I am sitting here watching the very engaging 2008 documenatary kicking It on ESPN and feeling very enlightened on the Homelessness issue. The movie follows six homeless men from around the world as they gear up for the 4th annual Homeless World Cup soccer tournament in Cape Town South Africa. I recommend you go here to learn more about the movie and keep an eye on ESPN2 because I am sure they will be airing it again.

Anyways, while watching Kicking It, I was reminded of a trailer I had seen earlier in the day for a film called The Soloist. This film stars Robert Downey Jr. as real life L.A. Times Journalist Steve Lopez who discovers a left behind homeless musical genius named Nathaniel Ayers, played by Jamie Foxx. And while this film clearly takes a more Hollywood approach to the issue (read across from Resurrecting the Champ, August Rush, and Reign Over Me), it clearly hits all the right notes. Take for example two excellent actors, Jamie Foxx with a Miles David haircut circa Amandla era, and a running soundtrack of Bach Cello Prelude in Gm. And seeing as Foxx already won an Oscar in a musical role for his work in Ray, I don’t think that Oscar buzz for this movie is out of the question.

The Soloist, which will debut November 21st, is conceived from Steve Lopez’s original articles, written by Susannah Grant (28 Days and Erin Brockovich), and directed by Atonement’s Joe Wright.

• 55 Academy Award Achievements [/caption] With the Oscars right around the corner I thought it would be fun to put together an Academy Award list. Because there are so many Oscar lists out there I wanted to do a unique list in a hopefully fun and entertaining format. This bottom to top list (10......
• New Moon the Movie - Filming and Release Updates I've been combing the internet trying to find out more about New Moon, and I am sure many of you are doing the same. I haven't found an official website that will host information about the movie. Which is surprising since I know the script has been written and the......
• ‘Iron Man 2′ Movie is Coming … First Teaser Trailer Hits The Web [/caption] By Tim Boswell 2009-12-17 - Iron Man 2Oh ..... shhhh. "Iron Man 2" is coming. A new trailer for the upcoming film has hit the Internet, creating excitement as fans anticipate its release. At the beginning of the new, short two-minute plus clip, Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey......
• 'Tron Legacy' Stars Get Comic-Con Crowd Involved In The Movie Disney panel also reveals that Guillermo del Toro will direct a 'Haunted Mansion' movie.By Brian Warmoth "Tron Legacy" stars Olivia Wilde and Jeff Bridges at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con Photo: Eric Charbonneau/ WireImage The new "Tron Legacy" trailer that arrived with Disney's San Diego Comic-Con panel Thursday (July 22)......
• Grace Kelly Memorabilia -> Celebrity Grace Kelly, who became Princess Grace of Monaco, is a film legend and one of the most recognizable names the world over. Her life seemed to be rather like a fairy tale, at least once she began acting. A leading lady who starred opposite huge stars like......

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“Play this film. And here’s a note to anyone looking to purchase a doc to distribute and whatnot: Buy this film. I don’t work for a studio, thus I’m not keen on all the politics involved, but I guarantee if this doc was picked up by, say, HBO, it would change lives immediately.”

While the review was more than convincing, I never thought that I or any other non festival attendee would ever get the chance to see this doc about director Kurt Kuenne paying a video homage to his murdered friend Andrew Bagby. Without a film crew, Kuenne interviews friends and family of the deceased in order to immortalize him for his infant son, all while details of his mysterious death are revealed. That all I can give away, as further details reveal shocking truths that apparently, and Im going off of reviews here, make this film the emotional roller coaster that it is. If you want to know more, you will have to watch MSNBC this fall, as the cable news channel has just purchased the film. In the meantime, check out the film’s website here, which features a trailer and more information on the story.

• Head Microgel Raptor MP Unstrung Tennis Racquet (4 1/2) User Reviews Send this to a friend Head Microgel Raptor MP Unstrung Tennis Racquet (4 1/2) Manufacturer: Head Customer Rating: List Price: $140.00 Sale Price: $49.95 Availibility: Usually ships in 24 hours Free Shipping Available Buy Now Product Description A top performance racquet. Solid power and optimal control deliver......
• Woods to return to golf at the Masters [/caption] Tiger Woods said Tuesday he will return to golf next month at the Masters, ending a four-month hiatus brought on by a sex scandal that shattered his image as the gold standard in sports. “The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with......
• Mahan Clinches Phoenix Open Hunter Mahan defeated Rickie Fowler this past Sunday to win the 75th annual Phoenix Open (formerly known as the FBR Open) in Scottsdale, AZ, and took home the winning prize of $1.08 million. Former Oklahoma State player Mahan was 4 strokes back at one point but rallied and pulled ahead......
• Our Health Care System Is A Mess Our health care system is a mess, or at least it is at Orange Coast Memorial Center in Fountain Valley, California My 16 year old son has had a severe immobilizing headache for 17 days. 2 of those days he was ok only to get hit again and even worse......
• Review Daisies Never Lie by Lynn Byer Daisies Never Lie is the second book that I've read by Lynn Byer. I was given an ebook, but it was my choice to review it. Her first was Trouble in Paradise. Both books are self-published, which we may begin to find is the newer 'publishing' model -- after all......

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I had mentioned before how ESPN is going full force into the feature film game, one of the only markets they have yet to conquer. This has included both an upcomming Spike Lee doc on Kobe Bryant and involvement in the Tribeca Film Festival. The trend continues this weekend when you can see the national premiere of director Richard Linklater’s “Inning by Inning: A Portrait of a Coach” on ESPN’s airwaves. The film follows the Texas Longhorn baseball team during the 06-07 season and especially their famed coach Augie Garrido. Linklater, widely known for his direction of films like “A Scanner Darkly” and “Dazed and Confused”, is no slouch in baseball either, having directed Billy Bob Thornton in the “Bad News Bears” remake. IMDB lists the film as:

“An intimate look inside the world of University of Texas baseball coach Augie Garrido, the winningest coach in NCAA Division I history in any sport. He is the winner of five National Championships (3 at Cal State Fullerton and 2 at UT) and the only coach to win National Championships in four different decades and at two different schools. The film examines this remarkable coach’s career and unique approach to teaching the game with unprecedented access to his team meetings, practices, and conversations with players during games. “

“Inning by Inning” will be shown on ESPN2 (The Duece!) and ESPN2 HD!!!!!!!! on Sunday, June 15.
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• Golf Pioneer Casey Martin Pulling for Erik Compton in Quest for Tour Card Admirers of Erik Compton from Miami, Florida will be following from the furthest corners of golf today, as he is beginning his quest to win a PGA Tour card only five months after undergoing a heart transplant, which was his second attempt at a transplant to date. Compton, who is......
• To win championships, help student athletes "You need to help student athletes help you win championships." - Galwin Fabian Every school wants to win.  Every school wants to have a trophy. Every school wants fame. Yet only few schools understand that, in order to, they need to put the right pieces together; they need  jocks......
• The King makes his decision on Thursday AKRON, Ohio (AP)—Broadcaster ESPN reported Tuesday that James will announce his future NBA plans during a one-hour special on its network Thursday. ESPN’s Chris Broussard said James’ “representatives” contacted the network and asked for the unusual arrangement. It is not known which team James will join or where the announcement......
• Texas Tech fires football coach Leach [/caption] LUBBOCK, Texas (AP)—Texas Tech fired coach Mike Leach on Wednesday, two days after he was suspended by the school as it investigated his treatment of a player with a concussion. The school handed a termination letter to Leach’s attorney, Ted Liggett, minutes before the two sides were to appear......
• This will be my last update from Aussie Land... [/caption] Today was another great day and we finally had sunshine - yeah... I took the tram to Rod Laver and was able to get in straight away. Met with the Tennis Australia group that ran the Australian Coaches Conference and thanked them for making it such a great experience.......

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ESPN Films has produced such unmemorable made for TV movies as the Bobby Knight biopic “A Season on the Brink”, Pete Roses’ “Hustle”, and Texas A&M football flick “The Junction Boys”. These moves obviously required very little effort and featured absolutely no talent. Wait, I take that back. “Home Improvement’s” Zachary Ty Bryan (AKA Brad) starred in the Army football scandal movie “Code Breakers”.

I said at least not until now because ESPN has already signed up with Robert Redford to produce a Jackie Robinson biopic, a revolutionary move I have already talked about as breaking the baseball film color barrier. ESPN has also joined forces with indie cinema in creating the 2nd annual Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival, with all eleven featured films appearing in New York back to back Sunday, April 27 and Saturday, May 3. ESPN Classic (channel 9,876 on most home sets) will also be airing festival coverage and related sports movies on May 15. But ESPN’s best move yet is teaming up with Spike Lee to produce a new documentary on Kobe Bryant.

Inspired by “Zidane: A 21st-Century Portrait” which followed the French soccer star during every second of a game, Lee wanted to do something similar with Kobe. On the second to last game of this season, Lee positioned 18 cameras around the Staples Center following the Laker’s star pre, during, and post-game.

So finally ESPN secured some talent in Lee and Redford, and put some effort into this film festival thing. And while I am by no means rooting for ESPN to monopolize anything else, I am excited about better sports films and the prospect of watching them for free through my cable service. The Spike Lee Kobe joint will be aired sometime next year on either ESPN or its sister station ABC. That is going to look great in HD.

• 10 Random and Odd Facts - Jan 22, 2010 [/caption] 1. Spinach consumption in the U.S. rose 33% after the Popeye comic strip became a hit in 1931. Popeye helped many a young lad eat his greens in hopes of becoming super strong. 2. Jupiter has a hurricane-like storm that is twice the size of our entire planet. Known......
• Duke does it in 61-59 thriller over Butler [/caption] INDIANAPOLIS (AP)—The ball went sailing while the buzzer went off. Where it landed would be the difference between a shining moment for one team, a tearstained loss for another. Butler forward Gordon Hayward’s halfcourt shot hit backboard, then rim, then barely careened out. Duke beat Butler 61-59 on Monday......
• Ten Reasons Why Women Love Romance Novels 5 Reasons why the unenlightened think we love romance novels: 10. We're bored and have nothing better to do. This explains why a good portion of us read in lines, just before the lights go off in a theater, between meetings, before class, and during our commute... because we have......
• Film poster art celebrated in Beverly Hills Yesterday saw the opening of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences new exhibition titled 'Art of the Movie Poster: Illustrated One-Sheets and Design Concepts from the Paul Crifo Archive' in their Grand Lobby Gallery in Beverly Hills. The exhibition will focus on the decades from the 1950s through......
• Best Reads of the Week: the 'Moving On Up' Edition In true self-deprecating humor fashion, I often insinuate that I created this blog just for fun or a way of venting all of the financial knowledge I've collected over the last 15 years so it doesn't erase some important memories from my childhood. After all, I've invested a lot of......

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