Films to fill the sports vacuum

Stuck inside, and with precious little to do other than read books, bake things, and bug our friends and family members, there is no time like the present to fully put to use all those streaming services we’ve been paying for and underutilizing. For our new streaming column, we’re rounding up the current 10 best films in a given genre you can stream at home. Given the multitude of streaming options, we’re limiting our search to a selection of the biggest and bestknown services — Amazon Prime, Disney+ and Netflix — along with a niche offering — Criterion Channel — that we honestly couldn’t live without.

THIS WEEK’S GENRE: SPORTS

As but a partial list, what should have happened by now in American sports is as follows: March Madness; NCAA Men’s/ Women’s Final Fours and Championship games; the NBA/NHL playoffs, and Championship Series; the Masters; spring training and opening day of the baseball season; with Wimbledon, and the Summer Olympics in Tokyo on deck. Instead, we have a smattering of European futbol matches, and (generally very good) baseball from South Korea. In the sad absence of our sporting spectacles, at least we can take solace in some of the more interesting sport-themed films available for streaming.

16 Days of Glory (1986): In 1980, the U.S. declined to participate in the Summer Games in Moscow in objection to the Soviets invading Afghanistan, so the 1984 games, held in L.A. were boycotted by the U.S.S.R., the East Germans, and a dozen other Eastern Bloc countries in retaliation, a political act toward which the U.S. collectively shrugged and then won a bazillion medals in response. Bud Greenspan, who became the Olympic chronicler of choice after this doc was made, revels in the U.S.’s command performance.

Intended Audience: Olympics Fans/ U.S.A Chanters/Goliath-Beating Davids Sport(s) in Play: Many, but highlights include gymnastics, swimming, and Track/Field. Streaming Service: Criterion Channel

Breaking 2 (2017): This isn’t a sequel and there is no Electric Boogaloo in this doc from Martin Desmond Roe about a team of three super-skilled marathon runners from eastern Africa, who endure intense, scientifically driven training in preparation for breaking the sub-two-hour barrier, long thought impossible.

Intended Audience: Runners/Dream Builders/Competitive Types

Thrilling Moment of Triumph? Absolutely.

Streaming Service: Disney+ Icarus (2017): Filmmaker Bryan Vogel initially set out to document his experiment, training himself using common doping techniques in order to determine if he could beat the testing process. What he ended up getting, once he met with a Russian scientist who specialized in doping, was an exposé of a sports scandal so huge, it rocked international headlines, and forever changed the way we look at athletes. Intended Audience: Athletes/ Sports Fans/Olympians/ Cheaters/Expose Fans Thrilling Moment of Triumph?

What is the opposite of that?

Streaming Service: Netflix Meru (2015): Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi’s film follows the years-long exploits of a team of three world-class climbers — Conrad Anker, Renan Ozturk, and Chin, himself — as they attempt, more than once, to climb the nearly impassable Shark Fin on Mountt Meru in the Himalayas, a climbing feat never before achieved, due to the extremely technical and grinding nature of the route. Intended Audience: Mountain Climbers/Goal Setters/People Not Afraid of Heights Thrilling Moment of Triumph? No spoilers. Streaming Service: Amazon Prime

Miracle (2004): Speaking of American Olympic glory, this fictionalized reenactment of one of this country’s most inspired sports moments — when the U.S. Hockey team, fielding a squad of mostly college-aged kids, beat the mighty Soviet Union in the 1980 Winter Olympics — plays up to the crowd in a big way, as you would imagine from Disney. With Kurt Russell playing legendary firebrand coach Herb Brooks. It would pair nicely with Red Army, a Russian doc about the experience from the other side of the coin.

Intended Audience: U.S. Patriotic Types/Hockey Fans/ Revelers in Old Glories Thrilling Moment of Triumph?: Um.

Streaming Service: Disney+ North Dallas Forty (1979): This adaptation of the infamous tell-all book from Peter Gent (the NFL’s Ball Four), gets into the nitty-grittiness of the league in the ’70s, where the players were treated like rock’em-sock’em robots, getting numbing injections, and popping barbiturates like so many Tic Tacs. Nice turns by Nick Nolte, playing a facsimile of the author, and his good buddy, a Ken Stabler-standin QB played by Mac Davis. Decidedly not endorsed by the NFL. Intended Audience: ’70s Appreciators/Football Fans/Cowboys Fans Thrilling Moment of Triumph? Not unless you really love cocaine. Streaming Service: Amazon Prime Pegasus (2019): A Chinese film from social media gadabout Han Han that concerns rally cars, races, a disgraced former champion (Teng Shen), his adopted son (Li Qingyu), and his will to work his way back from the bottom of the well to the sunshine at the top. Along the way, expect music, comedy (Shen is known primarily as a comedian), and racing thrills.

Intended Audience: Rallycar Fans/Rocky Lovers/Shen Lovers Thrilling Moment of Triumph? No spoilers, but really, you have to ask?

Streaming Service: Netflix

The Natural (1984): For my money, the best baseball movie ever made (keeping in mind I’m not the hugest fan of the sport), Barry Levinson’s winning adaptation of the Bernard Malamud novel — which, please take note, is way more of a downer — stars Robert Redford as a former prodigy, knocked out of the sport by a tragedy for many years before making a long-belated comeback, and Glenn Close as his longtime confidant. Using sports tropes like so many Monopoly hotels, Levinson crafts a film every bit as mythic as was intended. Intended Audience: Baseball Fans/Redfordites/Sentimentalists Thrilling Moment of Triumph? Oh, only the best one ever. Streaming Service: Amazon Prime

Tokyo Olympiad (1964): Kon Ichikawa’s stunning coverage of the ’64 Summer Games remains one of the gold standards of the sports genre. Utilizing a series of angles, perspectives, and lenses, Ichikawa manages to capture both the thrilling events of the games and the intimate moments between competitors that fuel their intensity. Intended Audience: Olympics Devotees/Cinematography Fiends/Gymnasts Thrilling Moment of Triumph? Pretty much, yeah, it’s sort of the point. Streaming Service: Criterion Channel

Undefeated (2011): A sublime example of the Uplifting Sports Doc, Daniel Lindsay and T.J. Martin’s film, shot in inner-city Memphis, follows the many trials and tribulations of a downtrodden high school football team as it attempts to rise up from despair, under the careful tutelage and guidance of a volunteer coach. Intended Audience: Football Fans/Sports Doc Appreciators/People With Feelings Thrilling Moment of Triumph? No spoilers. Streaming Service: Netflix