If you want to witness James Van Der Beek attempt to don a Texan accent for 106 minutes, you may not get another chance. While fun, it has all the signs of a stereotypical late-'90s teen movie. It's cheesy, telegraphed, cliched, crude--yet meaningful.
It follows a successful high school football team coached by Bud Kilmer (Jon Voight)--a man who basically runs the community. The small Texas town has already erected a bronze statue made in his likeness. The guy even controls the police to the point that his players can get away with stealing cop cars. That's how obsessed this community is with their high school football. It's all they have.
Mox (Van Der Beek) doesn't see it that way. He's the 2nd string quarterback and has plans to go to Brown University and put the sport behind him. But as soon as he's forced into the starting role, he enjoys soaking up all the attention.
Varsity Blues doesn't take too many risks--if any--but it has a lot to say. The script is deceptively good. It may be platitudinous in its dialogue and outcomes, but under the surface it makes some seldom-touched upon points.
The football scenes are some of the more realistic we've seen in movies up to this point, and it organically showcases the importance of football in some small towns in this country. It then proceeds to question that very importance, along with the aggrandizing of athletics in our schools altogether.
Subtly juxtaposing these ideals, we see Mox's little brother, who has an obsession with religions and practices a variety of them throughout the movie, much to his parent's disapproval.
It isn't perfect, but Varsity Blues holds up well. Voight gives us a compelling villain to despise and the film more nuanced that meets the eye. It made me nostalgic and I was entertained.
Twizard Rating: 83
What bad things can you say about these movies? Looking at the corniness that it started from, you can't expect anything more. You go into it knowing what you're gonna get. You've known for 6 movies already.
Furious 7 picks up a little bit after where Fast & Furious 6 left off--but also subsequent to the events of Tokyo Drift. Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) is trying to pick off members of Dominic Toretto's (Vin Diesel) crew one by one. He wants revenge for the critical state they left his brother, Owen (Luke Evans). His methods seem a little extreme, given that his brother wasn't actually killed. But nonetheless, that's the catalyst for our story.
With the huge hype behind this film we all want something big. It definitely serves us well in that respect. The actions sequences are impressive and the story is intricate. While the gang isn't helping save the world or anything, the personal repercussions will be catastrophic if they don't end Shaw before he ends them. That's the major theme in this movie--protecting family.
You don't find out anything new about the characters' depths besides their individual reactions to the impending fate of Paul Walker's character.
From start to finish this film has tons of energy. It's long, but never drags. And being a big fan of the franchise, I didn't want it to end. There are a lot of subplots going on at once, but the narrative doesn't make it confusing at all.
These films aim to entertain. That's what they've always been about and that's why we love them so much. And as long as they continue to do this we'll be coming back for more.
Walker's face is seen as computer generated in several scenes of the film. CGI versions of an actual human have never been perfect, but this is perhaps the best attempt I have seen to date. The first time it happened, it took me a second to realize that it wasn't really him.
The film deals with the death of Walker in a very emotional way. Many wished to see his character die as a proper closure, but I think that may hit too close to home for the people involved with the movie. But we get a nice tribute to everyone's favorite street racer.
Twizard Rating: 95
This movie gets better with age and it grows on you the more you
watch it. It’s also a case of the follow ups making you appreciate the
early films even more. The dialogue is corny but laughable, and the
storyline is very good.
There is a surprising amount of depth with the leads. The series–and
this film in particular–is about Brian (Paul Walker) and Dom’s (Vin
Diesel) growing relationship. It won’t be the same without Walker
because he and Diesel’s chemistry is what made these films so charming
when we first started watching them.
The director, Rob Cohen, is not very good at bringing the best
performances out of his actors, but does an excellent job directing the
action and racing scenes. The cuts might be a little jarring, but it
makes even the slower parts of the story more engaging.
The action is distributed perfectly among the film and you never go too long without a good adrenaline rush.
This movie isn’t great to everyone at first, but watch it again after
you’ve finished the rest of the series and you’ll see that it’s a fun
watch.
Twizard Rating: 90
It's another movie where the bad guys suck at shooting the good guys, but only when it's convenient. Paul Walker is a great on-screen presence as always, and although never the greatest actor, he still brings a warmth and charisma to everything that he's in and makes his films that much more enjoyable.
This film has a clever and interesting story with a good twist, and it's haunting seeing Walker on screen for the first time since his tragic death, but the script is absolutely terrible! So is the acting! And the directing! Also, the storytelling is a little sloppy. Don't get me wrong, this is a likable film, but it's saying a lot when Paul Walker and RZA are your best acting talents. It's obvious that they casted David Belle as Lino simply for his amazing stunts so that they didn't need to carefully edit around a stunt double.
Why didn't they just give them a bomb that would blow up to begin with instead of having to go through this whole process. They didn't make you hate the government enough until towards the end--in fact, I forgot that they even existed throughout most of the film. I wish they had given a little more background as to how the brick mansions became such a crime filled area. And at the end Tremaine was saying that he would never have killed a cop and that he's a good guy--but are we forgetting that this guy killed one of his own men in cold blood and almost knifed another one of his men for no reason??
However, the thing that this film does the most right is that it never ever takes itself too seriously.
Overall, it's definitely an entertaining experience, although unintentionally laughable on many occasions. But I would definitely watch it again.
Twizard Rating: 65
