I never expect anything from football movies. There are, in fact, very few that I like. One of the greatest football movies of all time is "Rudy," and I haven't seen that in so long which really says one thing...and that is that I'm not interested in seeing it. I know I need to watch it again, and I own it...but there are always other movies that I would rather watch.
Like "Nightmare Before Christmas." That was Friday night's movie, and I played it, and it was a short movie, an hour and a half long. The directing was bad, although I did like the look of the film. I loved the music, and it has stuck with me ever since. It had a Tim Burton feel to it, but that was because it was only produced by him and not directed, exactly. I was terribly disappointed in the movie once it was over. Then I thought about how I may be maturing or getting too old for movies like that. I sure hope not. But that movie wasn't as good as I remember it was.
So yesterday, Monday, I took a big leap into adult movies, and I only wish I was talking about porn (haha, just kidding). But I saw "Friday Night Lights." Justin practically dragged me to it, and I ended up paying for him, most likely looking like two gay guys going to a movie together.
When the movie started, I saw two previews, one was to the new Nicolas Cage movie which I will have high expectations for because he hasn't been doing too well in his latest movies. I mean, the movie looks terrible, but previews can have any kind of effect.
But all too soon, the real movie started. At first it was very dramatic with an actor playing as a sports talk radio host which is always a good way to go. It reminded me of the start of "Stepmom," and it just brings you into the movie. Plus, it started out with a little bit of humor with a guy saying what time it was "Ten o' twelve," haha. But yes, starting out with a radio guy speaking is definitly the way to go. But not only that, the shots, the camera angles were cool. I mean, they were all over the place! They were really high and those are my favorite. The music in the background gave me a sad "Traffic" feel, but that was actually perfect for the look of the film. The color was great, and it added the perfect dramatic effect.
I leaned over to Justin "I gotta say, this movie is really good so far."
The plot set up was really awesome, too. It gave an ESPN-style of interviewing. Since I'm no ESPN viewer at all, what I mean is that it was really fast paced and informational. It had character developement, and it was the perfect introduction to each of these characters. When I witnessed the way of the director, I fell in love with it. I was entertained!
The actors in the film were all ones I had not seen before. I like that, because that shows that the film is not out to make Brad Pitt the conqueror of Troy, or a bloody football team. But even though the introductions to all of these new actors was going to take a while to recognize when each came on screen...there was still one actor who you knew...you knew him before he was in movies...and you will never be able to forget him once he comes on screen...Tim McGraw.
Oh my God that guy ROCKS! He was the drunken father who expects a lot and he was a state champion in football and has a special gold ring and all. He saw his son, who I only recognized from the long hair, and his son couldn't catch a football! So he goes down and asks him why "Just tell me WHY!" and pushes him around a little bit when the boy turns his back on him.
The time, setting, I mean, was pronounced once the team ate at a diner. I like diner scenes. And the close ups in this film were scene-setting also, because you could see the players eat a burger and it wouldn't be nasty. I mean, there are certain people on this earth who you would never want to see eat anything. But it was okay, because the cuts, the takes, the camera angle changes, or whatever you wanna call 'em, were perfectly spaced so you wouldn't see nasty eating close ups.
The fast paced scenes were kinda creepy, like when one parent had the player hold his child for a picture, this parent scared you. It made you think "Alright, if that was me, I'd get that kid away from me." But there was nothing to worry about. The emotions of this movie...damn! They were good.
But the next scene was above awesome, it was one of the coolest scenes ever. The sex scene, aaaaw man, I love a sex scene, but this one was different. As the son, who was practically the star of this movie, was making out with a girl on his couch, he looked up and saw Tim McGraw. Now, you're kinda scared for this kid because you have already seen Tim McGraw push this kid around. This part was one of those scenes that had actors losing control, screaming and yelling, and here Tim McGraw is, wrapping his sons hands together with duct tape so he would not drop a football.
You just felt bad for the kid. Even though Tim McGraw was awesome, you were afraid of him. The scene was screaming and yelling...parent/teen drama...it made you anxious, but it ended very abruptly. Tim McGraw stole his every scene, but I'm not sure he knew how good he was. He was fun to watch and it made you anxious whenever he came on screen.
Meanwhile, there was awesome music, great action, and fun directing. You were entertained. There were football games of course, with plenty of wild tackles that made me have to lean over to my pal Justin and say "That was awesome." But now we're getting into some more conflicts in this movie. The team is kind of struggling to win a game and then their star quarterback (?) hurts his leg.
Since we're getting into conflicts, I'll tell you about the two things I didn't like about the film. Firstly, although I liked the close ups in the film, I didn't like the camera work. I liked the camera angles, but not the cam work. Every once in a while, which happened to be way too often, the camera would quickly zoom in on something. This type of camera work is used way too much in movies today. It's a crazy dramatic effect, but I hate it. Ever seen those stupid CBS drama's? Like Judging Amy. Not like CSI, mind you. But these shows don't use tripods, the camera is moving all around and it annoys the hell out of me! I like the camera so be still, I like that kind of drama. That's good stuff, when you have a still shot of some actors doing whatever.
The second thing I didn't like was this one scene I was talking about. The star player gets his leg hurt. When this happened, there was a very unrealistic cut to a close up AND slow motion of the injury. There was also sound effects, but that didn't bother me. What bothered me was the unrealistic look of it. It was cheesey. It made me worried about all future tackles.
SPOILER ALERT: FROM HERE ON:
The player is hurt and has to see a couple of doctors. One tells him he'll be up and playing within three weeks. The second tells him that his career is over. This actor, Derek Luke, was quite good although I think he could have been less annoying. I'm sorry for saying that, but he had a crying scene, and it didn't make me emotional, I just wanted him off the screen. He yells at the doctor, and this scene could have been a lot more emotional, too. But instead, he is just annoying! He wasn't in the movie all that much, though.
But he did decide to play football against the doctor's orders. He gets in there and after two plays there is an awesome tackle, but he hurt his leg again. This movie was brutal. There was even a tackle of a camera man. The camera man started bleeding! It was crazy hilarious. I mean, I am always in the mood for action, and this movie was suffice. There was also a nasty scene with one of the players blowing his nose and blood came out. That was about it with the disgustingness, but that was okay with me. It amazes me how much blood doesn't bother me in movies. But when I look at myself and see that I'm bleeding I just freak right out.
This game, with so much brutality, has a scene with our star of the movie and he drops the damn ball. Also, the quarterback drops the ball, too, which loses the game. Our star, though, once he dropped the ball, I said "Oh shit," because I knew he'd have to face his father once he got out.
They lost the game though...and it was a three way tie between a few other teams...which lead to the coin toss.
But FIRST...one of the greatest scenes in the movie. There's Tim McGraw on the hood of his car, drunk, waiting for his son to drive home. Once they're in the car, the father playfully smacks him on the back of the head and tells him how his father would beat him with a whip until he got a sick feel in his stomach. "You make me SICK! I need some fresh air," and he kicks the window open!
Powerfull.
"What are you doing?!"
"Getting some fresh air. Because I feel SICK!" and he kicks the other window out. Now they have no back windows. The father touches his gold ring to his son's face "Can you touch that?" he repeats twice.
Then he throws his ring out of the window. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" The son pulls the car over and looks for the ring. After a while he asks why the father has to be so crazy.
The next day, Tim McGraw wakes up and walks behind his son while he's reading or something. And he drinks milk from the carton. And it just creeps you out. His appearance is creepy. But the son sets the ring down on the counter...he found it. The father apologizes for the previous night...which was a little out of character, but hey, you fell in love with the guy. He was a good dad.
In the final game, they played against a red team. The directing, again, ESPN style, was really good. After a while, once we were really into this game, you got the feel of how bad these red guys were. I mean, you hated them. They hit hard and they were huge and it just seemed impossible to win. But somehow, our main team got their score up. I guess that was a couple of lucky touchdowns.
You really got into the feel of the game, the red team were bad guys. The quarterback's helmet came off (of the main team) and one of the red guys kicked the helmet into the guy's chin. That looked painful! That was awful, you wanted to kill the red team. "HE SHOULDN'T GET AWAY WITH THAT!"
A woman in the back of the theater said "Oh my gawd." So that's proof that other people were really into this movie.
Billy Bob Thorton was the coach, and the most popular actor in this film. He didn't glamorize himself. He was a very realistic coach. He didn't have that many lines, but he was encouraging. But now came the big speech...every sport movie needs one. Kurt Russel's big line was "This is your time" in "Miracle," which was said during his big speech. The theme is always given in these speeches. This time it was that you need to use all of what is in your heart and give it all you've got out there. Remember, this Texas team is obsessed with football, like their town, Odessa.
So he gives out his lines "Be perfect," and "Give it all you've got," and lines like that, and he said that perfect was only giving it all you've got. Perfect isn't winning. But they played, and they gave it all they had...and got down to the one yard line.
So now we're in the last second of the last quarter, the end of the game. The half time speech was what you were thinking about for a while, but these red guys are seeming like they are getting their asses kicked. They're recieving their revenge somewhat. But now we have ONE yard to go...
There's the hike...
And you already know they're going to make it...
and there's the pass...
They player rushes in...he has three yards to go since the pass was thrown back...
And he's down.
Is it in?
This is a close one, folks.
"They had inches to go," and the red team won. Now you were just waiting for the referee to call that again. But he didn't. Our players looked at the ball and they actually cried. Billy Bob just closed his eyes. He was great in the movie, and that's because of his lack of lines.
Emotional scene, though. The team lost, everybody was crying. I will never feel worse for a team losing a game. It's not just a game to these people. Tim McGraw comes down to his son. The music is playing in the background and there's no audio, and you're thinking "Just be happy for him." And Tim hugs him. It was a great movie moment, and I felt like crying.
Tim would have kissed his son, but instead he just gave him an emotional look through his helmet. The son started crying in appreciation for his father...and then Tim McGraw takes the gold football ring off his finger and gives it to his son. The boy breaks down and cries...and so did I, even though I tried to hide it from Justin.
The ending scene was the quarterback throwing a football to some kids...symbolizing the next generation. And in a caption, the movie told us that the coach went on next year...and had an undefeated season.
9/10.
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