Hard Miles is a sports drama inspired by the true story of Greg Townsend, a social worker who forms a cycling team of young inmates for a life-changing 1,000-mile trek to the Grand Canyon. Directed by R.J. Daniel Hanna and starring Matthew Modine, the film highlights resilience and the human spirit by showing how sports can be an event for positive change. With compelling performances and cinematography that captures the vastness and beauty of the landscapes traveled, Hard Miles offers a moving tale of resilience and teamwork. If you enjoy true stories that celebrate the power of transformation and the importance of empathy, this film is a great choice.
The story of cyclist Graeme Obree, from whose nickname the movie takes its title, is one of the most curious and controversial in the history of competitive cycling. Without being a professional and with his own original designs for low-cost bicycles - he actually used washing machine parts - he managed to break the world hour record on a bicycle in 1993, only to be surpassed weeks later, reclaim it in 1994, and earn the animosity of the International Cycling Union towards his bicycles and his riding positions. The Flying Scotsman is a biographical drama that does not deviate too much from the conventional, effective for narrating Obree's achievements and spectacular in the cycling sequences. However, it is somewhat lukewarm when it comes to addressing the mental health of its protagonist, which is partly compensated for by the great acting work of Jonny Lee Miller (Trainspotting), Laura Fraser (A Knight's Tale), Brian Cox (The Hour 25) and Billy Boyd (The Lord of the Rings).
The Climb is one of those films that make their way around festivals around the world. After all, it was awarded at the Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival 2019, and also won the Jury Prize at the Deauville Festival 2019. It was also part of the official selection of the Toronto, Telluride and Rio Festivals in 2019, and Sundance and SXSW in 2020. And it's no wonder. This dramedy by Michael Angelo Covino, a first-time feature film director, is a good treatise on friendship, time and old age. Here we follow the journey of two men, Mike (the director himself) and Kyle (Kyle Marvin), playing homonymous characters in constant disagreement. After all, Mike sleeps with Kyle's fiancee and, from there, turns his life upside down when he tells the information during a cycling outing. It's funny, it's weird, it's eccentric. And, despite the slightly off-tone ending, it will undoubtedly win over the audience for its light yet reflective tone.
This original Netflix documentary dives into one of the biggest scandals in sports history: the doping of Russian athletes, which resulted in the country's exclusion from multiple events at the 2016 Olympic Games. More than a movie, this is an important journalistic account to analyze sports as a whole.
A bicycle messenger wouldn't be the conventional choice to lead a high-octane thriller, but that's precisely what Premium Rush is. Written and directed by David Koepp (who has penned movies such as The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Spider-Man), the movie has a nonlinear narrative as dynamic as its protagonist's fast-paced life. Despite having some holes - maybe too many for talents like Joseph Gordon-Levitt ((500) Days of Summer) and Michael Shannon (Revolutionary Road) - it manages to keep enough interest for what's truly spectacular about this production: its thrilling bike chases and stunts. Believable? Not at all, but they are still incredibly exciting.