Time to put on the pads and helmet
At the time of this movie’s release I wasn’t a huge fan of Billy Bob Thornton. If my memory serves me correctly, and usually it does not, he was just breaking up with Jolie and he was just a creepy looking old man. After a few years I realized that I’ve been judging the wrong end of the crazy stick. Thornton’s performance in Friday Night Lights is nothing short of genuine. He nails the head coaching worries, work throughs of a high school coach exactly the way it is. He does it with style and grace, but also with fire and brimstone. He portrays Coach Gary Gaines, a coach who wants to do the right thing, but also knows he has to do what the people pressuring him want. He also, as a coach, must help the young men on his team deal with the pressure the public gives and help them ignore all of the other things around them. Basically, he must somehow juggle his life and keep their lives focused on football. That’s a tough gig, considering this true story involves a small town that surrounds itself with the high school football team. Thornton delivers Gaines to the audience perfectly, giving them all the reason to hate him, but also reason to understand why he has to say and do what he does with the students. He sells the role of Gaines, which makes it all the more impressive.
Now, the scary part of this film is that it’s a true story. Once you see what the players must contend with, from an alcoholic father to a dying mother, you begin to understand what it’s like to have so much pressure put on you from a student athletes’ perspective. What even weighs further on your heart as you watch the film is that you realize that these guys are trying to find their way out of the small town of Odessa. There are only two successful ways out: A. Academically or B. Through a sports scholarship. That’s not much to choose from and if you don’t have either then you’re destined to spend the rest of your life in Odessa. What a horrible thought! The movie presents this without remorse and really displays the limited options that poor towns, like Odessa, offer kids who are trying to make something for themselves. Because of this the movie is both a tragedy and a triumph. What’s even more tragic is that there are probably towns like Odessa all over this country that offer kids the same options. The big question is, “Can’t we offer better solutions to kids?” High school is tough, having to go through all of this just adds on to it.
The movie is nothing short of brilliant. Friday Night Lights is something that every parent, especially parents with student athletes, should watch and respect. Teenagers have enough to worry about in life, maybe as parents we can do a better job at providing more options to them and better outlets for what drives them. I’m not saying you should take away the sport that the kid likes, I’m saying maybe parents could stop adding to the stress of their kids life when it comes to sports. Kids these days need a way out and Friday Night Lights entertains and warns us of what can happen when we can’t provide a way out for them and when we make a sport bigger than what it truly is.
Excellent film.
Billy Bob in Blu-ray
There is nothing more beautiful than good lighting. When you have a well-lit field, with predominantly strong black/white variations, you can’t help but hug and feel fuzzy warm feelings about HD and Blu-ray capabilities. Add to that the fact that the audio also drives the video, it is football — the hits and sounds come through quite gorgeously, then you’re in for one helluva ride with your senses. Friday Night Lights brings some of the nicest visuals and some of the most bone-crunching sounds to your receiver. It’s a good example of how great a non-action film can look and sound on a Blu-ray disc.
As for the features, here’s what you’re getting:
– Deleted Scenes
– Peter Berg Discusses a scene in the movie
– Player Cam
– Tim McGraw: Off the Stage
– The Story of the 1988 Permian Panthers
– Gridiron Grads
– Behind the Lights
– Feature Commentary
– BD-Live
First, the BD-Live stuff is good. They’re bringing along the BD-Live capabilities quite nicely, I think we’re six months to a year away from seeing that portion of Blu-rays truly come to life. As for the other features, you get a ton of insight to the actual team, the director’s view point and some nice commentary from the author. You’ll understand why they did what they did and how they got to that point in the film and in the story. All of these features compliment the movie perfectly and you can’t really ask much more from them.
Let me just add that isn’t it odd that great movies starring Billy Bob Thornton somehow contain a country western music star? Here it’s Tim McGraw and in Sling Blade it was Dwight Yoakam. Hmmm….