Friday Night Lights (Widescreen Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful film..high drama, high action
Review: "Friday Night LIghts" is one of the best sports stories I have ever seen or read. The fact that this is an actual true story makes this movie even more powerful.

The movie starts with a 7-10 minute collage of scenes. It is very fast-paced and quickly gets you in gear for the story-line. We are in Odessa, TX and high school football is king. The season is about to start and expectations are extremly high, since "Boobie" Miles is the running back that is supposed to take the team to the state championship.

As the beginning goes on, we are introduced to all of our players and see what an average day of practice is like for them. They are hounded by the media, fans in the stands and then finally, by their parents and the rest of the town after practice. Again, high school football is king in this town.

Our main characters make up an interesting group.
-Winchell, QB..he is the nervous leader, never taking a moment to relax. Perhaps that is because his mother is mentlly ill and will not stop grlling him on the game.
-Billingsley, RB..My favorite player. He lives in the shadow of his father's glory. His father is also a drunk who prods and beats Billingsley because he is not as good as his father.
-Christian, DE..Tough, mean and quiet. Christian says about 7 lines throughout the movie, but the emotion shown in their last game is amazing. He is also arguably their best player.
-Chavez, CB..Hard-hitting and extremly smart. He is actually mentioned as being the smartest kid in school. He is also awesome on defense and has a lighter attitude when it comes to football.
-"Boobie" Miles, RB..Great running back, but very cocky. "Boobie" is the story, but for reasons that I will not go into as to save you from a spoiler.
-Mcmillan, RB...third-string RB. Another one of my favorites. I love his childish attitude and professional determination. He is also good for a few laughs along the way.
-Coach...This is Billy Bob Thorton's character. I thought this movie would revolve around him, but for once, a football movie does NOT depend on the coach for it's plot.

All in all, this movie is really amazing and should not be missed by any fan of football or sports movies. Forget about "The Replacements" or "Remember the Titans"(although that was excellent as well) or "Varsity Blues"...This movie is the real deal!!

Rating:
Summary: Really Good
Review: Even if you don't enjoy (or understand) football, you'll still like this movie which comes more as a story of live than one of a game.

Rating:
Summary: Good Film. Next Time Get The Facts Correct
Review: For those who haven't read the book, then this is your typical, predictable feel good movie with good acting, and good action. However, don't get it twisted cuz this isn't hardly the best football movie ever made. I'd take Rudy, The Longest Yard, Remember the Titans and even Any Given Sunday which had much better acting than this one. But it's good enough where you can add it to the collection.

Next time a director wants to actually direct a movie based on actual facts at least get the game correct. Carter and Permian didn't play in the championship game that year, in the book it was the semi-finals in which Carter did go on to win State. They also left out the major fact surrounding the game that Carter had to go to court on several different occassions during the playoffs to let one of their academically ineligible stars play during the playoffs because of an Algebra class he had failed by 1 point. That major fact was left out because of what? It strictly dealt with racism directed at Carter by not only Permian, but other surrounding area schools because Carter was pretty much unbeatable, and all black hight schoold, had the most talent, and the other schools needed a reason to find a chink in the armor.

But overall the movie was okay. But if you read the book, you;ll probably have a lot more questions as to why the director veered so far away from it, and made such drastic changes.

Rating:
Summary: TURN OFF THE LIGHTS!
Review: I had a hard time staying awake, the first hour
and 15 minutes of this movie. The last half hour,
made this movie decent. Wasn't Billingsly, Achilles
cousin, in Troy? I'd much rather see Troy again,
than this movie! (meaty ohkur at best)

Rating:
Summary: Didn't get me up for the big game--- got me down...
Review: I'm a total sucker for sports movies. And I'm not ashamed to admit that I am totally taken in by the Disney-style, get hyped-up, go-for-it, ultimate release, feel-good movies exemplified by Hoosiers, Remember the Titans, the Rookie, and Miracle (for example), and I have quite a nice DVD sports collection. So "one of the best sports movies of all time" was high on my list for viewing--- and I'm sorry to say I was disappointed. I have no argument with the actors; Thornton delivers a largely understated performance (except for the screaming), nor do I havea problem with the whole "win the whole thing" mentality. I appreciate that the movie really focused more on the dangers of obsession rather than football, and perhaps that's what made it disappointing: instead of getting excited and rah-rah, I was depressed. I don't care that they didn't adhere religiously to the facts (what movie does? It's a movie and should be enjoyed [or not] based on its own merits). Even the "be perfect" speech at the end, the redemption of just being as good a person as you can be, came too late. Why tell the boys to be perfect all season (implying that they must win each game) and then define "perfection" with a half-hour of football left in the year? The ultimate redemption just fell flat. Rocky lost his match at the end of the (first, of course) movie, and you still jumped up and cheered. I could care less about these guys. And that made me sad. This movie, I'm sorry to say, is not on my "best sports movies of all time" list. Not even close. For the record, my number 1 is Bull Durham. All the others mentioned above are on the list too. Because they make me feel good ---- and Friday Night Lights definitely did not.

Rating:
Summary: "Friday Night " A Saturday Night Disapointment
Review: Is it possible to come away from a film both bored and irritated? I guess the answer is yes because I'm both, and I blame it on this overstrung, overacted mess called Friday Night Lights. It's a sports movie so predictable it's almost funny, but it has a jitteriness and dark tone with makes it about as hilarious as a tension headache.

The movie of course is about football in Texas, where it is taken every bit as serious as Baptist sunday school and honkytonk music (or maybe even more so), but it lacks credibility. Many of the actors aren't big enough to pose as high school football players, especially for the small town they're supposedly situated in. It shows a scene where the players are weightlifting in the school gym, and I'm thinking "don't you kids eat?" They look no taller than 5' 9" and scrawny, with no weight to throw around. In a real Texas high school football team - especially one predicted to win the state finals as the team in Friday Night Lights is - the players are a foot bigger and a foot wider (slight exageration but you get my point). This inaccuracy threw me right off, and I had a hard time settling into the movie. No big deal anyway, because the first half suffered uneven pacing and was a little thick in the overdramatization. The second half was better, but still predictable and I had a hard time believing the game time situations or caring about the characters. And maybe that's it's most glaring flaw; the stereotypes and storylines of the main characters was too played out for me. It's like I've already seen the movie a dozen times. Blah. Wasted time, wasted money.

The positive reviews I've read about this football flop are misleading and overly generous, and it does nothing for such a fascinating sport.

Rating:
Summary: lights out
Review: this movie is so bad it isnt funny-- anyone who can sit thru this and enjoy it must be brain dead ! no character development no real plot-- no one u care about- dumb camera work totally unsatisfying ill conceived nothing to work with no point no drama--no pay off---- just gets worse and worse until u realize watching paint dry is more interesting !! its too bad about decent actors like billy bob--- so few good scripts-- these hacks need work and pour themselves into empty vessels like this---it was a bad year for movies but this is right there at the bottom ! of all the things ive seen recently a movie called my architect stands out the most--- its a revelation ! the opposite end of the spectrum from this dreck- i only mention it---to get the stink of friday night lights out of my head !! u wanna see something worth sitting thru-- check out my architect !!

Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: This movie was just great! Although it seems to be in the same catagory as other teen sports movies, this one goes beyond the same old script. I think what captivated me more was the fact that its a true story that took place in Texas and being a Texan it just got my attention! I'm not into sports at all, especially football, but this movie was more than that. The actors do a great job of making you feel like you're a part of their small town and you feel like you can relate. Overall i think this movie is Awesome.

Rating:
Summary: Movie OK, unlike book
Review: Well, I read the book first and then saw the movie a few weeks later. The book focuses on the sociological aspects of the obsession with high school football, to the detriment of other things such as education, ethics, etc. The movie left out most of the sociology and kept the football. The movie was OK as a sports movie, but it was a big letdown to someone who has read the book.

Rating:
Summary: Utter confusion
Review: What happened here? This movie was a mystery at best. There was no character development, there was very little in the way of a plot, and after almost two hours of sitting through this confused mess, they lost. If you want to watch an actual team come together in the face of adversity, watch "Remember the Titans" or even "The Longest Yard".
I liked the football footage, how could you not? But come on, there was no real story. The players were absolutely faceless. The jump cuts were pointless, and what little background we did get didn't amount to a hill of beans.
There are way better ways to spend an afternoon.