Matthew Lambert: Thank you for tuning into the generational gauntlet, Top Five Faves. This is the podcast where we give you our top five on a topic with a generational twist to it. My name is Matt Lambert and I'm the host of this podcast. Each week I bring in a guest who's from a different generation than me to discuss or debate our top five on a selected topic. Today, for the third time, I'm bringing back my friend and Gen Xer Steve Harley, the modern day Benjamin Button or Dorian Gray, who just seems to keep aging in reverse. So Steve, welcome back to the podcast. Steve: Yeah, thanks for having me. Matthew Lambert: You've been requested by multiple people to be on here again, but the one leading the charge is my daughter, Nora. She has been a big fan of yours. She has good taste. ⁓ She's actually upset that she's not on here with you today. She wanted to come on this episode. Steve, you can correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, but you and I have several things in common. I'm going to list those off. We're both Steve: Heh. She has good taste. ⁓ Okay. Matthew Lambert: huge Ohio State fans. We love The Office. We're both girl dads. And I believe we're both huge fans of sports movies. Am I right on that one too? Steve: Yes. Yes. Yep, three of them for me. Yeah, I like sports movies. I got a good list for you too. Matthew Lambert: So I was gonna say I love them and our topic today is the top five favorite sports movies of all time. So this was one of the suggestions I received to the email address. Somebody said, hey, you gotta cover top sports movies. So Steve and I are about to embark on what was at least for me, one of the most challenging top fives that I've done because there's so many good sports movies. And Steve, gotta ask you, was this a challenge for you? Steve: ⁓ a little bit. had some immediate pop-ups, know, like immediate, yeah, that's my top five. And then I had to like pare down. ⁓ and there's a lot of sentiment in here. You know what I mean? Like there's movies that are connected with certain stages of my life and things like that. So I had to like, some I had to weigh, some made it anyway. And some I just had to kind of put my honorable mentions category. Matthew Lambert: Okay. I'm with you because my list is probably like when I looked at what are the top sports movies all time, my list wouldn't match up with that. And that's OK. Like for me, it's similar to you. It's going to be things that match up with where I was in life when I saw the movie and how it might be a little bit more impactful to me. So for those listening, if you're a first time listener, here's how the podcast works. Steve and I have each put together our own top five list. Steve: Mm. Mm. Matthew Lambert: on our favorite sports movies all time. I don't know a thing that's on his list. I do wonder if maybe one or two that I'm curious if they make it, but we're gonna find out as we're recording this, what our lists look like. Steve will kick things off. He'll give his number five movie, why it's his number five. I'll give my number five and why, and then we'll keep going in that way until we get to each of our number ones. So Steve, before I ask for your number five, you said you had some honorable mentions that made your list. Steve: Yeah, yeah. You want to hear them now? Okay, well, so I'm originally from the Cleveland area. So I got a couple Cleveland movies on there. ⁓ One is Draft Day. ⁓ So yeah, it sure would be nice if the Browns could actually do well, but they don't. So Draft Day is basically the Browns version of the Super Bowl, because... But we had a good draft last year. ⁓ Matthew Lambert: What you got? Yeah, hit me with them. Ooh, that's a good one. Steve: So yeah, Draft Day is a fun one. then I, hopefully my parents aren't listening to this because I watched this movie at a time where I definitely should not have watched it. In elementary school, you I didn't watch it at my parents' house. I went over to a friend's house and we watched the movie Major League, which is super inappropriate. Like I was in like fifth grade and I should not have been watching that, but I watched it. But you know, big... Matthew Lambert: Mm-hmm. Steve: Cleveland Indians movie and incredible to you know watch them have this team of nobodies and then they end up winning the pennant So those were those were some Cleveland shoutouts a movie called the natural but with Robert Redford that was one of my like honorable mentions and then I ran cross-country growing up middle school high school college, so ⁓ Matthew Lambert: Mm-hmm. Steve: One of these is gonna be funny because it's connected to route cross-country and then the other one is a cross-country movie So the cross-country movie I really liked is a it's a recent one sort of recent McFarland USA It was just a really fun movie. Yeah, I thought it was a great movie And then this one is associated to cross-country, but it has nothing to do with cross-country in the actual movie I watched this movie with my cross-country team in high school to motivate us before a big meet. And it came out when I was in high school, it's the movie Rudy, if you remember Rudy. ⁓ He played for Notre Dame football, like a walk-on. Yeah. We actually, like for our cross country practice, we went to the mall. We ran around the mall, ran some miles into the mall and then went into the movie theater and watched Rudy. So those were some honorable mentions. I probably could put like a movie like Creed up there. That was a really good movie too. ⁓ Matthew Lambert: Yeah, I remember Rudy. Steve: that didn't make my list. And then I have another honorable mention, but it'll be mentioned in my top five. yeah. Matthew Lambert: Okay, that's fair. You know, it's funny you mentioned the natural. Did you watch that in school or did you watch that outside of school? Steve: Mm. No, I watched it at my friend's house, the friend that I watched Major League. I also watched that movie there, yeah. Matthew Lambert: that we actually watched The Natural when I was in think middle school. They showed it to us as I don't remember if it was for history or health or something, but I remember watching it going, there's nothing that ties into what we're talking about. Like I think the teacher's just bored. ⁓ I am glad that Rudy didn't make your top five because I think Rudy, I understand your reasoning for it. I hate that movie. It's not. It's such a bad movie. Steve: Yeah. Hmm. Right. Yeah. Yeah. It's not a great movie. No, it's not a great movie, but it has some tie into my childhood. So, yeah. Matthew Lambert: That's fair. Well, Steve, talking about your tie-ins, what's your number five sports movie for you? Steve: Yeah, number five does have some sentimental value as well though. the movie We Are Marshall. It came out while I was living in West Virginia. And so, you know, was big at that time. Like ⁓ the movie were coming in for it and things like that. ⁓ I remember and going, ⁓ I know that place, you know, and things like that. ⁓ We had a guy at the church I was pastoring like his. Matthew Lambert: Mm-hmm. Steve: His grandfather was one of the guys who died in the plane crash. So there was a lot of connections there. So We Are Marshall was my number five. Matthew Lambert: Hmm. So Steve, I don't know if you know this, I was actually a student at Marshall while the movie was being filmed. And I will say as a student, we had a little bit of a different perspective. Like you'd be walking around campus and things got interrupted for the production. Parking was at a premium. So it was cool when I got to see it come out. I got to watch a special showing because my mom worked with somebody who was an extra in the film. So he actually rented out a theater. We got to watch it with him. Steve: Yeah. Hahaha Yeah. Mm. Matthew Lambert: But yeah, it's a good one. I'm sad I didn't think about that one. That should be probably on my list. Did not make my list. number five, you mentioned ⁓ of the movies in this series. I think you said Creed. My number five is Creed III. And I'm gonna say this from the rip. Actually, I'm gonna ask your opinion first. Do you consider Rocky and Creed the same franchise? Steve: I thought you might have. Yeah, a little surprised. Okay. ⁓ they're cousins. Yeah, we'll say that. Matthew Lambert: I'm OK with that. I know there are some that try to separate them entirely. I think that's incorrect. think you've got to have them somewhere connected. Obviously, there's some crossover. This is the only film from Rocky or from Creed that makes my list for me. And it was two thousand twenty three's Creed three. I think it's the best of the Rocky related films that I've seen. It's got decent reviews, six point seven on I.M.B.D. Steve: Mm. Mm. Matthew Lambert: 89 % on Rotten Tomatoes. And without trying to give too much of the plot away for people, Adonis Creed is retired from boxing and someone from his problematic childhood returns. get a lot of friendship and familial drama mixed in with a boxing rivalry. At the box office, Creed 3 brought home $276 million. While it didn't win any awards, it did receive several nominations. And I think some people sleep on this film because it didn't have Stallone in it. But I feel like Jonathan Majors and Michael B. Jordan carried the movie. They both extensively trained for the film. They looked the part. I'm still trying to figure out how to get abs like they are like Steve Harley has. So Steve's, you know, when we're off mic later, Steve's going to hook me up with some of his tips and tricks. But the final boxing match in this movie was incredible. I'm a sucker for a good soundtrack. Steve: Yeah. You Matthew Lambert: and the Adonis Interlude by J Cole is straight fire. Listen to the clean version. Don't listen to the unedited. There's some stuff in there, but the song just matches up so well with the training scene. of their ⁓ camps that are shown in the training scene are excellent as well. I felt like this version of the Creed film was the most hip hop, which really spoke to me and Steve, I'll tell you. So for me, for a movie to be on my list today, It had to be something I'm willing to watch again. And I actually was just perusing through the channels like a month ago. This was on and I watched the whole thing for the third time. If I'm willing to watch it three times and if I've watched the training scene more times than I am willing to admit as I've worked out, it's gotta make the list for me. So Creed three is number five. Have you seen all the Creed films? Steve: No, so now I want to go back and watch Creed I've not seen that one. Matthew Lambert: It definitely watch it maybe on TV, not on a movie, because they clean up some of the language. I'll say that. mean, I think if you're aware of the franchise, it's a little more salty than the Rocky movies were. Steve: Gotcha. Matthew Lambert: Well dude, I'll kick it to you. What's your number for? Steve: Yeah, number four, again, there's some sentimental value here. So this came out in November of 2009 ⁓ and where we were in life ⁓ just a month earlier, just a month earlier, my wife and I began praying about adopting a child ⁓ and youngest daughter was born in July of 2010. So we saw this movie ⁓ in process of ⁓ adopting And it was the movie, The Blind Side. Now we did not adopt a six foot six, 300 pound lineman. We have a very petite daughter. ⁓ But yeah, I loved the movie. And again, with the adoption storyline in there, it ⁓ kind of brought it probably a little bit higher on my list because of that. So yeah, I loved the movie, ⁓ loved the storyline. Matthew Lambert: Oof. Steve: loved seeing like the end when you know he's actually getting drafted and you know things like that so just a a good movie. Matthew Lambert: That's a good one. I do have to ask, are you and your wife, are you all big Sandra Bullock fans? Steve: Oh no, I mean, I'm a, I like her. All right. mean, she, you know, I don't dislike her. So yeah, but we're, we're honestly not huge movie people any as much anymore, just with life. We don't get to watch as many movies and things like that. So yeah. Uh, that's why, like, I don't know when, when did you say Creed three came out? 2023? Yeah. Yeah. So, so if you've got a recent movie on your list, I'm probably. Matthew Lambert: Okay. 2023. Yep. Steve: I'm probably not connecting with it as well. Matthew Lambert: will say that is the most recent movie I have on my top five. ⁓ My number four, I'm going all the way back to 2012. if you listen to the romance episode that my wife and I did, this made her list for her top five romance movies, and that's Here Comes the Boom. And I tried to avoid a lot of films that were more ⁓ like things like Happy Gilmore. But there's a lot of things about this movie that I think it holds up. Steve: Yeah. Mm. Matthew Lambert: and why it's in my top five. For those that have not checked out the previous episode or you're not familiar with the film, this is following a cynical teacher played by Kevin James, who we're big fans of in this house. He's pretty much given up on his dedication to things. And when the school is losing money and the music director is going to lose his job, James decides the only way to make some cash is to fight in mixed martial arts. And that sounds wild, but there's a lot of Actual MMA in the movie boss rootin was in the movie. He's an MMA legend Henry Winkler's in it. He's like the heart and soul of the film The movie does not get a lot of love So for anybody that's not seen it if you google it you're gonna see it had a 6.4 on IMBD 42 % on Rotten Tomatoes It only brought home 71 million, but I'm gonna tell you disregard all of that and go check this film out One of the things that a lot of people didn't know is that Kevin James actually trained in MMA for 14 months leading up to this movie. He lost. He is, he is. Steve: He's actually a beast. He's actually very, very agile for a big man. Matthew Lambert: Uh-huh. And he lost 70 pounds while training for this movie. For the UFC fans out there, these are some of the people that are in the film. So if you like the UFC, Joe Rogan's in it, Bas Rutten, Mark Munoz, Jason Mayhem Miller, Bruce Buffer, Krzysztof Siesinski, Herb Dean, Mark Delagraty, Vanderlei Silva, Chelsun and even the most famous ringside cut man, Stitch. Steve: Wow. Matthew Lambert: Was the plot line a little over the top? Yeah. Was the last fight gimmicky? It was, but I'll be honest, I was here for all of it. It's hard to find a fighting movie that is family friendly. And this is about as family friendly of a fighting movie that you can watch. Some of the scenes aren't the most believable, but as somebody who is familiar with Jujitsu, whose daughter trains, they did a really nice job of talking about how to get out of some of the submissions. Steve: You Matthew Lambert: So if you are a BJJ or an MMA fan, here's my plug. Go check out Here Comes the Boom. Watch it with the family. I don't think you'll be disappointed. Steve, have you seen Here Comes the Boom? Steve: I have not, but I love how you said it only made $71 million. I'm like, I would love to only make $71 million. I'm a pastor, so I only make like 70 million. I'm kidding for those listeners who are like those mega church pastors. There's like three people who make lots of money being a pastor. The rest of us are actually pretty normal people. Anyway, sorry. Matthew Lambert: Well, in terms of a movie. You're fine. Steve, if you haven't checked it out, I do recommend like maybe having a date night. Forget a date night. Watch a movie with the family. I say watch it with the kids. I'll hand it to you. What's your number three? Steve: you Yeah. All right, number three, I'm gonna be surprised if this is not on your list, but it might not be. It's pure classic ⁓ underdog story, and that would be the movie Hoosiers. wow. Wow, that's like a classic sports movie. Goodness, huh. Well, yeah, great movie. ⁓ Just, again, that small town. Matthew Lambert: Hoosiers is not on my list. Steve: Indiana team, I mean, based on a true story too, of winning that state title when all those divisions were together, you know. Yeah, I just thought it was a great, I don't know, you you always love to watch those under underdog stories. So it was a fun one for me. Matthew Lambert: think this is where we're seeing a little bit of our generational divide. think our last two episodes, we had a lot of similarities in the last two. And I think this one we're seeing some differences. So my dad is a huge Hoosiers fan. And I think because of that, I'm like, it's my dad's movie. I can't get down with it. be curious if you've seen or heard of my number three. And that is the movie ⁓ Man. Steve: Mm. Right. I've heard of it, it was a boxing movie, right? Yeah. ⁓ No, the guy from Gladiator, goodness, can't I think of his name? he, yeah, he he starred in it, Okay. Matthew Lambert: It is. I was hoping maybe you had seen it. It's 05. Wrestle Crow. He did, he plays the story or the lead character of James Braddock in the movie. Steve: Okay, I've not seen it. I remember it when it came out though. Yeah. Matthew Lambert: And it did really well. It had an 8.0 on ⁓ IMBD. It's got an 80 % score on Rotten Tomatoes, 108.5 million at the box office. Steve, if you haven't caught on, fighting movies are what I prefer in the sports world. I'm a big fighting guy. And I think my reason for liking fighting movies is I like when it focuses on one person. It's easier to follow their storyline for me. ⁓ loved this movie. ⁓ Steve: Right, yeah. Gotcha. Matthew Lambert: People are unfamiliar, James Braddock, this is a real guy, it follows his career during the Great Depression. And from a historical standpoint, the movie is very historically accurate. There's one part that's not. of the guys they villainize, ⁓ I think name's Max Bayer, the guy that he's gonna fight for the title. They make Max Bayer out to be a villain because he had unfortunately, during two of his boxing matches, had hit people so hard that they lost their life after the fight. They make it out that he's celebrating that when in real life, this guy was haunted by what he had unfortunately done. Outside of that, the movie is spot on historically. Braddock was the heavyweight boxing champ of the world from 1935 until 1937. And for a four year stretch, Steve: Wow. Matthew Lambert: he engaged in a career surprisingly rising to the top of the boxing world. And they dubbed him the Cinderella Man for the fact that he upset Max Bayer and a lot of people thought obviously was the most dominant boxer at the time. Russell Crowe, super believable in this film. Renee Zellweger stars as his wife. Paul Giamatti plays as his trainer and promoter. ⁓ Multiple for this film. Crowe won Best Actor for the Australian Film Institute Awards. Giamatti, would win the Best Supporting Actor in six different award shows, including the Screen Actor Guilds Award and a Best Foreign Actor Award. ⁓ And one the things I love is they do a good job in the movie ⁓ of showing Braddock's point of view as he dissects his opponents. ⁓ he's dropping his hands. I'm gonna hit him here. ⁓ he doesn't like when I, you know, throw this combination. And it's just such a unique and realistic perspective in a movie. was nominated for three Academy Awards. I mean, I could go on and on about all of the awards that won, the high remarks from viewers, ⁓ just the fact that it's so historically accurate. For me, it had to rank in my top five. It's a movie I've watched at least five or six times. I love the movie Cinderella Man. Steve: All right. Matthew Lambert: Steve, hope I'm getting you to maybe add some movies to your list. So Steve, what's your number two? Steve: Well, you mentioned this movie. I had to throw in a fun one, just a goofy, silly one that's based around sports. And I had to decide between two movies, because I wasn't going to put them both here. So I had to decide between Happy Gilmore and The Waterboy. And so number two is Happy Gilmore. ⁓ My goodness, I've seen it too many times and have quoted it. Way too many, well mostly daily I've quoted the movie. ⁓ So there's so many, so many little one liners. It's just such a ⁓ crazy, goofy, silly, funny, fun movie. I get water boys up there too, ⁓ but I didn't think I should put two ridiculous Adam Sandler movies in my top five. So Happy Gilmore would be my number two. Matthew Lambert: Now, does Adam Sandler make your list anywhere else? Is he in your number one? Steve: No, no, no, Matthew Lambert: Okay, because I actually think, so I agree with you. Happy Gilmore. I know there's a lot of shenanigans with it, but good movie. I think he has two other movies that are actually fantastic sports movies. Have you seen the Longest Yard remake? Okay, so that's good, I think. And have you seen Hustle? Steve: Yeah, yeah, I've seen that. Yeah. Matthew Lambert: So Hustle is a Netflix film. It dropped like a couple years back. I can't remember exactly. Aunt Edwards is the antagonist in the movie. ⁓ I will say it's one of those movies and in real life. Yeah, I don't think he was acting. He was just being himself. It's obviously a little salty with the language in the movie, but it follows a guy who is coming over from Spain who's trying to get into the NBA. And Adam Sandler is either his, I don't know if, Steve: And in real life. Right. Matthew Lambert: It's his agent, his trainer, but really good movie. actually was would be in the honorable mentions for my list. It's the most serious role I've ever seen Adam Sandler play. So it's actually like. Steve: Gotcha. I don't know if I want a serious Adam Sandler. I don't know if I want to live in a world with a serious Adam Sandler. Back when we were, when you and I were going to church together and meeting in a movie theater, ⁓ when we would set up every Sunday, there had to be every Sunday at least one either Happy Gilmore or Dumb and Dumber or Billy Madison quote as we were Matthew Lambert: That's fair. Mm-hmm. Steve: ⁓ setting things up for church. So somewhere on a Sunday morning, we were going to quote from one of those movies. anyway, yeah, so many one liners that I have from that. It's just fun. tried, I did watch the Happy Gilmore too, just for the nostalgia. Of course it was, you know, it didn't even come close to equaling Happy Gilmore, but ⁓ it was, it was fun. Matthew Lambert: No, I agree with you. I watched it a while back, like when it first came out, and I was the same. I was like, this is not to the level of the original. Steve: Yeah. I didn't expect it to. I knew it wouldn't. You know, it was just more nostalgia. Matthew Lambert: I think the best part of that movie was, I'm gonna draw a blank on his name, ⁓ John Daly. Like he was wild in that movie. ⁓ Steve, you're probably gonna be able to guess this. My Number Two is another fighting movie. And have you seen the 2011 classic Warrior? Steve: Mm-hmm. Yes. No, man, you keep giving me movies. ⁓ Give me some someone's name in that, think. Matthew Lambert: So it's got Tom Hardy in it. You've got Nick Nolte, Joel Edgerton, Frank Grillo. It's an MMA movie. Steve: Yeah, I'm not, I haven't watched a lot of MMA, so yeah, I'm sorry. Matthew Lambert: No, that's okay. So I'm going to try to sell you and the listeners on this movie. If people have not seen it, get prepared. I'm about to go on a rant. This movie has an 8.1 on IMBD 84 % on Rotten Tomatoes. It only brought home a little over 23 million at the box office, but this movie is incredible. To sum it up, it follows two brothers who both find their way into a two day martial arts tournament. Steve: Yeah. Matthew Lambert: where the winner gets $5 million. Now, other than the premise of two brothers making their way into this tournament, everything else in the movie is super believable. The fights themselves are extremely realistic. There's a lot of Jiu-Jitsu involved and my daughter who trains really enjoyed the scenes with the submissions. There are two fights in particular in the movie that I don't know how many times I've watched them because I've watched them as I hit the heavy bag. I've watched them as I've trained. Steve: You Matthew Lambert: because they're just so motivational. The last fight scene, I won't say a whole lot because I don't want to ruin the movie for anybody, but the score that they used while showing that fight scene is just a chef's kiss. I will be honest, I got choked up the first time I watched it. It's just a fantastic end to the movie. All the characters in the movie are flawed in some way. Nobody's made out to be this picture perfect person. They've got some stuff they're dealing with. But in the fighting sense, you get to see an Uma Plata, rolling knee bar, a guillotine, some arm bars and some other submissions. I already mentioned it. The cast is just absolutely stacked. In addition to the famous actors, they put in some former fighters and wrestlers like Kurt Angle, Nate Marquardt, Anthony Rumble Johnson, RIP, Eves Edwards and Rashad Evans. And the movie is even more realistic when you realize that Hardy and Edgerton both trained in MMA, boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, and wrestling to prepare for their roles in the film. Both of them notably gained a ton of muscle mass, got in phenomenal shape, and Hardy actually continued to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and he's now a brown belt in BJJ. Nick Nolte was nominated for an Academy Award for the film. He would win Best Supporting Actor at the San Diego Film Critics Academy, and the film also won a Prisms Award. I have lost track of how many times I've watched this movie. I've watched it with Madison. I watched it with Nora. We skipped a couple of the more scenes that weren't age appropriate. ⁓ There were a couple of those that we skipped past. She loved the fight scenes. I've shown it to my in-laws. I've recommended it to so many people for the realism, the motivations, and really the themes of these people overcoming their barriers, overcoming their struggles. Steve: You Matthew Lambert: I almost put it at number one. It was very close to being number one on my list. I love this film. It's fantastic. So Steve, I recommend you check this film out. Steve: Yeah, I've been missing out on lot of ⁓ combat sports movies here apparently. Matthew Lambert: You know, when you have somebody in your house that's training in that world, I mean, she's not doing MMA, but the jujitsu, it does factor into a lot of the movies we're watching as a family. Well, Steve, I will kick it to you. What is your number one? Steve: Hmm. Right. Right. Yeah, my number one, ⁓ I just, I don't know why I just love this movie. Like it comes on TV a lot. And I just like, I'll just watch this for a little bit. And it's one that it's one again that you can with like kids in the room and stuff like that. And I know they had to, they really worked hard to tame it down because of it's based on a real ⁓ situation, a real story that ⁓ probably, you know, could have made it a lot worse. ⁓ Matthew Lambert: Mm-hmm. Steve: but it's the movie, Remember the Titans, ⁓ dealing with the racial tensions of school integration and just that team coming together and then winning in the end. It's just a ⁓ fun movie, fun in some ways, but ⁓ kind of hard hitting in other areas. But it's fun watching them come together and win and all this stuff, but then also the backstory of what they went through and. ⁓ I enjoyed the movie. Remember the Titans was my number one. Matthew Lambert: Steve, if I say left side, what do you say? Steve: ⁓ Strong side, is that what they say? can't remember now. Matthew Lambert: Yeah, or you get the speech. Don't let him gain another yard. Haven't you seen a football injury wimps? So, Steve, I'll say this to anybody listening. We don't plan out our top fives. I have the same exact number one as you. Remember the Titans? We do. And it was the number one. Steve: Yeah You Mm-hmm. Yes, we finally got one we agreed on. I really am surprised you didn't have We Are Marshall on there, but yeah, yeah. All right, sorry, go ahead. Matthew Lambert: This film for, ⁓ no, you're good. This film for me, not just sports, it's probably my favorite movie of all time. So you mentioned Rudy with your cross country team. Our cross country team, Remember the Titans was our Rudy. Our coach would make us watch it in as we traveled to meets and we got to where we could quote the movie. Steve: ⁓ wow. Yeah. Yeah. Matthew Lambert: So if anybody has not watched this film, I mean, one, it's been around for a while. It the year 2000. So it's 26 years old, but it holds up 7.8 on IMBD, 72 % on Rotten Tomatoes, brought home 136.8 million at the box office. I agree with you. It should be higher. According to Wikipedia, and we know Wikipedia is the best source out there. It says that the movie was not originally well received by many. Steve: It does. should be higher. Matthew Lambert: but now is viewed as one of the greatest football films of all time. One of my favorite actors ever is in the movie and that's Ryan Gosling. I'm just kidding. He is in the movie. He's not my favorite. Denzel Washington is one of my favorite actors and he is just fantastic in the movie. if you're like, I'll only watch a movie if it's got awards. This movie won eight awards. Steve: Yes. Matthew Lambert: including best actor for Denzel at the BET awards, best actor for Denzel and best screenplay at the Black Reel awards and outstanding motion picture at the NAACP awards. Steve already mentioned it. covers things such as integration. It covers things like racism, but you said it, Steve. It does such a nice job of not that you want to sugar coat things, but to make it okay for a younger audience to watch. And you feel okay showing a younger child that movie. Steve: Right. but still like you still feel the gravity of what they were going through. Yeah, I mean, obviously they had to tone down the language of to make it a Disney film of what these students and coaches were actually hearing. ⁓ But yeah, I thought they did a great job of making it so a family could watch it yet still bringing the seriousness of what they were going through into it. Yeah. Matthew Lambert: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm hmm. Have you ever seen Glory Road? About the UTEP men's basketball team. Steve: Hmm... No, I don't think so. Matthew Lambert: The reason I bring that up, it reminds me a lot of Remember the Titans, but without removing some of the things that you might not want a very young child to hear. Because I remember we showed Nora Glory Road, and I had to have a conversation with her before the movie, like, hey, there's gonna be stuff like if I skip some of this, you're not gonna understand the gravity of the movie. And we had to have a very serious talk beforehand about Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Right. Matthew Lambert: what things you're going to hear and see. But I agree with you. Remember, the Titans does all that. But in a more well, I guess the movie is PG. So in a PG fashion. Steve, I got to ask you, man, as we wrap up today, any complaints on my list? Steve: Hmm. Yeah. I mean, just that I haven't seen them. I guess so. Right. Matthew Lambert: I'm feel like this just means you have homework now. You need to like sit down and watch some movies. Let me know what you think. Give me some grades on them. Steve: Yeah, I mean, I am a little disappointed you didn't throw in like a, you know, an Adam Sandler movie just for years were very, years were very serious. I guess here comes the boom. I'm sorry that that's one you're right. All right. You got that in there. Matthew Lambert: It's not serious. I did. And like I said, I was really close to putting the serious Adam Sandler movie on there. Hustle would probably be number six for me. It's an incredible movie. Well, Steve, I appreciate you coming back on here. While we only post audio, Steve is on video. So I'm being graced with his presence of, you know, what appears to be his 20 year old appearance. He ages backwards. He is the Dorian Gray of my life. I just don't understand it, but. Steve: Yeah. Yeah. Gotcha. You're a dork. Matthew Lambert: Steve, thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule and coming on here with me. Steve: Yeah, thank you. My pleasure. Matthew Lambert: And I appreciate all of you all for listening. Please subscribe, leave us a five star review and let someone know to check this thing out. This was another one of those topics that we covered that has been sent to the email address. If you've got topics that you'd like covered, please continue to send those in and you can send those to the address generationalfave5 at gmail.com. That's generational F-A-V-E the number five at gmail.com. Thank you all for tuning in.