If he's here, who's running hell?

The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #1. Hustle Getting the nod over Hoosiers, number one is a Netflix Adam Sandler movie. Adam Sandler is an overseas scout for the 76ers, going from hotel to hotel, game to game looking for something special, eating fast food. Married to Queen Latifah, with a daughter. Robert Duvall plays the owner and Ben Foster the son. While the owner believes in Sandler's Stanley Sugerman, Ben Foster has his own thoughts on how the 76ers should draft. Jaleel White, Kenny Smith and Heidi Gardner who is the daughter of Duvall's character and another friend to Stanley are also on the personnel team. When Duvall's character passes away, Foster goes his own way against Stanley's wishes. It's the same setup premise as Gladiator. Instead of emperor, Duvall wants to make Sandler an assistant telling Sandler not to back down ever. That statement drives the rest of the movie. Foster demotes Stanley and puts him back as a scout which Sandler isn't happy with...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #2. Hoosiers One of the first movies that comes up when talking with people about what the best basketball movie is. Only eclipsed by Air and Hoosiers from a critic standpoint but Air is very recent so doesn't get the benefit of the doubt. Audience score is only like 7th for RT which maybe it's biggest reason it's number 2 though I put it 4th as well. I'm just a White Men Can't Jump fan and this was the first time watching Hoosiers.  And if we count BASEketball as a basketball movie, which I did here, I think 4th is reasonable. Can you guess #1 yet? With such high expectations I did my best to watch it trying not to let that impede my judgment. It's better to me than The Way Back and Coach Carter but not by much. Though the plot is very similar to those two. New coach, nobody believes in us concept. Takes the coach awhile to warm up and the town in this case takes time to warm up. We have a star athlete that won't play for the...

The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #3. Love & Basketball  Produced by Spike Lee, cause why wouldn't he. It feels like he is a part of every movie in the top 10. He likely thinks of it better than One on One but worse than He Got Game. Came out in 2000, but never feels dated or like a 90s movie. Tied for second highest Rotten Tomatoes Audience score. I would put this in the 7-8 range in terms of basketball movies. It qualifies as a good movie and story. It's a step above Glory Road and One on One and is in the same conversation as He Got Game and Coach Carter. It was the second movie I watched after thinking I was going to make a list after Finding Forrester. I think it would be a decent re-watch. Movie starts when the two main characters (Quincy and Monica) are kids and young Quincy is playing basketball with his friends when Monica comes over looking tomboyish and wants to play. They start 'going out' as kids and remain friends through high school when the story really...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #4. The Way Back Not to be confused with the 2010 Ed Harris vehicle The Way Back or The Way Way Back with Sam Rockwell (that I also really enjoyed). Technically a tie with Coach Carter numbers wise but it gets the tie-breaking nudge from me. Similar Rotten Tomatoes audience score but much higher critic score though slightly lower IMDB. I do believe it belongs in the 5-10 range of basketball movies. It left a good taste in my mouth when it was over. I think I would really have to revisit it again to appreciate it more. The movie was definitely not all roses. It hits it's themes, especially alcoholism over the head. It really helps that Ben Affleck is so likable. Ben Affleck actually was going through alcohol rehab just prior to this movie. It feels like it's missing something in the beginning, the first scene with Jack's family didn't really feel right. You eventually find out that Jack had lost his wife and child which starts him down thi...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #5. Coach Carter The third time I agreed with the internet ranking exactly (also Teen Wolf and Slam Dunk Ernest). Two 7 rankings gives Coach Carter spot #5. Came out 18 years ago so it has been a minute. There is some predictability to the general trajectory of the plot. Even a semi-restrained Samuel Jackson movie brings you a great performance. Directed by Thomas Carter, who I am familiar with for directing Swing Kids and Metro. Cameos I'm most familiar with include Channing Tatum (first movie), Octavia Spencer and Ashanti (first movie). Plot goes like - new coach comes back to his old high-school and immediately demands contracts for his players for things like grades and dress code. When the team starts doing well but starts breaking contracts, Coach Carter starts suspending players and forfeiting games to the great dismay of all the coaches and some faculty. There becomes a community conference where his fate gets voted on. The scene I had watche...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #6. Air Matt Damon doing his character magic in a direct sequel to The Martian. Ha ha. Following up my favorite movie that didn't make the top 5 with the highest rated movie, also not making the top 5. Now we know how to skin a rabbit. There is actually not a lot of basketball in this movie at all, and I knew that going in but it still counts to me. This was the last movie I waited for to come out on streaming before finalizing my list. I've had it as low as 16 and high as 9, so I believe it is a top 10 movie which is where it falls but it has some incredible reviews, only beaten by Hoop Dreams on IMDB and RT Audience just shy of Hank Gathers. So it's not about basketball but the company of Nike and the shoe deal that they make with Michael Jordan for the Air Jordan brand. Nike starts off at a distant 3rd place to Adidas and Converse but this vehicle directed and acted by Ben Affleck follows Matt Damon trying everything possible in his powe...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #7. White Men Can't Jump The king of Yo Mama jokes. I think it's my favorite basketball movie. A favorite of Stanley Kubrick. The three main characters are all likable but at the same time they are really annoying characters as well. I would have loved to have watched the new remake but it's just on Hulu at the moment and I wasn't waiting that long to do this list. Our third Woody Harrelson movie on here after Semi-Pro and Champions. Woody Harrelson was a better basketball player than Wesley Snipes in real life but both went through intense basketball camp and training. They had a real dunk bet just like in the movie. Our last Cylk Cozart appearance as well (I think). Kadeem Hardison from A Different World and his double glasses are here. Director Ron Shelton, who wrote most of the movie in one night, is no stranger to sports movies having peaked immediately with Bull Durham, but also doing Cobb, Tin Cup, Play It to the Bone as well as do...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #8. He Got Game Spike Lee can't call this one the worst sports movie ever made. Denzel Washington is one of the top actors of our time and this vehicle 100% doesn't work without him. And he is placed against Ray Allen, whom doesn't look too great next to the legend. Rosario Dawson and Milla Jovovich don't get passes either, their moments at times are cringe. Dawson's character is obviously important to the plot which is - Ray Allen's Jesus Shuttlesworth is being recruited by many schools as a top recruit. His father Jake, played by Denzel, is incarcerated due to the death of his wife and Jesus's mother. The prison warden allows Jake a temporary guarded release and promises him a reduced sentencing if Jake can get Jesus to go to the school of the warden's choice (I don't actually remember what school, State vs University?). They show the scene where the mother dies and it happens while Jesus is pretty young. Jake takes ...

 The Top 40 Basketball Movies - #9. Uncut Gems I don't think you can fault Adam Sandler for not doing something different here. It was a good movie, will I watch it again... not likely. I did like it enough to recommend it to my wife. Or at least I thought there was enough drama here to hold her interest. There is quite a bit to unpack but it revolves around 3 things, a gem that seemingly has special powers, a gambler with no control of his life, and a basketball player - Kevin Garnett, fascinated with the gem that makes him play better. Does all of this really add up to a basketball movie? It really could have been any sport inserted and it would have gone over just as well. It takes a bit from Casino and a bit from Jersey Shore. I don't even know if I was satisfied with it entirely, it might take me years to formulate all my thoughts about it. There is a whole prologue dedicated to finding the opal in Africa. His girlfriend Julia was one of the bright points of the movie. Dir...