Touches You

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

"But for all the glory and riches, the Steinbrenner legacy is also mixed with wasteful and embarrassing spending and countless episodes of tabloid-style soap." The above statement is taken from the summary of this episode of "30 for 30" from IMDb. Had this been the focus of the film, I might have appreciated it more--as I really would have loved to have heard all the dirt. Instead, the fans' love/hate relationship with George Steinbrenner was only mentioned in passing. Instead, the film is mostly about the Steinbrenner era passing--with the retirement of George, his death and mostly the creation of a new Yankee Stadium. It's all very nostalgic but also paints a very superficial picture--with some of the more negative aspects of the franchise mentioned only in passing or not at all. So, if you want a critical analysis of all this, this isn't exactly the film for you. It's more just a homage to the wonderfulness of the Yankees. Great if you are a Yankee fan but not enough to warrant seeking this episode out if you aren't. I really would have loved to hear more about high ticket prices, the Billy Martin saga and what non-Yankees thought of all this.

30 for 30: The House of Steinbrenner (2010) *** (out of 4) Nice documentary covering George Streinbreener and the final year of Yankee Stadium before the team moved across the street. This documentary gives you a quick rundown of George buying the team for $10 million and eventually turning them into a billion dollar property. Along the way he made many enemies and at one point was considered the most hated man in baseball. The documentary covers quite a wide range of topics but there's no question is that one goal was to show the "King George" did a lot of great things that he never got credit for. I think the most memorable moments of this documentary come with the various fans being interviewed and sharing their memories of the old stadium. They could have called this movie THE HOUSE OF TEARS because it's rather amazing to see how many of the people got choked up reliving their memories of the stadium. A lot of the stories deal with sons who remember their fathers taking them to the game and it's stories like this that really makes this documentary worth viewing. The film also does a nice job at showing us what was going on at the old stadium as they were taking it down. I really enjoyed all the behind-the-scenes footage of everything being removed from the stadium and there's a rather funny sequence of them packing up the pitching mound. Countless current and former Yankees are interviewed and we even get some media guys who aren't that happy with the new stadium. We are there for the opening day game where many fans are in love with the stadium while many others fear it is for rich people and the tickets are being taken away from the common fan.