![]() 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.
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![]() Another fine example of Jim Carrey flexing his acting muscles is his portrayal of the late Andy Kaufman in 1999's 'Man on the Moon'. It turns out that Jim Carrey was doing a deep dive with this role, perhaps taking his method acting a touch too far. For further information, check out 'Jim & Andy' on Netflix. It's all about his work on this project, and it's some interesting stuff to say the least. Getting back to the film at hand, however, here we have a biopic on the comedic career of Andy Kaufman. The film covers a brief glimpse into his childhood up to his stand-up, but most of it takes place in the days he starred on 'Taxi' ('78-'83), and the days leading up to his passing of a rare type of lung cancer. I never knew much about Andy Kaufman before this movie, as he passed when I was just about a year old. My parents watched 'Taxi' when it was on in syndication, but I didn't really pay attention (my mistake). But this film showed me what his sense of humour was like. Instead of being the guy who would come out and tell a joke or two, he would go for genuine audience reactions and eat it up - even if that reaction was to "boo" or get angry or upset. Along the way, he creates and portrays a character known as Tony Clifton, who would be a trashy personality that would endure a good number of years in secret. If Andy Kaufman and Tony Clifton needed to be in the same place at the same time, Bob Zmuda (Paul Giamatti), a writer and friend to Andy, would take on the role. Together, those two would really tear it up when it came to getting some sort of a reaction from audiences that wasn't a laugh. It's the idea that messing with people is funny, as long as no one really gets hurt. Kaufman was managed by George Shapiro (Danny DeVito - who is an interesting casting choice when you see the two side by side), and Shapiro's going along with so much of his material helped him to become a huge success before the days of 'Seinfeld'. He was also good friends with Andy, and one of a very select few to know Tony Clifton was just a character Andy played. He was also executive producer on this film, so you have to imagine things are pretty accurate here. Kaufman's brand of humour isn't particularly up my alley. I might compare him to someone like Sacha Baron Cohen, coming up with things like 'Borat' and 'Bruno'. That "mess-with-people" comedy was never something I really got into. I've watched and enjoyed the 'Jackass' movies, but they're mostly just messing with each other to make us laugh. When things offend people or get too intense (even sometimes kinda scary) it's not really for me. But if it's your cup of tea, clearly you're not alone. Kaufman kinda paved the way for that kind of thing, so you have him to either thank or blame. For me, this is another one I manage to meet in the middle, but I know others who would and do love it. It goes to show that a lot of good laughs for people come from the reaction of other people in a situation where they don't know how to react. In a sense, Kaufman perfected this, and I'll give him credit for being able to pull it off. On top of that, Carrey does an awesome job here, but I have to say what may be more fascinating than the actual film is the documentary, 'Jim & Andy'. Again, it's on Netflix so I recommend going over, checking it out, and then watching this with new eyes. ![]() Let me take you back to the Oscars of 2016. This particular ceremony may as well be referred to as the "White Washed Academy Awards". That's not to say that diversity wasn't had at all, but looking back, it can be seen as kinda cringe-worthy. Especially considering the actors/actress category was no better the year before. But, focusing on the 2016 ceremony, one of the biggest all-around snubs of the year was easily 'Straight Outta Compton'. Sure, it got it's nomination for Best Original Screenplay, but many felt it lacked, at the very least, recognition for it's actors, and even direction from F. Gary Gray. In case it's not obvious already, 'Straight Outta Compton' is essentially the story of the creation and breaking away of rap group N.W.A., consisting of Dr. Dre (Corey Hawkins), Eazy E (Jason Mitchell), Ice Cube (O'Shea Jackson Jr - aka, Ice Cube's real son), MC Ren (Aldis Hodge), and DJ Yella (Neil Brown Jr.) Every one of these guys brought their A-game to their performances, and none of them (namely the first three) were recognized for it from the Academy that year. It's the acting and their performances that really suck you into the movie more than anything, and the whole underlying race issue that the film portrays; the whole reason N.W.A. was formed, didn't do the academy any favors that year from protesting viewers. It got to the point where many considered the 2017 Oscars to almost be an apology, where the nominations spanned a much more diverse selection of actors and actresses. Anyway, this is turning into an article about Oscar white washing, and I'm here to recommend this movie as viewing material. Putting it all aside, it's just plain and simply a good, strong biopic story about one of the most influential rap groups of all time. One might not fully appreciate what these guys did for the industry until they see the end credits of this movie, showing clips of real rappers and other celebrities giving them thanks and praise for paving their way. Among them, huge names like the fairly obvious Eminem, and the perhaps not as obvious Tupac Shakur (who, himself, is often considered an "all-time greatest"). Perhaps what's most interesting to me about this movie is that it sort of resurrects the "Hood Movie", which was a sort of sub-genre of the late 80s and early 90s depicting the struggles of living in these bad neighborhoods with black on black crime on top of crooked cops who just feel like arresting you for being black on a Friday night. It kinda rams it home that those weren't just movies, but those situations were very real, and it serves as a bit of a reminder that there are still some problems to overcome. If nothing else, by the end of this, you'll have a whole new appreciation for these guys, and wanna blast some N.W.A. music afterward, or even do a bit of research on the group on your own 'cause it really is an interesting story all-around. It doesn't matter what colour you are, it doesn't matter if you like rap music or not, this movie remains one of the more inspiring movies of the last few years, proving that with a little skill and a lot of determination, you can get things done. ![]() Here we have an interesting 2007 film for those of you who are adventure-seekers. Written and directed by Sean Penn, the story is based on the 1996 non-fiction book of the same name, written itself by Jon Krakauer. As far as the story itself, it's a biographical depiction of the two years Christoper McCandless (Emile Hirsch) spent traveling. Headed northbound to Alaska, Chris changes his identity to "Alexander Supertramp", and meets several interesting people along his journey. His reasoning is simply to get away from everything society calls "living", and to get back to the nitty gritty of a life consisting of himself, nature, and nothing much more. Meanwhile, his parents, Walt and Billie (William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden) struggle through the pressures of having a missing son. This is along with his sister, Carine (Jena Malone), who co-narrates (along with Chris) and has always expected Chris to do something like this some day. Some of the additional cast includes the likes of Catherine Keener and Brian H. Dierker as a couple of hippies; Vince Vaughn as the runner of a harvesting company; Kristen Stewart as an unsure of herself teenage folk singer; and Hal Holbrook as a lovable and caring old man, more than willing to help Chris out. As I mentioned at the beginning, this one's for those real adventure-seekers. It's a great film either way, but it will speak to survivalists and the like a bit more. I don't know for certain, but it seems like some of the survival techniques this guy attempts seem more realistic than most movies would attempt. It seems quite grounded in the story that it's based on. That said, there's also something here for the artsy, as it IS a bit of an artsy film. This Chris guy wasn't just an adventurous type, he was also well-educated and really quite poetic by the looks of it. Throughout the film, he paints a great picture with his words about the wilderness, survival, the fear that comes with it, and just his emotions. So be fairly warned that it is a deep and poetic film. But there is something about it that pulls you in. This title came to mind after checking out 'A Walk in the Woods'. The thought process basically being that I wanted to share with you what I assume to be a truly wonderful man-embracing-nature film. Indeed, perhaps my favorite of it's kind. |
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