Headbiscuit

There are a lot of big time names involved in this movie - most of which I thoroughly enjoy most of the time. Some of those notables include Christina Ricci, Dave Chappelle, and Kate Hudson. But gosh, I just can't imagine that any of these actors/actresses were thrilled to have this film on there resume after they saw it. Never have I been more disappointed in an assembled all-star cast.

Ironically, I screened this film to a bunch of high schoolers (Thank you Hollywood Video for mislabeling this film PG-13) on how smoking is portrayed in films. Unfortunately for both my and the film's sake, the movie was so engulfed in annoying characters, sloppy dialouge, and utterly predictable series' of events that the smoking was a mere background mention, all tied together by one line at the end of the film. That's a long time to wait.

I really have no clue what the director was hoping for in this film. There are starts and stops on a number of sub-plots, but none which really develop. What we fall back on is the occasional bumblings of a recently deflowered girl, a twisted love plot involving *gack* Courtney Love (have you no mercy casting director?!??!), and a very odd cameo by Elvis Castello.

All in all, I was embarrassed to show this film, and even more embarrassed to have watched it myself. It appears to be a 101 minute Phillip Morris ad, but I'll tell you this... I'll sure never smoke, because I certainly don't want to end up in a film like this!

Hoop Dreams as a documentary stands out to me as the king of sports documentaries, and I truly doubt that it will be replaced by another film anytime soon. It was simply an amazing production of an incredible set of events that the producers had no idea would occur.

However, mentioning Hoop Dreams is not meant to belittle this film, but instead to say that it comes very close in quality, content, and film production. I received this film from a friend in DVD form, and was instantly taken by the story.

Being a South Bay native, I'm naturally drawn to Bay Area sports stars, and I had no idea this man existed until this film was presented to me. Without giving away key story points, I'll just say that it was very sad, but uplifting in way that only sadness can lead you too. The producers did an excellent job in getting big name players who were exposed to the legend of Hook Mitchell to talk about him and his athletic prowess on camera. Also interviewed are family members, friends, and members of the basketball community.

Highlighted by archive footage of Hook, this film is clearly for any lover of street ball, and additionally it plays well to anyone who can identify with the human condition.

Impressive film. I give it one of my very rare 10/10s for total satisfaction.

While this film is just another notch in the belt for Norris' long line of action films which all seem to place him in similar plots and characters... this film supposedly has the potential to reach out beyond those others into the horror genre. WRONG. This film was horrible, just as is most of his other work. I happened to stumble into the film the other day, but this time it was on one of the spanish-language channels. What used to be a subpar action/horror film, became hilarious with poor dubbing and rather sloppy translation.

So I'd advise watching this film with a version in some other language, just not the standard english version. It'll make it so much better. Won't help the plot or poor acting, but it'll make the night a lot better. Enjoy.

English: 3/10 Poorly dubbed other language: 7/10