best movie i've ever seen.

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

It is encouraging that the film ends so strongly.Otherwise, it wouldn't have been a particularly memorable film

Even if you dont like baseball you could still appreciate this picture about an aspiring young baseball talent who has lost his confidence at his game and isnt able to throw winning curve balls anymore. Having already signed a million dollar contract this baseball kid is under tremendous pressure to perform. Enter Paul Giamatti as a mental coach who is appointed to get the kid's winning streak back. Will he succeed or will he fail? I wont tell.The Phenom is in nothing comparable to other sport movies. Baseball is just an excuse to let two people talk on screen with eachother about FEELINGS. Everything in this movie takes its time. As if the movie itself reflects the rut the baseball kid is in. Slow scenes, many pauses. Many widely spun out scenes about relationships. Not at all a sports movie. If you expect a cool,fast movie about a baseball hero, you will be disappointed. If you wanna see how sportheroes mentally can struggle with loosing, then this is the movie for you.It is a movie about a young kids own mindgames: thoughts he throws at himself and keep hurting again and again. Man is one's own worst enemy and this sweet baseball kid is struggling to deal with that. 10 points for realism and originality. Less points for the drama. Âverage of a well deserved 8. This movie about coping with loosing is a winner!I want to dedicate a special paragraph to producer, writer and director Noah Bushel. This young man has achieved something very unique: he has written EVERYONE of his directed movies! Few great directors have achieved that. I urge you to look at his other work too, because of his total control over his own movies. Everytime he produces something it is unique. Very interesting director of whom we certainly will see more surprising movie gems!

Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons) is in a position that every little boy dreams about. He is a star rookie pitcher in Major League Baseball. His numbers and talent are off the chart, when all of a sudden, he can't find the strike zone. There is nothing wrong with him physically, so the team sends him down to the minors and puts him to work with the top sports psychologist in the country. I really don't understand professional critics and what they look for when they rate a film. Take The Phenom for example, this film has got to be the slowest and most boring sports film I've ever seen, yet it has an 80 on Rotten Tomatoes. There was very little sports action in this film and the fast majority of it consisted of this guy sitting in a room talking to a shrink! Yes, the shrink was played by Paul Giamatti, who is an unbelievably talented actor, but why the hell would anyone want to watch some dudes therapy session? When he wasn't in therapy, he should be on the field, but no, he's dealing with his over barring father, who is fresh out of prison. Who plays this bad ass, bullying his pro-athlete son, who is in peak physical condition? A very old looking, very tattooed, Ethan Hawke and I really wasn't buying that for a second. There were some talented actors in this film, no doubt, but The Phenom was 88 minutes of talking and nothing more, what in the hell is so great about that? This film was as boring as movies get, so unless you're a die hard Paul Giamatti fan, I would absolutely let this one pass you by.

Major League Pitcher Hopper Gibson (Johnny Simmons) is sent down to the minors because he lost his pitching mojo. He is assigned to Dr. Mobley (Paul Giamatti) a renowned sports psychologist. Hopper's overbearing father Hopper Sr (Ethan Hawke) makes his presence known as he just out of prison. So I see the title and jump at this movie hoping to see something like Roy Hobbs (from the Natural) in earlier days. Didn't happen. This is a talk- fest and I am not sure we got all of the movie or the script or something that would make sense of this. The ending came so quickly without anything being resolved that I had a hard time figuring this out. Maybe you will have better luck, but truth be told I advise all to stay away. There are many uncomfortable scenes with Hopper and Hopper Sr, who is not physically abusive, but is verbally abusive and his son just quietly takes it. At a family dinner with Hopper's girl friend Rachel (Marin Ireland) the music was so annoyingly loud to a point we could barely hear what was being said. Ethan Hawke (following his part of the script) is okay but we don't like seeing this abusive side of anyone. Paul Giamatti as Dr. Mobley tries too hard with unnecessary facial expressions. There are a couple sub plot that don't go anywhere.This appears to be half of a movie, a script or some kind of a half-told story to help Hopper get his mojo back. We do not see any real baseball games or parts of. We do see Hopper on the mound, at times, looking lethargic or out of focus. Just so you know: this is an under-developed story the way I saw it. Good luck with it. (2/10)Violence: No. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Language: Yes, at times, not much but there.

It's a movie about a kid who loved playing baseball. He worked really hard everyday to get better and better at the game, then suddenly one day he discovers he is better than everybody else. So, what now?Everybody expects something of him. His team expects him to throw 100mph fastballs into the strike zone game after game. His coach expects him to stay out of trouble. His teacher expects him finish school. His dad expects him to not get lazy and waste his talent. His girlfriend expects him to be just a normal guy who she can talk to and relate to and be best friends with. And his shrink expects him to accept his talent.Would I recommend you to watch this movie? Yes. Although most of us can't throw 100mph fastballs, but if you can just suspend belief for a moment and put yourself into his shoes, you will find a very well written story about a working class kid working hard and making a success of himself.No. If you go into this thinking "he's making $$$ millions, what's he got to complain about?" or "he's naturally talented, why everybody want to drag him down?" Then you are better off watching something else.