Post by Richie3Jack on Jun 18, 2011 23:09:32 GMT -5
Hoop Reality is a documentary by Arthur Agee, of Hoop Dreams fame, on his life in 2007 and it follows the next big star of his high school alma mater, Patrick Beverley.
Hoop Reality was done by a different company than the one that produced Hoop Dreams. Because of that, Hoop Dreams co-star William Gates did not want to appear in Hoop Reality.
While I can understand some of Gates' reservations, I thought the production values were just as good as Hoop Dreams. The main problem was that Agee was the narrator and was more or less a fanboy than a 'straight man' and the movie lost its luster. It came off too much as a promotional video for John Marshall High School, Arthur and Beverley than a movie that documents the happenings.
And it's too bad because I don't think it would be reasonable to compare any basketball documentary to Hoop Dreams. And Hoop Reality has a lot of good subject matter involved. But the Agee commentary held it back from being a darn good movie into a movie that was more or less good enough at holding my attention.
One of the hidden stars in Hoop Dreams was former coach Luther Bedford who passed away before Hoop Reality was made. Lamont Bryant was the new coach of Marshall at the time of the filming. (Bryant was later fired, then won a $500K wrongful termination suit against the Chicago Public Schools).
It seemed to me that Bryant was a good replacement for Bedford because not only did he appear to be a better coach, but he understood the values that Bedford preached in Hoop Dreams and just as importantly, Bryant was unwavering in accepting the fact that he needed to be a father figure to many of his players.
Bryant swore quite often at his players and while that can be frowned upon, I think he taught more good that it clearly outshined the bad.
Beverley seems like a decent kid although that could be questionable as Agee is clearly a fan of Beverley. In fact, Agee starts up a clothing line and gives Beverley some free samples.
Agee himself is still struggling to get his clothing line off the ground and at the meantime is a motivational speaker for at-risk youth. To his credit, it does appear that Agee's Hoop Dreams fame still holds with the community as the kids did seem to be listening to his message.
While I think the Marshall High program has a lot of positives because they stress good behavior and getting an education, it still doesn't seem that they don't really understand the *why* something like basketball can be a positive in a person's life. Basketball, like golf...isn't really all that important in the grand scheme of things. But, it can teach hard work, dedication, working well with others, being a taam player and how to overcome adversity...all things that can be used later on to live a happy and successful life.
Overall, a decent enough film that missed out with getting a more unbiased and better narrator. I liked how they waited and went into Beverley's collegiate and now pro career. Also would've been nice to have seen Gates in the movie.
3JACK
Hoop Reality was done by a different company than the one that produced Hoop Dreams. Because of that, Hoop Dreams co-star William Gates did not want to appear in Hoop Reality.
While I can understand some of Gates' reservations, I thought the production values were just as good as Hoop Dreams. The main problem was that Agee was the narrator and was more or less a fanboy than a 'straight man' and the movie lost its luster. It came off too much as a promotional video for John Marshall High School, Arthur and Beverley than a movie that documents the happenings.
And it's too bad because I don't think it would be reasonable to compare any basketball documentary to Hoop Dreams. And Hoop Reality has a lot of good subject matter involved. But the Agee commentary held it back from being a darn good movie into a movie that was more or less good enough at holding my attention.
One of the hidden stars in Hoop Dreams was former coach Luther Bedford who passed away before Hoop Reality was made. Lamont Bryant was the new coach of Marshall at the time of the filming. (Bryant was later fired, then won a $500K wrongful termination suit against the Chicago Public Schools).
It seemed to me that Bryant was a good replacement for Bedford because not only did he appear to be a better coach, but he understood the values that Bedford preached in Hoop Dreams and just as importantly, Bryant was unwavering in accepting the fact that he needed to be a father figure to many of his players.
Bryant swore quite often at his players and while that can be frowned upon, I think he taught more good that it clearly outshined the bad.
Beverley seems like a decent kid although that could be questionable as Agee is clearly a fan of Beverley. In fact, Agee starts up a clothing line and gives Beverley some free samples.
Agee himself is still struggling to get his clothing line off the ground and at the meantime is a motivational speaker for at-risk youth. To his credit, it does appear that Agee's Hoop Dreams fame still holds with the community as the kids did seem to be listening to his message.
While I think the Marshall High program has a lot of positives because they stress good behavior and getting an education, it still doesn't seem that they don't really understand the *why* something like basketball can be a positive in a person's life. Basketball, like golf...isn't really all that important in the grand scheme of things. But, it can teach hard work, dedication, working well with others, being a taam player and how to overcome adversity...all things that can be used later on to live a happy and successful life.
Overall, a decent enough film that missed out with getting a more unbiased and better narrator. I liked how they waited and went into Beverley's collegiate and now pro career. Also would've been nice to have seen Gates in the movie.
3JACK
