rating 6.9
trailers and stuffDirector: Oliver Stone
Cast: Al Pacino Cameron Diaz Dennis Quaid James Woods Jamie Foxx
Four years ago, the Miami Sharks won the Pantheon Cup. This year, they are at best a middling team on a three game losing streak. With a 7-5 record with four games left in the season, they are still in the hunt for a playoff spot. That playoff spot becomes more difficult to achieve as in the fourth to last game, it against the Minnesota Americans, their top two quarterbacks are injured - including veteran first stringer Cap Rooney - leaving the QB duties for the rest of the season to third string Willie Beamen, who may be more emotionally and experientially ill-prepared for the role than he is technically. That inexperience and immaturity manifest themselves in acts of showboating on the field, leading to issues between him, the other players, and thirty year head coach, Tony D’Amato, who wants to see some discipline on the field. Tony already faces problems off the field with new owner/general manager, Christina Pagniacci, the only female owner in the league. She inherited the team from her father Art Pagniacci after his passing. While Tony and Art had a gentlemen’s agreement type of relationship, Christina, who grew up calling Tony “Uncle Tony”, isn’t afraid to flex her muscles to make the team a success, she seeing the team’s coaching future in the younger offensive coordinator, Nick Crozier. Her ultimate goal is to move the team to the larger market of Los Angeles, timely in her issues with how little she has seen Miami Mayor Tyrone Smalls put into maintaining the aging stadium or that there has been no talk about replacing it. The team, however, has to be a success for her to have the money to do so. Back on the field, Cap, who believes he will be healthy enough to play in the playoffs, comes to the realization that if Willie got them to the playoffs, he may be the favored starter in the playoffs, especially seeing to Cap’s time off and age. Cap’s health issue is minor compared to that of linebacker Luther Lavay, which highlights the differences between the team’s doctors, Harvey Mandrake and Ollie Powers who sit on opposite sides of the player welfare versus overall team success at all cost debate.::Huggo