The Hill

Usually Christian drama flicks like this get extremely bogged down with heavy-handed prioritisation of their messaging over their stories, technical craft, and characters.

While The Hill does sometimes get preachy and sometimes is held back by corny dialogue or poor supporting actors, it excels because it gives thought and care to the important elements of filmmaking.

It's gorgeously shot on film and sensitively directed, always visually emphasising its characters' psychology to great effect. And the script avoids succumbing too much to sports drama cliches by always keeping the focus on personal triumph over merely winning the game. It's a human story in the shell of a Christian sports film.

And these humans are brought wonderfully to life by these actors. Aside from a handful of poor supporting cast members, the leads really kill it-even the child actors.

Dennis Quaid is the obvious standout, bringing so much life and emotion to his character that isn't necessarily on the page. His character's arc is the soul of this movie, and if there were any justice in the industry, Quaid would be in serious consideration for awards next year.

Long live baseball, and long live Dennis Quaid.

Based on a true story, it seemed cloyingly maudlin. Whereas a story like Rudy plays out naturally, elements of this seem theatrically pushed into repetitive stark stereotypical juxtapositions. It was longer than it needed to be, and even my wife said the same thing though she enjoyed it more.

The acting, however, is what makes this so compelling. The man playing Rickey Hill as an adult is a man we should expect to see much more. Dennis Quaid seemingly turns every scene -and movie-into powerful performances. One reviewer said the background actors were poor but I sure didn't think so. Everyone turned in great, believable, deep performances, which is why I did not rate it lower.

Settings for the scenes are well done. Look for real major league pitcher John Smoltz as the final game announcer.

Summary: many people will like it for its spirit of facing trials and tribulations, and can be expected to rate it higher, but it just seems overly heavy handed and long attempting to manipulate emotions.

Prepare for a preachy dose of diabetic coma, but the movie is quite watchable. I think it was unintentional, but it also tells the story of his hypocrite father. Dad had no qualms in following his calling to the detriment of his family but did all he could to deny that opportunity to his son. It's always enjoyable to see the story of someone I never knew existed, and this guy was in that category. The movie could have done with a little more salt and less sugar, as it lands right in the genre of a "Hallmark Christmas movie". But if Rickey Hill had as much input as I've read, then I guess that's what he wanted.

The trailer showed us a corny Christian themed baseball movies and that's what we got. The story is uplifting, and the movie proves we can have family friendly films. I definitely thought they could have cut it down by 20 minutes, but I still enjoyed it.

I don't think you have to be a Christian to like the movie since they don't demand any beliefs from the audience. It is probably aimed at that crowd though. If you love baseball, ever had to overcome something, or can just feel inspired by Rickey's story then this film is for you.

It's great for the entire family.

It's definitely a very white film. I say this as a white person. I don't think the black characters were portrayed in a bad light, but they were only there to support the white characters. All two of them with lines. This is based on a true story in Texas from the 60's and 70's though, so it might have been this way.

It was also good to see them capture the time and family well, without putting full on child abuse on the screen. We were told enough.

We watched The Hill this weekend and we were amazed by how emotionally engaging it was. The older gentleman next to us was crying at different moments during the film. It was really impactful. The ending was strong and satisfying.

We would recommend The Hill to all our friends. The details in the costumes, locations and decor were all well done. It was a beautiful period film with an enormous heart.

We hope that audiences will come out to see this wonderful story of a young man, his dreams of baseball and his preacher father who didn't understand.

We believe that word of mouth will spread and The Hill will be a big hit. You can tell that the filmmakers put a lot of love into this movie. All you can ask is that audiences sit back and take it in. Well done!