Sport and Cinema.com

Staging its first film festival and in such historic settings as Grauman’s Chinese and Egyptian Theaters along Hollywood Boulevard now through Sunday, Turner Classic Films, the American broadcast authority on classic cinema, is celebrating some of the best movies ever made.

In a role that carries the ball forward in a picture based on a true story, Sandra Bullock’s performance as Leigh Anne Tuohy, a gutsy, self-confident, well-off Southern woman with hyper-protective instincts garnered her an Oscar as Best Actress at the 82nd Annual Academy Awards held Sunday.

And the winner is… that popular phrase is something that remains to be seen after Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences Presdient Sid Ganis announced at a press conference last week, the board’s decision to expand the number of films nominated in the Best Picture category from five to ten.

As part of ESPN’s 30 for 30 film series, filmmaker Frank Marshall (“Bourne Ultimatum”, “Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Seabiscuit”) will direct a documentary that looks at the Right To Play organization which helps bring sports to children in poverty-stricken and war-torn parts of the world.

“The Italians are coming!”

On the heels of the Giro d’Italia, we’d like to remind our readers that one of the great sports movies in Hollywood history revolved around the story of a talented young Indiana cyclist’s escape into a world of Italian bicycling.

Robert Redford stars in this inspiring fable as Roy Hobbs, a man determined to fulfill his childhood dream of success playing baseball and being known as “the best there ever was”.

As a young teen, Hobbs begins his journey by fashioning a powerful bat from a fallen oak tree. His talent for the game soon captures the attention of scouts and sportswriter Max Mercy (Duvall), who eventually becomes instrumental in Hobbs’ career. However, a fateful encounter with a mysterious woman (Barbara Hershey) shatters his dream.

Before all the accolades that came with writing an Oscar-nominated film (“The Wrestler”), Robert Siegel wrote and directed a small picture using football as a backdrop on the psychology of obsession. Having scored in a run through the film festivals, “Big Fan” has garnered some critical momentum that may yield broader distribution. One of the reasons why is that the story rings of a sad truth.

Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, Tupac Shakur, Jimmy the Greek Snyder are all subjects in upcoming films from Hollywood directors for ESPN. Noted filmmakers, assorted Oscar nominees and Peabody Award winners among them, will ply their talents to celebrate ESPN’s 30 year history by creating one hour films on sports-related topics which will debut in the fall.
….

The last time Clint Eastwood and Morgan Freeman worked together on picture with a sports backdrop, both won Academy Awards.