Back to School #72: Fish Tank (dir by Andrea Arnold)

Posted on September 24, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Released in 20o9 (and appearing in American theaters in 2010), the British film Fish Tank is another one of those films that I love but occasionally have trouble watching. Much like Thirteen, it’s a film that, in some ways, hits pretty close to home for me. Though the film might be about a 15 year-old English girl living in a London council estate and I’m a Texas girl who grew up all over the Southwest, there’s a lot about Fish Tank to which I related.

The film tells the story of 15 year-old Mia (Katie Jarvis). Mia lives in a tiny flat with her mother (Kierston Wareing), who appears to be only a few years older than her daughter, and her younger sister (Rebecca Griffiths). She has recently been kicked out of school and is facing an undeniably bleak future. She spends her time wandering around the estates, an oppressive atmosphere of concrete, poverty, and hostility. When we first meet Mia, she is arguing with another girl over a dance routine. The argument quickly turns violent and, as the film makes clear, that violence isn’t particularly shocking. Mia is an angry girl, one who cannot relate to her family or her surroundings without striking out. That’s what you do when you don’t have a future to look forward to. You strike out at the present.

In fact, the only time that Mia is happy is when she’s dancing. She breaks into deserted apartments so she can practice her routine and have a few moments of freedom. And it’s not so much that Mia is a great dancer or that she’s had any training. (In fact, actress Katie Jarvis was reportedly not comfortable with having to dance on camera.) Instead, there’s a raw power to the way that Mia dances. It’s the only non-destructive way that she has to get out her anger and to express herself. It’s the only way that she has to let the world know that she’s special and, when she’s dancing, she’s in control of the future.

Things briefly look better when Mia’s mother starts to date the handsome Connor O’Reilly (Michael Fassbender). At first, Connor seems almost perfect. Along with bringing some momentary peace to the household, Connor is one of the few characters in the film to show anything resembling kindness to Mia. Connor encourages her to go to an audition. Connor takes the entire family out to the countryside, giving Mia a break from the oppressive atmosphere of the estates. When Mia wades out into a pond and cuts her foot, Connor is the one who bandages it. Connor seems to be perfect. Of course, it helps that he’s played by a pre-12 Years A Slave Michael Fassbender.

But, of course, Connor isn’t perfect.

About halfway through the film, Fish Tank takes a disturbing turn and things proceed to get even more disturbing from there. And I’m not going to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t seen Fish Tank.

(I will however say that, much as Juno made it difficult for me to ever truly trust Jason Bateman, Fish Tank had the same effect as far as Michael Fassbender is concerned.)

Directed by Andrea Arnold in a semi-documentary style, Fish Tank works mostly because of the performance of Katie Jarvis. This was her film debut and she was apparently asked to audition after a production assistant saw her having a loud argument with her boyfriend at a train station. To a certain extent, you could argue that she’s largely playing herself but I think that does a disservice to both Katie Jarvis as an actress and the film itself. It’s a great performance, one of the best acting debuts in the history of film.

Earlier, I compared Fish Tank to Thirteen, both in its portrayal of an angry teenager and the fact that I could not help but relate to both film’s lead characters. Also like Thirteen, Fish Tank ends on a deeply ambiguous note. I’ll just say that I hope things work out well for Mia and, despite all of her troubles, I think they will. If Mia can survive, then there is hope for us all.

Back to School #71: An Education (dir by Lone Scherifg)

Posted on September 23, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

When I first started this series of Back To School reviews, my plans was to somehow write and post 80 reviews over the course of just one week. What was I thinking? That one week has now become one month. However, even if it has taken me longer than I originally planned, I’ve enjoyed writing these reviews and I hope that you’ve enjoyed reading them.

We’ve been looking at these films in chronological order. We started with 1946’s I Accuse My Parents and now, 70 reviews later, we have reached the wonderful year of 2009. It seems somewhat appropriate, to me, that as we finally start to reach the end of this series (after this review, only 9 more to go!), we should take a look at one of my favorite films of all time, a film that was nominated for best picture and which introduced the world to one of the best actresses working today.

That film, of course, is An Education.

Set in 1961, An Education tells the story of Jenny (Carey Mulligan), an intelligent and headstrong 16 year-old girl. Jenny lives in London with her father (Alfred Molina) and mother (Cara Seymour), both of whom have decided that Jenny will eventually attend Oxford University. She attends public school, where she’s a star pupil and a favorite of her teacher, Miss Stubbs (Olivia Williams) and the stern headmistress (Emma Thompson). Jenny is someone who, even at the age of 16, seems to have her entire life mapped out for her.

And then she meets David Goldman (Peter Sarsgaard). David is a handsome and charming older man who, spying Jenny walking in the rain, offers to give her a ride home. Soon, Jenny and David are secretly pursuing a romantic relationship. At first glance, David seems to be the perfect dream boyfriend. He’s sophisticated. He’s witty. He knows about art and music and seems to be the exact opposite of Jenny’s boring, conservative father. And David also has two beautiful friends, Danny (a devastatingly charming Dominic Cooper) and Danny’s glamorous girlfriend, Helen (Rosamund Pike).

Jenny is drawn into David’s exciting circle of friends and, at first, it’s all so intoxicating that the little things don’t matter. Jenny doesn’t ask, for instance, how David and Danny make their money. When she finds out that David specifically moves black families into white neighborhoods in order to get people to move so that he can then buy and rent out their former homes, Jenny knows that it’s shady but she pretends not to be worried. And when David and Danny steal a valuable antique map out of a country home, it’s far too exciting for Jenny to worry about the legality of it all…

An Education is such a great film, I don’t even know where to begin in singing its praises. The cast is absolutely brilliant, with Carey Mulligan proving herself to be a star and Peter Sarsgaard being so charismatic that, much like Jenny, you can’t help but get swept up in his world. This was the first film that I ever noticed Dominic Cooper in and I walked out of the theater with a crush that I continue to have to this day. The script, by novelist Nick Hornby, is full of witty lines and, even more importantly, it manages to find something very universal within Jenny’s very personal story. We’ve all had a David Goldman in our life at some point.

However, what I think I really love about An Education is the way that it portrays the excitement of being just a little bit naughty. One need only compare the vivid scenes in which David and Jenny dance at a club with the drab scenes of Jenny sitting in class to understand why Jenny (and so many other girls) would fall for a guy like David.

Perhaps my favorite image in the entire film is one in which, after having a fight out in the middle of the street, David and Jenny turn around to see Danny and Helen standing out on a beautiful balcony and waving down to them. The two couples are just so beautiful and so glamorous that it really does become one of those moments where you really do wish you could just step into the movie and spend a few hours just hanging out with them.

An Education is one of the best!

The Beautiful People (from L-R): Dominic Cooper, Rosamund Pike, Peter Sarsgaard, and Carey Mulligan.

Dance Scenes That I Love: The Perks of Being A Wallflower

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

I really probably shouldn’t share this scene until I actually post my review of The Perks of Being A Wallflower. But I’ve still got three other Back to School films to review before I get to Perks and I want to share this scene now! In this dance scene that I love, Emma Watson and Ezra Miller take over the dance floor in spectacular fashion!

Back to School #70: Lymelife (dir by Derick Martini)

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Lymelife is an odd but occasionally effective indie film from 2008. Taking place in 1979, the film tells the story of two brothers living on Long Island. The older brother, Jimmy Bartlett (Kieran Culkin) has recently graduated from high school and is preparing to enter the army. (We hear that he’s going to be shipped off to fight in a war against Argentina, which is odd because, to the best of my knowledge, the U.S. has never been at war with Argentina.) The younger brother is 15 year-old Scott (Rory Culkin), a gentle boy who loves Star Wars and who is doted on by his overprotective mother, Brenda (Jill Hennessy). Scott’s relationship with his father, Mickey (Alec Baldwin), is far less positive with Mickey feeling that his youngest son is weak and Scott resenting the fact that Mickey is always cheating on Brenda.

As the film opens, a recent outbreak of Lyme Disease has got everyone in a panic. Brenda, in particular, is terrified that Scott is going to get bitten by a tick and refuses to let him go outside unless every inch of his skin is covered and protected. Causing Brenda even more panic is the fact that their neighbor, Charlie Bragg (Timothy Hutton), has contracted the disease and has lost his job as a result. Now, he spends all of his time either outside trying to hunt deer or hiding down in his basement. His wife (Cynthia Nixon) is forced to take a job from Mickey in order to support the family and soon, she and Mickey are having an affair.

In fact, the only person who doesn’t completely shun Charlie is Scott, though this is largely because Scott has, for years, had a crush on Charlie’s daughter, Adrianna (Emma Roberts). Adrianna finally starts to return Scott’s affection but then Charlie discovers the truth about his wife’s job with Mickey and things … well, things do not end happily.

Lymelife is a strange film, one that at times almost plays like a parody of a typical indie film. This is one of those films where a lot of things happen but you’re not always quite sure why they happened and ultimately, it’s hard not to feel like the film is essentially a collection of loosely related scenes, all looking for a stronger narrative. But, with all that in mind, I still like Lymelife. Director Derik Martini brings such an intense and humanistic touch to the film’s dangerously quirky storyline and it’s such an obviously personal film that it becomes fascinating in its own way. Not surprisingly, both Alec Baldwin and Jill Hennessy overact in their roles (and considering that they have the most melodramatic lines, that’s not always a good thing) but, fortunately, Timothy Hutton, Emma Roberts, and the Culkin Brothers all give excellent performances.

Plus, the film’s ending is absolutely haunting, largely because of the wise use of the song Running Out Of Empty, which can be heard below.

Back to School #69: Superbad (dir by Greg Mottola)

Posted on September 21, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

One of the great things about the 2007 comedy Superbad is that it has a title that allows for snarky but overworked reviewers like me to come up with an easy review.

For instance, if I disliked Superbad, I could just say, “Superbad more than lives up to its name!” However, since I happen to like Superbad, I can say that Superbad is supergood, supercool, and superfun!

See how easily that works?

Plotwise, Superbad tells a story that will be familiar to anyone who has ever seen a teen comedy. Three guys try to get laid. Seth (Jonah Hill) is the rotund and boisterous one, the one who has a crush on Jules (Emma Stone), who is your basic good girl with a wild side. Evan (Michael Cera) is the sweet and sensitive one. And then there’s Fogell (Christopher Mintz-Plasse), the nerdy one with the thick glasses. Fogell is the one who gets a hilariously bad fake ID, one that tells the world that his name is McLovin.

After Jules invites Seth to a party, he and Evan enlist Fogell to use his fake ID to buy them alcohol. However, as often happens in the type of films, things get complicated. While Fogell is buying the beer, the convenience store is held up. The police arrive and Evan and Seth panic and run off. Meanwhile, Fogell is befriended by the two cops (played by Seth Rogen and Bill Hader), both of whom are incredibly impressed that their new friend has as wonderful a name as McLovin.

(“You’re name’s McLovin? That’s badass!”

And so, while McLovin bonds with his new cop friends, Seth and Evan continue to try to find beer and make their way to Jules’s party….

Superbad was produced by Judd Apatow and it features his usual combination of raunchy humor and sentimental bromance. In fact, it’s such a male-centered film that I’m always a little bit surprised at how much I enjoy it. However, Superbad is a seriously funny movie. The script (which Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg reportedly starting on when they were 13 years old) is full of great lines and Michael Cera and Jonah Hill make for an adorable comedy team. And then there’s Christopher Mintz-Plasse who takes the character of Fogell to his most logical extreme and then just keeps going. McLovin’s adventures may not be the most realistic or subtle part of the movie but they are still a lot of fun to watch.

Speaking of McLovin and his adventures with the cops, I love the performances of both Seth Rogen and Bill Hader. If you don’t laugh at the way Seth Rogen says, “Oh no! It’s the cops!,” then you need to be worried about your sense of humor.

Superbad is supergood, supercool, superfun, supersweet, and just plain super.

Back to School #68: Juno (dir by Jason Reitman)

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

(SPOILERS BELOW)

Even though he’s a likable actor and has appeared in several films that I enjoyed, I am always a little bit uneasy whenever I see Jason Bateman on screen. To me, he will always be Mark, the seemingly perfect husband from the 2007 best picture nominee Juno. Mark and his wife Vanessa (Jennifer Garner) are unable to conceive so they agree to adopt the unborn child of pregnant teenager Juno (Ellen Page).

At first, Mark seems like the nicest guy on the planet. Unlike his wife, Mark appears to be laid back and friendly. Whereas Vanessa tries to maintain a polite distance between herself and Juno, Mark quickly befriends her. It’s a familiar dynamic. Vanessa is the one who keeps the household running. Mark is the one who keeps the household fun. Vanessa is the adult and Mark is the guy who is young at heart. It’s not surprising that Juno finds herself feeling closer to Mark than to his wife.

Much like Juno, those of us in the audience are initially fooled into preferring Mark to his wife. For me, the first indication that Mark was not quite the great guy he seemed to be came when he attempted to convince Juno that Herschell Gordon Lewis was a better director than Dario Argento. But even that could be forgiven because, as Mark made his arguments, he revealed that he had a pretty good library of DVDs from Something Weird Video.

(Seriously, at that moment, I really hoped that the movie would just spend five minutes letting us see every title in Mark’s movie collection.)

But then there was that moment. After telling Juno that he was planning on leaving his wife, he looked at her and asked, “How do you think of me?” And I have to give Jason Bateman a lot of credit. He delivered that line with just the right amount of needy selfishness. It’s rare that you see an actor — especially one who has essentially built a career out of being likable — so fully commit to playing a reprehensible character. When Mark reveals his true nature, it’s shocking because we were so ready to like Mark. With that one line, we’re forced to re-examine the entire film and we realize that, much like Juno, we allowed ourselves to be fooled by Mark.

Juno is a film about growing up. Vanessa is a grown up. Mark refuses to grow up. And, by the end of the film, Juno has grown up enough to know that she’s not ready to be a mother but Vanessa is. Juno has grown up enough that she can allow herself to get close to the baby’s father, sweet-natured track star Paulie (played by Michael Cera).

For many people, Juno seems to be a love-it-or-hate-it type of movie. There rarely seems to be a middle ground. It seems that for every person who appreciates Ellen Page’s sardonic line readings, there’s another one who finds her character to be abrasive. For every one who enjoys Diablo Cody’s script, there seems to be another one who finds it to be overwritten. The same holds true for Jason Reitman’s direction. Viewers either respond to his quirky vision or else they dismiss him as being far too showy for the film’s own good.

As for me, I’m firmly and unapologetically pro-Juno. I think Juno is one of the best films of the past ten years and I think that, eventually, both the character of Juno and Ellen Page’s performance will be viewed as being iconic. When future historians are watching movies for clues as to what it was like to be alive during the first decade of the 21st Century, Juno is one of the films that they will watch.

And when they do, hopefully, they will understand that Jason Bateman was just an actor giving a good performance as a bad person.

Back to School #67: Coach Carter (dir by Thomas Carter)

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

You all have got twitter to blame for this review. I vaguely remember Coach Carter playing in theaters back in 2005 but I didn’t see it. To be honest, the only thing that bores me more than high school football is high school basketball. I have to admit that I really can’t stand to watch basketball, largely because I hate the way the player’s shoes are always squeaking on the court. It just hurts my ears.

But, I’ve noticed that whenever Coach Carter shows up on television, everyone on my twitter timeline seems to get excited about it. Coach Carter is one of those films that is obviously popular with a lot of people so, when I saw that it was going to be playing on Showtime last week, I figured why not?

And you know what?

Coach Carter is actually a pretty good movie. If I don’t seem overly enthusiastic about it, that’s because I’m just not into sports. But I do love movies and Coach Carter is an effective film. That it’s predictable isn’t really that much of a surprise. Predictability is actually probably one of the main appeals of the sports genre. But Coach Carter is distinguished by a strong cast and it has a pretty good message to boot.

Plus, it’s based on a true story! How true I don’t know but I’d like to think that the movie stuck pretty close to the facts if just because the story is so appealing.

Anyway, the Coach Carter of the title is played by Samuel L. Jackson. At the start of the film, Carter takes over as basketball coach at the same inner city high school that he graduated from. When he first starts, his team is rude, disrespectful, and undisciplined. The majority of them have little direction in their lives and have basically pinned whatever hope they have for the future on eventually playing professional basketball.

(I will admit right now that I was really excited to discover that Channing Tatum played one of the players. The only thing that would have made me happier would have been for James Franco to suddenly show up.)

Carter informs his team that, in order to play for him, they have to be willing sign a contract that states that they will treat everyone respectfully, that they will wear a tie on game days, and that they will all maintain a C+ average. Some of the players refuse to sign (and are promptly kicked off the team) but those who do quickly discover that Carter expects them to honor the terms of the contract.

And, under Carter’s leadership, the team goes on to have a great season. They’ve got an undefeated record and appear to be heading for the play-offs when Carter discovers that several members of the team have failed to keep up their grades. To the shock of both the faculty and the community, Carter benches his entire team and announces that none of them will play until all of them have at least a 2.3 GPA.

Needless to say, it all leads to one of those emotional school board meetings that always seems to show up in films like this.

As I stated above, it’s all fairly predictable but the movie itself is well-made. And if anyone was born to play an outspoken basketball coach who isn’t going to let anyone tell him how to run his team, it’s Samuel L. Jackson. Jackson is one of those actors who is so good and so powerful that I think we sometimes tend to take him for granted. Perhaps the best thing about Coach Carter is that it gives Jackson a chance to show what he’s truly capable of doing as an actor.

Again, I really don’t know that much about basketball and I’m not a fan of the game. But, with all that in mind, I was still entertained by Coach Carter. If nothing else, it proved that a lot of the people on my twitter timeline aren’t crazy.

Back to School #66: Mean Creek (dir by Jacob Aaron Estes)

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

2004’s Mean Creek is one of those films that makes me cry every time.

The story that it tells is, at first glance, a rather simple one. It’s only as you start to dig beneath the surface that you discover just how complex the film really is. Sam (Rory Culkin) is being picked on by the school bully, the overweight George (Josh Peck). When Sam accidentally knocks over George’s video camera while George is filming himself playing basketball, George beats Sam up.

Sam’s older brother Rocky (Trevor Morgan) decided to get revenge and recruits two of his friends to help him out, Clyde (Ryan Kelly) and Marty (Scott Mechlowicz). Their plan is to invite George to Sam’s birthday party and to take him on a rafting trip. Eventually, they plan to challenge him to truth or dare, get him to strip naked, and then basically abandon him.

Needless to say, things don’t quite go as planned.

For one thing, it turns out that George is sincerely happy to have been invited to Sam’s party and he even shows up with a gift. George, it turns out, doesn’t consider himself to be a bully. Instead, he’s just an overweight kid who is insecure about his dyslexia and who doesn’t have any social skills. Once the boys and Sam’s girlfriend Millie (Carly Schroeder) are floating down the creek, they’re forced to reconsider their plans. Some want to forget about it and let George go. Some want to still go through with the plan.

And, meanwhile, poor George continues to be his own worst enemy…

Mean Creek is a fascinating film because George is such an unexpectedly complex character. When we first see him, it’s easy to dismiss him as just your standard middle school bully but, as the film progresses, it becomes apparent that there’s more to George than our first impressions may have suggested. And yet, every time that we start to feel truly sorry for George, he says the wrong thing or he displays some sort of behavior that reminds us of why he was invited to the birthday party in the first place. In the end, we’re as conflicted about him as everyone else on the boat. He’s a bully but he’s not a bad kid. Can we forgive him for being a bully or does he still need to be taught a lesson?

That’s the question at the heart of Mean Creek and the film’s final answer (or, perhaps I should say, lack of a final answer) makes me cry every time. I don’t want to spoil the film for those who haven’t seen it (and everyone should see it), so I’m not going to give any more details about the film’s plot. I’ll just say that Mean Creek is an important film and one that will leave you thinking about what you’ve just seen and how you feel about it.

Back to School #65: Mean Girls (dir by Daniel Waters)

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

Mean Girls is a film that has a lot of nostalgic importance for me. It came out when I was a senior in high school and it was the last film that I saw before I graduated. So, for me, Mean Girls always brings back memories of the excitement of knowing that my “real” life was about begin. When I watch it or think about it, I’m always transported back to that time when the future seemed limitless. I knew I was going to go to college, I was going to meet the love of my life, and I was going to have a great time doing it. Thoughts of Mean Girls transports me back to one of the most exciting times of my life and, for that reason, I like to think of it.

Add to that, Mean Girls happens to still be a pretty funny and perceptive movie.

One thing that I do always find interesting about films like Mean Girls and 10 Things I Hate About You is that, even though they may be critical of the traditions of high school, they all seem to be taking place in the type of idealized high school that we all wish that we could have attended. These high schools are always huge with brightly colored walls and quick-witted students who never have a bad hair day. The rich, popular kids are always so clever with the way that they express their disdain. And even the outcasts are still pretty good-looking. Even more importantly, the outcasts are always so sarcastic and political. They don’t just accept their outcast status. Instead, they spend all of their spare time plotting ways to overthrow the system. Perhaps best of all, all of the various cliques have such clever nicknames.

From my experience, most public high schools aren’t actually like this. Then again, I went to high school in Texas and most of these films were made in California so maybe it’s just a west coast thing. The important thing about a film like Mean Girls is that, even though it takes place in a heightened reality, there’s still enough reality that anyone watching it can relate to the film’s story.

(It’s been my experience that even real life mean girls love Mean Girls, mostly because I think everyone assumes that in high school, they were one of the clever, sarcastic outcasts, regardless of whether they actually were.)

In Mean Girls, the popular clique is nicknamed the Plastics and they’re led by Regina George (Rachel McAdams). New student Cady (Lindsay Lohan) is the latest member of the clique but what the Plastics do not suspect is that Cady is actually an infiltrator who has been recruited by outcasts Janis (Lizzy Caplan) and Damien (Daniel Franzese) to take down the Plastics from the inside. However, as Cady goes out of her way to destroy Regina’s reputation and turn the rest of the school against her, she soon discovers that she’s running the risk of becoming just as mean as Regina…

Mean Girls is a comedy but, at its center, there rests a very important message about the need for people to not … well, to not be mean. That may seem like a simplistic message and I guess it is. But it’s still a good message to get out. The script by Tina Fey is both clever and funny, deftly mixing the message with the comedy. Finally, the film has a great cast, with Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams as stand-outs and great supporting turns from Amanda Seyfried, Lacey Chabert, and Tim Meadows.

Thanks for the memories, Mean Girls!

Back to School #64: Friday Night Lights (dir by Peter Berg)

Posted on September 20, 2014 by Lisa Marie Bowman

For the past three weeks, I’ve been looking at some of the best, worst, most memorable, and most forgettable high school and teen films ever made. I’ve been posting the reviews in chronological order and, as I look back over the previous 63 Back to School reviews, one thing that I can’t escape is football.

It’s funny. Despite being a Texas girl, I know very little about football and, whenever I have found myself watching a game, I’ve usually end up getting bored out of my mind. I’m not a huge fan of sports films, either. It’s just not my thing. And yet, as a result of doing this series of reviews, I’ve watched more football films over the past month than I had probably seen in my entire life previously. Some of the films that I’ve reviewed specifically were football films — The Pom Pom Girls, All The Right Moves, and Varsity Blues, for example. However, even the film that weren’t specifically about the sport often featured scenes set on the football field. Just think of Forest Whitaker in Fast Times At Ridgemont High or the socially conflicted jocks from Dazed and Confused.

For a lot of films, football and high school seem to go together. And one of the most acclaimed high school football films is 2004’s Friday Night Lights. Now, I have to admit that Friday Night Lights is not one of my favorite films. It’s a football film, I’m not into football, and therefore, Friday Night Lights is a film that I respect more as a well-made film than like as a source of entertainment. Perhaps the best thing that I can say about Friday Night Lights is that I understand why so many people who do love football also happen to love this film.

And I do have to say that I appreciate that Friday Night Lights is also a film about Texas that actually manages to realistically portray my home state without resorting to the predictable clichés that dominated Varsity Blues.

Taking place in Odessa, Texas, Friday Night Lights follows the 1988 season of the Permian Panthers. As opposed to most sports films, Friday Night Lights does not focus on a team of lovable underdogs. Instead, the Panthers are already known for being a championship team. As the season begins, Coach Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton) is under tremendous pressure to continue that winning tradition. However, when the team’s star player is injured during the first game of the season, the Panthers suddenly find their pre-ordained winning season in doubt. Gaines finds himself being alternatively celebrated and demonized depending on how the previous night’s game has gone and his players find themselves under tremendous pressure from everyone in town. The film features a great performance from Billy Bob Thornton and a really good one from Derek Luke, playing a player who abruptly goes from being a future superstar to a present could-have-been. In fact, the entire film is well-acted with even country singer Tim McGraw giving a surprisingly multi-faceted performance as a former player-turned-drunk.

In short, Friday Night Lights is a lot like Varsity Blues, except that it doesn’t suck.

(Incidentally, Friday Night Lights did inspire a TV series. I never watched it.)