Really good, surprisingly faithful remake. I think we all knew that Billy Bob was no Walter Matthau, but he does a good job, and I really couldn't picture any current actor other than Thornton playing that role.
Most of the kids are pretty good actors, at least good enough to not distract from the film.
And, I know we had a huge discussion on "THE LINE", the one I said was (and still is) my favorite from the original, and not surprisingly, it wasn't in there. Which isn't to say this movie is any cleaner than the original, on the contrary, the language definitely pushes to the edge of the PG-13 rating and includes pretty much every dirty word except the F-word, most of them being said by kids. I would say this movie is ideal for kids age 12 or 13 and up, which is good, because I can remember being that age and not really having any movies that seemed like they were made specifically for me. Generally, there is a clear distinction between "kids" movies and "adult" movies, meaning pretty much every G or PG-rated movie is pretty dumbed down for kids aged 5-8, or so, and then, PG-13 movies are basically as close to R-rated as they can legally be. Richard Linklater really struck on something, I think, with this movie and School of Rock.
There were a couple things I didn't like about it, mainly just in comparison to the original. The kids drink non-alcoholic beer, and it actually includes a line of dialogue pointing out that it is non-alcoholic, almost as if to assure scared parents (or the MPAA) that it's nothing too dangerous.
And, they took out Lupus's game-saving catch in the final inning of the championship game, or rather, they gave it to someone else. They did the same thing with my second favorite line in the movie, originally spoken by Tanner, now spoken by another kid: "hey, Yankees, you can take your trophies and shove 'em up your asses!" It was such a perfect Tanner line, they should've let him keep it.
But, still, it was a really good movie, not quite as good as the original, but who expected it to be?
Most of the kids are pretty good actors, at least good enough to not distract from the film.
And, I know we had a huge discussion on "THE LINE", the one I said was (and still is) my favorite from the original, and not surprisingly, it wasn't in there. Which isn't to say this movie is any cleaner than the original, on the contrary, the language definitely pushes to the edge of the PG-13 rating and includes pretty much every dirty word except the F-word, most of them being said by kids. I would say this movie is ideal for kids age 12 or 13 and up, which is good, because I can remember being that age and not really having any movies that seemed like they were made specifically for me. Generally, there is a clear distinction between "kids" movies and "adult" movies, meaning pretty much every G or PG-rated movie is pretty dumbed down for kids aged 5-8, or so, and then, PG-13 movies are basically as close to R-rated as they can legally be. Richard Linklater really struck on something, I think, with this movie and School of Rock.
There were a couple things I didn't like about it, mainly just in comparison to the original. The kids drink non-alcoholic beer, and it actually includes a line of dialogue pointing out that it is non-alcoholic, almost as if to assure scared parents (or the MPAA) that it's nothing too dangerous.
And, they took out Lupus's game-saving catch in the final inning of the championship game, or rather, they gave it to someone else. They did the same thing with my second favorite line in the movie, originally spoken by Tanner, now spoken by another kid: "hey, Yankees, you can take your trophies and shove 'em up your asses!" It was such a perfect Tanner line, they should've let him keep it.
But, still, it was a really good movie, not quite as good as the original, but who expected it to be?
