When the Game Stands Tall Review

When the Game Stands Tall, a film that follows the famous De La Salle High School football team and their record setting winning streak.

If you know much about football, chances are you have at least heard of De La Salle's 150+ game winning streak. However, many, including myself, do not know much beyond the basics of the streak itself. When the Game Stands Tall focuses mostly on the coach, Bob Ladouceur, and his players, during the events surrounding his record setting streak. 

Even though I am a devout Christian, I have to admit that good faith films are few and far between. There are a few classics like Ben-Hur, but that is just about it. Often, the acting and general filmmaking is low quality, and the movie itself is just plain corny. Thankfully, When the Game Stands Tall is a faith film that actually functions as a competent sports drama, while still having a great message behind it.

Directed by: Thomas Carter

Genre: Sports, Drama, Football,

Release Date: August 22, 2014

Running Time: 115 minutes

MMPA rating: PG

The Good: Jim Caviezel excels in the role, Great message, Mostly strong performances throughout,

The Bad: One really dumb part (that's not based on fact), Some clichéd drama,

Plot: 6.0/10- The film's script manages to balance the drama, football action, and the message effectively. The screenplay is certainly not going to win any Oscars, but it never feels like it is forcing the message. As for the sports aspect, it is a solid, albeit somewhat clichéd, inspirational sports drama. 

The film's biggest problem is towards the end. While the movie is inspired by the true story, a few fictional players were added to create more drama in the film, and unfortunately, this added drama results in the most frustrating moment in the film. If said aspect happened in real life, there would be no flaw, yet there is a fictionalized event that tries to portray the film's message, but instead makes the audience frustrated, well, at least I was.

Characterization: 6.4/10- Coach Bob Ladouceur is portrayed as a man with strong convictions, but still human with flaws. Most of the supporting cast, like the real life and fictional players, are generally well realized. 

Action: N/A- The film's football action is decent. The director does little to make it more interesting or intense, but it serves its purpose well enough.

Acting: 7.5/10- Jim Caviezel is easily the standout best in the film. His performance as Coach Ladouceur is the core of the film. Aside from two supporting actors, even the younger cast members give decent performances.

Soundtrack: 5.2/10- The licensed music used in the ranges from decent to forgettable, but thankfully it is never annoying.

Humor: N/A- Aside from a few moments, there is little humor.

Entertainment Value: 6.7/10- Thankfully, the pacing is executed well enough so that the film is never boring, although it is never all that engaging either.

Overall: 6.2/10- While not groundbreaking in anyway, When the Game Stands Tall is an above average faith film and solid sports drama that those interested in either genre should consider watching.

Recommended for: Sports fan, Those interested in Christian films,

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Super Bowl Movie Trailers

Well, Broncos the lost, and they lost horribly. On other Super Bowl news, several awesome new trailers for upcoming movies were shown, and most of them have even more awesome extended versions of the trailers that I have posted below, including The Winter Soldier, Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Transformers 4. Basically, I am going to write mini-reviews for each trailer.

The Winter Soldier better be one freaking amazing movie, because these trailers are making me so hyped for this movie! These trailers have been a lot better than any other Marvel movie since the Avengers. All of the social commentary about Freedom will hopefully be fantastic. Everything about this trailer and the movie looks so good that I cannot even believe it. Now, I will be avoiding every trailer between now and when I see the movie, because I do not want to know anything about it.

Wow, this new trailer for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 looks so much better than the first one! Hopefully the movie will be as good as this trailer. Jamie Foxx looks like he is going to be amazing in the role, and I am really liking the direction his origin is taking. It looks like it is influenced by the Spectacular Spider-Man TV series, which was amazing, and that is definitely a good thing. Also, the effects look a lot more polished than before, which was one of my biggest complaints about the first one. Who else laughed during that opening clip? "Alright laundry sheriff."

Transformers 4 Age of Extinction is one of the only Super Bowl trailers that did not have an extended version online, but here is the original one. If you did not already know, Shia LaBeouf will not be in this new Transformers movie, and Mark Wahlberg will be staring. The big thing about this trailer is that there is a giant Dinobot that Optimus Prime is riding. Even though I am not a big fan of Transformers by any means, I grew up watching Transformers: Cyberton and some Beast Wars and I know that they were nothing like the one in trailer. Grimlock, the name of the Dinobot according to sources, was not something Optimus rode. But hey, I am not a die-heart fan so maybe the movie will not be that bad, but I am definitely not going to be watching it in theaters.

Need for Speed is an adaptation of the video game franchise of the same name, and the movie looks like a Fast and Furious clone. Maybe I am wrong, but this movie looks entirely mediocre and forgettable. The cast is good though, so there might be a small chance that the movie is good. 

I know there were a few other trailers during the Super Bowl, but none of them were memorable enough for me to post here. What was your favorite Super Bowl movie trailer? What did you think of the trailers? Please comment below and check back tomorrow for my spoiler review of Sherlock: "The Sign of Three."

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Super Bowl Tonight!

Super Bowl XLVIII, Seahawks vs Broncos, and possibly Peyton Manning's final game! Along with the game, we will be getting to see some trailers for upcoming movies like Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Transformers 4, and several others. The game will hopefully have some hilarious commercials and sometime in the next two weeks I will probably make of list of the best Super Bowl commercials, if anyone is interested. Bruno Mars is performing in the Halftime show and I cannot say that I am interested very much, but I suppose I will try and watch some of it before fast forwarding it. Since I do not really have a stake in either team, I guess I will pull for Peyton Manning and the Broncos because he has always been a fun player to watch. Who are you pulling for? Are you watching the game tonight? Please comment below.

EDIT: I forgot to add that I had a strange dream last night where I was reading that the Broncos lost the Super Bowl and then I woke and was wondering how I missed the Super Bowl! (no joke)

I just thought this was funny.

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Super Bowl Sunday!

Super Bowl XLVII, Ravens vs. 49ers, brother vs. brother, and Ray Lewis' final game. Since my team, the Falcon were defeated by the 49ers two weeks ago, I am still angry about how much we screwed it up at the end but I still want the 49ers to win. This is the first time that the opposing Super Bowl head coaches are brothers, Jim and John Harbaugh, which it kind of cool. As with any Super Bowl there be, hopefully funny, commercials and if there are any worth noting, I will post them in the near future. Who do you want to win? Please comment below. 

If you want to contact us or have any questions please send an e-mail to johnstarslayer@gmail.com.

Super Bowl XLVI: Patriots vs. Giants!

We love football! And as I said in an earlier we are pulling for the Patriots. Mostly because we like the way the Patriots run their team and that we don't like New York sports team in general, although the Giants stadium is in New Jersey. We don't have anything against the state New York. We normally record most football games on our DVR so that we can fast forward the commercials but when we watch the Super Bowl we always watch the commercials because there are usually funny. And we might make a Top 10 Super Bowl commercials if there are enough good this year. And we also watch the half time concert and last year's "The Black Eye Peas" the worst Super Bowl half time we have ever seen! We wish they would get some classic bands like before. We know that we asked this before but who are you pulling for and are you going to watch it? And who is your favorite team? We are Atlanta Falcons fans!

Super Bowl XLVI!

Super Bowl XLVI

Patriots vs Giants!

We are live long Atlanta Falcons fans and we watch every game on TV. While football is not our favorite sport, which is baseball, we love football! Collage and NFL. We watch every Georgia  Bulldogs, Georgia Tech, and Atlanta Falcons games. And we have watched every Super Bowl for as long as we can remember. We are pulling for the Patriots because we don't like New York sports team. We don't dislike New York people just sports team.

Are you going to watch the game? Who do you want to win? Do you like football? And who are your favorite team?