11 Great Sports Films To Watch Now

CREED

If you thought six Rocky movies was enough, you’d be wrong. In 2015, this seventh outing for Sly Stallone’s iconic boxer took the franchise right back to the soaring heights of the early films – which is surely a comeback to match any of Rocky’s in the ring. Stallone has finally, definitely, hung up his gloves, but there’s a new kid in town. He turns out to be the son of Rocky’s old pal Apollo Creed. Rocky takes on the role of mentor to young Adonis (the excellent Michael B Jordan), preparing him for a title fight that takes place at Goodison Park, stomping ground of British reigning champ ‘Pretty’ Ricky Conlan. The follow-up, Creed II, is currently on Netflix and also deserves your attention.

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I, TONYA

Ice skater Tonya Harding is remembered for one thing only: a conspiracy to knobble her great rival Nancy Kerrigan in the run-up to the 1994 Winter Olympics. In fact, Harding was an outstanding, ground-breaking skater in her own right, who’d achieved remarkable things after a white-trash upbringing. That’s the story this splendid biopic sets out to tell in full. Margot Robbie earned an Oscar nomination in the title role, as real events are retold in surreal fashion. The stylised approach has its own peculiar power, and you’ll be forced to reconsider where your sympathies lie.

Watch it on Netflix

THE BOXER

When it comes to great boxing movies, Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull tends to hog the spotlight. It deserves the acclaim, but The Boxer deserves a shout-out. Starring the greatest actor of his generation, it tells the story of Danny Flynn, an IRA member who’s trying to go straight. Taking on the role of Flynn, Daniel Day-Lewis trained for two years, working twice a day, seven days a week, with Irish boxing great Barry McGuigan. As ever, Day-Lewis’s total dedication pays off. By the end of filming, McGuigan was convinced the actor could have turned pro.

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SLAP SHOT

Ice-hockey comedy might sound like a hard sell, but this one’s got Paul Newman on its side, as well as blood, guts and near-the-knuckle 70s humour. It didn’t do much business when it came out, but has subsequently emerged as a cult classic. The great Newman is Reggie Dunlop, a player-coach who realises he can revive his flagging minor-league team with a new strategy of all-out violence. Enter the Hanson boys: played by real-life ice-hockey pros, the three brothers look like nerds, but they live to fight. Then Reggie has a crisis of conscience. Somewhat alarmingly, a lot of the most outrageous scenes are based on incidents that really did happen.

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FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS

HG Bissinger’s Friday Night Lights was originally an outstanding nonfiction book, chronicling a season following the Permian Panthers, a high-school American football team in backwater Texas. Eventually it was made into a very good TV series that stretched to five seasons. In between, there was this excellent feature film starring Billy Bob Thornton, who plays the team’s coach. It’s his job to nurture and protect the kids who carry the hopes of a somewhat obsessive community on their absurdly young shoulders. That said, it’s hard not to get caught up in the excitement as the Panthers progress towards a championship game.

Watch it on Netflix

SPACE JAM

Who wouldn’t want to watch Michael Jordan shooting hoops with Bugs Bunny? When the Looney Tunes are challenged to a basketball match by their devious rivals, the Monstars, they know the world’s greatest player represents their only hope of the victory they need to save their freedom. Jordan is reluctant to help them out, until he realises he’s got some skin of his own in the game. But even the great man can’t do it all himself – look out for an unlikely late cameo from Bill Murray. One for all the family.

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ANY GIVEN SUNDAY

Oliver Stone’s 1999 drama tracks the travails of a fictional American football team. The Miami Sharks are fallen giants and their veteran coach (Al Pacino) is under pressure. As injuries take their toll, Pacino is forced to turn to a talented but unreliable backup quarterback (Jamie Foxx). The on-field action is tense, believable and riveting, but it’s the off-field stuff that lifts this film into the realm of great human dramas. Capturing the complex psychology of a man who’s given everything to a game, Pacino turns in one of his best late-career performances.

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FIGHTING WITH MY FAMILY

Written and directed by Stephen Merchant, this comedy-drama tells the true story of Paige (Florence Pugh), a girl from Norwich who became the youngest Divas Champion in WWE history. Paige has the dubious advantage of coming from a wrestling family, and her remarkable journey to the top is hardly without its setbacks. While her older brother grapples with his own failure to make it to the big time, her parents continue to lead eccentric if well-meaning lives back home. When she gets to the States, she falls under the command of Vince Vaughn’s unrelenting coach and faces stiff competition from a bevy of blonde models. And, yes, of course there’s a cameo from Dwayne ‘the Rock’ Johnson.

Watch it on Netflix

RUSH

Fire met ice when dashing Brit James Hunt battled Austria’s Niki Lauda for the Formula 1 world championship in the 70s – back when sports stars were still big personalities and motor racing was insanely risky. For this retelling of their rivalry, director Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind, Cinderella Man) turns Chris Hemsworth into the good-time, open-shirted Hunt, while Daniel Brühl is his precise, buttoned-up Austrian rival. Prepare for sparks to fly, on and off the track.

Watch it on Netflix

WARRIOR

Joel Edgerton and Tom Hardy are estranged brothers who enter the same mixed martial arts tournament. They both have their reasons for being there, but Warrior is a rare film in that it doesn’t pick sides. This isn’t about good versus evil; Hardy’s Tommy Conlon is a troubled ex-Marine, while Edgerton’s Brendan Conlon is a physics teacher and family man. The fight scenes are memorable, but the wider emotional drama packs a punch too. Nick Nolte earned an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of their dad.

Watch it on Netflix

INVICTUS

In 1995, South Africa upset the odds and won the Rugby World Cup for the first time. It wasn’t just an underdog victory; it was a unifying triumph for a nation being reborn under Nelson Mandela. In 2009, Clint Eastwood took on the job of telling that story to a global cinema audience. Morgan Freeman – it had to be – plays Mandela, while Matt Damon fills the big boots of team captain Francois Pienaar, a man transformed after meeting his new president. A powerful, yet entertaining film.

Watch it on Amazon Prime or Google Play