Conference bookie::movies

    
    This film has just arrived in the UK and from the clips I`ve seen
    it looks brilliant.
    I was going to wait till it came out on video but with you saying it
    could be the best film you`ve ever seen I`m definitely going to see it
    sooner.
    
    Davie.

    wonderful!  Ordinarily I'd be worried about building up expectations,
    but with this one I'll just eagerly await your reaction.  I'm very
    interested in a non-American take on this film as well!
    
    Good viewing,
    
    ana

    > The editing alone deserves a nomination.
    
    Don't know if you meant to imply this, but the movie *did* get an Oscar
    nomination for editing (the only nomination it got).
    
    				- Paul

    I love the movie!  It is genuine, sincere and real!
    
    >    but with this one I'll just eagerly await your reaction.  I'm very
    >	interested in a non-American take on this film as well!
    
    
    I watched lots of NBA games on video and have got to love the game.  I
    also read a lot on the game incl several autobiographies like Red
    Auebrach, Kareem, Bradley, et all.
    
    Watching Hoop Dreams is like watching events in those lines come alive
    except the show also featured people who did not make it.  It also
    gives an insight into Americaana - family lives, neighbourhood,
    education / sports system, social problems....
    
    The filming was painstakingly done with lots of details.  The producers
    and all involved deserve Oscars.
    
    I even had lump in my throat in some of the scenes.  Very poignont and
    emotional movie.  One can get easily involved with the characters.
    Definite one of the all time greats.
    
    BTW what happened to the boys/men?
    
    Robert 

    Saw this at the Wilton Theater over the weekend. Really good. 
    It's a long movie (3 hours) but doesn't drag on, an amazing feat 
    for a documentary.
    
    Something to think about while watching the movie: on average only 35
    new players join the NBA any year.
    
      John

    Gates just finished his senior season at Marquette, as the fourth guard
    in a three guard rotation, so he didn't see much playing time.  He is
    on track to receive his degree.
    
    Don't know about the other guy.
    
    NAZZ

    I  am a Keen basketball so you can imagine my delight of hearing of a
    new basketball film/docu. As with everything else, livinig in the u.k
    you get to hear of everything last, or a good while later at least.
    
    I have not seen any listings for this film at my local cinema. Does
    anybody know if has actually been released in the uk and if not when??
    
    How does it compare to films such as Above the rim and White men cant
    jump. I no its not strictly a film but any additional info would be
    appreciated
    
    
    thanks Daks

    It is a film, and even though a documentary several critics thought it
    was the best movie of 1994, not just the best documentary.
    
    I am a big basketball fan and have seen all the basketball movies. 
    Here is how I view them:
    
    "White Men Can't Jump" is very funny, but is more of a buddy movie with
    some basketball in it.  It's painfully obvious that Wesley Snipes was
    NEVER a gym rat.
    
    "Above the Rim" is much too cliched.  Tupac is portrayed in much too
    benevolent a light for the type of scum he was, and he wouldn't have
    been so public about the things he did.  Some of the basketball action
    was obviously staged, with hoops at nine feet instead of ten so
    everyone could dunk.
    
    "Blue Chips" was a tired story that should have been made ten years
    ago.  Using Shaq, Penny, and all the other recognizable pros IMO
    detracted from the story.  The reporter was used as an afterthought.
    But the basketball scenes were excellent.
    
    "The Air Up There" was a good story, had some very good basketball
    scenes, and had the extra enticement of the African scenery.  But like
    Wesley Snipes, Kevin Bacon was never a basketball player, and that was
    painfully obvious in the movie.  Too many cliches in the script, too.
    
    "Hoosiers" was the best of all the basketball stories.  The movie truly
    captured the atmosphere of Indiana in 1954.  Gene Hackman was memorable
    as the coach, and the players were all real Division 2 or 3 athletes
    and not just actors.
    
    But as good as "Hoosiers" was, "Hoop Dreams" is better, because of the
    depth it ventures into Gates and Agee's lives.  You get to know their
    families, their schools, why they do what they do, and since it is a
    documentary, the action is all real.  I highly recommend it.
    
    Rating scale from me (on a scale from 1-10):
    
    White Men Can't Jump - 8.5
    Above the Rim - 5
    Blue Chips - 5.5
    The Air Up There - 7.5
    Hoosiers - 9
    Hoop Dreams - 9.5
    
    NAZZ
    

    
    I went to see Hoop Dreams in the Cameo Cinema in Edinburgh,I
    haven`t seen it advertised in any of the big Cinemas,eg UCI.
    
    I really enjoyed the film and I would say you don`t have to 
    be a big Basketball fan to enjoy it.
    
    It was a 3 hour film with an intermission which let me nip out
    for a beer in the Cinema bar.The Cameo allows you to take alcohol
    into the film.
    
    Go see it.....
    
    **** out of *****
    
    Davie.

  I rented the tape a few weeks ago. This is one of the best documentaries I've
ever seen. They really went way beyond most documentaries developing (showing
actually) the main characters in depth. 

  As I recall the controversy was not that it didn't get an Oscar nomination,
but that it was not nominated for best picture. If you consider that it is a
documentary then it might deserve the nomination but best picture would have
been a bit of a reach. It's a very good movie and a great documentary but I'm
not sure it's a great movie. 

  Someone mentioned that the Oscar was for editing. Oddly enough I thought that
if it has one flaw it's that it was a bit long and could have been edited down
a bit. Some of the stuff is a bit redundant.

  George

>   As I recall the controversy was not that it didn't get an Oscar nomination,
> but that it was not nominated for best picture.

	You may be thinking of a different controversy.  In this case the
	controversy was indeed that it didn't get a nomination for Best
	Documentary.  It's the documentary nominating committee that's been
	under fire for many years (remember "Roger & Me"?).

	More fire for the controversy is that Entertainment Weekly (from
	which Siskel & Ebert quoted from about this on last weeks show)
	has statements from others on the committee that one committee member
	said that if this film (ie. Hoop Dreams) is nominated that it
	would outright win, and so they deliberately caused it to not be
	nominated by having several committee members give it a rating of 4
	(the lowest on the 4-10 scale).

	Siskel & Ebert even recommended that they should re-do the 1994
	Best Documentary from scratch (from the nomination process to
	the voting process).

    One thing that made this film great was that it resisted making
    judgements or excuses for the families or schools.  
    
    But I will.  :-}    I bet St. Joe's coach doesn't even realize what
    a user he is and how he and his coaching style practically destroyed a
    young man.  The coach probably even thinks he came off looking good in
    the movie.  What a buffoon.  I wonder how many high school and college
    coaches there are like him...