Rating: 
Summary: Dancer Texas, Population 81
Review: This was a wonderful movie! You can't beat the cinematography. Fort Davis is a beautiful town! It's such a comforting, feel-good movie. You leave with the feeling of wanting to have that simplistic life. Especially for those of us who live in the "big city". Never enough time to have those long-term relationships and experiences! Have you EVER had an appointment to watch the sunset with friends. Beautiful movie! Go out and get it now!
Rating:
Summary: A great little movie
Review: Those of us who did not grown up in or around a small town certainly know people who did. I, for example, have a cousin from Wartburg, Tennessee. I'm not sure exactly sure where it is, and I certainly can't figure out who gave it that name or why. Even before television turned the world into a fake global village, the majority of small town adolescents seem to have dreamed of moving to a big city. This yearning is the subject of the story in "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81". Its makers have an interesting point of view on a matter which movies have covered numerous times in the past. The film opens on the morning of Graduation Day at the local school. Four boys, who are members of the graduating senior class of five, are sitting in lawn chairs in the middle of the two-land road that goes past the town. At first, this seems to be both silly and dangerous. Then we learn that these lads are best friends who, years earlier, made a sacred vow to move to Los Angeles together the Monday after they finished high school. They even bought their bus tickets at the end of their sophomore year. The scene becomes a metaphor for the highway of life. The movie takes place over a three day period. There is not much of a plot. The only central question is which, if any, of the four will actually get on the bus come Monday. Writer and director Tim McCanlies presents us with vignettes which create four exceptionally strong character studies. In fact, all of the town's residents are shown to be unique individuals. You rarely see so many interesting people in one movie. Breckin Meyer, Peter Facinelli, Ethan Embry and Eddie Mills, all relative newcomers, show great promise in portraying their characters. These are, respectively, Keller, Terrell Lee, Squirrel and John. Occasionally, Peter Facinelli slips out of character. When he does, it's a little too obvious he's a city boy playing at being one from the middle of nowhere. After all, Jeff Davis County, Texas, where the picture was made, is bigger than Rhode Island and has a lot more cows than people living on it. Is a place like Dancer really the middle of nowhere? That's the fundamental question McCanlies examines so thoroughly here. With brilliant assistance from cameraman Andrew Dintenfass, the country around the town is spectacularly photographed. There has to be more than scenery to make people live their whole lives in a place, but the visuals in the film help us to see that being nowhere is often a state of mind. "Dancer, Texas Pop. 81" is as much a comedy as it is a drama. The humor is rarely aimed at people who live in isolated places, Much of it derives from the characters' keen observations on the hazards of living in huge cities, as well as from eccentricities which could exist in people living anywhere. The philosophy of the movie is probably best summed up in a scene where the four boys are sitting around a campfire. One of them wonders out loud how much they have missed by growing up in a place like Dancer, Texas. Another boy agrees that it's a good question, but then counters by asking what others might have missed by not growing up in such a place. McCanlies is happily neutral on the issue, allowing the film's viewers to decide such questions for themselves.
Rating:
Summary: GREAT
Review: Very good movie!! It truly dipicts small town life and gives us to brag about being on the big screen . If you are from a small town you will truly feel at home with this movie
Rating: 
Summary: Dumb? . . . Sweet? . . . Don't tell me how it ends
Review: Well, I feel badly raining on the parade of the "it's just the bestest movie ever!" crowd that seems to love this movie, but I am nearly perplexed at all the cuddly feelings. I suspect that this movie about Male Angst and Male Bonding finds the biggest share of its audience to be aging housewives eager to inflict this movie on their helpless loved ones. (Ladies, this is no way to try and communicate with your loved ones; it only reflects your nuerotic denial, and makes everyone uncomfortable.) Keep in mind the danger they are provoking by doing so. The laws of thermodynamics cannot be thwarted: exposure to such a "sweet, yet superficial" dorkfest can only result in more violence in the schools. Every action has a reaction. Stop the spread of hatred: "Save the Children; Burn this Movie!" Syllogisms aside, this sleeper of a sleeper deserves one star, but I gave it two because I lacked the courtesy to watch it all the way through. True to the science illustrated above, I had to actually leave my house, find a bar(s), and proceed to get absolutely obliterated. I don't remember much of the night, but they tell me I had a blast. Hmmm, there's potential here for reducing violence in the schools ["Save the Children; Lower the Drinking Age!"]. Anyways, I still don't know how it ends! I'm willing to prolong this tantalization, however, until I should chance to die. This hawked lugie of a movie's celebration of small town life is as self-righteous and two-dimensional as all of the pseudo-profound ghetto flicks like "Sugar Hill" that came out in the early and mid-nineties. Nothing much happens, lots of ruminations are supposed to make ya go, "hmmm," and eventually some credits start rolling. Cue to go to bed. 'Night.
Rating:
Summary: Reminds me of my great days at Prude Ranch
Review: When we rented this we had no idea it was filmed in Fort Davis, Texas (where my mom actually graduated from high school [15 people graduated with her]) Loved the scenery. Love West Texas. We are far from Texas now so this was like a short visit home. We miss the great people and wide open spaces of West Texas (and we long for that catfish)--all featured in this great film.
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