Starring Samuel L Jackson, Rob Brown, Robert Ri’chard, Rick Gonzalez, Nana Gbewonyo, Antwon Tanner
Written By: Mark Schwahn, John Gatins
Directed By: Thomas Carter
Studio: Paramount
Buy on Amazon.com

Coach Carter is a movie I wanted to check out, just didn’t get a chance to go to the theater and see it. I like sports movies and this is another great inspirational sports movie. Plus this is Samuel L Jackson’s best performances I think!

The film is based on the real person, Coach Ken Carter, who stirred up some controversy by locking out his players when they couldn’t perform academically. Carter was a hard ass from the beginning and he wasn’t playing around. The team found out the hard way and learned to respect their teammates and the opponents. Ken’s son Damien was attending another school but he wanted a chance to play basketball under his Father, and so he joins Richmond. Coach Carter treats his son just like any other member of the team and punishes him just as much. The team starts to get cocky and showboat when they start to win more, and of course Coach Carter teaches them a valuable lesson. Once Coach Carter finds out that most of the team is flunking their classes, he puts his foot down and has the team report to the library. He locks up the gym until every member of the team is academically eligible. The town, the school, the parents are all pissed off and want Coach Carter out. The lockout ends up going to court and Carter loses; but his players decide to finish what he started and continue getting their grades up. They finally do that and go back to playing basketball under Coach Carter, and end up playing the number one team .

I really like sports movies, and Coach Carter is just as good as other films in that genre. This is one of Samuel L Jackson’s best performances I think, and he really is convincing as Ken Carter. For a second, I totally forgot what other movies he has done, until he said “I don’t think so.” I was saying to myself, yeah okay Mace! Coach Carter had some clich moments like the one bad ass kid who leaves the team and then tries really hard to come back. I thought Mr. Clark was going to come out with a baseball bat and telling the kid to jump off a building. “Pull up your pants Sam!” There’s other clich moments like the town rioting when the Coach does something extreme, or the player who’s girlfriend is pregnant, or one kid who couldn’t read. The list goes on and on, but I still ended up liking the movie. The movie felt a little long but I guess there was a lot of story to tell. I wonder how much of this story was real and how much of it was embellished.

I enjoyed watching the basketball scenes mostly, and the training that went into it. The other stuff got a little boring here and there. I liked how the ending wasn’t this typical Hollywood sports movie ending and you saw the players lose a game at the end. You felt like they still succeeded though because they accomplish a lot. Now, if I was one of those kids and had to put up with that type of coach, I would have walked out right from the beginning. Yeah I’m a quitter but I also don’t like authority so I wouldn’t have dealt with that situation well. So you got to give the kids credit.

There were a few extras that I watched like the featurette on the real man, Ken Carter. That had interviews with Carter, and some of his former players that played under him. He talked about why he did things, and backed up some of the actions he took to get the team to be successful. Another featurette I skimmed through was on training and choreographing the actors in the basketball scenes. The one guy that choreographs & preps the actors in every sport movie, was yet again, choreographing the scenes. I swear the guy does every movie haha. But there’s a decent amount to watch if you like the movie.

Overall, Coach Carter was a good sports movie, and even makes you feel little inspired. The film felt a little clich though, but I’m sure people will still enjoy it.

Features:
Coach Carter: The Man Behind the Movie Featurette
Fast Break at Richmond High Featurette
6 Deleted Scenes
“Hope” Music Video by Twista featuring Faith Evans

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital Stereo CC
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 1.85:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish

Favorite Scenes: I didn’t have a favorite scene but I liked the basketball practices and games.
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 136 minutes
Extras Rating:
Overall Rating: