Jeremiah Goodwin Jeremiah Goodwin Whitaker Expository Writing 10-19-15 Film ReviewFilm Review: Hoop DreamsFor my film review I chose the documentary "Hoop Dreams". This film goes through the struggles of two very talented African American basketball players, Arthur Agee, and William Gates. Both who were recruited by St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois. Which was a majority white school. Hall of famer, Isiah Thomas, is an alumni of the school. The film shows what their lives was like. It also shows their daily struggles.In my opinion I believe Arthur had it the worse out of the two. After being recruited to St. Joseph and playing he was kicked out after failing to make payments on the tuition. To me I felt as if they tried so hard to get Arthur to come to the school they wouldn't just let him be kicked out like that. I feel like they would have had some kind of agreement to where he could make payments. For example and installment payment. Or somebody in the school or an organization could've done something to keep him there. Also there was a point in time he had to go back to his local school and was just getting by with his grades. He also had to do it without his father for some time. Arthur seemed to not care about school altogether at one point. He had to go to summer school multiple times just to stay in the correct grade and graduate with his class. William gates had a better life but it was not great all the time. Like Arthur her too played for St. Joseph's. But unlike Arthur he played varsity. He seemed like he was the next sure thing to make it into the league. But no basketball player has a perfect life. At one point he struggled in his school work. He cared more about basketball than school. But eventually he got his life together and started to make the grades. Even on top of that he still excelled in basketball. Injuries began to plague him in his junior year in high school. He had a knee injury that could have cost him his whole year. But he battled back and continued to play. He messed himself up by going out to play when he was not completely healed though. During his experience at a Nike basketball camp he found himself struggling and injured his knee.Personally I don't think this film has a specific audience. This film can be watched by anybody. From basketball lovers to people who love a good story. There isn't anything wrong with it necessarily. Some may view it as a typical story and not care about it in anyway possible. Other may see this film and think of it as an absolute masterpiece. The point is every one is entitled to their own opinion. No matter if its bias or not. We can't tell a person if they are right or wrong about anything they say or do. The audience sometimes chooses the film not the other way around. In my opinion I think this film is a good film. Normal basketball documentaries start off while the player is in college or in their freshman year in the National Basketball Association (NBA). While with this film they start earlier in these players lives. There is a way that the story is told so that we can feel as if we are with them in their struggles and can feel the pain and suffering they are going through. Most people would look at this as a typical story of two young African American boys going through a basic struggle. But it is much more than that. This story is about two people chasing their dreams.

Jackson Booth-Millard I have seen a few of the documentary films featured in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, some are standard subjects, some are controversial, and some are unusual, but of course all are interesting for their own reasons, I was hoping this one would be another good one. Basically this film follows two African American teenagers, William Gates and Arthur Agee, both from inner-city Chicago, who dream of becoming superstar basketball players for the NBA (National Basketball Association). The film starts from their early beginnings in St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, and sees them grow and progress through the following five years, including starting and graduating college, and maturing into men. William and Arthur were both recruited into the same school that Isiah Thomas came from, and put into a team where white and black people mix, which then was not usual, we see their workouts, practises and struggles through learning all about the game, and obviously their skills come into play and they do rise to become noticed. By the end of the film one of the young men grows into the star he dreamt of becoming, while the other keeps trying, but they stay true to each other and support one another through whatever happens, and their families, friends and closest supporters are with them all the way as well. With narration by Steve James, and also starring Emma Gates - William's Mother, Curtis Gates - William's Brother, Sheila Agee - Arthur's Mother, Arthur 'Bo' Agee - Arthur's Father, Earl Smith - Talent Scout, Gene Pingatore - High School Basketball Coach, Sister Marlyn Hopewell - High School Guidance Counselor, Bill Gleason - Television Reporter, Patricia Weir - President: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Marjorie Heard - High School Guidance Counselor, Luther Bedford - High School Basketball Coach, Aretha Mitchell - High School Guidance Counselor, Shannon Johnson - Arthur's Friend, Tomika Agee - Arthur's Sister, Joe 'Sweetie' Agee - Arthur's Brother, Jazz Agee - Tomika's Daughter and Arthur's Niece, Catherine Mines - William's Girlfriend, Alicia Mines - William's Daughter, Alvin Bibbs - William's Brother-in-Law, Willie Gates - Himself - William's Father and film director Spike Lee. I will be honest that I faded in and out of the story because I did think the three hour length was a bit too much, obviously the five year span of filming makes sense for this length, however I did pay attention to the actual basketball stuff, and the two true life characters are likable, so it is I suppose a worthwhile sports documentary. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Film Editing. It was number 11 on The 50 Greatest Documentaries. Good!

goirish4 The movie Hoop Dreams follows two young basketball players from the projects of Chicago in their quest to one day play NBA basketball. The documentary provides viewers with a gripping plot line and an in depth look into the lives of the two boys on and off the court. The movie does a very good job of communicating not only the stress that the boys feel as they chase a dream that has a miniscule success rate, but also life's hardships the boys have to endure on and off the court as the movie progresses through the boy's four years of high school. Throughout the movie, the directors do a very good job of putting the audience in the boy's shoes, which is the component that makes this movie so good. The filmmakers portray the difficult environment the boys grow up in, both at home and at school. They also do a very good job of documenting the people in Arthur and William's lives that influence them the most. As the movie starts out, the audience is introduced to Arthur Agee and William Gates, two fourteen year old boys with dreams of playing NBA basketball. Arthur lives on the south side of Chicago and William lives in the Cabrini Greens Housing Project. Both are poverty stricken areas without much chance for those raised there to escape the cycle of poverty. The boys are surrounded by lots of crime and gang activity which usually keeps kids their age from escaping the projects. The movie shows scenes of what life is like in the ghetto, from kids playing in rundown parks with inadequate basketball hoops, to Arthur's dad buying drugs from some gang members, both in view of Arthur and the cameras. It is scenes like these that bring the audience to understand the type of harsh environment the boys grew up in. The filmmakers realize that most of their audience cannot relate to the boys and they need to find a way to provide the audience with an understanding of what life is like for the boys. The directors do a very good job of showing the audience what it is like to grow up in the ghetto rather than just tell them. This is one aspect that keeps the audience so involved in the movie. The character development and portrayal in the documentary is exceptional. The filmmakers do a great job of showing the audience how the two main characters mature and grow not only as basketball players, but as young men too. Arthur Agee is described by coaches as a player full of potential, but one who still plays as if he is on the playground and not the basketball court. He does not know how to play "team basketball". However, as the movie progresses, it is enjoyable to watch Arthur leave St. Joe's due to financial problems, but go on to mature from a playground player to a team player, leading Marshall to the state title. William Gates starts out much more mature than Arthur does. He is also recruited by St. Joe's and is billed to be the next Isaiah Thomas by many. William starts on varsity as a freshman and is expected to lead his team to the state title four years in a row. William is also expected to keep his grades up, score an 18 or higher on his ACT, and provide for a new addition to his family, his first born child. Obviously there is a lot of pressure on William to succeed, and watching him progress through the movie is very captivating.The movie may focus on the basketball careers of William and Arthur, but another element which makes the movie so good is the added story line of the two player's families. This allows the filmmakers to show the audience the sacrifice the boy's families have to go through in order to help the boys reach their dreams. Arthur's mom in particular represents this theme. She has to raise her family as a single mother for a couple years when Arthur's dad leaves the family. At one point in time she loses her job due to chronic back pain and has to raise her kids on welfare for a while. She and Arthur's struggles are emotionally charged and very interesting to watch those conflicts play out.Hoop Dreams is an excellent documentary, because of the filmmaker's in depth connections of the boy's dreams and struggles with the movie's audience. The film shows the viewers instead of just simply telling. The documentary is incredibly involving and a joy to watch.

classicalsteve The original project was intended as a 30-minute short film about two young African-American athletes playing in a yard which was supposed to air on PBS. Several years later, the film became a 3-hour feature documentary film, telling a much larger story than even about the two young athletes. Somewhat similar to Ken Burns' "Baseball", "Hoop Dreams" is an exposé of life in Urban America somewhat removed from much of the fair coming out of Hollywood. The ordeals experienced by these real people, both young and older, make plots of "Beverly Hills 90210" seem mundane by comparison. And none of the participants are actors. Aside from the challenge of basketball itself, these people deal with marginal housing and transporting, food and money shortages, and even an unexpected teenage pregnancy. Also, Gates suffers a knee injury in the middle of the season.Although the outer subject is primarily about William Gates and Arthur Agee and their rise as outstanding basketball players in high school and early college, the film also has a context and subtext about American society. This film exposes the many racial divides which still exist in our society in terms of economic and social opportunities. One message which speaks loud and clear is that many of these youngsters who live on Chicago's South Side believe their only route to a better life may be through a basketball hoop, hence the name of the film. I don't think this is something the filmmakers necessarily intended, but it's a reality that becomes very apparent as the film progresses.Both Gates and Agee are highly accomplished athletes yet they struggle with their academics. Gates has an opportunity to enter Marquette University in Wisconsin, and the sports program there decides to court the young player, offering him a full scholarship to the university. They are already sold on his playing ability, but Gates' one hurdle is acquiring a minimum score on the ACT test which Marquette requires for admission. A councilor discussing the problem with Gates who has not yet scored high enough mentions that if he worked on the test as fervently as he works on free throw shots, he could pass the exam. Agee also struggles with his own academics as well, and then something hit me.Gates and Agee are highly intelligent individuals, and this intelligence exudes itself in spades on the basketball court. Neither could have accomplished their athletic goals without a high level of acumen. But this intelligence is not channeled as successfully into other areas of their lives. Whether we mean to or not, our culture often fragments different kinds of activities. Sports, and sometimes the arts, are not often seen as activities requiring high intelligence, and yet being successful in sports requires as much brain power as writing computer code. And you also have to have a well-trained body. Gates' and Agee's surroundings I believe inadvertently conditioned them to believe that the skills they bring to basketball are not the same as the ones in academic studies. And yet, they never question their ability to improve on the court but have problems believing in their abilities in the classroom, which may be one of the points of Hoop Dreams.Ultimately, the filmmakers chose two extraordinarily gifted people. When I say gifted, I don't just mean their abilities as athletes. These two channeled their gifts into playing basketball but given other circumstances they might have been able to channel them into almost anything. The hope is that these individuals, now adults when I write this, would be able to channel their gifts into any field they choose, and it looks like they have. Only a few hundred people out of a society of 300 million will be able to play professional basketball. Gates and Agee have followed dreams outside of basketball and maybe their participation in this film helped them to do that. At the same time, basketball did help them to realize they could realize their dreams, hoops or otherwise.