 Back when this movie was released, I remember not really liking it. But in my search for sporty movies to look at and recommend while sports were gone (welcome back, sports - I'll clearly remain as out of touch as ever), I came across 'Goon' as being one of the best ranked hockey movies out there. I got curious, and decided to check it out again for the first time since its release. I also figured I could recommend this as a "rage" movie - something to channel your frustrations through with plenty of on-screen violence; in this case, the frustration sports fans have felt during this pandemic. I guess I'm a little late, but here we are.
While there's still bits and pieces of it I think are pretty low brow, I actually enjoyed it much more this time around. I caught myself laughing quite a bit, and recognizing various faces that I didn't pick up on before, such as the 'Swearnet' gang ('Trailer Park Boys'). I also didn't quite pick up how authentically Canadian the film is, with its lead being one of the few American actors. I'll cover that as the review goes on, but for starters, the crew behind it includes Director Michael Dowse (London, ON) and writers Jay Baruchel (Ottawa, ON) and Evan Goldberg (Vancouver, BC). The film centers on Doug Glatt (Seann William Scott) of Orange, Massachusetts, who can't quite figure out where he fits in. He feels he lacks the intelligence to become a doctor like his adoptive father (Eugene Levy - Hamilton, ON) or his gay adoptive brother, Ira (David Paetkau - Vancouver, BC). He further lacks the passion for anything special, like his friend Pat (Baruchel), who hosts a cable call-in show called 'Hot Ice'. In the meantime, due to being a heavy hitter, Doug makes his living as a bouncer. Here we learn how funny things get, as much of the film's sense of humor is about him being so tough but with a friendly, child-like demeanor when it comes to diffusing situations. One day, during a hockey game, Doug gets into a brawl with one of the Orangetown Assassins players. When coach Rollie Hortense (Nicholas Campbell - Toronto, ON) sees what he can do, he offers him a tryout for the team as its enforcer, regardless of whether or not he can actually play the game. We learn very quickly that he can't really, but he learns enough to get by, and be the team's muscle. He hits so hard, however, that Rollie soon passes him off to his brother, Ronnie (Kim Coates - Saskatoon, SK), who coaches the Canadian Farm Team, the Halifax Highlanders. Doug's role in the game is to protect the recently traumatized Xavier LaFlamme (Marc-André Grondin - Montreal, QB), victim of a vicious hit by Ross "The Boss" Rhea (Liev Schreiber). Since the hit, LaFlamme has been a nervous wreck about playing, and lost all of the drive that was leading him into a promising NHL career. However, while relishing in his new role, and seemingly finding a place, Doug still has to prove himself to his team, his coach, and a girl named Eva (Alison Pill - Toronto, ON). Hardest to impress may boil down to his own non-violent family, and of course, Ross "The Boss", who you pretty much know is gonna be his "final challenge". I think the important takeaway from this, for myself, was the fact that Doug felt he didn't have it in himself to be what other people wanted. However, he found himself doing something he loved, and to him, it meant protecting people, and doing good in that sense. It might be a somewhat twisted look at things in this case, but the message is that there's a lot of us out there who are trying to find that special something, and we might be able to find it in the last place we think to look. More importantly, if you want something bad enough, don't let anyone stand in your way by telling you you're letting them down by not following in their footsteps. While I still don't love the movie, I definitely enjoyed it more this time around. Its sense of humor is pretty rowdy at parts, especially when it comes to Baruchel's role, and it can get grating. There's also this really weird mix of homophobic humor in there, where I don't fully know how to take it. It often makes whoever is saying it look stupid, anyway, Doug's adoptive brother is gay, and one of the most likable characters in the film, and it's actually a homophobic crack that leads Doug to the brawl that gets him into hockey. So when it was all said and done, I'd probably say it's still passable. But check it out if you need some sort of outlet for your anger and frustration through this Pandemic. It was a strange breath of fresh air for me, perhaps it will be for you, too.
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 Before we get started, I should probably point out that the Adam Sandler version of this is the one I'm more familiar with. This comes as a Screening Suggestion to fans of that version, as it's essentially the same exact movie, beat for beat, but was released 30 years earlier. It's kind of amazing how identical the two are, while the differences are very little. So, if you know the Sandler version, you know the plot. But for those unfamiliar, I'll play fair.
Ex football player, Paul Crewe (Burt Reynolds) starts to lose his grip after he's caught shaving points from a game, and booted from the league. After a few bad decisions, which include getting drunk behind the wheel of his girlfriend's car and leading the police on an awesome car chase, he eventually goes too far and finds himself arrested. When Crewe is sent to prison, the warden, Hazen (Eddie Albert), picks him to coach the prison's semi-pro team of guards. He's face with a double-edged sword though, and refuses, upon the secret demands of the head guard, Captain Knauer (Ed Lauter), which lands him in the prison work force. One day, Crewe and Warden Hazen have a chat about the prison football team. Hazen takes Crewe's suggestion of a "tune-up game" to heart, setting Crewe on a mission to recruit a convict team for the guards to knock around, while he plays quarterback. The hitch is as simple as early parole for Crewe. While recruiting his team, Crewe meets an arrangement of colorful convicts; primarily, Caretaker (James Hampton) - a man who can get anything, and helps a great deal with assembling the team. Alongside them is another ex football player, Nate Scarborough (Michael Conrad), who knows a thing or two about recruiting a good team. Then there's Pop (John Steadman); a kind of father figure - an aged convict with decades of experience, who may or may not also have the role of Crew's guide. It always used to fascinate me that the '05 Sandler version was so lowly rated while the '74 version was rated so high. If you're looking at the Tomatometer, '74 has a rating of 79% while '05 is only 31%. I never could wrap my head around that low rating, rather than perhaps a few dated racial bits. But I finally discovered that the real reason was that it's a simple carbon copy of this film, 30 years later. Probably to bring the story to a new generation. But the thing is, to make a remake work, you've gotta do something different. I promise, if you've seen the '05 version, you've already seen this version. But with that said, I still say it's worth taking a look at the original. Some of the more racy stuff is a little more acceptable for the time period (though both contain a few stereotypes that may just be for no one), but beyond that, it's just seeing the original. Try to imagine if the only version of 'Psycho' you saw was the 1998 carbon copy of it, starring Vince Vaughn, or the only version of 'A New Hope' you saw was 'The Force Awakens' - you just need that original in your life at some point, if only to decide which version you might like more. For me, while the Sandler version has its moments, It may very well be this one that takes the cake on being the better movie, if only for the reason that the '05 version just stole it, altogether.  Continuing Sports Month, this week we take a look at the only sport I ever really got into, personally, basketball. This one is based on a true story, and once again may be a film that tinkers with dates, and the overall unfolding of events. But the tale of Coach Carter's method is still real, and historically, he stands as a figure who stood up and fought for young minds to achieve full potential rather than waste away.
Taking place in 1999, in a poor area of Richmond, CA, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) ends up visiting his old Richmond High School, where he once played on the basketball team, the Richmond Oilers. While the Oilers are on a bit of a losing streak, Carter soon accepts a job as their coach, in hopes to make them straighten up and fly right as a team. It's a bit of a 'Dangerous Minds' scenario. His players come from broken homes, give him bad attitude, and perform poorly both on the court, and academically. Among them, Kenyon Stone (Rob Brown) who may be looking at an early family life with his girlfriend, Kyra (Ashanti); Jason Lyle (Channing Tatum), who may be a student heading down the wrong path; Timo Cruz (Rick Gonzalez) who struggles between proving himself and quitting out of frustration; Worm (Antwon Tanner) who tends to act as a sort of class clown, and needs straightening out; and eventually, Carter's son, Damien (Robert Ri'chard) who wants nothing more than to prove himself to his father. Carter owns up to being a coach for them, not just on the court, but in life as well. A contract is assigned to each student that demands things like a dress code, respectful behavior, and maintaining a 2.3 GPA (around a C+). Attitudes shift soon enough when, under Carter's coaching, the team rolls through the basketball season undefeated. However, once the coach learns of their class slacking, punctuated by the faculty's lack of faith in their success, Carter locks his players out of the court, while running undefeated, until they can meet his assigned quota. As I mentioned before, I find this one to be something on par with a title such as 'Dangerous Minds'; a "true story" where a teacher comes in to set things right for a classroom. Just replace teacher with coach, and classroom with gym. There's also hints of something like 'Boyz n the Hood' here, as the neighborhood is pretty broken, and worse, there's no faith put in these kids to go anywhere. Carter ends up being exactly what they need, and it's altogether inspiring. He's a man who stands up for his beliefs, and will not give in when people try to keep him down. The critic consensus is that it repeats the same things we've seen before (again, 'Dangerous Minds'), and seems formulaic. However, Samuel L. Jackson's performance here stands out enough to make the film enjoyable. It's equally enjoyable seeing a few familiar faces in some of their early work - namely Channing Tatum in a role where he's not dancing. But you may also pick up on Rob Brown, who was also in 'Finding Forrester', 'The Dark Knight' and currently plays Edgar Reade on 'The Blind Spot'). Robert Ri'chard, one may remember as Blake from 'House of Wax', which came out the same year. One might recognize 'Rick Gonzalez' from 'Arrow' or 'Old School', and Ashanti's fame speaks for itself. Though it never went on to win any Oscars or Golden Globes, it has been recognized by the BET Awards, Black Movie Awards, Black Reel Awards, Image Awards and others for Jackson's performance, and the directorial skills of Thomas Carter. As far as my own opinion, I remember considering it to be in my Top 10 of 2005, somewhere behind 'Revenge of the Sith', but ahead of 'Goblet of Fire'. My big takeaway from this was the thought that while you're being punished for not following through, the "punisher" is doing it because they believe in you. It's just a push in the right direction, and while everyone around him is deeming him as "ridiculous" or "holding them back", his team sees very clearly that he believes they can accomplish something while even their own parents don't seem to have any faith that they'll make it. The film can currently be found on Netflix (Canada), so if you want a solid, motivational film, it's a good place to look. My only real precautions before heading into it are the forewarning that it runs a little long (2h, 15m), and to try not to read into the history and accuracy of everything too much. The importance of the film has more to do with the message it's conveying, and any true story that gets the movie treatment will be brushed up with a little more drama and exaggeration. At the risk of beating a dead horse, treat it just like a 'Dangerous Minds' for a new decade.  Imagine a time when movie magic didn't consist of crazy CG special effects, amazing camera work or uncanny makeup, but existed in a sort of reality where budget barely entered into it quite as much as a great story, lovable characters, and the concept of something like Heaven without being preachy about it whatsoever. 1989's 'Field of Dreams' fits the bill perfectly, and it's easily one of the greatest feel-good films ever made.
A corn farmer from Iowa named Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) lives a happy, down to earth life with his wife, Annie (Amy Madigan) and daughter, Karen (Gaby Hoffmann). One day, while working in the field, he hears the famous words "if you build it, he will come". He takes it as a sign to build a baseball field, in the hopes that the late great "Shoeless" Joe Jackson will come back to play. The whole thing is fulfilled within the first half hour or so of the film, and like something from a dream, Joe Jackson (Ray Liotta) and seven more of the 1919 White Sox come to play, but they lack a ninth player to complete their team. Soon, the voices continue, and Ray is lead to reclusive author Terence Mann (James Earl Jones), who he hopes will help him understand the meaning of the voices that he similarly hears. For the record, I'm not the biggest sports fan in the world and know very little about whatever historical inaccuracies there are in the film. That goes double for certain characters here based on real people. But this is one of those films where inaccuracies hardly matter, because the real meaning behind the film is much deeper, and to overanalyze the facts means missing the point. But to dictate the point also means to spoil the end of the movie, so I'll just ease back, even though it's one of those spoilers that's barely a spoiler anymore. What the film does better than anything is provide its viewers with a crazy amount of magic. but does so without it being corny. It's the kind of magic you feel when you meet your favorite celebrity for the first time, or get exactly what you want and then some from a movie you were looking forward to all year, but then it blends that with pure nostalgia. I dare even say that when it comes to baseball memories, in this point in time where sports have all but disappeared, it will tug at your heartstrings even harder than it did before (if you've seen it - if not, I recommend getting on it). This movie is good enough to get three Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and its memorably dream-like score from James Horner. On top of all that, it was actually selected in 2017 to be preserved in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". I dunno what else has made that list, particularly, but that does go to show how strong and timeless this story is, with an ending that is bound to bring on some waterworks. |
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