Sports movies, when done well, are typically easy to watch over and over again and suitable for the whole family — making them ideal for streaming viewing. It's why today we're going to look at the best sports movies on Netflix right now.
If you're sitting around at home this week (as we all are, presumably) and looking for your sports movie fix, here are the three best (and three very different) options currently available on Netflix.
Moneyball (2011)
Aaron Sorkin wrote and directed a new film out on Netflix: The Trial of the Chicago 7. The prolific screenwriter’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game, is a mainstay atop the Netflix charts. In general, the wittiness and entertainment value of Sorkin’s dialogue lends itself to repeated viewings (see: A Few Good Men, The Social Network, The West Wing), so it should come as no surprise that another one of his titles has recently surged up the streamer’s list of trending movies.
And with good reason. Moneyball — co-written by elite screenwriter Steve Zaillan and directed by Bennett Miller — features Brad Pitt throwing an absolute perfect game as Billy Beane, along with pitch-perfect turns from Jonah Hill and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
The adaptation of Michael Lewis’ best-selling account of the Oakland Athletics executive’s paradigm-shifting rethinking of how baseball players are valued is arguably the best sports movie of the 21st century, and rightfully earned multiple Academy Award nominations (Pitt was robbed in Best Actor, FWIW).
This film — like Pitt’s performance — is smart, smooth, charismatic and quickly fiery, and the whole thing sizzles with snappy dialogue and pleasing scenery. This is truly a movie you can 20 times in a row and it’ll win each time — kind of like the (pre-playoffs) 2002 Oakland A’s.
Miracle (2004)
“Why’d you play caw-ledge haw-key?”
“Don’t forget to bring your game.”
“I play for … The United States of America!”
“Play. Your. Game.”
Miracle — to steal half of a hockey term — slaps.
Directed by Gavin O’Connor (Warrior, The Way Back) and fueled by a disciplined and poignant performance by Kurt Russell as Herb Brooks, this retelling of the 1980 USA Men’s ice hockey “Miracle on Ice” run to the gold medal in Lake Placid is Disney-fied and fairly traditional — in a good way.
The emotional beats hit and the hockey scenes are about as good as you’ll find in a movie (including freshly re-recorded Al Michaels commentary) — peaking with the exhilarating 20-minute sequence for the Russia game.
You’ll find yourself cheering for each Jim Craig save, Rob McLahanan goal, and Jack O’Callahan hit — and inspired by each Brooks speech. Miraculously (pardon the pun), this movie remains utterly un-corny.
Miracle is a solid film in all respects, but it’s also one of the few sports movies where the sports scenes may actually be the best part.
In the words of Brooks, give me this movie “again.”
High Flying Bird (2019)
Steven Soderbergh’s hyper-realistic 2019 narrative about an NBA agent during a lockout is the polar opposite type of sports movie than Miracle, in that it features no sports.
Soderbergh has long been Hollywood’s more experimental filmmakers. When he gets an idea that interests him, he just finds a way to make it happen. For whatever reason, he was inspired to make a movie chronicling the behind-the-scenes machinations of an NBA labor crisis — shot completely using an iPhone.
High Flying Bird artfully follows a Manhattan-based agent, Ray, (played by Andre Holland, fresh off his beautiful performance in Moonlight, which was co-written by Bird’s screenwriter, Tarell Alvin McCraney) as he simultaneously manages his star rookie client and reworks the NBA's pay structure. The movie takes you in and out of hotel restaurants, corporate officers, and New York City stoops, with the iPhone technique providing a distinct “fly-on-the-wall” feel to the proceedings.
The movie also features several interspersed and thoughtful interviews with Karl-Anthony Towns, Reggie Jackson, and Donovan Mitchell discussing the off-the-court financial aspects of being a pro hooper. Or, as one character says in the movie: the “game on top of the game.”
This are only some of the best sports movies on Netflix right now. With November Netflix release announcements coming, expect even more quality content.
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