Glory Road

Glory Road
$9.95
This work shows Black motorcycle clubs at various events and from various parts of the nation.
In my freshman year in high school, I was in Mathletes. A year later, when other Black students saw me in the Mathletes photo they cracked up. I was giggling myself because I too admit that it's odd or funny to see the bruthaboy up in some Mathletes. (I stopped doing it as I was third-string anyway.) In college, I met a Black man who went to Andover and he was very proud of having participated on the school's water polo team. To him, he was breaking barriers when it comes to what Blacks, especially males, will or won't do. This work had that same vibe. Even one interviewee said, "People comple Black motorcyclists to Black hockey players."
This work was vastly different from documentaries on majority bikers. The majority likes supporting the idea that they are dangerous. These Black bikers stated that many members are veterans or police officers. They go to great lengths to distance themselves from "gangs."
I have some problems with this work. It focused more on other Blacks' deeming the activity "inauthentic" than it did on racism from non-Black bikers. There is a pronounced history of keeping Blacks out of bikers's clubs and this work just briefly touches upon that. Though the work was diverse in terms of age, gender, and region, I thought the work was lesbophobic. Several interviewees used an epithet for lesbians and thought nothing of it. What about Black lesbian bikers?! They had one in the film "Biker Boyz."
Finally, this got boring quick. Listening to anyone speak about his hobby is not something I need to do for a whole hour. So you like biking? Okay, onto the next topic!

Glory Road [UMD for PSP]
$9.99
Disney's newest addition to the `low-life, controversial team who pulls together with the help of a coach' movie is "Glory Road". Directed by James Gartner, this movie is based on the events which lead up to the first all black basketball team to not only play in a NCAA final but to win it as well. This emotional drama, with its classical ups and downs, follows all the same racial twists that we have come to expect from this genre. The only problem is that Gartner placed more emphasis on the drama aspect rather than the cold, hard hitting facts. This lead to the twisting of information to an extent which left certain circumstances left out or wrongly emphasized.
Josh Lucas stars as Don Haskins, the famous Texas-Western basketball coach who integrates black players onto his controversial team and creates what is said to be the biggest upset in college sports history by winning the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game. All this takes place while the team is riddled with racism due to inclusion of black players.
In the movie, it shows Haskins stepping directly from high school girls coach to division 1 college basketball and in his first season he not only managed to integrate 5 black players onto his team, but had them win the title too. Unfortunately, as facts often are, this was a slight euphemism at the very least. Don Haskins did coach high school girl's basketball and he was signed to Texas-Western, but in 1961 rather than 1966 as the movie declares. The movie also says that he scouted five black players and it was because of him that Texas-Western integrated their team, but the team actually already had three black players before he arrived. Yet another liberty taken was the fact that Haskins actually took five years to turn the team around rather than the one year as the movie describes.
The acting was decent, I say only decent because in terms of getting the audience to share the emotions of the situation at hand- a better and more convincing job could have been done. While this movie isn't loaded with Oscar winners, it still manages to portray the meaning behind the movie, some might argue even better. This is possible through the use of less known actors and so not allowing familiarity with the type personality certain actors bring with them. The cinematography as a whole was also only decent as the lighting at times was a little weak and while the music is proving to be popular, the dialogue is sometimes hard to comprehend. For example, there are a few scenes in the gymnasium where audio and lighting should be top of their priorities due to the uneven light streaming in through the windows and echo caused, yet the recognition and comprehension of certain players is harder due to this over-looked aspect.
Although the docudrama took liberties by changing a few facts, the general message still gets across which is, quite frankly, the point of seeing such a movie. This movie is targeted towards the younger generation; they would be bored out of their minds if they had to sit through five season's worth of games and off court situations before the good stuff came rather than the single season as the directors changed it to. The message that the children will receive from watching this movie is that no matter what, never give up. It will show them determination and success is achieved through the effort and resilience in ones heart. That through the hardships comes a time of wisdom and happiness.
This movie is rated PG and runs for 1hr 58 minutes.

Coach Carter (Widescreen Edition)
$12.98
Have always liked this movie and wanted to own it. Living in CA, what I do like about this movie is about the way things are in some parts of this state. Towards the end, the team did not win the finals BUT what matters is the passion that every player had. Secondly, the way coach made every hostile individual come together and work as a team. Excellent screenplay, can't say enough about this movie. KUDOS to Ken Carter - the coach whom the story was based upon. Wish every 5-10 yrs a Ken Carter is born and be the Catharsis of the society!!!

Glory Road (Full Screen Edition)
$14.99
Disney's newest addition to the `low-life, controversial team who pulls together with the help of a coach' movie is "Glory Road". Directed by James Gartner, this movie is based on the events which lead up to the first all black basketball team to not only play in a NCAA final but to win it as well. This emotional drama, with its classical ups and downs, follows all the same racial twists that we have come to expect from this genre. The only problem is that Gartner placed more emphasis on the drama aspect rather than the cold, hard hitting facts. This lead to the twisting of information to an extent which left certain circumstances left out or wrongly emphasized.
Josh Lucas stars as Don Haskins, the famous Texas-Western basketball coach who integrates black players onto his controversial team and creates what is said to be the biggest upset in college sports history by winning the 1966 NCAA basketball championship game. All this takes place while the team is riddled with racism due to inclusion of black players.
In the movie, it shows Haskins stepping directly from high school girls coach to division 1 college basketball and in his first season he not only managed to integrate 5 black players onto his team, but had them win the title too. Unfortunately, as facts often are, this was a slight euphemism at the very least. Don Haskins did coach high school girl's basketball and he was signed to Texas-Western, but in 1961 rather than 1966 as the movie declares. The movie also says that he scouted five black players and it was because of him that Texas-Western integrated their team, but the team actually already had three black players before he arrived. Yet another liberty taken was the fact that Haskins actually took five years to turn the team around rather than the one year as the movie describes.
The acting was decent, I say only decent because in terms of getting the audience to share the emotions of the situation at hand- a better and more convincing job could have been done. While this movie isn't loaded with Oscar winners, it still manages to portray the meaning behind the movie, some might argue even better. This is possible through the use of less known actors and so not allowing familiarity with the type personality certain actors bring with them. The cinematography as a whole was also only decent as the lighting at times was a little weak and while the music is proving to be popular, the dialogue is sometimes hard to comprehend. For example, there are a few scenes in the gymnasium where audio and lighting should be top of their priorities due to the uneven light streaming in through the windows and echo caused, yet the recognition and comprehension of certain players is harder due to this over-looked aspect.
Although the docudrama took liberties by changing a few facts, the general message still gets across which is, quite frankly, the point of seeing such a movie. This movie is targeted towards the younger generation; they would be bored out of their minds if they had to sit through five season's worth of games and off court situations before the good stuff came rather than the single season as the directors changed it to. The message that the children will receive from watching this movie is that no matter what, never give up. It will show them determination and success is achieved through the effort and resilience in ones heart. That through the hardships comes a time of wisdom and happiness.
This movie is rated PG and runs for 1hr 58 minutes.