He Got Game
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Movie Reviews of He Got Game
Movie Review: Compelling Story - Senseless Spike Lee Views....
Summary: 4 Stars
Once again, rather then Spike Lee making trully great movie that will appeal to everyone; Lee injects his political/social views into what could have been a great movie. Good performances by D. Washington and rookie actor NBA star Ray Allen carry this movie. I thought the story had incredible promise, but Spike Lee once again has to inject his personal agenda while turning off 80% of the people who would go see this film. First, every women featured in this film is white/latin and a whore/slut. An unusual combination considering this film is about about black inner city basketball. Not one black female shows up this film with any of kind of speaking role or substance.
The story turns into the absurd about half way through and stops making sense. Also, Rick Fox is well, Rick Fox. Nuff said. Listening to him try to sound street/from the hood is very laughable. I imagined he listed to some NWA records to prep for this role.
The most compelling part of the movie is the climax, D Washington playing R Allen in a classic Father/son one on one battle. This scene saves the movie.
Movie Review: Only ignorant, self-involved white people would dislike this
Summary: 5 Stars
Lee highlights problems not only in the world of professional sports, the ghetto, and race in America, but he does it all while weaving a moving story about basketball, redemption, and the relationship between a father and son. He has big things to say about the sold-out soul of professional athletics, but the film would be remarkable without this social commentary. I don't care if Washington won an Oscar for Training Day, this is truly his greatest performance. Ray Allen is also surprisingly good as the country's best high school basketball player, who is being pursued by everyone from NBA agents to his own girlfriend. The people who dislike this film are always ignorant about good filmmaking, and too involved in their white suburban lives to understand what Spike Lee is attempting to say about a variety of social topics.Movie Review: horrible movie
Summary: 1 Stars
This was one of Lee's worst. There were a load of unnecessary scenes that made the movie way too long. Also, as usual, this movie has a ton of jibes at white people and how they victimize black folks. However, Ray Allen was the worst part. This guy has horrible diction, trying really hard I could understand maybe half of what the guy said. I can't believe Ebert praised his performance.Movie Review: MISGUIDED
Summary: 2 Stars
...He Got Game was not quite as good as I thought it should be. Denzel Washington was superb as always, as the jailed father of a basketball player, who is allowed out of jail to help convince his semi-estranged son to attend a certain university. Washington is convincing. His sexual escapades with the relatively untalented Milla Jovovich are not all that believable, although I guess if I had been in prison for so long I might consider Jovovich also. The real life basketball player who plays the basketball star who has to choose his path is all right. He is no actor, though, and his path to decisionmaking is pretty long and boring and there is just a bit too much sex in it. His conniving girlfriend Lala is trying to make him turn pro and is seeing agents on the side. She also has no qualms about not being loyal to him. Misdirected misfire, this film. It is a shame, but it did serve my immediate purposes.Movie Review: More than just about basketball...
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a movie about basketball. It's a Spike Lee film too. So it's bound to express his well-known love for the game. As we can expect from him, his view is a fresh, uncompromising one. There's a harsh reality behind all the exaggerations and hype. The story surrounds a high-school basketball star with the unlikely name of Jesus and the most important decision he must make in his life -- what college basketball scholarship he will accept. Temptations are everywhere and everyone around him feels entitled to some of his future financial success. Denzel Washington plays his father who is serving a long prison sentence for murdering his wife, the boy's mother. However, the governor wants the boy to go to his alma mater and therefore grants him a week out of prison to also influence the boy.
Spike Lee's camera seeks out the outrageous details that add the wince, the pow and the dimension to the film. It explores human nature as well as some ugly truths using the vehicle of the story as an allegory. The music is an eclectic mix of Aaron Copeland and Public Enemy and somehow it works. And there are also cameo performances by real live basketball players and coaches.
I enjoyed the video and can even forgive the fact that it was a little too long and that some of the acting did not measure up to Denzel Washington's superb performance. Spike Lee fans will love it. Recommended.