Remember The Titans

Glory Road (Widescreen 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.

Rudy (Special Edition)
$14.94
I have to admit that for as long as this movie has been out, I hadn't seen it until recently. I was throughly impressed. Yes, a movie script is going to be different from reality because they have to fit years of actual experience into something under two hours; however, I thought it was done very, very well.

The special interviews were fantastic to watch after viewing the movie and realizing that many of the elements that I wondered were true or not actually were true. If you haven't seen it, I won't give it away, but watch the special features and you may be surprised.

You can search YouTube to watch the actual footage of the last few minutes of the game in which Rudy played.

This is by far my favorite sports movie (and there are some good ones out there). I love how the movie depicts years and years of hard work leading up to his dream whereas other sports movies, the team or player become whipped into shape during one short season.

Great movie.

Hoosiers
$14.98
Hoosiers is a movie I feel ambivalent about, which is why I gave it
only two stars. Some though, really like it, and claim it is the best
sports movie ever made, inspiring to them who play team sports,
especially basketball.

The movie is suspenseful. As you are watching this movie, you
might find yourself trying to solve a puzzle: Why is he there,
coaching a high school basket ball team? She says to him,
There are only two reasons a guy your age would come to a town
like this to coach a basket ball team: You are either running away
from something, or you could not make it anywhere else...She
refuses to let a boy play basketball and it is not clear why. She says she
wants him to escape the town, but not via a basketball scholarship.
She wants him to get an academic scholarship. It is puzzling because
the boy, although intelligent, is actually a "genius" on the basketball
court. Another puzzle, the boy appears to be unable (or unwilling) to
speak for himself, or fight authority, namely, hers...And then there is
the town drunk, who he decides to make his assistant basketball coach.
But why does he do this?...His strategy appears to be, forget basketball,
forget the team and the fans, and treat people as if they were persons,
instead: See the trees, rather than the forest.

A man who puts on a woman's garment is abomination unto
the Lord. Is that a toga, or a woman's sari? Is that a kilt, or a woman's
skirt? That said, the basketball uniform has changed over the years.
Now, players wear baggy shorts which resemble women's skirts.
The shoulder straps are still there, while the t-shirts have gotten longer,
which make the players look as if they are wearing "nighties" rather
than "t-shirts". Remember Dennis Rodman, dressing up as a bride?
I wish the uniforms were different, looked masculine, and that males
were not coerced into showering together, but had the option of private
dressing rooms...Given all the ornate carpentry, and brick-laying,
and other evidence of manual labour you see in this movie, I do not
think that that is an unrealistic goal. But do men build good things, such
as writing desks, for their sons, or their daughters only? The UN for example,
only seems to care about female illiteracy, while young males go work (toil)
in the fields...Ever see the dress of ancient Roman soldiers? Those garments
look like what women who desire to clothe themselves with masculinity might
wear...What is a woman's garment? God knows. For Truth is not something
that is discovered by consensus: Do not follow a multiitude to do evil...You
decide for yourself what is right and what is wrong, but the question is, Will
you decide correctly? And you decide what is right or wrong based on what
you believe is good and bad. Do not call evil good, or good evil.
See, Isaiah 5:20, KJV..."They" have been defiling males for thousands of years.

Miracle (Widescreen Edition)
$14.99
I like true stories and I known this DVD been out for some time But I never got a chance to watch it. Be great if all 3 of the TV companies had few channels that show nothing but good clean movies like this. This movie pitted a bunch of college age young men who played hockey against a Soviet Team who were a bunch of paid professionals and they beat them and made history in the process. If readers of this are looking for a good family movie get the pop corn ready and enjoy it on cold /rainy day