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Directed by: Thomas Carter Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Ashanti Samuel L. Jackson plays Coach Ken Carter, a previous all-star basketball player who has been hired by a pathetic excuse of a high school to turn its basketball program around. The story explores the thugged out life of a run-down, predominantly black, community. Soon enough, Carter becomes extremely controversial with his position on making his players strive for good grades in order to make something of their lives. Coach Carter was a typical sports movie filled with drama, only it really wasn't that dramatic. During the entire duration of the film, you seem to ask yourself, "Why would I care about that?" It would be twice as meaningful if some areas were further explored, such as the player's druge use (the one with the attitude at the begining--I forgot his name). The little bit of drama contained in the film is only explored when Sam Jackson yells at the kids. I mean, come on.. Samuel L. Jackson is the king of drama when he yells, but sometimes we need other elements to pull the "drama" title along. On the other hand, Coach Carter is a great movie to take a date to. It's just one of those films that you'd be a moron to go and see with your friends, but perfectly fine for a date. It's not like either one of you is going to break down crying, but then again you're both there with each other, and it's not something that she or he (if you're a girl.. er.. well, times are changing) would be annoyed with. However, I must warn you, the ebonics is extremely tasteless and it almost drives you insane. The n-word was used 31 times (yes, I counted), and you might come out of the theater feeling like you've been dumbed down somehow. RATING: 2 PROS: Samuel L. Jackson is loving awesome, and it's a cliche drama flick to take a date to. CONS: EBONICS EBONICS EBONICS! ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://imdb.com/title/tt0393162/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnxteD0yMHxzZz0xfGxtPTIwMHx0dD1vbnxwbj0wfHE9Q29hY2ggQ2FydGVyfGh0bWw9MXxubT1vbg__;fc=1;ft=2
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Jan 17, 2005 05:51
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 06:24 |
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While I hate to poo poo on this movie, because it had a good message, I just have to. The dialogue could not have been more forced if I had downed it with a footlong bar of dark chocolate and then tried to poo poo it out an hour later. Despite having a positive message, it also relied on ridiculous stereotypes. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry sometimes, but I guess since the movie pretty explicitly addressed only black viewers I'm not meant to know (Samuel L. Jackson makes a point of singling out the black players in at least one speech). Even though it meant to promote education, the movie also painted all of the educators as tight rear end dorks who talk in the "black comedian pretending to be a white guy" voice. Ashanti looked surprisingly unattractive and didn't seem to give a poo poo about having an abortion  Also, Samuel L. Jackson wore some of the most godawful ties that I have ever seen grace the neck of a man who wasn't selling government grant directories. Basically, if you're taking a chick out anytime soon, pass this up and see In Good Company. 2/5 because they didn't do the goddamned annoying MTV camera shake thing the entire time.
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Jan 17, 2005 06:40
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This is one of the worst movies I've seen in a long time. The plot was entirely predictable, loaded with cliches, and whatever wasn't predictable didn't make any senese... "Drop and give me a million bazillion", "You don't want me to have a baby? Why wont' you think about the future for once?" Much of the movie (and most of the characters) relied on blatant stereotypes. Every dramatic scene was entirely lacking in drama, and the score during the "dramatic" scenes was beyond cheesy. During many of the "dramatic" moments, most of the theater was laughing. All the characters were flat and uninteresting - any character development was cliched predictable. Maybe the most ridiculous part of the movie is the baskeball games themselves. Besiides scenes with last year's 4-22 team, the movie shows no more than 2 or 3 missed shots, including opponents'. 1
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Jan 22, 2005 22:50
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Coach Carter is one of the most mediocre movies I've seen in a while. While I did like the message behind it, everything surrounding it seems so bland. Samuel L. Jackson gives the first phoned in performance of his career, the movie is loaded with blatant black and white stereotypes, every attempt at a dramatic scene comes off feeling really uncomfortable and cliche, and the basketball game sequences were far from suspensful or gripping. From about 15 minutes in you can figure out where this movie is going and when you finally get there, it's just not worth the price of admission. Ultimately, Coach Carter isn't a bad movie by any means. It's just boring because it's a story we've all seen told before and done a lot better. PROS: - Very positive message - Cliche drama flick to take some chick to. - Wouldn't be a bad movie to rent CONS: - Cliche and stereo-type ridden throughout - Drama scenes cheezier than the Cheetos you bought in the lobby - Unengaging and rather unrealistic basketball scenes OVERALL: 2/5
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Jan 30, 2005 20:45
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Utter crap is what this movie was. It's like "To Sir With Love" meets "Wildcats" only worse. It was so utterly predictable and cliche'd it was not worth watching at all. It depresses me just thinking about how bad it was. SLJ should hang his head in shame for this.
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Feb 6, 2005 08:00
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| # ? Apr 19, 2024 06:24 |
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Some people have been saying this movie was crap. I disagree, I thought it was good, not great, and definetly not fantastic. I'm a bit biased, I love basketball. I think its a beautiful sport. But on with the review: SLJ did a good job, as he always does. I believed him. I thought the players acting was ok, not fantastic. I didn't like the guy that left the team to drug deal then rejoined, I didn't think he pulled it off, but I liked the superstar on the team, the dumb one and thought he pulled off his role quite well. I didn't think the movie was as smooth as it could have been. I thought the story packed a little too much in, forcing it to be cheesey in sections. Its a little bit idealist for me too, what happened to the human element? You know, unpredictability? Thats another thing, the movie was ridiculously predictable. I didn't think it was a bad thing though, Mighty ducks was predictable too but it still has a place in our hearts. It just needed to be more human, less cliche. Points to remember: - Good DVD to hire out on a lonely night, or with a girl. I don't think its a movie to watch with a group of guys however. - If you like/love basketball, you won't mind this movie. - If you disliked the mighty ducks, you'll probably really dislike this. - The message was great, if not a bit idealistic. You'll hold admiration for Carter. - The storyline was a bit weird in the places where it went off tangent. You'll know what Im talking about. - The camera work was really good, the basketball scenes reminded me of Blue Chips. As a basketballer I didnt mind them, probably because they ran some good real life plays which made me go  So yeah, its probably not a bad movie to get for your basketball loving Dad, and its not a bad watch if nothing else is going down. OVERALL: 3/5
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Jun 9, 2005 01:39
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