Rating: 
Summary: Excellent football movie to go see
Review: This is an excellent movie from the beginning to the end. James van Der Beek was a sensational actor in this movie. High school kids can interperet this more since its all about high school and playing football. The level of intensity is a big plus for watching this movie. This movie portrayed life conflicts that you did not know, but really do go on. Ron Lester plays Billy Bob, Paul Walker plays Lance Harbor, and Jon Voight as Coach Kilmer. Billy Bob is the one that makes this movie. When you see this movie you will know what i mean. I gave this 5 stars because it has everything involved in it that needs to be there. This movie has alot of action and some drama and lttle romance. The football scenes are full of intense and impacting plays and action. I recommend this movie for everyone to watch.
Rating:
Summary: Truthful and Dramatic
Review: There are two fundamental reasons why the Paramount Pictures film directed by Brian Robbins, Varsity Blues is one of the greatest movies made in this time. First of all it is the best depiction of high school life in a small town I have ever seen in a movie. Secondly, not only is the film frank and outspoken when dealing with the truths of growing up in a small town, but Varsity Blues is 105 minutes of film packed with diligently planned dramatic photography. The fact that each scene is pumped so full of emotion only amplifies the possible reality of the script. The story told by the movie Varsity Blues appeals to me for more reasons than one. First of all, the film is humorous, thrilling and full of emotion. Secondly, I grew up in a small town like West Canaan, Texas, where the story takes place, so much of the story is very real to me. For example, in my town, football games on Friday nights were more like religious ceremonials or rituals than simply high school athletics. This excerpt from the movie portrays this image perfectly: "In America we have laws; laws against killing, laws against stealing and it is just accepted that as a member of American society you will live by those laws. In West Canaan, Texas there is another society, which has its own laws. Football is a way of life. As a boy growing up in West Canaan, Texas, you never questioned the sanctity of football; you just listened to what the coaches said and tried as best as you could to win; win at all costs." After each game, the football team would have a party to celebrate whether the final score represented victory or defeat. These parties included alcohol, drugs, sex and probably much more that I was unaware of at the time. Nearly the entire school would attend these parties. It would have been unusual for the cops to not show up a couple of times a night to order everyone to keep it down even if the closest neighbors were miles away. Even if the cops had caught someone underage who had been drinking they couldn't really arrest them because then they wouldn't be welcome at Saturday's barbeque. Another similarity between West Canaan and my hometown was that the football coach had the most power in the town with players as close seconds. This meant that if a player was falling behind in class, the coach would have a talk with the teacher and soon the player would have one of the highest grades in the class. As in Varsity Blues, there was an abundance of racism in my town. Confederate flags were a common sight and racial slurs could be heard frequently. The truth is that although many people think that Varsity Blues is far fetched and unrealistic it is just the opposite. People do not want to admit that this type of community, with these problems still exists, but it does and Varsity Blues does an excellent job of illustrating what it is like to grow up in this sort of environment. Lastly, Varsity Blues is exponentially enhanced by the incredible photography portrayed throughout. This film includes scenes that I would go as far as to deem them the best I've seen. The extraordinary photography takes the film to a whole new level, where it becomes not only a movie, but art captured on film. Each scene was thoughtfully constructed and designed ahead of time so that it could display as much energy as possible making each picture worth much more than merely a thousand words. One of my favorite parts of the movie is during the game against Elway, after the team had spent the night at the strip club. This is because each fleeting incident, each motion, each flicker of film is bursting with power and vigor that it feels more real than if you had been a part of it. All of these aspects are what make Varsity Blues such an outstanding film. I am glad that someone was brave enough to confront facts that exist that most people do not want to believe are true, such as racism, premarital sex, underage drinking, cheating, etcetera. Varsity Blues does all this and more by presenting it in a way that appeals to people and causes them to feel as if they are in West Canaan, Texas as all of this is taking place.
Rating: 
Summary: Mainly vicarious thrills
Review: The movie is extremely predictable. The second line of the movie is like, "That would be a disaster if Lance (starting QB) got hurt", and I'm like, "Lance is gonna die." The characters are all extremely one dimensional, that said they are pretty accurate stereotypes because it reminded my a lot of my old team and I've heard other people say the same. The football scenes are probably the best I've seen, though, and the movie mainly offers vicarious thrills to those who want to live through another high school football year. The ending was a stinker. However, in true football movie tradition, the quarterback throwback pass is still unbeatable! Ha!
Rating:
Summary: A suprisingly excellent movie
Review: What do you get when you cross teen angst, high school football and a whipped cream bikini? You get "Varsity Blues", MTV Production's witty yet poignant look at the life of high school footballers. James Van der Beek plays the lead, and does a good job portraying the smart, quick-witted Jon "Mox" Moxon. John Voight does an incredible job as the antagonistic head coach of the school's team. The rest of the cast thrive in the wonderful blend of comedy and drama that make the flick well worth seeing. It often has the feel of an 80s brat pack movie, but with a more modern twist. Though I doubt it will ever join the ranks of "Ferris Beuller" or "The Breakfast Club", it certainly has a rightful place near the top of the genre.
Rating:
Summary: Fun Cast Great Real Movie!
Review: Tweeder and Billy Bob make the movie funny whild Dawson's Creek's James Van Der Beek makes an amazing performence. Bad accent and all! The movie has a great performence and interpretation of a coach and his football team. Mox (Van Der Beek) is 2nd string qb and is put into the action when 1st string Lance Harbour is injured. With the coach out to get him Mox has to prove to everybody and himself that coach is wrong and that the team would be better off without him. Watch it but it rent it whatever, you'll love it if your 13-25. Girlies look for hotties Scott Caan(Tweeder), Van Der Beek(Moxon), Paul Walker(Lance Harbour) and loads more!
Rating:
Summary: Great Film
Review: A great film from start to finish. The sports aspect mixed with teenage life made for an excellent film. The comedy was funny, and the serious moments were impactful. James Van Der Beek, plays the strongest character I have ever seen him play. He played the character to perfection, particularily at his serious moments involving his inspiring speeches. The football action was real, and well shot. An overall great movie.
Rating:
Summary: A great portrayal of Texas high school football
Review: When I first saw Varsity Blues advertised on television I never had any intention of seeing it. I thought the movie would be another Hollywood interpretation of what life was like in Texas, something none of them would know about. However, Varsity Blues is a very good portrayal of what many high school football players in Texas must face everyday. This movie features a young man, Johnathan Moxon (James Van der Beek) as a backup quarterback on a West Texas Football team. He has never seen playing time and spends his games reading the classics, until the star quarterback faces an injury. Suddenly, Mox is expected to rise to the occasion and the entire town is counting on him to bring home the district title. Varsity Blues explores his struggles with his new found fame--and his heightened struggles with his coach (Jon Voight as Bud Kilmer). Kilmer has a "win at all costs" attitude and forces his players to perform sick, hurt or otherwise. I am from a small town in Texas and I can say that many coaches are much like Bud Kilmer. They demand nothing but perfection from their players and the town does the same. Many critics say that this movie is without a decent plot and is a weak attempt at showing what happens on the football field. I am here to tell you that this is one of the best insights into football that is around. Sure, some things are exaggerated a little, but otherwise I found it easy to relate to this movie from start to finish. If you want to learn what high school football players, especially those from Texas, must endure on a daily basis then I highly reccommend this movie. You will appreciate their efforts much more!
Rating: 
Summary: Another great football movie!!
Review: When I first began watching this movie, I thought it would be dumb, but I was dead wrong. The picture quality and the music is outstanding! This movie is loaded with lots of excitement and comedy. The main reason why I like the movie was because of relationships Moxon he had with his teammates. For example, Moxon was willing to give up his full scholarship to an Ivy League School to protect one of them and he was the only player on the team that never forgot about Lance (the original starting QB) unlike Coach Kilmer. I also liked the way Moxon stood up to Coach Kilmer by running his own plays and switching from a running style offence to a passing attack style offence. Being a former high school football player (MLB) like myself, I wish my HS would have passed more instead of running 95% of the time or else we would have won more football games. The reason why I gave the movie 4/5 stars was because there were no defensive star players in it since most of them are on offence. Most football films (unlike The Program & Any Given Sunday) always give more attention towards the offence and overshadow the defense.
Rating: 
Summary: Dawson gets tackled up the creek
Review: I know the movie was about something, im just not sure what. Was it a moving story about a team who never gave up and finally triumphed? Or what about the story of a kid who stands up against the evil coach? Or was it about football, beer and strippers? Well, i dont know, but I was really wasn't that impressed with Vanderbeek's portrayl of a high school football player. Maybe thats because he is really about 25 years old.
Rating:
Summary: BLUES RULES
Review: FUNNY MOVIE WITH FINE PERFORMANCES BY VAN DER BEEK AND VOIGHT. PROBABLY MORE REAL TO LIFE THAN MANY WOULD LIKE TO THINK REGARDING THE COACH'S ATTITUDE. SOME GREAT COMIC SCENES OVERSHADOW THE DRAMA OF COACH/PLAYER CONFLICT UNTIL THE APPROPRIATE ENDING. GOOD MOVIE!
|
