Tag: Rugby

PLAY ON Trailer And Contest

PLAY ON, a new film about the sport of Rugby has been gaining some buzz. It’s a story of greed, money, family, and the love one can have for their sport.

As if seeing the trailer isn’t enough for all you Rugby fans, the movie is sending one lucky winner and a guest to the 2011 Rugby World Cup semi-finals! Go to http://www.facebook.com/playonthemovie or http://www.playonthemovie.com/ for your chance to win.

CHECK OUT THE TRAILER HERE:

ABOUT THE FILM: There’s the road less traveled. There’s the road to redemption. And somewhere in between is a one-way ticket to Kansas City for wayward Scottish rugby star Keir Kilgour.

Even at the highest level, rugby didn’t pay players until the mid-1990s; it held on to the amateur ideal longer than any other sport. And now, the greedy but talented Keir and his old-school father, rugby legend Finlay Kilgour, find themselves stranded on opposite sides of that ideal. When Keir’s drive for fame and money collides with his quest for love and respect from his critical father, things get ugly. Following an appalling act of selfishness, Keir flees his rugby background in a delusional pursuit of greater stardom in the high-profile world of professional American football.

When the bubble of his rash, big money dream bursts, Keir — demoralized, broke, but too proud to return home — stumbles upon an unlikely group of saviors, the Kansas City Wanderers. A failing second division rugby club, the Wanderers are a motley collection of weekend warriors who are amateurs in the worst sense of the word.

As the Wanderers can attest, everyone does stupid things. But, it’s not always what you do that matters. It’s what you do next.

Get up. Play on.

PLAY ON OPENS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 17th.

Eastwood directs Damon in ‘Human Factor’

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So, we’ve seen Clint’s final acting performance (perhaps) but he’s still staying as active as a twenty-something behind the camera. His next film will be ‘The Human Factor’ based on the book called Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation (whew! long title) by John Carlin. The story is centered around the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

Damon plays rugby star and South African team captain Francois Pienaar, who along with former South African president Nelson Mandela (Freeman) created an event that gave the country’s whites and blacks a common cause to rally around as the country healed from years of apartheid. — TBAU

Here’s a few “on set” photos of Clint and Matt, caught by The Bad and Ugly… check out the website to see them all.

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[source: The Bad and Ugly]

Review: ‘Forever Strong’

FOREVER STRONG

Cast & Crew:
Gary Cole… Coach Larry Gelwix
Sean Faris… Rick Penning
Neal McDonough… Coach Richard Penning

Written by David Pliler
Directed by Ryan Little

Rick Penning (Faris) plays high school rugby but a drunk driving accident lands him in juvenile detention, which leads to events that force him to play against the team his father (McDonough) coaches at the national championship.

The three lead actors lend their fine performances to a screenplay that is pretty predictable but if you can get past the “been-there-done-that” feeling, then you may take a shine to this modest little film. I imagine that FOREVER STRONG will appeal to the same crowd that enjoyed like-minded films such as GRIDIRON GANG, FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS or even RUDY.

But… if you don’t dig on slightly predictable sports films with not-so-subtle positive messages, well why would you think of watching this? It’s not your bag, baby.

Before I start feeling too kind, let me share with you a couple of problems this film has. One, what the hell is rugby? If you don’t know much about rugby going into the film, then you won’t know much more when you are coming out, except that it must be much tougher than football. That’s a sentiment repeated by the characters ad nauseum. Two, when did all contemporary directors decide that action scenes need to be in slow-mo or filmed in that documentary fashion that retards the viewers perception of whatever the hell is actually happening on the screen?  

Oh, and I should bring this up, too. You know the joke about how if a character is going to die in a movie, then it’s going to be the black guy? Well, the black guy dies in this movie. Not entirely surprising, but still disappointing because Michael J. Pagan’s character is a high point in the film.

But I digress…

If you’re looking for a completely innocuous time at the theater I suppose you could do a lot worse, but if you’re a more discerning viewer then you may want to test your patience elsewhere.

[rating:2.5/5]