This blog entry is part of my “movie year countdown”. To read more about that check out my first Spout filmblog entry
Hoop Dreams
I don't think I would have had any major interest in seeing this just based on the subject matter. I saw it specifically because of the outrageous accolades. Often hearing it was one of the greatest documentaries ever made. Ebert called it the greatest movie of the whole decade. And anything on Criterion is at least worth checking out for the DVD presentation.
I do appreciate a lot of things in this movie. Almost all of it takes place in Chicago where I've been living for three years. It shows real people with their dreams and problems. It was filmed over several years so there is a lot of footage to chose from and you get to see things played out. And somewhat by luck, things actually worked out in a fashion that was almost dramatic enough that it seemed as though it was written.
However I did find it to be a big longer than I could stand. Almost thee hours. I felt like it almost could have been better served as a reality TV series. However I realize that when this movie came out there was hardly anything like reality TV. And this was the first movie of it's kind in many respects.
So I respect it in many ways, but it wasn't my favorite. I'm not a huge fan of professional sports either. I find them rather silly sometimes. Actually the sillyness of it does come off in this movie sometimes, so I did enjoy that. I wish I liked it more because I can't come up with very good reason as to why I don't, but I can't say that I thought it was great.
Rating: 6/10