Facing Nolan

I have been telling people for years that Fastball is the best documentary of all time. Not the best sport doc, but the best doc!

Fastball is compelling, informative and the reveal in the final scenes pretty much set up this doc. Watching this documentary, I had one continuous gripe with this film. Instead of it being a love letter from fans, it comes off as a love letter from his family. Sorry, I get it, your dad, husband and grandfather are a legend, but family praise never comes off as genuine as fan or peer praise.

I got way too much of his son which became so clear when the credit roll and you see he is the main producer, Family praise makes up at least 20% of this film and that is about twice as much that was acceptable. There is a touching scene with the whole family at one point, but that should have truly been the majority of the family involvement. Dave Winfield, George Brett and Pete Rose add amazing color. I would have loved Bo Jackson's take, but I suspect Bo doesn't like being on film, despite having the best 30 for 30 of all time.

I learned a lot here and Hall of Fame players added great perspective and had they stuck with that formula, this would be an absolute 10. I still recommend this movie, just think that it unfortunately got bastardized by too much family involvement.