We all have that one friend. You know the one. He or she talks a big game, but their game can’t back up their mouth. Sometimes that can drive you nuts, but darn it, they’re still so lovable you decide to overlook their quirks. Besides, your buddy isn’t trying to fool anyone. They actually believe it. That, in a nutshell, is Calvin Marshall.

“Calvin Marshall” is a Rudy-esque tale of a junior college kid who is a legend among his friends as a baseball star. But the reality is that his friends are beer league softball guys and little leaguers. When we meet him, he’s getting ready to try out for his juco baseball team for the third year in a row. Coach Little, a hard-drinking, temperamental guy who flamed out in the minor leagues due to injury, is conflicted when it comes to Marshall. He primarily sees him as a running joke for the team, almost a mascot, but he can’t help but admire the kid’s passion, determination, and persistence. When not on the field, Marshall is heading up the campus sports news channel and finds himself covering the women’s volleyball team. When a new transfer, Tori Jensen, arrives and dominates the v-ball scene, he’s smitten. Somehow, his persistence and determination pay off with the way-out-of-his-league outside hitter. Will he get the girl? Will he leave his mark on the baseball team?

First Pitch: The opening scene shows Calvin Marshall, played by Alex Frost, instructing some little leaguers. He’s in full uniform and talks the talk. At this point, you have every reason to believe he’s a really good baseball player for some college or minor league team. He’s even signing autographs. Then, it cuts to him putting in some intense workouts at the crack of dawn. This guy is clearly a gamer. But when tryouts for the junior college team start, it’s evident almost immediately that he not only lacks talent, but he’s been through this so many times that the coaches are just rolling their eyes.

Mid Innings: Coach Little can’t bring himself to cut Calvin, though he’s never going to play him. He ends up on the team practically as a mascot. He’s clueless about this, though. When a new volleyball transfer comes in who seems way too talented to be at their junior college, Calvin befriends her and eventually starts a tentative romance. Things start to unravel, though, as she realizes he’s not really honest about his role on the team, and everyone, including Coach Little, has to do a little self-examination.

The Final Out: The ending to Calvin Marshall is not what you’d expect, but it has an element of, “Wait, what? That’s it?” to it. The ending of the film might be a bit lackluster, but I like that it’s not the typical, predictable Hollywood ending.

“Calvin Marshall” is a bit of a unicorn in that it has almost no baseball action in it, but it still feels like a baseball movie. The baseball talk is on point. Calvin is portrayed as a guy who knows the game inside out, and it’s believable. There’s some pretty good volleyball action in there as well, for what it’s worth. The actors all look like they can legitimately play the sports, especially Michelle Lombardo, who plays Tori Jensen. Turns out she was the captain of her high school volleyball team before becoming a Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Who knew? The ending of the film might be a bit lackluster, but I like that it’s not the typical, predictable Hollywood ending.

For what I assume was a lower-budget movie, the writing, acting, and look of this movie are all pretty legit. Alex Frost, who plays Marshall, makes me think of a young John Cusack. He’s disarming and likable to a point where you really want him to catch a break. Coach Little is played by none other than the pride of Marshall, Minnesota, Steve Zahn, and he’s perfect for the part. He’s fiesty and funny in that twitchy small-dog sort of way that is his trademark. Lombardo is fine, and the rest of the cast all play their roles well. 

I’ll admit. When I clicked play on this movie, I was not expecting much. What I got was a really fun, hour-and-a-half-long baseball flick. In fact, I think I’ve watched it three times in the past year. “Calvin Marshall” may not have the gravitas of “Moneyball” or “Field of Dreams,” but the characters make you care about them, and it’s an enjoyable ride. If you’re reading my blog, hoping to find some hidden baseball movie gems that you’ve never heard of, this is one of them. 

Run Time: 1 hr 33 min
IMDB Score: 5.8/10
Scorecard: Sneaky hustle double
Best line:  “Marshall! You couldn’t hit a bull in the a## with a shovel!” – Coach Little

Player of the Game: While I love Zahn, and he’s great in this role, it’s a pretty typical role for him. Alex Frost, whom I’ve never seen before, is excellent as Calvin. A character that could easily be annoying is actually pretty lovable. You want to root for him. 

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Walt Disney Co.’s “Zootopia 2” is now the highest-grossing U.S. animated film of all time, the company said Sunday.

The animated sequel to 2016’s “Zootopia” raked in $1.7 billion in worldwide box office revenue as of Sunday. The movie edges out the previous record holder, “Inside Out 2.” The 2024 Disney and Pixar hit grossed $1.69 billion.

Disney Entertainment Co-Chairman Alan Bergman noted the film’s international appeal in a statement Sunday about the new record.

“This milestone belongs first and foremost to the fans around the world whose enthusiasm made it possible,” he said in the statement.

The film has earned the bulk of its money overseas, with an international box office total of $1.31 billion. In the U.S. and Canada, “Zootopia 2” has made $390 million.

The movie’s largest international haul has come from China, where “Zootopia 2” grossed $610 million thus far.

The first “Zootopia” was a surprise hit in China, where audiences connected with rabbit cop Judy Hopps’ storyline of moving from a small rural village to the big city, as well as the unconventional relationship between Judy and her partner Nick Wilde, a fox, Disney executives have said.

Disney then built on that popularity by opening a “Zootopia”-themed land in Shanghai Disneyland — the only such themed area in any Disney park.

But the warm response in China was not a given.

A decade ago, Hollywood blockbusters that got government approval could count on the China market to boost their international box office totals.

But since the COVID-19 pandemic, the recent geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China and the growth of the local film industry, that kind of reception has been much more unreliable.

The last Disney film that was released in China and earned more than $100 million was 2024’s “Alien: Romulus.”

Welcome to an exciting year-long project here at The Nerdy. 1986 was an exciting year for films giving us a lot of films that would go on to be beloved favorites and cult classics. It was also the start to a major shift in cultural and societal norms, and some of those still reverberate to this day.

We’re going to pick and choose which movies we hit, but right now the list stands at nearly four dozen.

Yes, we’re insane, but 1986 was that great of a year for film.

The articles will come out – in most cases – on the same day the films hit theaters in 1986 so that it is their true 40th anniversary. All films are also watched again for the purposes of these reviews and are not being done from memory. In some cases, it truly will be the first time we’ve seen them.

This time around, it’s Jan. 17, 1986, and we’re off to see Adventures of the American Rabbit, Adventures of Mark Twain, Clan of the Cave Bear, Iron Eagle, The Longshot, and Troll.

Adventures of the American Rabbit

I have no idea how I had never once heard of this movie in my life, but after watching it, I highly doubt I will ever hear of it again.

Robert Rabbit (Barry Gordon) is visited by a mysterious old rabbit shortly after his birth that continues to show up throughout his childhood with vague references to his destiny. Eventually it is revealed Robert can turns into the roller skating hero, “American Rabbit” who is capable of heroic deeds and can stop the evil plans of a gang of jackals.

Somehow Toei Animation got dragged into this mess, and I have no clue how. The animation is sub-par. The plot is not remotely entertaining or engaging.

if this had come out in 1976 it would make a bit more sense with how patriotic everything was, but instead we ended up with it in 1986 for no apparent reason.

The Adventures of Mark Twain

This was another film I had never heard of, but at least I enjoyed this one more. Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer sneak aboard Mark Twain’s airship as he prepares to intercept Halley’s Comet. Becky Thatcher follows the two boys on board, and all three end up on a somewhat psychedelic journey with the famous author.

A feature-length claymation movie? I’m on board just at the mention of it. It’s a rather odd concept at the heart that Tom, Huck, and Becky are real in the story, but it works and makes for an interesting retrospective on Twain’s career.

I wasn’t always in love with some of the design choices in the film, but I still enjoyed it and would give it a recommendation.

The Clan of the Cave Bear

There were multiple books in this series. After watching this one, I’m not surprised we have never seen more of them.

Alya, a Cro-Magnon girl, loses her mother in an earthquake and is taken in as a child by a clan of Neanderthals. She is raised in their ways despite being a girl from “The Others.” She ends up breaking numerous taboos of the clan such as learning to use a weapon and disgracing the new Clan leader in combat. She eventually sets out on her own to find more of her kind, leaving her half-Neanderthal son behind.

I hated this movie. Not for Daryl Hannah, I actually thought she did a pretty good job with her role as Alya, but the story was just bonkers. I had heard for years about how ‘realistic’ it was. Oh, so Neanderthals somehow had a communication system to let each other know when a big Clan meetup was happening? And we’ll just ignore how the Clan of the Cave Bear had just moved at the start of the film to a random cave? Did they call all of the other clans and give them their new address?

One thing I have to admit is pretty specific to me. I grew up in the costume industry and was around special effects makeup artists a lot in my youth. I knew how to do things like make bullet holes look realistic by the age of 11. Some of the Cro-Magnon makeup in this film was laughable at times. Blend lines are not difficult to do. Anyone worth their salt can do them. Clearly these folks were not worth their salt.

The Clan of the Cave Bear can stay in its cave and never be seen again.

Iron Eagle

This is an awful movie. It’s just… yeah. It’s awful.

Doug Masters (Jason Gedrick) wants to follow in his dad’s footsteps and become an Air Force pilot. He gets his wish unexpectedly when his father is shot down and taken captive. With the government unwilling to step in, Doug recruits Colonel Charles “Chappy” Sinclair (Louis Gossett Jr.) to jump in a stolen fighter jet and the two of them will go and get Doug’s dad on their own.

Look, I don’t expect movies to reflect realism at all times. But if your film is set in the real world, then you need to at least follow some sort of logic. The idea that Doug and his other teenage buddies can pull this off doesn’t come off as “cool” or like some cunning plan, it comes off that 99.99% of adults are morons and it’s super easy to steal military equipment.

From the premise to some of the action scenes, the film is laughable in scope and presentation. I remembered not being that in love with the film when I saw it back in ’86, and I like it even less now.

The Longshot

A harmless comedy that forgets to be funny for long stretches.

Dooley (Tim Conway) and his three friends are down-on-their-luck gamblers who want to score just want to score one big win. When he learns of someone willing to drug a horse, they gamblers feel they are finally in line for their score, but, of course, nothing goes quite according to plan.

Teaming up Conway with Harvey Korman should have been a recipe for a great comedy, but what you end up with is just a middle-of-the-road one. There are some truly amusing moments (the cookout in the car scene gave me a good laugh), but then the complete implausibility of a lot of what was happening was just getting to be too much.

Conway and Korman were cornerstones of The Carol Burnett Show, but putting them in something structured like a movie was just too constraining for their talents, and it showed.

Troll

The first time the characters introduced themselves, boy did I do a double-take.

Harry Potter Sr. (Michael Moriarty) moves his family into an apartment building in San Francisco, unaware it is about to become the center of a long-standing magical war. Wendy Anne (Jenny Beck) is kidnapped by a Troll, and it ends up falling to her older brother, Harry Potter Jr. (Noah Hathaway), to team up with a fairy princess and put a stop to the evil plans.

As I said, I did a double-take at the names.

The movie is silly as can be, but I actually found myself entertained by it. A lot of that is due to Moriarty’s deadpan performance as the dad who becomes increasingly befuddled by everything that is happening around his family.

The script was a bit of fun, the performances were fine, and it was just a harmless little contemporary fantasy to pass 90 minutes.

1986 Movie Reviews will continue on Jan. 24, 2026, with My Chauffeur.