Hill: Amor pelo Jogo

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.

The Hill hits home (no pun intended) if you grew up in a smaller town. Growing up in the bible belt, I understand that strict, moral parental values are hard to let go of when children want to walk a different path in life.

Rickey Hill and his Father rarely see eye to eye - the conflict of baseball, faith, and their relationship can't seem to coexist. Rickey see's his skills at bat as a gift while his father sees it as a surefire way that he will be crippled forever. It's tough love verses stubbornness on his father's behalf as Rickey time and time again proves that he can fulfill his dream.

It's a rarity these days that we see such a gritty & real father/son relationship on screen and from the first scene, you're rooting for the two to salvage a bond together. Dennis Quaid and Colin Ford have great chemistry and you really believe their father and son dynamic. The child actors playing the younger version of the characters did a great job as well and the time period (late 60s/early 70s) makes for a perfect, All-American setting.

"October Sky" meets "The Natural". A winning baseball movie for the whole family.

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.

This movie will take you back in time and pull at your heartstrings the whole time. I thought this movie was so well acted and directed. Love movies that are based on real life events. It makes it much more relatable. I also saw Gran Tarismo which ironically had similar themes, young men chasing dreams that are seemingly impossible and without the needed support of their fathers. While Gran Turismo was a fantastic action movie and a lot of fun to watch, it lacked the spiritual element of The Hill. And dreams die eventually, and what are we left with? The character of Ricky Hill to me was the driving force and the lovable part of this film. The way he respects and wants to honor his dad and their beliefs is so touching and rare. That's what I loved about this film.

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.