As Summer Movie season begins, the blockbusters often get all the attention, but there’s usually a few winners in the art-house category that deserve attention. This year, we take a look at a few new and old classic sports-related flicks.

Rudo Y Cursi (2009)

In the past decades, soccer (or football, depending on your nationality) has skyrocketed to the top as the world’s biggest global sport. As such, this 2009 Mexican comedy stars Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal as two rural bumpkins who suddenly taste fame as soccer stars hilariously captures the mania and passion of football lovers today. At the same time, it scores a goal with its almost documentary style, showing not just the game itself but the heart that makes it tick.

Raging Bull (1980)

It’s not hard for Raging Bull to be the greatest sports film ever when it’s maybe the greatest film ever. That’s Raging Bull in a nutshell: legendary director Martin Scorsese crams all of his cinematic innovation into each frame, and Robert De Niro gives perhaps his greatest performance as tragic boxer Jake La Motta, famously gaining weight for authenticity. But this masterpiece is best remembered for how Scorsese brought the viewer into the ring like never before – when the punches connect here, you feel it like it’s you with the gloves.

Slap Shot (1977)

Before there was Kingpin, before there was Caddyshack, Slap Shot raised (or lowered?) the bar for sports comedy like never before. With Paul Newman leading a bunch of motley outcasts to unlikely victory, Slap Shot captures all the violence, gore, and action of hockey; it also features some of the crudest humor to hit the silver screen, thanks to the lunatic Hanson Brothers characters, who presaged Dumb & Dumber by decades.

Hoop Dreams (1994)

This gritty, acclaimed documentary stands out because it captures basketball at its most hungry and raw. Following an inner-city high school team on its unlikely journey to state championship, Hoop Dreams shows the real soul of the sport. These kids don’t play b-ball because it’s fun, but because they have to: it’s impossible not to be moved by their real-life dramas, downturns and successes.

The Loneliness of The Long Distance Runner (1962)

This landmark 1962 British film solidified the archetype of the athlete as the ultimate non-conformist anti-hero. Based on Alan Sillitoe’s wrenching short story, this film features a young juvenile delinquent who uses his running ability to defy the authorities that want to crush his soul, turning this into the Rebel Without A Cause of running movies.