I was forced to give this movie a 7
I thought it was an ok movie which would normally rate a 5 or 6 but since it made me cry I had to give it a 7. Damn those female hormones.
shareI disagree with a "7" for this film. I'm a 14-year-old boy. I would give this film a huge 10 out of 10. I think this film deserves a lot more good credit than it has received. It works in so many ways, and has so much to offer such as light-hearted moments, action, good characters, hot music that is fitting, emotion, and drama. You're entitled to your opinion. So I mentioned mine as well.
shareI am a professional reviewer. I agree with you on the "10." You are quite perceptive for your age and could become a strong critic in the entertainment field.
shareWell, I am going to have to agree with all the critics on this one. This was a bad movie. Not good, or decent, bad. There is no depth, no quality in direction, bad perfomances, terrible writing, it was just plain bad. I can't believe that a person who claims to be a professional reviewer can say this is a film of any quality; absolutely ridiculous. You are either totally inept or a liar. The point of this movie was to make teenage girls cry. This is along the lines of crapiness of Pearl Harbor or Armageddon...and to think that there are those to call this great...it makes me lose faith in humanity.
shareHi. This is NOT just a film to make teenage girls cry. Everyone has their opinion.
Depth - There is depth to me. It shows people in situations who are effected by others. By the end, some peoples' lives are better at the moment. It is not the kind of better, like in a "romantic comedy" (or an attempt at a romantic comedy) where the boy gets a girl. It shows strength, hope, and confidence can come. It shows that you can build up confidence through something like sports. We should know this from life. "Hardball" shows it. Even if there is a familiar twist towards the end, after that twist, comes emotion and deepness. (Spoilers ahead to anyone who hasn't seen the film yet) At the end, we don't see the final game, but we do see the Kekambas with trophies. Now, this may seem deep to me. Maybe because it shows the game wasn't the most important thing in the film - it was what it took to get there; the struggles. Beyond that are the good quaities - strength, hope, and confidence.
Direction - This is a Brian Robbins film. He is probably not a name like Spielberg, but here his direction is very good, if not great. His casting was superb. What about the way the music matches visuals? Whoever was involved with that did pretty good, at least for the most part.
Acting - How is it bad? Keanu Reeves is great in "Hardball", especially towards the end. (Possible mild spoilers to anyone who hasn't seen the film yet) Did you see the look on Keanu Reeves' face when he gave that speech in The Church? That seemed really good.
Writing - Terrible? Well, the screenplay may not be as original as other screenplays such as "American Beauty" and "Adaptation", but as a film, "Hardball" is just as good as those films. The film is realistic, but not exploitive. It is light-hearted in some parts, but very moving in other parts. If that was also in the screenplay, then good.
Like "Raging Bull" was more than about boxing, "Hardball" is more than about baseball. Okay, I mentioned four great films: "American Beauty", "Adaptation", "Raging Bull", and "Hardball". Well, that's my opinion. If this makes someone lose faith in humanity, they can also look at bad things in the world. Anyways, to each her or his own, or vice versa. We can also look for good.
If I try being happy, I’m just gonna get upset later. So why not make myself unhappy and spare the hope? Hope? Hope can help us stay alive, right? Or am I just an awkward 14-year-old boy? Well...
Thanks for reading and May God Bless.
I'm sorry, but did you just compare Hardball to Raging Bull?!?!?!?!? That is so immensely unfair, and I don't even know where to begin. You may be the least discerning person I've ever heard of.
shareI did mention "Hardball" and "Raging Bull" in the same post. My opinion. If I am jamming it down your throat too much, please forgive me. Of course, "Raging Bull" is a great film, maybe even a classic. Let me see - can I convince you of my opinion? I gave descriptions of depth, acting, writing, and direction of "Hardball" in a previous post. If you disagree, that is fine. But to write least discerning, if that was written, doesn't seem totally right. This should be interesting: I think "Hardball" is better than "Raging Bull". One is a great film that is uneasy, but has a phenomenal performance by Robert De Niro. The other is an entertaining film, that has some phenomenal acting, and more. And thank you for your response. May God Bless.
Anything is possible, right?
You actually just wrote that Hardball is better than Raging Bull? That is so utterly ridiculous I can't even believe it. Unless you are playing a joke on me I would have to conclude that you know nothing about film.
In direction this movie miserably failed. There was no visual meaning whatsoever. There should usually be some sort of sub text to every shot in a movie, this had zero of that. The movie is void of atmosphere, if the acting was at all believable it would have played out like a bad documentary.
As far as acting goes all I require to enjoy a performance is believability, a good performance takes it a step farther, and a great performance brings it up yet another step. Keanu Reeves is by no stretch of the imagination a great actor, but he isn't a bad one. He seems to fluctuate quite a bit. He usually acts the same in each movie, but sometimes he will dip below par, and seldom he can rise above mediocre. This is a case in which it seems he stopped caring. Anyone could have been in that role and done just as good a job. To call Keanu Reeve's performance phenomonal is an out and out joke. In order to display superior acting the character must first have some interest to him. He has to evoke some emotion is us. This character meant nothing. He was predictable, inconsistent, and cliche. A great actor thinks about absolutely everything that must be done to portray the character. He thinks about every nuance and mannerism that this character might convey and what it says about the character. The wardrobe, hair cut, voice, hand gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, etc., all must be taken into serious account. I would be willing to wager some serious money that Keanu Reeves put much less thought into playing this character than I have in writing this post. As for the kids, nothing special but nothing terrible. Child actors have lower expectations anyway.
When you tell me that Hardball has a lot of depth I say wait until you at least 15 and have taken the proper English classes in high school to make that analysis. What you have listed as being deep is all very juvenile. These are cliche'd, common, and poorly explored themes. There is little to no symbolism, character developement, or visual/verbal motifs. This is a failure of a script.
To lump a film as inept as Hardball into the same category as a classicly great film, perhaps one of the best ever made and certainly a classic, is an insult to those involved in Raging Bull. Robert De Niro's portrayal of Jake LaMatta is one of the most brilliant performances in the history of the cinema, as is the direction of arguably our greatest living director. It is horrifically unfair to compare the two. Raging Bull will forever been used as an example of near perfect film making, yet I know of film professors who use Hardball as an example of what not to do while making a movie.
Hi. You seem to have all the characteristics of great actors, just like Robert De Niro. However, when's your big debut coming out as an actor? By the way, you have a brilliant name that fits you perfectly. Have a great moment all the time. God Bless.
shareYour comments couldn't be more irrelevant. When did I ever say I was better than Keanu Reeves? Don't be all defensive now just because you have no intelligent comments to make...and yes, this is an appropriate name. You are a goon amongst others, and I own you.
shareHi. Funny, I mean, the funny thing is, have I ever met you, since you own me? I wonder, are either one of us getting anywhere with each other? If not, it's best I stop wasting my time trying to mess with the one who owns me. Thanks for the spendid experiance. God Bless.
shareHey you're the one that decided to resort to insults, so don't try to pin it on me. You bailed as soon as you couldn't rebutt to what I had to say, and then tried to make fun of me for it. If you can't handle either the insults, or an at least semi-intellegent conversation about this then just leave it alone, but don't take this "holier-than-thou"/"I'm the bigger man" type attitude with me. At least stick with something.
shareWow. That had to be the worst movie i've ever seen. I almost threw up when they started singing about big papa.
shareA great actor thinks about absolutely everything that must be done to portray the character. He thinks about every nuance and mannerism that this character might convey and what it says about the character. The wardrobe, hair cut, voice, hand gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, etc., all must be taken into serious account.
From the testimonies of directors and co-stars who've worked with Keanu, that is EXACTLY what he does for every single character he plays. Another actor (I can't remember who at the moment) mentioned how he was freaked out by the sheer volume of notes that Keanu wrote out for some role he was playing.
I would be willing to wager some serious money that Keanu Reeves put much less thought into playing this character than I have in writing this post.
Go ahead and wager it, then get hold of the director of this film and ask him about what Keanu did for it.
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www.freewebtown.com/anakinmcfly share
dude?
who the hell cares what you professional reviewers think?
only you all because yall are so full of yourselves thinking you
are so much better than us regular folk because you think you can
break down a movie and offer an "objective" critique.
hardball was a good movie, entertaining, and inspiring.
I give it a 9!!
"If you forget your past, you are doomed to repeat it"
I thought this film was really uneven and painfully trite in many places (my only reaction when the kid got shot was to roll my eyes and say "Come on!", because ffs, movie! Try harder!) but you're wrong about this:
I would be willing to wager some serious money that Keanu Reeves put much less thought into playing this character than I have in writing this post.
Keanu Reeves is pretty notorious for the ridiculous amount of work and research he puts into absolutely everything he does. One of the first things the director says on the commentary: "Everyone who has ever worked with Keanu knows he works so hard. So hard. And he's so hard on himself. [...] He takes it very seriously."
So yeah. He's not always successful and he needs to be cast in the right role to work well for a film, but no one can fault the man's work ethic. He got so good at football for his other sports movie (The Replacements) an NFL team was looking to draft him not realising who they were looking at. That's real dedication, and it wasn't even a serious movie.
Also, I disagree that this character was flat. I thought he was inconsistent and didn't have good enough progression for the film to work, but he was a believable character and Reeves did a pretty good job with what he was given. Not fantastic, but good.
"It's that kind of idiocy that I empathize with." ~David Bowie
Movies are funny that way. Like I would say that I would rather see "Hard Ball" over "Raging Bull" because it's more entertaining. But surely "Raging Bull" is a better movie. "Better" and "more enjoyable" aren't the same thing.
share"Better" and "more enjoyable" aren't the same thing.I would consider "more enjoyable" to be "better."
I can't believe the guy in this thread who said "you know nothing about film" to someone, just because he disagreed with them.
Go Raiders! share
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That's all I can saabout that...
If God had wanted me to marry poor he would have made me homely.
You don't no nothing about movies. Thisfilm wasn't trying to be a blockbuster,it was trying to tell a story of a man,and a group of kids,
and they did it very well. The kids did cuss alot,especially the youngest,but that was the kind of Enviorment they were in. Keanu Reeves was good,and all the kids were good. It's a story of hope and teamwork,so I think you need to recognize. Oh,and Armageddon was tight
Blockbuster has nothing to do with this, I'm talking about whether it is a good film or not. I don't believe it is, but if it entertained you and you enjoyed it than that's fine. I think you better "recognize" that I responded the way I did because the other guy first compared Hardball to Raging Bull, and then said Hardball was better. That's ridiculous, and I think everyone would agree. If any professional critic or film professor heard that he would probably die of shock. Oh, and Armageddon was awful.
shareI think we should all be sure to consider both sides. Look at how well the movie is made AND how it makes you feel, then get an average from that and rate the movie. Like I have an 8 for "Hard Ball" right now, because it loses points for acting, script, whatever, but it gains points for some of the emotion and the interesting setting.
shareI am about to see this movie tomorrow, and just read most of your posts. You guys need to realize that everyone has their own opinion, and you cannot tell them different. Hey if some 14 year old boy just loves a movie you dislike, that doesn't mean he doesn't know anything and there for he is wrong because you don't like it. I will keep in mind everyone's opinion about the movie when I watch it tomorrow. I may like it because I do like Keanu Reeves, but I also may not, because every actor does produce a bad/medicore movie once in a while. Goodnight everyone.
-Steph
Can't we all just get along...
If God had wanted me to marry poor he would have made me homely.
You are right...this is a wonderful film and Ki Ki Reaves is wonderful!
If God had wanted me to marry poor he would have made me homely.
I would say this movie is a solid 7. It is effective, heartfelt and does the job of connecting the audience with the right emotions by delivering characters they actually give a damn about.
As a filmmaker i think this flick is very good and deserves much more credit than it deserves.
I think the soundtrack was a little hiphop gangsta rap heavy, a few songs here and there would have been ok, and use score music to fill in other moments, but some song placement was completely out of context, such as Party (Up In here)
Otherwise I dig the movie.
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"Deadlands 2: Trapped" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1103262/