Movies like Matchups
If you like "Matchups" you are looking for serious, realistic and touching movies about / with blindness, prodigy, against the odds, human spirit, follow your dream, ambition and disability themes of Drama genre shot in USA.
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1. Identify all themes of interest from this film (block below).
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Matchups (2003)
30
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Ian Willams -- who was born blind in one eye -- grew up undaunted to become an elite college basketball player. But his dream of winning a national championship and turning pro was sidetracked when a tragic accident left him completely blind. Triumphing over adversity, Williams recalibrated his ambition and went on to become college basketball's first blind coach. A truly inspiring story about the triumph of the human spirit.
Style:
serious, realistic, touching, independent film
Plot:
blindness, prodigy, against the odds, human spirit, follow your dream, ambition, disability, dedicated educator, youth, life is a bitch, athlete and trainer, rivalry, society, contests and competitions, lifestyle, hopes, athlete's life, college, sport team, underdog, basketball, coach, basketball team, blind character, blind man ...
Time:
21st century, contemporary
Movie in categories
Most similar movies to Matchups
The list contains related movies ordered by similarity. Recommendation engine sorted out realistic, serious, touching and sincere films with plots about ambition, power relations, hopes, rivalry, youth, human spirit and lifestyle mostly in Drama, Sport and Family genres. Some movies like Matchups: Undefeated (2003), A Season on the Brink (2002), Blue Chips (1994), Believe in Me (2006), Stretch (2011). The matching attributes are highlighted in bold.
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Lex 'El Animal' Vargas is a promising Portorican boxer in Queens, but lacks ambition to aim for the big career. That changes after his brother Paulie is accidentally shot dead by a teenager in an amateur hold-up on their late dad's ...
Style:
realistic, serious, sincere, suspense
Plot:
athlete's life, human spirit, lifestyle, social differences, against the odds, tough heroes, boxing, follow your dream, ambition, athlete and trainer, contests and competitions, rivalry ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: Germany, USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
"A Season on the Brink: A Year with Bob Knight and the Indiana Hoosiers" is based on the best-selling book by John Feinstein. The movie chronicles Indiana's 1985-86 season, when Knight granted Feinstein unprecedented access to the ...
Style:
uplifting, realistic, serious, captivating
Plot:
basketball, athlete's life, rivalry, sport team, contests and competitions, athlete and trainer, lifestyle, underdog, hopes, athlete, basketball coach, power relations ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
indiana
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
Pete Bell, a college basketball coach is under a lot of pressure. His team aren't winning and he cannot attract new players. The stars of the future are secretly being paid by boosters. This practice is forbidden in the college game, but Pete ...
Style:
suspense, intense, serious, tense, realistic ...
Plot:
basketball, underdog, college, sport team, contests and competitions, follow your dream, athlete and trainer, prodigy, lifestyle, athlete's life, blind ambition, self discovery ...
Time:
90s, year 1994, 80s
Place:
chicago, indiana, california, boston, texas
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 131 min.
Story:
In a conservative small town, a young man's wish to coach high school basketball are tweaked by a school board decision that makes him the new coach of the girls' team.
Style:
serious, touching, realistic, inspirational, spiritual
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
hopes, athlete and trainer, small town, youth, underdog, ambition, rivalry, contests and competitions, prodigy, against the odds, dedicated educator, human spirit ...
Time:
60s, year 2006
Place:
oklahoma, usa
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: France, Thailand, Hong Kong
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
Christophe, a young horse racing jockey from Paris, is filled with hope and ambition. Yet after a race, he tests positive for illegal substances and is subsequently suspended from racing. He decides to move to Macau, in Asia. There his circumstances ...
Style:
realistic, serious, psychological, captivating, suspenseful ...
Plot:
rivalry, contests and competitions, rise to the top, dishonesty, power relations, lifestyle, gambling, ambition, society, chases and races, athlete and trainer, gangster ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
china, asia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
Defining street basketball as America's new favorite pastime, it is a story driven by passion, faith, and achieving goals. A story capturing the poetic nature of street basketball, highlighting the struggles endured on and off the court by the ...
Style:
serious, touching, sincere, emotional, independent film ...
Plot:
basketball, lifestyle, ambition, family problems, hopes, youth, life is a bitch, society, athlete's life, contests and competitions, rivalry, urban ghetto life ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 88 min.
Story:
A coming-of-age drama that centers on a young quarterback from West Texas, a priest in New York, and the two women in their lives.
Style:
serious, realistic, uplifting, touching, contemplative ...
Plot:
coming of age, high school, starting over, prodigy, haunted by the past, society, ambition, redemption, rivalry, youth, lifestyle, hopes ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
texas, new york, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 92 min.
Story:
Jace Newfield has a problem. Besides being blind and being the new kid at school, his problem is that the kids at his new school thinks he's a jerk. Jace has to find a way to be accepted into his new school. Joining the wrestling team just ...
Style:
semi serious, realistic, feel good, humorous
Audience:
family outing, teens, kids
Plot:
blindness, blind character, disability, sport team, high school, friendship, teenage life, follow your dream, teenage love, athlete and trainer, contests and competitions, youth ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new york, utah
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 86 min.
Story:
Based on the true story of a beloved teacher for the blind who discovers she herself is losing her eyesight.
Style:
sentimental, emotional, touching, serious, realistic ...
Plot:
blindness, cancer, love and romance, hopes, renewed love, life is a bitch, lovers reunited, disability, blind character, blind man, power relations, down on your luck ...
Time:
80s, 90s, 20th century
Place:
arizona, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 95 min.
Story:
Full-Court Miracle is a 2003 Disney Channel Original Movie. It premiered on November 23, 2003. Inspired by the true story of University of Virginia basketball star Lamont Carr, the film centers on a group of young Jewish basketball players who ...
Style:
semi serious, realistic, humorous
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
basketball, athlete's life, against the odds, sport team, contests and competitions, underdog, follow your dream, rivalry, athlete and trainer, fish out of water, win over, hopes ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
philadelphia
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 96 min.
Story:
After taking a job managing a little league team, a homeless man inspires the kids to reach for it all and they inspire him to reclaim his life.
Style:
uplifting, semi serious, realistic, humorous, feel good ...
Plot:
baseball, youth, baseball coach, memory loss, teenage life, fall in love, parents and children, hollywood, against the odds, adoption, sexual relations, contests and competitions ...
Time:
20th century, 90s
Place:
florida
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
Life of a King is the true story of one man's mission to give inner city kids of Washington DC something he never had - a future. After being incarcerated for eighteen years, Eugene Brown established the Big Chair Chess Club to get kids off the ...
Style:
sincere, rough, touching, psychological, captivating ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
chess, dedicated educator, hardcase students, ex convict, teenage life, ambition, gain trust, bad attitude, society, contests and competitions, youth, redemption ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
cuba, washington d.c., usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
All, including school administration and a friend, turn their backs on a girl who accused a classmate of rape.
Style:
touching, realistic, disturbing, sincere, rough ...
Audience:
chick flick, teens
Plot:
rape, innocence lost, high school, sexualized violence, juvenile delinquency, rape and revenge, teenage love, against the odds, fighting the system, rebellion, youth, rivalry ...
Time:
90s
Similarity:
100%
237
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
A new kid moves into a tough neighborhood controlled by gangs, and tries to teach them poetry.
Style:
serious, emotional, realistic, touching, independent film ...
Plot:
gang, poetry, teenage life, idealism, fighting the system, youth, dedicated educator, life is a bitch, rebellion, society, stoner, school ...
Time:
year 1988, 80s
Place:
new york
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Biography, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 90 min.
Story:
A story about the great basketball player "Pistol" Pete Maravich when he was in the eighth grade. He plays on the varsity basketball team at Daniel High School but has some very difficult obstacles standing in his way of playing. The only ...
Style:
independent film, serious, realistic, sentimental, emotional ...
Plot:
basketball, youth, faith, sport team, power relations, contests and competitions, hopes, prodigy, tragic hero, lifestyle, rivalry, aging ...
Time:
90s, year 1959
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 105 min.
Story:
Peter Coyote (E.T., Erin Brokovich) and Karen Allen (The Perfect Storm) star in this touching family drama about the unifying power of basketball in a community torn apart by war. Both a riveting sports film and a tale of triumph over adversity, The ...
Style:
independent film, serious, realistic, sentimental, touching ...
Plot:
youth, world war one, ambition, human spirit, society, follow your dream, hopes, athlete's life, athlete and trainer, lifestyle, underdog, orphan ...
Time:
edwardian era, 1910s, 20th century, year 1918
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
A business man decides that he wants to teach school in the inner city and chooses a tough school in the South Bronx. He teaches the children how to play the game of chess, and along the way they learn a lot about life.
Style:
touching, realistic, serious, spiritual, uplifting
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
chess, teacher, school teacher, misfit, youth, hardcase students, high school life, juvenile delinquency, elementary school, lifestyle, hopes, life is a bitch ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
new york, bronx new york city
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 100 min.
Story:
American football coach Chuck Dichter has worked wonders with the Buffalo Bills, and is even confident to crown his career with a Super Bowl victory, but before the play-offs an oyster food-poisoning wipes out his first team for a month. Dan Heller, ...
Style:
humorous, serious, touching, realistic, uplifting
Plot:
american football, underdog, lifestyle, human spirit, ambition, athlete's life, against the odds, hopes, sport team, contests and competitions, athlete and trainer, rivalry ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 115 min.
Story:
An aspiring teacher (Hughley) takes the one job he's offered, a position at a school inside a prison.
Style:
realistic, touching, suspense, captivating, semi serious
Plot:
dedicated educator, prison, idealism, starting over, hardcase students, prison life, rivalry, confined, hopes, rehabilitation, youth, student life ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 98 min.
Story:
Henry Steele is a basketball phenom at his small town high school, but when he matriculates to a big city university on a scholarship, soon realizes that he has few skills outside the sport. Expected by his coach to contribute significantly to the ...
Style:
realistic, serious, touching, sincere, melancholic ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
basketball, coach, follow your dream, young lovers, youth, ambition, athlete and trainer, coming of age, rivalry, contests and competitions, university, high school ...
Time:
70s
Place:
colorado, los angeles
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
A teenage drifter finds an opportunity to turn his life around when he joins a high-school football program with a hard-nosed coach.
Style:
touching, feel good, serious, realistic, independent film ...
Plot:
american football, high school, small town, teenage life, against the odds, leadership, human spirit, athlete's life, ambition, society, youth, hopes ...
Place:
alabama, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Family, Sport
Country: Canada, USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
When an 11 year old boy gets cut from his Little League baseball team, he sets out to form his own team.
Style:
touching, sentimental, humorous, feel good, non-linear ...
Audience:
family outing
Plot:
coach, follow your dream, ambition, against the odds, friendship, sport team, athlete's life, human spirit, hopes, society, lifestyle, family life ...
Time:
90s
Place:
usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 99 min.
Story:
A white school teacher takes over a talented, but undisciplined black high school basketball team and turns them into a winning team.
Style:
hood, humorous, realistic, semi serious, captivating ...
Audience:
teens
Plot:
basketball, high school, hip hop, underdog, high school sports, urban, black, african american, teacher, ghetto, discrimination, education ...
Time:
year 1996, 90s
Place:
new york, usa, california, new jersey
Similarity:
100%
Movie in collections
Genre: Drama, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 119 min.
Story:
True story of Kent Stock, who in the early 90's, gives up a job and ditches his wedding plans to take over as head coach as the Norway High School baseball team. Kent must win over his players and convince them and himself that he can fill ...
Style:
realistic, sentimental, touching, sincere, historical drama ...
Audience:
kids
Plot:
baseball, hopes, high school sports, coach, sport team, small town, ambition, against the odds, one last chance, youth, human spirit, rivalry ...
Time:
year 2007, 90s
Place:
iowa, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: France
Duration: 102 min.
Story:
Mitri is 15 years old and lives in a village in Senegal. Like all the youngsters of his age, he plays football, dreaming of the Barcelona and Chelsea Football Clubs. When an agent sees him, Mitri believes in his luck. But, in order to go chasing ...
Style:
realistic, touching, captivating, psychological, serious
Plot:
football, follow your dream, immigrant, hopes, athlete and trainer, athlete's life, life is a bitch, youth, ambition, soccer, desire for fame, disorder ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
france, africa, europe, paris france
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: Canada
Duration: 89 min.
Story:
The story of the first blind man ever to reach the summit of Mount Everest
Style:
touching, realistic, serious, uplifting
Plot:
heroic mission, against the odds, obsessive quest, hopes, self discovery, disability, winter, blindness, snow, mountaineering, mountaineer, landscape ...
Time:
21st century
Place:
mount everest
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 108 min.
Story:
In the fall of 1994, a teacher at Chicago's run-down Steinmetz High conspires with the school's academic decathlon team to cheat on an academic competition.
Style:
realistic, serious, sincere, clever, offbeat
Audience:
teens, kids
Plot:
teachers and students, high school, lifestyle, teenage life, social differences, dedicated educator, youth, contests and competitions, rivalry, society, fraud, teacher ...
Time:
90s
Place:
chicago, usa
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama
Country: USA
Duration: 87 min.
Story:
Two brothers from Alabama struggle to rise above the ghetto rap scene to land a major record deal in Chicago in this journey through love, sibling rivalry, betrayal, violence and redemption.
Style:
realistic, serious, tense, crime drama
Plot:
musician's life, rise to the top, showbiz, ambition, siblings relations, celebrity culture, rich and poor, hopes, human spirit, urban ghetto life, artists and showbiz, life is a bitch ...
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Drama, History, Sport
Country: USA
Duration: 94 min.
Story:
Satchel Paige and Josh Gibson are the greatest players in the Colored leagues, and everyone expects that one of them will make the leap to the Major Leagues, now that there is talk of integration. But, unexpectedly, it's the rookie with the ...
Style:
uplifting, serious, realistic, sentimental, sincere ...
Plot:
baseball, african american, racism, baseball coach, black, racial issues, blaxploitation, baseball player, black man, hip hop, interracial relations, friendship ...
Time:
1940s, year 1947
Place:
usa, new york, birmingham alabama
Similarity:
100%
Genre: Action, Drama, Romance, Sport
Country: India
Duration: 135 min.
Story:
Aryan is the college champion in boxing. He is training under Ranveer Singh in order to achieve his dream: winning the national championship. His girlfriend Neha supports him unconditionally and he relies heavily upon her. However, after his life ...
Style:
realistic, serious, tense, uplifting
Plot:
boxing, ambition, follow your dream, human spirit, athlete's life, family relations, athlete and trainer, rivalry, hopes, lifestyle, pregnancy, championship ...
Time:
21st century
Similarity:
100%
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