This week, in a special March Madness edition, two top-seeded basketball movies face off for the championship. It's Nakea's first viewing of Hoosiers (1986), and Michael's first viewing of Above the Rim (1994).
It's a full-court conversational press as we discuss the problems with sports movies, the prevalence of Great-White-Hope movies, and the imprudence of playing basketball at night on an inner-city rooftop. (Also, Nakea discusses her love for the late Tupac Shakur, and Michael ends up saying the name "Bugaloo" more times than he would ever have expected to do in his life.)
Program
—0:00: Prologue: Wesley Snipes and Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump (1996)
—0:48: Overview Discussion: Sports Movies
—14:06: Hoosiers Trailer
—15:40: Pre-Viewing Discussion of Hoosiers
—18:57: Clip: Gene Hackman in Hoosiers
—19:40: Post-Viewing Discussion of Hoosiers
—45:34: Above the Rim Trailer
—46:20: Pre-Viewing Discussion of Above the Rim
—55:02: Clip: Tupac Shakur in Above the Rim
—55:27: Post-Viewing Discussion of Above the Rim
—1:31:09: Outro and Next Week's Movie
—1:32:33: Outtake
Notes and Links
—Films reviewed: Hoosiers (dir. David Anspaugh, MGM, 1986) and Above the Rim (dir. Jeff Pollack, New Line, 1994).
—Rankings of Sports Movies: ESPN; Fox Sports; Sports Illustrated; Rolling Stone.
—Reviews of Hoosiers discussed: Roger Ebert, rogerebert.com; Janet Maslin, New York Times; Paul Attonasio, Washington Post; "Hoosiers Sucks," Rodger Sherman, SBNation.
—Films on the Crispus Attucks Tigers: Something to Cheer About; "Black Hoosiers."
—Articles on the Crispus Attucks Tigers: "The Forgotten Hoosiers," Wayne Drehs, ESPN; "Crispus Attucks High, 60 Years Later: Race And The 'Hoosiers' Sequel Never Made," Bob Cooks, Forbes.
—Listen to additional episodes and read The Unenthusiastic Critic in prose form at unaffiliatedcritic.com. Email us, or follow us on Twitter and Facebook. (Suggestions of movies to watch for future episodes are welcome.)
—Theme Music: "Warm Duck Shuffle" by Arne Huseby, licensed under CC BY 3.0.
—If you hear a mysterious and annoying noise in the middle of this podcast, that's The Unenthusiastic Critic's overly enthusiastic cat trying desperately to open the door to our makeshift studio to participate in the conversation. Sorry.
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