I'm watching the movie "4 Minute Mile" on Netflix and have one question

chyna wrote:

Ray guy wrote:

Young kid runs faster than older kids on the beach, but then his dad dies....

...

...no, not a Bannister movie.

Excellent. Is this the track movie with a young Brad Pitt as the track star? Or am I thinking of a different movie?

No, it is fairly recent and no Brad Pitt for sure.

Nice re-cap Ray guy. You should do all the news, sports, movies, books, etc., for the message board.

Slow ride wrote:

Nice re-cap Ray guy. You should do all the news, sports, movies, books, etc., for the message board.

It really was a well done recap. I've watched the movie and somehow still felt compelled to keep reading his recap.

Very bad movie, btw. Of course, still top 10 running movies of all time, solely by virtue of there only being about 10 running movies.

Anybody seen "the pitcher and the pinup?" It is also on Netflix. It's about baseball. It somehow manages to be far worse than this "four minute mile" movie.

I recall there being something bizaar about one of the races. Something about another teammate being right there in a big race yet there was never any mention of a kid o. His team being good. Maybe when he ran the 411, I recall there being a teammate right in the mix.

Edededededededed wrote:

I recall there being something bizaar about one of the races. Something about another teammate being right there in a big race yet there was never any mention of a kid o. His team being good. Maybe when he ran the 411, I recall there being a teammate right in the mix.

Well, in the mile race at Regionals, Charlie St James won in something like 4:09-4:10 and the main Kid was just behind in about 4:11. Then, in a crazy show of depth for a high school race (regional or no), a hug pack of 7-8 guys finish together in around 4:12. Likely at least one guy in that pack was from the same school as main Kid. I didn't really pay attention to the singlets but I'm guessing that's what you saw.

I think this other fast, otherwise unmentioned miler from the main Kid's school has less to do with any dropped plot line and more to do with the wardrobe department not bothering to get a wider variety of singlet tops.

Please check out "1 Mile to You" that was released this year. Available on VOD and Netflix. Starring Billy Crudup, Graham Rogers, Stefanie Scott, Liana Liberato, Peter Coyote, Melanie Lynskey, and Tim Roth. Yep, I'm partial because I worked on it. Based on Jeremy Jackson's, "Life At These Speeds." You should probably watch it with your teenagers... or have a few beers and remember when you were teenagers. Hey, I'm in the same boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHFQsguOsMI

Runtothelight wrote:

Please check out "1 Mile to You" that was released this year. Available on VOD and Netflix. Starring Billy Crudup, Graham Rogers, Stefanie Scott, Liana Liberato, Peter Coyote, Melanie Lynskey, and Tim Roth. Yep, I'm partial because I worked on it. Based on Jeremy Jackson's, "Life At These Speeds." You should probably watch it with your teenagers... or have a few beers and remember when you were teenagers. Hey, I'm in the same boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHFQsguOsMI

I will definitely watch that. Probably later today. I was hooked by the line, "You don't know anything about me! Maybe I hate running."

Sounds like me every day.

Also: with Billy Crudup in a running movie and as the kid's mentor no less, I am going to pretend this is a sequel to "Without Limits". A sort What If Movie, had Steve Prefontaine lived and become a coach.

tall daughter wrote:

Ireland Baldwins Mom

I used to dream about her and her ex bae Angel Haze. But those tattoos are so trashy.

She's nothe in it

Runtothelight wrote:

Please check out "1 Mile to You" that was released this year. Available on VOD and Netflix. Starring Billy Crudup, Graham Rogers, Stefanie Scott, Liana Liberato, Peter Coyote, Melanie Lynskey, and Tim Roth. Yep, I'm partial because I worked on it. Based on Jeremy Jackson's, "Life At These Speeds." You should probably watch it with your teenagers... or have a few beers and remember when you were teenagers. Hey, I'm in the same boat.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHFQsguOsMI

I will, thanks. I'm early 30s, so going to have to be beers plus reminiscing.

I'm only 5 minutes into "1 Mile to You" but already I am Gripped!

A lot has already happened, to recap:

Opening slo-mo shot of runner on track. Appears to be running on pure hate.

Transition to feel-good song playing over shot of school bus traveling picturesque country side. Possibly Mumford & Sons song, not sure, could be a similar sounding band with cheaper licencing.

On bus, Runner from earlier slo-mo, snuggling with attractive Track Chick. Planning their future. Hey, Sports Movie cannot start with stable relationship for its star... I am already worried for them.

Bus Driver is none other than Tim Roth! Going with a delightful British working-class accent. Trying to keep rowdy kids in line, typical Bus Driver duties.

Team arrives at low-key track meet. Runner waves at parents, declines pre race coffee due to "chemicals". Then goes into stadium bathroom with buddy and proceed to share a cigarette!

Dickheads from rival team enter and immediately sneer at Runner's Buddy's effeminate holding of cigarette. Some gay jokes/slurs abound. Tim Roth enters and keeps things from getting physical with his British Wit.

Tim Roth not only drives the bus, he is the Track Coach too. On par with every HS Track Coach/Bus Driver I've ever known.

Jump to: Runner and Track Chick making out in the pole vault pit. I think she is a vaulter. There was a brief POV shot of a vault earlier. Things progress in the PV pit, looks like we might be headed for a Once a Runner-style PV pit sex scene despite a stadium full of spectators on hand.

Luckily, Buddy shows up and cools things off by begging Runner Guy to let him take his spot in the 800. Runner agrees once Buddy slips him a JOINT! Hopefully no one has been paying attention to the nefarious PV Pit Goings-On.

Buddy is a late add into the 800 meters, literally tying shoe as gun goes off. Has plan to beat Dickhead from Rival Team (who is a 4:10 miler, no slouch). 4 seconds of race are seen in which Buddy blantantly shoves Dickhead. DQed? Don't know, outcome of race not mentioned. Also unknown what Main Runner Guy does at meet. Was supposed to run 800 originally, but did not, later offhandedly mentions to his parents that he set a school record. Must have run something else, maybe will be later revealed. Given the title, perhaps he ran the mile.

Meet done. Runner rides home with parents rather than slum on the school bus. His dad, fueled by excessive coffee drinking, accepts Runner's dare to pass the school bus on two lane highway. Foreboding...this can't end well.

BUT IT DOES! Successful pass, car and bus continue on peacefully.

BOOM! Bus has a blowout. On a bridge! Bus crashes through rail, plunges into whatever is below. School should have spent a little money, gotten a real Bus Driver, not made Coach do double duty. Hindsight.

Now: funeral. Many dead, including Track Chick! Knew they were doomed. Tim Roth dead?! 5 minutes in? That i didn't see coming. Hopefully in coma somewhere and will return with delightful British accent.

Whew! Good opening and we haven't even seen Billy Crudup as Old Prefontaine yet.

Will update more as i make it through more of the movie.

Another 5 minutes in... Runner bolts out of funeral, overcome with grief. Sketchy looking guy standing by door gives him an odd look. We'll see Sketchy Guy again, I'd wager.

Runner runs on Pure Grief, in formal suit, away from funeral. Miles go by, doesn't see that mailbox...BAM! Down to the ground. Could this be Billy Crudup's house? Looks like somewhere Old Prefontaine would live and would be a classic Serendipitous Movie Meeting.

But no! Just a house with a mailbox. Opportunity Lost.

Cut to: Grief Montage. Runner going through momentos. Flashbacks to track practices. Track Chick was Tim Roth's daughter! Runner smells some old flats. Track Chicks? No, he puts them on and does late night run. Producers check off Late Night Angsty Run from list of Things All Running Movies Must Include.

More memories of track practices gone by. Quit cuts, fuzzy edges, let us know they are flashbacks. So unfortunately, Tim Roth still likely dead, not in coma. We'll see.

Back to the present. Runner meets with School Principal Figure. Only 3 kids left in his class. Must have been very small school with new 100% participation on Track Team. Seriously, couldn't have been more than 60 kids on that bus.

Anyway, Runner is probably going to have to transfer... And that is where i paused things.

Will he have to transfer to the school of the Rival Dickheads/4:10 Miler? 60% Likelihood.

Will Billy Crudup be new track coach? 95% Likelihood.

Will Sketchy Guy cause trouble at some point? Yes.

Reading your synopsis has proven to be way more entertaining than the movie could ever hope to be.

5 more minutes in...

Mom drops off Runner (name is Kevin, I learn) at big new school. Promises nice dinner later.

Billy Crudup sighting! In school office, stretching hamstrings. Seems a bit whimsical, not really Prefontaine-like.

Kevin meets with new Principal who scoffs at his old school's Rural 4-H reputation. Tragedy-Schmagedy, it will cost you $2000 to enroll here. Must be a private school. Makes sense that only high school near a small rural school would be a large private one. Actually that makes no sense!

But, it provides the Impetus for Kevin to have to run track at his new school as in walks Billy Crudup (Coach K, no relation to Mike Krzyzewski) with a plan. Kevin will get a track scholarship to cover tuition.

Cut to practice: New Track Chick introduces herself; Coach K is high energy, folksy with the kids, even flippant at times but gives Kevin a nice speech on the purity of the sport and his place in it. Not getting a Without Limits vibe at all from Crudup. Feels more like he is playing Paul Rudd playing a Track Coach. Doesn't even have any sideburns to speak of.

Movie paused again as Coach K doing some internet research into the Bus Crash. Maybe a little more empathy and a little less flippancy is forthcoming from Coach K.

Stay tuned...

Only first place advances to state by the way

Okay, time for some running. Setting: low key XC dual meet. Billy Crudup gives Kevin a pep talk on the starting line. Running and flashbacks ensue. Many memories of Track Chick and a chicken. Was a 4-H school, that must be normal for them.

Kevin powers to big lead as course spends a long section on paved road. Finishes on the track, winning easily in 14:52. Was that a 5K? Maybe this is Illinois and it was 3 Miles? Unclear. New Principal was a thick Southern Good Ole Boy accent, but no one else does. I'm feeling like it could be downstate Illinois or Iowa. Thought i saw an old cival war battlefield in one shot so not out west at least. Hard to put 14:52 into perspective without knowing distance so we'll assume 5K. Margin of victory was impressive and that, not times, matter more in XC, especially as spikes unable to be worn due to road section of course.

Kevin later runs to his new school after a light breakfast - 10 miles one way!

Runs past Sketchy Guy from funeral. Seems to be a friendly neighbor. Damn! Still hoping some sinister develops there.

Tim Roth Bus Driver character certainly dead, or would have been mentioned by now. I may sue filmmakers for Criminal Underuse of Tim Roth.

Hoping for more flashbacks at least.

Ugh, last five minutes have creeped me out a bit.

New Track Chick wants to run with Kevin. It starts raining, Shakespeare is discussed. New Track Chick gets dropped but catches up with Kev in the gym, says she's never run so fast and needs to run with him everyday so she can get better. She doesnt understand training, OR trying to move in on the new guy.

Confirmed: moving in strong with a birthday party invite. Kevin is having None of It. Shuts things down so she has to get crafty.

New Track Chick comes to Kevin's house, posing as a school newspaper reporter, needs an article on the new Star Runner she tells Kevin's Mom.

Mom remarks that she looks older than 18, this is the second time already that we've had someone mention that one of these HS kids act/look old. Not-so-subtle Wink to Camera to acknowledge that HS kids in films are always played by 30 year olds talking in dialogue written by adults? Very Meta.

Now creepy part. New Track Chick/"School Reporter" in Kevin's room for interview. He demands a kiss on the cheek in exchange for the interview. She is a little creeped, but complies. Then he demands a kiss on the other cheek for photograph to accompany article. Getting a weird vibe from Kevin, maybe he is trying to show her that Coming On Too Strong is off putting. Or maybe he's a creep, haunted by demons of love lost.

We shall see...

Also, there has been some minor subplot involving a football player that is friendly to Kevin. He was seen sticking a needle in his knee. Some kind of Varsity Blues pain-masker or PEDs?

Again, we shall see...

We need some more Billy Crudup channelling Paul Rudd to lighten things up.

tall daughter wrote:

Ireland Baldwins Mom

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017/06/01/06/40FB33AA00000578-0-image-a-1_1496296023875.jpg

Ugh, tattoos

Okay, a lot is going on.

Southern Principal Guy is overly interested in Kevin's running. Because: he has a daughter who is a college track coach and wants to steer Kevin to her program.

There is another XC race and Kevin wins big again. Running shots of wooded course interwoven with memories of Original Track Chick. It is implied that had birthday sex in a barn. 4-H School, we get it already. They also discussed Shakespeare at one point, a parallel to New Track Chick. Between similar conversations and the fact that the two Track Chick actresses look alike, I'm having trouble determining who is who and what is flashback vs present day. Perhaps just like Kevin! We are inside his head - Brilliant Filmmaking!

Also confusing though, I wish one had short red hair or a facial scar to help set them apart.

More of the Unnecessary Football SubPlot: Friendly Guy that Injected Something into his knee is the coach's son. His Dad/Coach seems like an asshat. Overbearing. Makes son walk home for some reason.

Female College Coach/Daughter of Southern Accented Principal makes Kevin run on Treadmill in apparent VO2 Max test.

Seems to be some history between Billy Crudup's Coach K and this Female College Coach. Wish they had gotten the actress from Without Limits for this role.

Missed Opportunity.

Kevin's shoes keep coming up. The flats he smelled early in the film. Initials BS scrawled on them. Clearly sentimental value tied to Original Track Chick but College Coach thinks they are worn out and faults Billy Crudup for letting Kevin continue to wear them.

Tension is heating up between them...