joseph Kosinski. Pitt plays iconoclastic former next-big-thing Sonny Hayes, now living just fine out of his surfer van, casually winning the Daytona 500. When old friend and rival Ruben Cervantes (Javier Bardem, in a series of remarkably handsome suits) shows up to recruit him for the struggling Formula One team he owns, Sonny's lured by the brassiest of rings that once was in reach so many years ago. (For the uninitiated, F1 is the highest class of its kind, with $16 million cars reaching speeds over 200 mph.) But Sonny will have to work with the team's young English star, Joshua Pearce (Damson Idris), who is perhaps too concerned with his image to jump from good to great. With only nine races left in the season, the stakes are high: If the team can't win at least one, Ruben will be forced out, and Joshua's budding career may be over. If that sounds like 'Bull Durham,' 'Major League,' 'The Longest Yard,' 'The Natural' or many other sports movies, there are clear echoes. The plot and character types are very much last year's model. The differences are the particulars of Formula One and Kosinski's glossy packaging. Whereas those films have a broken-down, harmonica-playing vibe, 'F1' makes even a jalopy like Sonny sleek. Think honky-tonk versus Daft Punk. Pitt's screen presence has aged like a leather jacket, scuffed in all the right places and cooler than ever. He nails the weather-beaten-legend vibe, as he showed in 'Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood.' Here, what could have been an insufferable bad boy who never grew up is, in Pitt's hands, a wily charmer for whom it's easy to root. In the arrogant up-and-comer role, Idris ('Snowfall') doesn't fare as well. It's not his fault; Joshua simply isn't written with the same complexity and resonance. 'Uncoachable hothead' is a trope that takes a lot to make interesting. Joshua's mother, Bernadette (Sarah Niles of 'Ted Lasso'), is more engaging. She steals her scenes, sometimes with no more than a thirsty smile at Sonny's photo. Bardem is such a good actor that he makes moments as simple as walking with a look of joyous disbelief really land. His Ruben feels fully lived in. F1 devotees will get their fill of racing, racing, racing and F1 star cameos. This non-racing fan, however, found the film most interesting with Sonny exploiting the rules to eke out tiny advantages or Kate redesigning to squeeze out an extra tenth of a second. But 'F1' is really about the feeling of being in a Formula One cockpit. Naturally, Kosinski — the guy who put cameras in the cockpits of actual fighter planes in ' Top Gun: Maverick ' — was the director for the job. As with 'Maverick,' 'F1' necessitated some technological leaps including new, custom cameras. For curmudgeons who are lulled to sleep by auto racing, this kind of filmmaking may be the only answer. And Kosinski and company unquestionably hit the mark. It's beautifully shot by Claudio Miranda (Oscar winner for 'Life of Pi') off the track as well. He captures many gorgeous images that have nothing to do with racing, that make the IMAX premium all the more worthwhile. Editor Stephen Mirrione (Oscar winner for 'Traffic') masterfully creates rhythm, flow and surprise in the racing sequences. Despite traversing such a familiar track, 'F1' delivers something made expressly for the big screen experience. What keeps it from being purely the kind of 'theme park' Martin Scorsese demeaned in his criticism of Marvel movies is the Pitt of it all; fortunately for 'F1,' it's always Sonny on the human side.
Yahoo
20-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Country Star Makes Bold Statement About His Viral Cereal Moment
Country Star Makes Bold Statement About His Viral Cereal Moment originally appeared on Parade. It's been a few months since lit up screens with his 'Worst Way' music video, but if there's one moment that fans remember most, it's that the country music star loves his cereal. And that's saying a lot. 'Worst Way' is ludicrously sexy. Green and his on-screen lover eschew a romantic dinner—the salad goes flying!—to cut to the chase of making love. They nearly knock the paintings off the wall with the level of their passion. And they keep that absurd intensity up when they dine out, much to the bewilderment of the others at the restaurant. And yet, it's the closing scene that fans remember most. While his lover lounges on the counter in red lingerie, Green eats what looks like a bowl of cornflakes. And apparently, that's more true to life than the rest of the video. 'My friends make fun of me and say I eat like a kid 'cause I will eat cereal just constantly all day,' he said, per Country Now. 'I think probably Cinnamon Toast Crunch is the best cereal, but as an adult, I feel like I gotta eat something a little more healthy, so I go like a Honey Bunches of Oats.' Green also said that he enjoyed filming that scene a little too much and that they had to keep refilling his bowl. 'We had to reshoot it, so they wanted me to pretend to eat it,' he said, 'but I'll probably eat four bowls of cereal in that sitting.' The country singer said that 1988's Bull Durham was the main inspiration for the video, but that the original plan was a little more sincere. 'The first treatment they sent me, it made me turn red. I wanted to crawl under the table just reading it,' he said in an interview with Audacy. Knowing that he would be the one acting out these scenes of unbridled passion, Green decided to amp up the 'comedic relief.' "It's not really comfortable [to] shoot a music video like that, but it ended up being a lot of fun,' he Star Makes Bold Statement About His Viral Cereal Moment first appeared on Parade on Jun 20, 2025 This story was originally reported by Parade on Jun 20, 2025, where it first appeared.
Hindustan Times
15-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Kevin Costner on his retirement plans: ‘I don't even think about…'
Kevin Costner, 70, is showing no signs of slowing down. He is already looking ahead to his next creative endeavor. In a recent interview with People, the Yellowstone star made it clear that retirement isn't on his radar. 'I don't even think about retiring, because I'll just move to the next thing that captures my imagination,' Costner said. The veteran actor and filmmaker emphasized that his decisions aren't dictated by others. 'Imagination is what determines what I do, not a boss. I think we're all different and we have different things happening for us,' he explained. Reflecting on his career, Costner acknowledged a mix of fortune and effort. 'I've felt really lucky in my life. I'd like to think that I worked for all of it, but not everybody can live by the same blueprint.' Kevin Costner's career, spanning over four decades, has been marked by iconic roles and bold directorial ventures. He rose to stardom in the late 1980s with hits like The Untouchables and Bull Durham, but it was Dances with Wolves, which he directed and starred in, that won him two Academy Awards and cemented his legacy. In recent years, Costner has captivated audiences with his role as John Dutton in the hit series Yellowstone. Costner shows no signs of slowing down. He recently launched his passion project, Horizon: An American Saga, a multi-part Western epic he directs and stars in. Also read: Kevin Costner sued by female stunt performer over 'violent and unscripted' rape scene in his film series Horizon Born in California in 1955, Kevin Costner has been married twice. He shares three children, Annie, Lily and Joe, with his first wife, Cindy Silva. He also has a son, Liam, from a previous relationship with Bridget Rooney. Costner later married Christine Baumgartner, with whom he has three children: Cayden, Hayes and Grace. The couple divorced in 2024. In a June 2024 interview with People magazine, Kevin Costner revealed that Yellowstone was originally pitched as a one-season project. While he expressed deep appreciation for his time on the show, he ultimately stepped away because the filming schedule became too demanding and interfered with other creative pursuits. No, Kevin Costner has no plans to retire. He says imagination drives his next steps, not deadlines or expectations. Costner is currently focused on Horizon: An American Saga, a multi-part Western film series. Kevin Costner has seven children: three with his first wife, Cindy Silva, one with Bridget Rooney, and three with his ex-wife, Christine Baumgartner.
