Team Marco

Team Marco is a story about what's important in life. A poignant lesson in the time of COVID-19 and a thoughtful reminder of the value of family, our elders, and living life to its fullest. Marco's grandfather Nonno is full of good laughs and witty lines as he navigates the 21st century in an outstanding performance as a first generation Italian living in Staten Island.

While I thought that Team Marco was a sweet family film, The movie begins with the death of Marco's grandmother and then a scene that helps Marco's mom decide that her newly widowed, elderly father, Nono, needs to move in with she and her son Marco. The mother is recently divorced and having a hard time as a single mother of a precocious, often rude child. Generations clash over almost everything such as gluten allergies but especially when it comes to Marco's indoor video game activities.

Nono, who is a bit of a rebel and often argues with both his daughter and Marco, has one thing that makes him happy in this time of grief. He has been playing bocce with a group of his friends for years and after convincing his daughter to let him watch Marco during summer vacation rather than spend money on camp, he takes Marco's video devices away just as Marco is trying to complete a video game that his absentee father created in order to go with him to a video game convention, and refuses to return them until Marco can learn how to play outside and make some real life friends his of his own.

We don't really see the group of kids who become Team Marco until almost half way into the film. We do get to see Marco and his "frenemy" Fred (who pretty much steals every scene he is in) a few times but not nearly enough. The older men are fun and likable enough but we end up seeing a lot more of them than we do of the team of kids that Marco eventually recruits Fred to enlist for him.

There is literally a montage of the kids learning and practicing bocce to establish the team's bonding and sadly, that's it. We don't get much more than a very one dimensional characterization of the bonding and relationship. .

A conflict arises and Marco has to decide what is most important. And while it's a nice moral for everyone in these very "tech" times, it is mostly fluffy, stereotypical, formulaic and flat.

The character of Marco, while well acted, doesn't come off as likable at all. So much so that when you should like him at the end, your just happy he learned a lesson and will now possibly shut up.

I went into this expecting more of a kid team bonding movie kind of in the vein of The Bad News Bears or The Sandlot but that isn't what we got at all.

I'm not sure who the targeted audience is for this movie but if you wanted to hold the attention of kids, you should have had the team get established a lot sooner.

Team Marco should have been titled Team Nono.

Family matters. Heart-warming story so needed today. Marco and his grandfather's relationship feels honest and real. Wonderful homage to Staten Island NY's forgotten borough too. Watch with the whole family.

Team Marco is a wonderful, heartwarming and sweet movie. This family-friendly fun comedy will have you laughing, bring you joy and inspire you to seize each day.

This movie is about a boy named Marco (Owen Vaccaro) who is insanely addicted to video games. When his grandmother dies and his house nearly burns down, his grandpa, Nonno (Anthony Patellis), moves in. Nonno is extremely bothered with his grandson's obsession with video games. Nonno will not stand for this and takes measures into his own hands. He decides to take away all of Marco's electronics and forces him to play outside. Nonno teaches Marco his favorite sport - bocce ball. Can Marco and his team of friends beat Nonno and his gang of neighborhood Italian bocce ballers in a bocce ball tournament?

This movie was written, directed and produced by Julio Vincent Gambuto, and it is his first feature film. This story is inspired by a real-life experience. About four years ago, when Julio was visiting his nieces and nephews, he noticed that his nephew, Marco, didn't even greet him when he arrived at their house because his head was buried in his electronics. This sparked the idea for his movie. The film takes place in Julio's beloved hometown, Staten Island, NY. It was filmed on location, which was very important to Julio. He loves his hometown community and was passionate about it being filmed on Staten Island. My favorite characters are Nonno and Marco. I really like the performances of Anthony Patellis because of his dry sense of humor and his love of family, which shines through. He is very entertaining while playing the cranky grandpa battling technology. Owen Vaccaro convincingly plays the "pre-teen techie" Marco. I can relate to his love of electronics and his struggles trying to balance Nonno's desire for conversation, friendship and connecting through Nonno's favorite sport, bocce ball. My favorite part of the movie is when Nonno is trying to figure out the Google Assistant.

The main message of the movie is to be present when around your family. This film shows technology is not always bad, and in fact connects us. It also reminds everyone that, while technology will be around forever, your family will not be. Cherish the time you have with your family.

I give Team Marco 4 out of 5 stars and recommend it for ages 6 to 14, plus adults. Reviewed by Katherine S., KIDS FIRST!

Wonderful movie for the whole family! Love the relationship between Nonno and Marco. My kids sat and watched the whole movie without interruption... I give it 10 stars!!!