Truly Dreadful Film

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

The unspeakable biographical film traces a plane crash that wiped out an entire college football team, coaches, cheerleaders, parents and others,is well realized in the picture.Losing a coach that preached that winning is the most important objective, the college looks to suspend the program until they see the people in the town demonstrate for it to continue.Obviously, this is a daunting task in total rebuilding and Matthew McConaughey delivers a knockout performance, which should have been recognized by the Motion Picture Academy, as the bubbly new coach, recognizing the huge task that was before him, while stressing that coming to terms with what occurred and going on is more important than just winning. The only thing that I can say is that these films tend to become quite preachy and that is true in McConaughey's delivery.Still a very good film dealing with extremely difficult subject matter is to be treasured.

'We Are, Marshall!' - any film that can make me want to chant a slogan for a school I have never heard of before, connected to a sport I have no real interest in and make me want to buy a jacket for football team that isn't even in my country when I do wear baseball Jackets anymore has to be doing something right.Its 1970 and Marshall Football Team are on a high, they lost a game sure, but they're looking good and the coaching staff, the team and several people from the town and parents of many members are returning home from the game on a private jet when moments from landing disaster strikes. Can the surviving players who were left behind rebuild the team for the 1971 season, can the University find new coaching staff and will the morale of the town ever recover? Such is the true story of the Marshall University Football Team of 1971, as the characters try to pull together, the re-building of the football team comes to illustrate the dilemma everyone is feeling in attempting to rebuild their own lives. We Are Marshall is a simple story but as a well written script where brevity is key its a bit of an unsung masterclass in my opinion. Watch it a second time and you will see in this film every piece of dialogue in every scene serves a moment for either story or character, while not especially original and close to being in danger of 'true story of the week' WRM is much more than that because of the power and sincerity that is evident here in the film making, you can tell everyone wants to be involved and knows their making something that is a bit special, and they'd be right. It's a strong piece of moving writing that is well performed and I would suggest an extremely honourable way of portraying the suffering of a community that was hit by such a large wave of grief in one go that it does not know how to cope. 'How many children lost both parents?' cries a bereaved father. You cannot help but get caught up in the story. The film is entirely not about football, this is a film about grief and how we deal with it, both individually, collectively and to each other. Matthew McConaughey is at his best here as Jack Lenyel the new football coach and pivot for the story as the stranger who comes into town with boundless energy because he just wants to help 'What if it had been my children' - But look around the cast, this is an ensemble piece where many great actors are starting out early on in their careers. Anthony Mackie powerfully plays Nate Ruffin, who missed out on the game because of an injury, his team mate, conflicted Tom (Brian Geraghty showing his great talent early on) wants to help him re build but has survivors guilt because he overslept and should have been on the plane. But the three stand outs for me were Ian McShane as the grieving father who just wants the football programme to die along with his lost son, Kate Mara who is the bereaved girlfriend of that son, and David Strathairn as the University President who is out of his depth trying to please everyone in a situation he never thought he would have to face. All give solid and believable performances. Special mention must also be made of a young Arlen Escarpeta, the scene where he comes back to his empty room with a case of beer is really moving.There are so many good scenes in this film its hard to name them all - We Are Marshall really goes for the heart strings, but it should, its a moving story about a group of conflicted people unsure of which direction to take to move on - Do they embrace the football programme and try and move forward or scrap it and try and leave everything behind? While some time is dedicated to the new team training and the film even manages a few moments of comedy this is above all not a sports movie, sports just happens to be the historical background under which the events take place. Winning seems out of the teams grasp, but is healing? This is the real question the film asks you.Its well worth your time.

The events that inspired the film We Are Marshall are definitely enough to inspire a great story. The trick is avoiding the many sports movie clichés that are potentially lurking behind every turn of the page of any possible screenplay. To its credit, this film avoids a lot of them, and uses its characters and its atmosphere to make the ones we see a little more forgivable. The tragic 1970 plane crash that took the lives of most Marshall University football players, boosters, and athletic department personnel is a story most sports fans are familiar with. This film doesn't provide us with any insight into its cause, or give us many of the details we didn't already know. What it does, and quite effectively, is focus on the survivors and how they attempt to move on. The school very nearly ended its football program, and nobody could have blamed them if they had never played another game. Funny thing about football... its just too much a part of our national passion to ever give it up.This film could have easily been a feel-good vehicle for Matthew McConaughey, but luckily they had the sense to dial his presence down a tad. He certainly still stands out and gives a charismatic performance, but he isn't even introduced until well into the film as Jack Lengyel, the coach who will be the first to lead the Thundering Herd back onto the field. Matthew Fox as the only surviving assistant from the past coaching staff also does fine as the conflicted coach who takes a great deal of convincing before he joins the new staff. Film does a great job detailing the difficulty of blending new players with the few surviving ones who were not on the plane. Even in the heart of a tragedy, boys will still be boys... especially when they play football at a major university.Of course we get the "big game" climax at the film's conclusion, but since this one is based on fact, the cliché is a lot easier to take. The film is visually impressive and seems to give great attention to detail. West Virginia is quite a beautiful place, and there are some scenes where the surroundings on the horizon take on a character of their own. I was generally surprised at how much I liked this film. I was expecting something a little more artificial. Not only is it thoughtful and nostalgic, but it shows us how many lives can be lost and transformed in one instant. 8 of 10 stars.The Hound.

This movie certainly was a surprise. The only reason why I sat down to watch it was because of Matthew Fox. I myself do like sport but not really a big fan of football.I didn't think I would enjoy this movie. I really can't understand the American obsession with college football and how small towns seem to revere their young football players as demigods. I am sure the same amount of reverence would not be given to the chess club or the school band. But the shocking loss of so many lives in one accident is a tragedy in any sense of the word - football team or not.The sheer tenacity and perseverance of Jack Langley (Matthew McConaughey), Red Dawson (Matthew Fox) and the very likable President Dedmon (David Strathairn) really brought the heart into this movie.The movie sends a good message in - if you want to achieve the improbable then you will have to take the road less traveled. This is portrayed through the rise of the new Marshall University football team after losing most of its much loved players, coaches, officials and fans in the horrific plane crash.I am still not a fan of football and this movie certainly won't make you into one either but it will make you believe that anything really is possible.