[.ca] Friday Night Lights [HD DVD]

best "based on a true story" sports movie i have seen yet:
this movie was a real surprise.i didn't think it would be good at all.but i gave it a shot,and i actually thought it was pretty good movie.as "based on a true story" sports movies go,it's probably the best i have seen so far.a lot of that has to do with the depth and heart of the story.it's hard not to get wrapped up in the emotion,and feel what the characters feel.the acting was very good,especially from Billy Bob Thornton.he brought real credible intensity and emotion to the role of head coach.i also felt this movie was more inspirational than others of the genre,but it's not over the top,or in your face.it's much more subtle,but also more powerful.for me Friday Night Lights gets a well deserved 4/5

Rare realism for a sports movie:
It was interesting that the film was based on a season where the Panthers lost the state championship. As we read at the end, the next year a new crop of youngsters were Texas state champs with an undefeated record. "It's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game", was the dominant theme.

Predictable:
I watched this movie after hearing a review saying it was one of the top five sports movies of all time. I'm not sure what I was expecting, because it's hard to imagine how fresh a story a football movie could have, but this one poured on the cliches on top of each other. The ending with the abusive father was completely unbelievable (in the literal way, not the blown-away way) and the rest of the movie just fizzled out at the end. There was very little character development, and I didn't get a sense that this was a real 'team'. Billy Bob's performance was mediocre for most of the movie. He turned this around completely for his "perfect" speech, which, in my opinion, is one of the most motivating speeches I've ever heard, and which I think might justfity watching this otherwise completely unremarkable movie.

It IS the best sports movie.....:
I'm not sure what film the previous reviewer was watching. I found the film to be incredibly good from start to finish. The events are true, so if it contains a few 'cliches', well.... such is the stuff of life. It's very well acted (Thornton is awesome); the high school players are quite believeable, and you'll find yourself really rooting for them by the end of the movie. The final game is, by all definition, a barn burner. (Reminds me of a CFL playoff game.... right down to the wire.) If you know a bit about football, it makes it that much more enjoyable but it's not an absolute necessity. A nice bonus on the DVD is interviews with the players NOW. It's quite interseting to see how their lives unfolded 16 years after the events depicted in the film. Perhaps my favourite aspect of the film is the soundtrack. It is by far the most searingly beautiful and soulful music I've ever heard in a movie. I bought the CD only 2 days after my 2nd viewing of the film. Most of the songs are performed by a Texas quartet called 'Explosions in the Sky'. Defininitely not the type of music you'd expect about a 'football' movie, but then this movie is less about football than about the emotions of the youngsters playing it and the incredible burden placed on them by an entire town. I simply can't say enough about it. Everyone who has heard this disc so far has remarked on it favourably.

A stellar yet somewhat troubling motion picture:
There can be no doubt that Friday Night Lights is a remarkably good motion picture, but I have to admit that I have mixed emotions about the film. Maybe that is a good thing because one thing this movie makes almost all of us do is think about ourselves. The majority of us are in there somewhere - maybe you're the dad who puts too much pressure on your kid to be a star athlete, or the coach's wife whose very way of life becomes defined by a simple game made much too complicated by the community, or the rabid fan who lives and dies with your team and never hesitates to berate a coach or player who makes one mistake. Maybe you're the star athlete who saw your dreams die in the form of a serious injury, or the little guy who had to prove your toughness, etc. If you care enough about sports to watch this movie, you're in here somewhere. Back to my mixed feelings, though. I love football; it's a great sport that lets you have some fun and learn important lessons, such as teamwork, you can put to good use throughout your life - but there is an ugly side to the sport, and Friday Night Lights shows you just about everything that is wrong with this great game. There is nothing fun about being a Panther during the season chronicled in this film. On day one of practice, every kid on every high school team should want a state championship, but none should expect it. Desire brings out the best in you, while expectation sets you up for a fall. In Odessa, Texas, though, the very spirit of the game is betrayed by the adults in the community; not only do they expect a championship, they demand it; these most rabid of fans might know every play in the playbook, but they know nothing about what football (in my opinion) should really be all about. The stress these kids feel to not only win, but pulverize every opponent is much more than any 17-year-old should ever have to bear. The film basically takes us through the 1988 football season for the Panthers, from the first practice to the final game. That first practice sets an ugly tone for what is to come, and things get even uglier when the team's star running back hurts his knee in the first game. It will not be a perfect season in Odessa. Losing, of course, brings out the worst in some people who were already pretty bad to begin with. The parent of a chronic fumbler, already embarrassed that his son isn't following in his footsteps, pretty much goes off the deep end; the quarterback, living with an ailing mother and desperate for a scholarship that can take him away from this town, gets pushed pretty close to the breaking point, and the star player refuses to believe he is seriously injured because he can't imagine a life without football. What of the coach, the enabler, the molder of young minds? Billy Bob Thornton may be terrific in this film, but I never got inside the head of the coach he played. In the end, I see him as perhaps the worst kind of coach you can have. He's not honest with his team, he doesn't take care of his players, and he puts an obviously injured player back in action without even consulting either of the doctors who examined him. He plays down expectations at times, but it's just an act; all too soon he is frothing at the mouth on the sidelines. Some say he figures things out in the end, realizes that football is just a game, but I disagree. That heartfelt talk with the quarterback: a cruel form of motivation; that half-time speech at the big game: more psychological motivation. It's all about winning for him - that's my interpretation, at least. The film does have its moments, though. When the injured superstar finally breaks down, it's more than a poignant moment - the film virtually stops right there; it's one of the most powerful scenes I've seen in a long time. Other big moments, though, rubbed me the wrong way. Having your father finally show something better than contempt for you is good, but the reason why it happens in this case sends a message I find quite wrong. This is definitely a film about high school football. Academics, the very thing that high school is supposed to be all about, is nowhere to be found here - except in the reading problems of a certain star athlete and random comments about more money going to athletics than education. As a full-fledged nerd, and as someone currently involved in education who has to hold his tongue when he sees luxurious athletics buildings erected on a campus desperately needing additional classrooms, I am going to have to stifle myself right here. It does disappoint me a little bit to interpret this film the way I do - for, the way I see it, it ultimately says winning isn't everything - but it is pretty darn close. Whatever its message, though, Friday Night Lights does make you think, and it is a gripping sports-related film, and that is more than enough to make it well worth watching.