Thomas Carter
24 connections found
Filmography
View:
Connections, in both directions
Lean On Me (1989)
Directed by John G. Avildsen
influenced Coach Carter (2005)
Themes Plot Characters
Based on a real life coach, also named Ken Carter (who's been hitting talk shows with Jackson to promote the film), Carter takes an approach that's part Lean on Me meets Hoosiers, part Stand and Deliver meets Friday Night Lights, and okay, maybe a little White Shadow, too.
You've seen "Coach Carter" before in the guise of such films as "Hoosiers," "Remember the Titans" and "Lean on Me," or the less notable "The Replacements" or "Drumline."
As if timed to counteract these days of "basketbrawl" and snipes at Hollywood morality, along comes "Coach Carter," a true story, feel-good parable and a respectable, uplifting descendent of "To Sir, With Love" and "Lean On Me."
Based on the story of an actual Richmond, Calif., high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team until some of its members got their grades up, "Coach Carter" falls squarely in the group-Pygmalion tradition established by Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love" and faithfully carried on by Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me," Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Minds," as well as countless others, in which a lone-educator-who-cares rides into the mean streets of town to battle complacent parents, craven bureaucrats, low expectations and moribund systems, and single-handedly save the school day.
We also hear loud echoes from 1989's Lean on Me (school principal Joe Clark hanging tough against hoods).
This one seems cobbled together from the most enjoyable parts of Lean on Me, Hoosiers, and Remember the Titans -- with a generous drop of Dead Poets Society thrown in towards the end.
Stand and Deliver (1988)
Directed by Ramón Menéndez
influenced Coach Carter (2005)
Plot Characters Themes
It's a trick, admittedly, to show people learning math though Stand and Deliver (1988) made feisty drama out of it.
Based on a real life coach, also named Ken Carter (who's been hitting talk shows with Jackson to promote the film), Carter takes an approach that's part Lean on Me meets Hoosiers, part Stand and Deliver meets Friday Night Lights, and okay, maybe a little White Shadow, too.
But screenwriters Mark Schwahn and John Gatins continually compromise the story's real-world bite by recycling scenes and situations from other coach-team weepies (Hoosiers et al) and teacher-student inspirationals (Stand and Deliver et al).
But while the movie's motivational message is patently praiseworthy, the game it runs across the screen, for well over two hours, is so full of familiar moves from the likes of "Stand and Deliver," "Hoosiers" and "Remember the Titans" that it finally induces more fidgeting than cheers.
While Jackson is nowhere near the absurd caricature played by Morgan Freeman in the hilariously over-the-top "Lean on Me," Edward James Olmos (whose dedicated math teacher in "Stand and Deliver" was a sly, subversively schlubby revelation) has nothing to worry about.
It's Stand and Deliver and Bad News Bears in flagrante delecto.
Friday Night Lights (2004)
Directed by Peter Berg
influenced Coach Carter (2005)
Themes Visuals Plot
Based on a real life coach, also named Ken Carter (who's been hitting talk shows with Jackson to promote the film), Carter takes an approach that's part Lean on Me meets Hoosiers, part Stand and Deliver meets Friday Night Lights, and okay, maybe a little White Shadow, too.
"Coach Carter," like "Friday Night Lights," goes beyond the standard sports movie playbook to examine the consequences of short-sightedness and the perils of pinning all your hopes on one uncertain dream.
The hoops scenes, filmed in the hyperkinetic, handheld style of "Friday Night Lights," take us inside the action on the court.
See, this is kinda the anti Friday Night Lights , which glorified the idea that high…
The "real life" underdog story has recently run through ice hockey (Miracle) and football (Friday Night Lights).
You've seen all this before, and not just in Miracle and Friday Night Lights.
These days, Carter is best known as an Emmy-winning TV director ("Don King: Only in America") who scored a big-screen breakthough in 2001 with "Save the Last Dance," another teen-themed drama with a strong follow-your-heart message.
Before director Thomas Carter moved behind the camera (for a career that includes the worthy Save the Last Dance and Don King: Only in America), he acted in the '70s tube classic The White Shadow.
Based on the story of an actual Richmond, Calif., high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team until some of its members got their grades up, "Coach Carter" falls squarely in the group-Pygmalion tradition established by Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love" and faithfully carried on by Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me," Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Minds," as well as countless others, in which a lone-educator-who-cares rides into the mean streets of town to battle complacent parents, craven bureaucrats, low expectations and moribund systems, and single-handedly save the school day.
In Dangerous Minds, ex-Marine Michelle Pfeiffer earned her "unteachable" brood's undivided attention with some well-aimed karate chops.
Morgan Freeman used a Louisville Slugger to scare straight the students in "Lean on Me." Michelle Pfeiffer donned a leather jacket and busted out some goofy kung fu to prove to a class of ruffians that she was down with them in "Dangerous Minds."
Holding all this commotion together, Jackson screams, sneers, and speechifies his way through a performance that's somehow equal parts George C. Scott in Patton and Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
Dead Poets Society (1989)
Directed by Peter Weir
influenced Coach Carter (2005)
Themes Plot Characters
From Coach Carter to Lean on Me to Dangerous Minds to Mr. Holland's Opus, it's a pretty standard sub-genre that seems to add a few new titles every year.
So there will be the athlete/students broken down into types to save time and energy on fleshing out the extended supporting cast, and there will be the valiant Dead Poets Society teacher who so rouses his/her hangdog students that they will eventually mass in a public show of support (standing on desks, running after ambulances, biking after cabs) when The Man (the school administration, the angry backwoods community) inevitably cracks down.
Holding all this commotion together, Jackson screams, sneers, and speechifies his way through a performance that's somehow equal parts George C. Scott in Patton and Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society.
This one seems cobbled together from the most enjoyable parts of Lean on Me, Hoosiers, and Remember the Titans -- with a generous drop of Dead Poets Society thrown in towards the end.
Although the film embraces the usual clichés associated with this kind of movie (the Dead Poets Society "O Captain, My Captain" Moment is present and correct, for example), it manages to avoid some of the more obvious ones: for example, in the gang member subplot, someone does get shot, but it's not the person you expect and also there's no emotional father/son conflict or issues of any kind.
Silver Linings Playbook (2012)
Directed by David O. Russell
influenced by Save the Last Dance (2001)
Some of this is roundabout, as Tiffany exacts a promise from Pat to be her partner in a dance contest, which means they spend hours rehearsing and sweating and pondering, never very good at what they do, even as they might be engendering fond memories for Veronica, or any of us who remember an earlier incarnation of Stiles doing just this, in the sublimely silly Save the Last Dance.
After marking his territory by beating up a mouthy punk, he puts his misfit team through a series of gruelling drills (Heartbreak Ridge, The Dirty Dozen, Stripes) to whip them into shape.
It's a good premise, because it sets up the one righteous man against the many, High Noon-style, as it cuts deep into contemporary issues - the failure of American education, the way sport feeds on poverty, the lack of choices for boys and girls in these communities.
Ford needs the support of his loyal buddies Val (Will Yun Lee, "Die Another Day") and Dalton (Jay Hernandez, "Crazy/Beautiful") after Henry sets him up for the murder of rival Reaper leader Trey's (Ice Cube, "Barbershop") brother Junior (Fredro Starr, "Save the Last Dance").
He's also about as warm and cuddly as R. Lee Ermey's drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket.
Duane Adler co-wrote Save the Last Dance, in which Julia Stiles learnt to dance like a black girl from her boyfriend, played by Sean Patrick Thomas.
Assisting her in that task is Duane Adler (“Save the Last Dance”) and Melissa Rosenberg, whose script is so rote, it's difficult not to watch this movie wondering how a film about taking risks could be so unwilling to take a few of its own.
Sadly, the concept of the hip, tough guy with a troubled past who picked up his moves from the street teaching the pristine, prissy girl to loosen up and feel the music is such a tired premise, it's a drag to even have to mention other, better films like 2001's Save the Last Dance, wherein Julia Stiles used streets beats to dance her way into a Julliard audition, or even Dirty Dancing, which had way more memorable lines (“Nobody puts baby in the corner!”).
It's no accident that the credits for the movie are a Who's Who of dance movie alumni: Director Anne Fletcher choreographed "Bring It On"; screenwriter Duane Adler penned "Save The Last Dance"; and the movie was photographed by Michael Seresin, who shot "Fame."
That’s more than we can say for the script, which was co-written by Duane Adler — who also wrote “Save the Last Dance,” yet another film that “Step Up” so obviously resembles — and Melissa Rosenberg.
If she does her due diligence in this regard, screenwriters Duane Adler (2001's " Save the Last Dance ") and Melissa Rosenberg (who would go on to adapt the " Twilight " series) are responsible for mucking things up with a script that couldn't be more predictable and derivative if it tried.
“Coach Carter” isn’t flawless by any means, but thanks to a solid performance from Samuel L. Jackson and some entertaining basketball action sprinkled throughout, the movie earns its place alongside more recent sports films like “ Friday Night Lights ” as a must-have for any fan of classics like “Hoosiers,” “ Major League ” and “Rudy.”
It's this year's Miracle with a slightly better screenplay, and its success relative to that picture will speak volumes about race and demographics in this country.
The "real life" underdog story has recently run through ice hockey (Miracle) and football (Friday Night Lights).
You've seen all this before, and not just in Miracle and Friday Night Lights.
You've seen "Coach Carter" before in the guise of such films as "Hoosiers," "Remember the Titans" and "Lean on Me," or the less notable "The Replacements" or "Drumline."
But while the movie's motivational message is patently praiseworthy, the game it runs across the screen, for well over two hours, is so full of familiar moves from the likes of "Stand and Deliver," "Hoosiers" and "Remember the Titans" that it finally induces more fidgeting than cheers.
This one seems cobbled together from the most enjoyable parts of Lean on Me, Hoosiers, and Remember the Titans -- with a generous drop of Dead Poets Society thrown in towards the end.
Almost every sports movie ever made, from Knute Rockne, All-American to Hoosiers to Remember the Titans, features an intrepid coach or manager--part surrogate father, part high priest--whose unorthodox methods come into question but who makes men of boys and wins the inevitable Big Game.
Screenwriter John Gatins ("Coach Carter," "Real Steel") has shown his predilection for inspiring stories, but this one is much, much darker, and he lets Whip stumble badly.
Frankly, I'm surprised that Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins ("Real Steel," "Coach Carter") showed us everything up front.
The script was written by John Gatins- of such noted past projects as “Hard Ball,” “Coach Carter” and the infamous robot boxing movie “Real Steel”- and it posits a delicious, high-concept question: What if Sully Sullenberger, when he landed in the Hudson, had been drunk and high?
However, the script from John Gatins (Coach Carter, Real Steel) gets a bit heavy-handed there, as it calls for cross-cuts to a separate storyline about a drug-addled woman named Nicole (Kelly Reilly) who simultaneously ‘crashes’ after her latest heroin injection.
It's understandable that screenwriter John Gatins (Real Steel, Coach Carter) and director Zemeckis would want to lighten the mood a bit, but Goodman's character isn't the solution.
Zemeckis and screenwriter John Gatins ( Coach Carter , Real Steel ) suddenly yield to dull convention, introducing in quick succession a romantic fellow addict (Kelly Reilly), a comic enabler (John Goodman), a stoic union rep (Bruce Greenwood) and a wily lawyer (Don Cheadle).
And then there is Worm (Antwon Tanner, "Never Die Alone"), a would-be ladies' man with one thing on his mind.
The film’s efficiently formulaic nature shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given that the screenplay was penned by John Gatins, who has created his own cottage industry of sports movies over the past decade, having written rousing, audience-friendly, feel-good movies about baseball (Hard Ball and Summer Catch, both from 2001), basketball (2005’s Coach Carter), and horse racing (2005’s Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story).
Screenwriter John Gatins ("Coach Carter") has very loosely adapted Richard Matheson's short story 'Steel,' which was previously made into a Twilight Zone episode, but he owes just as much to Sylvester Stallone, and Shawn Levy ("Night at the Museum," "Date Night") has been to directors what a paint-by-the-numbers hobbyist is to an artist.
Opening on vast tracts of wheat and corn swaying in the glow of early evening, Levy and scripter John Gatins (Hardball, Coach Carter) lay Midwest dustbowl imagery on like molasses on cornbread, with everything from small town carnivals, rodeo contests (or the near-future Robo-boxing equivalent), the straw-chewin’ hero and the fancy pants 'big smoke’ folk (Hope Lange, James Rebhorn).
And although he excelled at battling a robot army in "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones" and sporting a mean Jehri curl while spouting one-liners in "Pulp Fiction," he's arguably never had a movie that so perfectly catered to his acting style.
In fact, when he first confronts the Richmond High Oilers players in the gym, calling them out as "young sirs," there are great glimmers of his "Pulp Fiction" character, Jules Winnfield, reciting Ezekiel's prophecy of wrath against the Philistines.
His kinetic tirades recall his Pulp Fiction character, and his moments of quiet intensity remind us that Laurence Fishburne is a much better slow-simmerer.
Jackson's scary-smart, oft-quoted Jules had the very words "Bad Motherfucker" stitched onto his wallet as he hijacked Pulp Fiction from Travolta, Keitel, Thurman, Roth and Willis.