Flash Movie Review: McFarland, USA
Sometimes it takes a different set of eyes to show you what you are capable of doing. Imagine you were born on a farm where you grew into the capability of throwing 50 pound bales of hay onto a flatbed truck. Since it had always been part of your life it would never occur to you that you were strong. However if you compared it to someone who did not have early strength training, you would be considered strong. The key fact in the equation has to do with the comparison aspect and it is something that I find very few people use when commenting on themselves. When someone tells me something about themselves such as they are overweight or too tall let us say, I ask them compared to what? Most of the time I find such statements to be very subjective. Though I have lost a great deal of weight I do not consider myself a thin person because I’m using a warped comparison of what I believe thin looks like. This is one of the reasons it is beneficial to have someone else show you what you are or what you can achieve. If my first aerobic instructor did not nurture and encourage me to choreograph routines, I do not know if I would have ever become a group fitness instructor since I previously flunked high school gym classes. Β Β OUT of a job as high school football coach due to anger issues Jim White, played by Kevin Costner (Black or White, Man of Steel), was forced to leave and take an assistant coaching position at a small high school with a dismal football record. Looking at the students, it was obvious to Coach White the kids were not cut out to play football; however, he did think they could do something that had never been done at the small high school before. Based on a true story, the script to this sports drama was written in such a way that allowed the viewers to tear up. There were parts of this movie where I had to wipe the tears from my eyes. I thought Kevin and Maria Bello (A History of Violence, Prisoners) who played his wife Cheryl were well suited for each other, coming across in a believable way. The actors like Carlos Pratts (Coyote, Counterpunch) as Thomas Valles and newcomers Sergio Avelar and Ramiro Rodriguez as Victor Puentes and Danny Diaz were quite good. The issue I had with this film concerned the script; it was contrived and written like a fairy tale. It needed more details and less manipulation. I found it upsetting because I really liked the story. Whoever was in charge should have shown the writers the true story would have been enough to tell.
2 1/3 stars
Posted on February 24, 2015, in Drama and tagged 2 1/3 stars, carlos pratts, drama, Jim White, kevin costner, maria bello, sports, true story. Bookmark the permalink. 10 Comments.
Definitely a movie I need to check out.
I would love to hear your take on this film after seeing it. Thanks for stopping by.
Will do mate.
Trailer looks promising.
I really enjoy inspiring movies based on sports and looks like a must watch from your review π
Thank you so much for this post and let me try to collect it π
Have a beautiful day…
Thank you and hope your day has been filled with peace and kindness. I would enjoy hearing if you get to see this movie.
Sure I’ll π
I came to know about “The Theory of Everything” from you and watched the movie last week.
Thoroughly enjoyed the movie and especially the acting of “Eddie Redmayne”.
He rightly deserves to the Oscar winner π
Oh I am so glad to hear that, thank you Sreejith for telling me. I hope our journey for the next Oscar season brings us some unexpected joyful surprises. Namaste.
I’m afraid that if Mr Costner is in a film I need all of the other elements of that film to be very compelling in order to convince me to watch it. Your mention of the weak script and the fairytale plotting mean that I’m definitely giving this one a bum steer.
I wish they would have come out with a documentary; that is how good the real story seemed. Thanks for the comments.