The Final Season - Daran wirst du dich immer erinnern!

Baseball is the perfect metaphor the American Dream: effort = success, anyone can play, and winning is a metaphor for life.

The Last Season is a nice effort by Sean Astin. It is pretty much exactly what a good sports underdog movie should be.

The film about Norway, based on fact, a tiny town of 500 or so that produced team after team that went onto win the State Championship for High School baseball. When threatened with politics and closure due to lack of funding the team does what it knows best, goes in to bat for one last season.

Have to be honest though and say it's not as inspiring as it would like to be in places, it does hit some good home runs by the end, but overall it is a little too clichéd to really succeed.

If sports movies are your thing then you'll enjoy it, but I don't think this will become anyone's (Outside of Iowa) favorite ever movie.

It is a nice effort, and watchable, but as I said it ain't outstanding...

This is a Great Baseball Movie, and all peoples who have the sport of Baseball in their blood will love this film.

Passion, friendship, loyalty, family , all we have in this movie, but specially, a good feeling about baseball, the favorite pass time of all us.

I'm from Dominican Republic, where we live the baseball, and we are proud to have ball players like Albert Pujols, Pedro Martinez, Alex Rodriguez, Vladimir Guerrero, Sammy Sosa and others in the MLB, and like i said, we live the feeling and the passion of baseball.. Baseball it's so important to us, and with this movie, we can know the importance of something like that in a town and in our Life.

Baseball for much of us , the baseball fans, it's not only a sport, it's more than that, it's passion, it's feeling, It's Proud...

The movie have a very good acting and good script..

Playball!.....

What I find tired and Cliché' about all this is the critics response. Though not necessarily an Oscar film, the movie is enjoyable and though obviously some of the story was embellished, the things that they would say are cliché' actually happened. The reviewer posted in the IMDb page calls it a rub in Iowa's face. As an Iowan, I didn't feel that way. It does however point out the idiocy of allowing politicians be in control of education and schools, they always seem to think Money = good education, sports is a big part of the education process and obviously this was not a good choice for a town that loves its baseball. Sorry but I don't share the opinion that this pleads the death of underdog films. It points out an Amazing accomplishment, against all the odds and that is exactly the attraction of underdog films... Unfortunately it seems that there was a lack of good planning on the promoting/advertising of the film.

"The Final Season," from the director of the Sandlot, is based on the true story of the Norway, Iowa high school baseball team. Norway is a small Iowa town who holds a lot of pride in its baseball team, who has won 19 state titles in 24 years. When the school board threatens to merge the school with the large school of Madison, the town is enraged. They disagree with all of the boards claims and reasons for merging the school, and hate to see their baseball team and players disappear. Will the team get to play another season? Will the school be merged, or will it stay independent? The acting is pretty good, although at times the actors seem to be reading off a prompter. These incidents are few and far apart, however. The movie is a bit predictable, but isn't that the nature of sports films? It is still a fantastic movie that will be enjoyed by not only baseball fans, but sports fans is general. I recommend this movie for all ages. The film overall is inspiring, emotional, and entertaining. I strongly recommend you see this movie.

"The Final Season" is a good respite from the usual Hollywood fare of action/violence, bad comedy, super heroes, mobsters, commercialism, and endless sexual innuendo. Yeah, it might be a little hokey or sentimental, but this seems pretty insignificant given the movie's restraint and its quietly low key approach to life in rural Iowa.

One thing for sure, Norway High School's baseball team, representing a town of 500 people, which won 20 1A class championships over period of about 30 years, and sent several players to the majors, does deserve a big time movie. "The Final Season" covers the final two years of the high school's existence, the team's last hurrah, and town's substantial loss.

Above all, it emphasizes Norway's incredible baseball players, played very convincingly by real teenage athletes, who not only truly look the part, but can play the game. Their infielders are nothing short of modern dancers--and almost as bony. Michael Angarano who plays Mitch Akers is a real standout, moving and original--but so in a way, is the team itself, and their two unpretentious coaches (one of historic dimension).

The school merger theme is also effective. The rousing school board meetings, the reliable relationships, the bonds between coaches and fans, the old homogeneous way of life, are all palpable to the viewer. And as the film goes on and democracy wanes so the collateral damage of NHS's demise becomes apparent in the disposability of the town, its culture & traditions, and most of all in its famed ball players and coaches.