Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Friday Night Lights

I am a sucker for sports movies. I completely buy into a team of underdogs, sports combating communism, or a team that rises above race relations. I don't care how Hollywood-ized these plots are, I love them. Give me Miracle or Remember the Titans over Citizen Kane any day. I'll even take We Are Marshall over Citizen Kane.

Despite my undying love for Hollywood-ized sports movies, I always found myself wishing they would make a film just about a sport. Throw in some underdogs or race drama, but don't make it the central conflict. Just focus on the sport. And that's why I love Friday Night Lights.

This film is about football. It's about how important it is in small-town Texas. How a town lives and breathes for football. A coach can have more influence than a high school principal. Football is King Arthur and the players are the Knights of the Roundtable.

The film portrays the fanaticism surrounding high school sports perfectly. The town of Odessa stakes it's reputation on wins and losses. The townspeople relive their successes and failures through the players. A single loss can have a coach's job security in jeopardy. This concept is completely foreign to me. But in such a small town, with high poverty, so little to do or hope for, I understand.

This film has no scenery chewing. Everything is very understated and mute, but that sometimes gets the point across better. These players want to win so badly. It's in their faces, their big eyes slowly filling with tears, and their heavy breathing as they take the field.

I haven't seen this movie for a long time, but it has always stuck with me. I recently started watching the show, which keeps the spirit and heart of the film alive, while including the necessary ingredients to make a good TV drama. Maybe the film awakened some inner sports fan in me I didn't think existed. Regardless, the film struck a chord with me and the show has quickly become one of my favorites ever.

A final, brief thought about why this movie is wonderful: the soundtrack. Explosions in the Sky conducted a beautiful score that is soothing, haunting, and uplifting.

Katie Holmes in Pieces of April

I am far from being a Katie Holmes fan, but I genuinely enjoyed her in this little gem. Holmes played April, the black sheep of a wounded family. She hopes to bring them all together and heal wounds by cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Of course, not all goes according to plan. We feel her genuine guilt for being a burden to her parents and her frustration over Thanksgiving conveys her desire to make amends. This wasn't a particularly groundbreaking performance but it represents a direction her career could have gone. Then she turned down The Dark Knight for Mad Money. Enough said.


Netflix Queue

Harlan County, USA-An award-winning documentary about a coal miner's strike.
Munich-One of my favorite movies that I haven't seen for a while.
Halloween II-Same reasoning for having "Scream 3" in my queue. I think this is as far as I'll go in the Halloween franchise.