"Express" aisle: My top 10 favorite sports flicks

Coincidentally enough, a look at the credits for last night's premiere of "Life on Mars" revealed it was directed by Gary Fleder, who also directed this week's "The Express," the inspiration for this list. I haven't bothered to tune in for any cop shows in the last 10 years or so except for "The Wire," but I think this one just might be a winner, based on both the rather remarkable cast (Harvey Keitel, Gretchen Mol and Michael Imperioli, among others) and fairly innovative story about a cop who does the time warp back to 1973.

And I'm fairly certain I've done a list of at least my favorite baseball movies before, which could certainly also go to more than 10. For this list encompassing all sports (and two flicks that arguably aren't about sports at all), I found I had to leave off a full four boxing movies that just missed the cut ("Requiem for a Heavyweight", "Someone Up There Likes Me" [in honor of Paul Newman], "The Hurricane" and "Raging Bull.") Given that caveat, here are my 10 favorite sports movies, and as always, please feel free to add any of your favorites among the many, many flicks I have snubbed.

"The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg"
Even more than boxing movies, I just love flicks about baseball, and this doco was directed with clear love for a great man by Aviva Kempner. Without taking away AT ALL from what Jackie Robinson accomplished, it will really open your eyes when you see what hammerin' Hank had to go through as the first great Jewish player to slug for the Detroit Tigers.

"Hoop Dreams"
I can still remember watching Roger Ebert just go gaga for this flick when it first came out, and it's almost as good as his orgasmic review made it sound. Spike Lee's fictionalized version "He Got Game" is pretty good too, but it just can't pack as much punch as this true story of two Chicago kids who dream of playing in the NBA.

"Bend it Like Beckham"
Silly? Sure, but also just a heck of a lot of fun. I had to check the IMDB to see what in the world ever happened to director Gurinder Chadha after she made this flick about two girls (Keira Knightley back when she used to eat and Parminder Nagra of "ER" fame) who just want to play soccer and the extremely fun "Bride and Prejudice." It turns out she did indeed manage to direct a feature film in 2008, called "Angus, Thongs and Snogging," which will be added to my Netflix queue at the first opportunity.

"Vision Quest"
Like Matthew Modine, I had visions of becoming a wrestler in high school, but I never took it nearly as serious as he did or got to have Linda Fiorentino hanging around to inspire me. Sure, this one might be an adolescent fantasy, but it's also just a very entertaining flick.

"Eight Men Out"
Granted, "Field of Dreams" (which was on this list before I cut it back to 10 titles) is a much sweeter take on the story of Joe Jackson, but the real story is also very compelling as told by director Jon Sayles with help from John Cusack, John Mahoney, Charlie Sheen, DB Sweeney (as shoeless Joe himself, David Strathairn and even Michael Rooker and Gordon Clapp of "NYPD Blue" (the only cop show I regularly tuned in for between "Homicide" and "The Wire.")

"The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings"
Ben "Cooter" Jones (yes, that Cooter) stopped by our office about two weeks ago to promote his new book about his time on Capitol Hill as a Democratic representative from the great state of Georgia. When he got to me and someone told him I write about movies, he very proudly said he had a small part in this odd little flick about a colorful crew of ballplayers including Richard Pryor and Billy Dee Williams who barnstorm across the Midwest (even though most of the flick was filmed right here in Macon.) I love this one almost as much as Cooter does.

"Breaking Away"
Having sat beside Renee Martinez, who is both a serious cyclist and rather fanatical fan of the Tour de France, at work for the past five years or so means I've been exposed to more cycling than any nonfan should ever have to sit through. Even though I still protest otherwise, I have come to both respect and enjoy the sport of cycling, but not as much as I do this silly little movie about an Indiana "cutter" who just wants to ride with the Italians.

"When We Were Kings"
This is the only boxing movie that made the final cut because it's about a whole lot more than boxing. This Leon Gast doco about the 1974 heavyweight "Rumble in the Jungle" between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman in Zaire is also about the crazy concert featuring James Brown, B.B. King and others that Mobutu Sese Suko put on to go with it. Add it all up and you've got a whale of a tale well told.

"Searching for Bobby Fischer"
OK, these last two aren't about real "sports" per se, but I defy you to find a better movie about the nature of raw competition than this 1993 flick about a young boy thrust into in the world of competitive chess. Interestingly, this one is one of three flicks directed by Steven Zaillian ("A Civil Action" and "All the King's Men" are the others), who would go on to pen "American Gangster" and soon "I Heard You Paint Houses" for Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro.

"Bring It On"
If you can actually look me in the eye and claim you don't enjoy this one as at least a guilty pleasure, I have to say you, sir or madam, are a liar. Kirsten Dunst, Gabrielle Union and Eliza Dushku as high school cheerleaders? I'm there, and I usually am for at least a few minutes every time this inevitably shows up on TBS' afternoon movie slate.

So, there you have it. Like I said, please feel free to add any of your favorite sports flicks, and have a perfectly pleasant weekend.

The flameout of "Jezebel James"

Even if the end was inevitable - because the show was in many ways just bloody awful - this is still an awfully harsh fall from grace for the creator of the often sublime "Gilmore Girls."

After airing only three episodes (over just two weeks) of the only seven episodes ordered, Fox has indeed already pulled the plug on Amy Sherman-Palladino's new show, "The Return of Jezebel James." To give credit where it's squarely due, this news was broken by TV-obsessed Michael Ausiello here.

There were a number of factors going against this show from the outset, but though it pains me to say it, the biggest problem was easily Parker Posey. It wasn't that she's not Lauren Graham - because there can of course only be one of those rather perfect human specimens - but a whole other problem.

Posey could keep up with ASP's rapid-fire dialogue, which hasn't seemed to slow down much at all, but in order to do so she had to adapt the mannerisms of a meth addict, which along with being thoroughly annoying just didn't gel too well with her New York book publisher persona. Lauren Ambrose fared better by playing it a little more cool, but still ended up often looking nothing but awkward.

The second big killer was that laugh track, which is easily the worst I've heard in many years (though I don't watch many sitcoms.) Why do networks still use this? It never sounds real, and when it's turned up very loud in all the wrong places - as on "Jezebel James" - it just points out how unfunny the show really is.

If I can digress a bit, it was great to see Sarah Chalke on "How I Met Your Mother" - another show that should just dump its laugh track - last night. Britney was, as I guess should have been expected, just pretty darn awful, but Chalke was just as charming as she's always been on "Scrubs." Could she be the secret "Mother" in this puzzle? Probably not, but that would indeed be pretty friggin cool if so.

But, getting back to "Jezebel James," the real shame here is that buried beneath all its obvious faults was the foundation for a pretty good show. The relationship between these two sisters with almost entirely different views of the world could well have developed into something very interesting, but for once at least I can't blame Fox: The gap between potential and payoff was just too wide with this one. R.I.P. Jezebel James.

The "Cadillac" of movie casts?

I've recently added Blackfilm.com to my morning reading list (in place of the froggy site Cinempire.com, which has just fallen off precipitously of late), and it's definitely a welcome addition.

As might be expected, they tend to track the minute details of movies that others pay little attention to, as they're doing with the rather fun-sounding "Cadillac Records," which is quickly attracting quite an A-list cast.

The newest addition is Gabrielle Union, who I'll admit to being smitten with ever since "Bring It On." She'll play Geneva Wade, the girlfriend and later wife of Muddy Waters, being played by the great Jeffrey Wright.

Written and directed by first-time feature (but long-time TV) director Darnell Martin, the story is about Leonard Chess, the legendary founder of the South Side Chicago blues label Chess Records, who will be played by Adrian Brody. Also confirmed for the biopic are Cedric the Entertainer as Willie Dixon, Beyonce Knowles (heard of her?) as Etta James, Eamonn Walker as Howlin' Wolf, Columbus Short as Little Walter and, easily one of my favorite actors working today, Mos Def as Chuck Berry.

Mos Def as Chuck Berry? It just doesn't get much cooler than that, so definitely keep your eyes on this one. Peace out.

The Bigger Chill: WTF?

There was a brief time, when I was about 15 or so, when I was completely convinced that "The Big Chill" was simply the worst movie ever made. It obviously isn't, but bear with me here.

How do you sell to a kid who's just barely starting to figure out what's cool and what's not about the '80s that it really all just sucks because everything that mattered happened 20 years ago? I've watched it once since and warmed to it a bit, but I certainly never need to see it again (although any movie in which Kevin Costner exists only as "the dead guy" has to have some kind of merit to it.)

In the end, it's just hokum, no matter which generation it's about. Sayles' "The Return of the Secaucus Seven" is a much superior flick, if you simply have to get your nostalgia on. And, though I really can't figure out what the heck this one is even after seeing the trailer twice, director Julie Taymor has seemingly raided the entire Beatles' catalog to encapsulate the '60s in the upcoming "Across the Universe."

Or, if you're somehow already nostalgic for the '90s (and probably not in a way remotely as funny as anything VH1 cooks up), this movie might just be for you. It seems, and I can't make this stuff up, believe me, that "The Big Chill" is being remade with an African-American cast and a contemporary setting. If you can excuse me for a minute, like Christine Taylor in "Dodgeball," I just threw up a little in my own mouth.

OK, I'm back. So, let's see ... according to Variety, writer/director Lawrence Kasdan will have nothing to do with this, and the story will be retitled, but the original script will be used as a "template," with the cast members, who were in college together in the '90s, reuniting at a South Carolina beach house for the funeral of a friend

The first of many questions I have to ask is, what in the world was so great about the '90s? I was in college myself for the beginning of them, and I have to say I had a blast. Living in D.C., I even attended a few protest marches and the first inauguration of Bill Clinton. But if you can name me one thing that was accomplished in that period that's already worth lionizing in this manner, please let me know what it is.

But perhaps I'm looking at this the wrong way. If this is simply a college-reunion flick starring some pretty folks (I always like to see Gabrielle Union, if I get a vote), it will just come and go and be somewhat pleasing to a lot of people who aren't me. And if I get a vote for the dead guy, I'll take Rob Schneider ( assuming that, since he's dead, he doesn't actually have to be black.)

Pacey as Fletch? WTF, take 2

Is it OK to admit that I've seen more than few episodes of "Dawson's Creek" and even found them to be entertaining? I certainly hope so, since I just did.

That said, I don't ever need to see Joshua Jackson (aka Pacey, now there's a tough name for you) in anything, much less in one of my favorite film franchises. If the fine folks at IESB.net have it right, however, he's about to step into the shoes of Fletch (I almost vomited again, but fought the urge this time.)

The "Fletch Won" prequel has been in development limbo for years now. It had two promising but fitful starts, first with Kevin Smith and Jason Lee on board and later with Bill Lawrence and Zach Braff. Somehow Steve Pink and Josh Jackson, the latest director/actor combo to land the whale, just doesn't hold the same appeal.

To be fair to Mr. Pink, he did write the screenplays for two fairly great movies, "High Fidelity" and "Grosse Point Blanke." What's the link there? John Cusack, of course.

Cusack as Fletch, with the very funny Mr. Pink as writer and director? For that I'd be on board right away. But Pacey? There's just no way I can see it.

Three bits of good news

OK, that's a lot of bile for a Wednesday morning, so here's some sweet nuggets to wash it all down:

No. 1: After passing on another "Mummy" movie, Rachel Weisz, in what can only be called a fantastic case of trading up, has landed the role of the mother of the young girl who has been abducted and murdered in Peter Jackson's upcoming "Lovely Bones." Great novel by Alice Sebold, so should be a great flick. 'Nuff said.

No. 2: "World Trade Center" scribe Andrea Berloss will adapt the story of the Fugees, a youth soccer club made up of international refugees that just happens to be based in Clarkston, Ga. I'd much rather see a documentary about these rather remarkable kids, but this could still be a lot of fun. Even better, Universal, which bought the rights to the New York Times article about the club by Warren St. John, will pitch in $500,000 to build them a new soccer field.

No. 3: Danny Boyle's "Sunshine" will indeed be coming out July 20, in the U.S., and if I can get it to load, here's the poster. Enjoy!