Top 5 Inspirational Movies - Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #7

-by Matt Leedham

Welcome back! This is the fourth and final installation of the Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies. There are many more than 5 inspirational movies, so we’ve divided them into three four categories:

1. Sports
2. Military
3. Life
4. BONUS!

We covered Inspirational Sports, Military and “Life” movies already over the last three weeks. Below, you’ll find the BONUS LIST of the Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies that didn’t make the other three lists. Did your favorite movie make it this time?

Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies – BONUS EDITION:

#1: Apollo 13 – This all too real plot details the story of three astronauts whose safe return home is looking less and less likely. After successfully landing on the moon, America seems to have little interest in “routine” space flights. But an explosion on board which necessitates a nearly impossible fix becomes their reality. America quickly pays attention after hearing those famous words from the space, “Houston, we have a problem.”

#2: Erin Brockovich – Based on true events, we follow the life of the down-and-out Erin Brockovich who is desperate to find a job. After a failed lawsuit related to a car accident, she convinces her lawyer to hire her on as legal assistant. No one takes her seriously until she finds herself doing routine research and discovers something big. Her tough questions and compassion for the victims eventually leads to the biggest class action lawsuit in American history.

#3: Jerry Maguire – After much success as a greedy sports agent, Jerry Maguire faces inner conflict with the lifestyle he chose and doing the right thing. After expressing his epiphany, he is fired and left with just one client who he begs to stay with him. Fighting and scratching for even a little success, Jerry almost loses his girl and his only client.

#4: Field of Dreams – “If you build it, he will come.” I don’t know about you, but if I heard that voice in my head, I wouldn’t have built a baseball field on my farm. But that’s what Ray Kinsella (played by Kevin Costner) does. And who appears? Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 7 other Black Sox of 1919. These 8 players were banned from baseball after throwing the World Series.

#5: To Kill a Mockingbird – Gregory Peck stars in this 1962 film based on Harper Lee’s Pulitzer Prize winning book from two years earlier. Peck plays Atticus Finch, a lawyer in a racially divided town in Alabama in the 1930’s, who has chosen to represent a young black man who is accused of raping a white woman. Tensions flare, but the principled lawyer takes a stand against intolerance in this inspiring film.

Check out this great clip from Apollo 13. Failure is NOT an option!

Thanks for reading about our top 26 Inspirational Movies. We hope you have an opportunity to be inspired by them in the near future!

Top 5 Inspirational Movies - Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #6

-by Matt Leedham

Welcome back! We have a very special announcement today. Velocity's blog turns 100!! Can you believe that we have posted 100 times since October 2010? Unbelievable...

Thank you for your support!

What better way to celebrate than with another installation of the Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies. There are many more than 5 inspirational movies, so we’ve divided them into three categories:

1. Sports
2. Military
3. Life

We covered Inspirational Sports and Military Movies already over the last two weeks. Below, you’ll find the Top 5 Most Inspirational “Life” Movies. This is a general category of very inspirational movies that didn’t fit into other specific categories. Did your favorite movie make the list?

Top 5 Most Inspirational “Life” Movies:

#1: It’s a Wonderful Life – This is my favorite movie of all time. In this 1946 classic, local businessman, George Bailey, has been generous and good to people his whole life. But when the scrooge-like Mr. Potter puts the screws to George on Christmas Eve, George begins to lose faith in who he is and thinks that the world would be better off without him. His family’s prayers are answered when an angel is sent to show George just what his home town of Bedford Falls would be like without him. *Editor’s pick!

#2: Life is Beautiful – This is a heartwarming, yet tragic film about a life-loving Jewish bookkeeper named Guido in 1930’s Italy who marries a beautiful girl and is blessed with a son. When his family is sent to a concentration camp during the German occupation, Guido tries to protect his young son by using his imagination and humor to pretend that the Holocaust is a game that his son must play in an effort to escape and win a tank.

#3: Dead Poets Society – In some moving performances by a great young cast, the Dead Poets Society takes place at the Welton Academy for boys in New England. When Professor Keeting, a new English teacher arrives, he challenges the boys to think outside the box as individuals. This results in great learning and great conflict, both internally for each boy, and also externally at the school. This story is packed with tragedy and triumph, learning and growing.

#4: Stand and Deliver – Based on a true story in East Los Angeles, this story shows how powerful expectations, positive thinking, and hard work can be, even in the most dire situations. Jaime Escalante is a math teacher at Garfield High School – a predominantly Hispanic school with a terrible performance record. Jaime believes he can turn a class of underperformers into college credit-earning calculus students. His students perform so well that the he is charged with cheating and his students are forced to retake the Advanced Placement exams.

#5: Good Will Hunting – A native of Boston’s South End, Will Hunting can’t picture a life apart from his blue-collar roots, but as a janitor at MIT, his talent for mathematics and chemistry is discovered. With pressure from every angle to be more than he thinks he is capable of, he needs the assistance of psychologist Sean Maguire. Together they uncover what’s holding Will back and how he can live the life he was meant to live.

Will there be more inspirational movies? Stay tuned! Have a great Wednesday!

Top 5 Inspirational Movies - Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #5

-by Matt Leedham

Welcome back! This is the second installation of the Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies. There are many more than 5 inspirational movies, so we’ve divided them into three categories:

1. Sports
2. Military
3. Life

We covered Inspirational Sports Movies last week. Below, you’ll find the Top 5 Most Inspirational Military Movies. Did your favorite movie make the list?

Top 5 Most Inspirational Military Movies:

#1: Saving Private Ryan – in this critically acclaimed, epic war film, we follow a group of soldiers that somehow make it off the beaches of Normandy only to be called on for another special mission. They must find the last surviving brother of four after the other three have been killed in action, and bring him home alive.

#2: Braveheart – William Wallace, the son of martyrs fighting for freedom, is a commoner that unites all of Scotland to defeat the advances of the English King, Edward the Longshanks. He battles soldiers, betrayals, and the loss of loved ones on his quest.

#3: Gladiator – Once favored by the people and the aging King, Roman general Maximus fails to see what the jealous prince is capable of doing. After his family is murdered and he is captured, he must fight in the Gladiator Games until he is defeated and killed. His skill and fury keep him alive until he is able to exact revenge.

#4: GI Jane – After a politically motivated Senator fights for gender integration of the Navy, she is challenged to find a female candidate to enter the Navy SEAL training program. Determined to prove everyone wrong, LT Jordan O’neil, begins her quest to succeed at any cost.

#5: Top Gun – Who can forget that tenuous relationship between Maverick and Iceman? This epic Navy fighter jet movie follows the struggle of one struggling pilot to keep control while living on the edge. Of course, a hot-blooded romance ensues with the leading lady.

Did you forget the ending of Top Gun? I doubt it. But in case you did, here you go:

Will Jaime have another rebuttal this week? Even I don’t know!

Coming up next week: Top 5 Most Inspirational “Life” Movies! It’s sort of a general category for movies that aren’t really Sports or Military. Can you guess what they are?

Inspirational Movies - Sports Movies Revisited

-by Jaime Willis

Good afternoon achievers! I read Matt's post this morning about inspirational sports movies and was inspired! Inspired to disagree with his Top Five, that is. So, without further ado, I present the real Top Five Inspirational Sports Movies.

#1: Coach Carter (2005)

When Ken Carter takes the high school basketball coaching job at his Richmond, CA alma mater, he means business. Coach Carter strives to improve his players ability and their lives with strict rules about dress code, conduct, and academic performance. When the team starts doing well on the court, they get sloppy off the court. Carter benches the team and you'll have to watch to find out what happens next.

#2 The Blind Side (2009)

Based on a true story and adapted from the bestselling book by Michael Lewis, The Blind Side tells the story of a young homeless teenager in Memphis Tennessee who is taken in by an affluent family from the other side of town. Michael Oher may not be up to grade level academically, but he is a beast on the football field. In a family where football is king, the Tuohys do everything they can to support Michael both on and off the field.

#3 A League of Their Own ( 1992)

This movie tells the tale of the women's professional baseball league through the eyes of two sisters who made the cut. Not only does this movie offer a fine acting job by Madonna, but it is also the source of the often co-opted line, "There's no crying in baseball!"

#4 Murderball (2005)

A documentary about the real life heroes of a full-contact rugby team on their quest for the Olympics. The catch? The entire team is made up of paraplegics who play the sport in specially designed wheelchairs. You will rethink life in a wheelchair after watching these guys play their hearts out.

#5 Over the Top (1987)

I know you were thinking I'd have to bring up Rocky at some point, but I have to say that Stallone's finest work was in this non-Rocky flick about a struggling truck-driver named Lincoln Hawk trying to re-establish a connection with his son by competing in a national arm-wrestling competition. This is also the movie that gives us the signature "I mean business" move -- putting your hat on backwards!

BONUS:

Cool Runnings (1993)

How can you not be inspired by the trials of the first Jamaican bobsled team to compete in the Winter Olympics? The fact that John Candy acts as the coach is just icing on the cake.

Top 5 Inspirational Movies - Weekly Wednesday Inspiration #4

-by Matt Leedham

Welcome to the first installation of the Top 5 Most Inspirational Movies. There are many more than 5 inspirational movies, so we’ve divided them into three categories:

1. Sports
2. Military
3. Life

Below, you’ll find the Top 5 Most Inspirational Sports Movies. Did your favorite movie make the list?

Top 5 Most Inspirational Sports Movies:

#1: Rudy – released in 1993, this film is based on actual events following the unlikely Notre Dame student turned football player that finally gets his chance to play after overcoming great physical and emotional challenges.

#2: Remember the Titans – Based on actual events in 1971 about a football team made up of students from two previously segregated high schools that were forced to integrate.

#3: Hoosiers – Another true story of a small-town high school basketball team from Indiana that proves everyone wrong as they make a run for the national championship in 1954.

#4: Miracle – If you were alive and American in 1980, you remember the unbelievable performance of the U.S. national hockey team during the cold-war Olympics as they faced the unbeatable Russians.

#5: We Are Marshall – In a tragic true story of 1970, almost the entire Marshall University football team, including coaches and some fans, die in a plane crash. This movie documents the 1971 season of a patchwork team, consisting of freshmen and walk-ons, trying to win just one game.

Bonus: Invictus - The South African nation is struggling with the lasting effects of apartheid. In Nelson Mandela's first term as President after being released from prison, he partners with the captain of the National Rugby Team to galvanize the nation by making a push for the 1995 Rugby World Cup.

We will release a new list each week for three weeks. Next week? The Top 5 Most Inspirational Military Movies!

Have recommendations? Leave a comment!