Customer Reviews

Remember the Titans [UMD for PSP]

5 star:		(219)
4 star:		(37)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

Remember the Titans is the true story of a small town in Virginia during the 1970's. The "white" high school and the "black" high school are forced to combine into one as the town explodes in racial havoc. Just as the caucasian football coach Yoast is about to enter the Virginian high school football hall of fame, he is demoted to assistant head coach when the two high schools combine. The new head coach is Coach Boone (Denzel Washington), an experienced African-American football coach that recently moved there. On top of this being between the two coaches, they have to figure out how to bring two teams into one and to end the prejudice between the players.

Though the plot seems rather dark from the above description, the movie does a great job balancing itself so that it is dramatic and you are able to understand what racism was like during that time period, but there is plenty of humor to cause you not to be upset during the entire film.

This has got to be one of the best movies I have seen throughout my entire life (okay, I'm only fourteen, but give me a break). I saw this movie three times while at the movie theaters (my mom saw it five times; believe me, she isn't the type to see a movie while it's in theaters that many times), and you can bet that Remember the Titans will become a part of my video library when it comes out on video. This movie made me laugh, made me cry, and made me that much wiser about the world. When Remember the Titans comes out on video, please at least do yourself the favor of renting it. I can almost guarantee that you will absolutely enjoy this film. That's how good it is.

I first saw "Remember the Titans" in the theater with a group of younger friends, who did not live through the civil rights movement or the uneasy truce that existed through the next 10 years. It was interesting to see their reactions to the chasm that existed on the "battlefield" of the public school system. Although "RtT" doesn't explore the issues of the time in a substantive way, the film makes it easy to believe that the situations were real. The football field action is impressively filmed and the soundtrack is outstanding.

Will Patton and a terrific cast of young actors will entertain you and make you believe for the run of the movie. And although some scenes are corny, (every scene that features Coach Yost's daughter!) you find yourself caught up in not only the game, but in what it represents as a centerpiece for a small town or city.

I confess that there is no movie featuring Denzel Washington that I don't like! His performance here is solid, and he hides his natural charm well - Coach Boone is not a charming guy!

In DVD, the film is enhanced with many special features that are just as entertaining as the movie. I particularly enjoyed the discussion between the two coaches and the items that were edited out of the movie.

Not an award winning movie, but definitely a feel-good flick with an edge of some of the hardships that make life worth living. It's great to see such favorable and complex reviews from younger watchers; it makes you realize that the film hit its mark!

Denzel Washington is Coach Boone, a black football coach who finds himself in unfamiliar territory when he is appointed head coach of a high school team in its first year of intergration. When the fomer coach Yoast agrees to be his assistant it seems that turmoil and not determination will rule the squad.

Boone's determination to win is only outmatched by his drive for racial harmony within the team and coaching staff. By forcing his players to interact he creates bonds and friendships. Throughout all of this he knows he must win or his tenure as head coach will be short lived. He must not only battle the racial tension in the team, but in the town as well. Only his sheer will can guide his team to the promised land.

The movie is an outstanding piece of cinema. It adresses a social issue with raw emotional power. It teaches a lesson without screaming it in your face. The acting is without a doubt full of some of the best performances of the year to not have been recognized by Oscar and the likes. While Denzel Washington and Will Patton are phenomenal the show is stolen by the members of the team. Watch this film and you will get the point. An emotional five star film worth watching again and again.

After working in a video store for nine months, it's hard to find a good new release. Pretty soon, you begin to nit pick everything about the plot, director, actors, characters, etc. So, when I took a chance on this football movie, I wasn't expecting to be blown away.

Not only is Denzel better than ever, so is Disney! When first deciding whether or not to actually take this one home, I had to think about the dreading football action. (You know, all of the stuff that the guys want to see) Honestly, this one isn't another guy show. Remember the Titans is about so much more.

In a time of corrupt racism, the boys of a small southern town are forced to be civil, and it even goes farther than that. The black football team and the white football team must play as one. They must join to stay in the game, and the players must get along. This movie is about dreams, determination, hope, and fear.

This movie is excellent! I guarentee it won't be a waste of your time. From the very beginning the magic was there, and it flows throughout the show. If you like drama, you'll love Remember the Titans. Ever hear of the "Clash of the Titans"? Well, this movie gives another meaning to the phrase. Oh yeah, about the nit picking thing, I couldn't even bring myself to do it with this winner.

If you have teenagers in your household, rent this movie for them. It's rated PG for a reason. This isn't a movie about football; it's a movie about the pointlessness of racism, that uses the football field as a metaphor. That the kids won't understand that doesn't matter, they'll absorb the message while being too entertained to notice.

Disney always produces movies that both young and old can appreciate and so the adults will enjoy the movie too. The script may not be very original and the end result may not reach any deeper than the life-lessons it sets out to teach, but it teaches them with a lot of heart and there's a lot to be said for that.

In this true story, Denzel Washington plays Herman Boone, a no-nonsense football coach who has been handed the job of Head Coach at a high school in Alexandria, Virginia that has suddenly been desegregated. It's the early 70's. His players consist of the school's white football team and the new black kids who played for their former all-black high school team. That these two factions don't want to have anything to do with each other is an understatement. During football camp, through the will and drive, the insight and courage, of Coach Boone, they are forced to treat each other with respect, which turns out to be the first step towards friendship, and they become a more unified team. This all happens a little too easily, but then, it's a feel-good Disney movie, not a three and a half hour Oliver Stone saga. Once school starts, they face the same conditions they faced going into camp: they step into a desegregated school environment that is now segregated internally. The community at large is more to blame than the kids themselves, but that doesn't make the students any less prejudiced. As the football season unfolds, racial lines become more and more blurred for the team members to the disdain of all others around them. Friendships gets tested and relationships get nurtured, on and off the field, including the growing but guarded friendship that takes root between Coach Boone and his assistant coach, Bill Yoast, (a convincing performance by Will Patton). Yoast was head coach before he was forced out to make room for Boone, and is a hard-edged but, we slowly find out, open minded and big hearted, member of the white community.

Denzel Washington puts in his usual winning performance. One wishes that his character was written with a little more depth and was less of the Cheerleader-for-the-Movement variety. What he does with the script that he's handed, however, is memorable. In fact, you can tell Washington is relaxed and enjoying himself here; he doesn't exactly have to stretch his acting skills to nail this character, and it's obvious that it's a character he believes in.

Hayden Penettier who plays Coach Yoast's daughter Sheryl, is hilarious as a 7-or-so year old tomboy who calls her father "coach" instead of "dad" and knows more about football than most of the players do. She's a very talented young actress and this role should land her more significant ones. She very nearly stole the show.

The various members of the football team are a well-rounded and capable group of actors even if they're your standard stereotyped bunch of characters. They're the primary source of fun in the movie, filling up the screen with various locker-room antics. The strongest of these characters is Gary Bertier, the white team captain (played by Ryan Hurst) and Julius Campbell (played by Wood Harris) the strongest minded black player, who start out as enemies and whose evenutal friendship plays a pivitol role in the film.

Remember the Titans is the kind of movie Hollywood is continually accused of not making: a movie aimed at kids that doesn't pander to sex and violence. That it isn't Oscar material should be of no consequence. It may not have won any awards, but that doesn't make it any less worthy of an audience.

A lot of D's which is the grade I'd give this Director's Cut dvd. Cut all right. They cut the 2 commentaries, the trailer, instead of 6 deleted scenes there are 4 & 2 of them are in the director's cut so are totally unnecessary. On the box it says new bonus features. There are NONE. It say's French language track. NONE. Usually a second release is an improvement but in this case it is so much poorer as not to be believed. Disney should pull this & at least properly advertise what is on it & what isn't. The movie is an A+. The Director's Cut DVD release rates a solid F. I wish I hadn't sold off my original when it was first announced & preordered this P.O.S. Don't say I didn't warn you.

To say that this is just a football movie would be a very shallow interpretation, it is so much more than that. This movie is heartwarming and gripping from the first opening logo all the way to the end.

To story is like this: two separate football teams (one white and one black) are forced to de-segregate into one team with Denzel Washington as their coach. At first they hate each other because they are different. But in time they form a bond, a brotherhood, and a friendship, and learn to see past their differences. It may sound sappy if you haven't seen it, but this is the best movie of its genre.

If you think it's just another lame live-action Disney film, think again. This goes way beyond that and explores the theme of friendship with just the right ammount of sentimentality. Do yourself a favor and buy this. Parents: it's rated PG for some mild words and tense situations. Most Highly reccomended.

Believe it or not, I never even heard of this movie until recently. I'm not a big sports fan, or a sport movie fan so when my boyfriend brough this over to watch, I was less than thrilled.

However, once it started, I was captivated by it.

The movie is made even better based on the fact it is based on a true story. The jist of it is this... Herman Boone, played by Denzel Wahsinton perfectly, takes over as new head coach at a high school that has been desegregated. Naturally, the town has mixed reactions.

We watch as Boone, uses tactics that neither the players, the parents, the townsfolk or even his assistant coaches like to force the players to not only become a team but also respect each other as people. We watch as friendships form, and as a team forms.

Eventually we watch as the winning football team, and essentially Boone brings the town together.

This movie brings something to the table for everyone. I laughed, I cried, I even cheered during the games. A must see!

Like most cinematic versions of true-life stories, "Remember the Titans," is an idealized version of reality. The main theme focuses on the two-sided coin of racial tension and racial harmony. Such moralistic tales can be heavy going but in this case, using school football as a backdrop, director Boaz Yakin creates a moving and entertaining parable.

Set in Virginia around 1971, the story primarily involves the football team at T.C. Williams High. The school is in the middle of a racial integration process and seems to find the concept, of blacks and whites in physical contact, objectionable. Thrown into this already volatile mix is Coach Boone, a black man from out of state and from a lower grade of football. Boone is placed above Coach Yoast, the current, and white, head of the football department. This strange form of affirmative action is seemingly aimed at political, rather than social, goals.

Not surprisingly Coach Yoast, solidly played by Will Patton, takes umbrage at this obvious slight to his tenure, experience and standing in the community. His young daughter, Sheryl, takes the news with even more disgust. Played by Hayden Panettiere, Sheryl steals every scene she's in, creating a funny and memorable character; a small curly haired girl who loves football more than life itself.

Seeing the danger of his team abandoning university scholarships just to show solidarity, Yoast steps back onto the team in a subordinate role to Boone. Densel Washington gives us another strong performance as the forceful, and borderline abusive, Coach Boone. His credo seems to emphasise offence, both on the field and off. This is made clear after he challenges the worst elements of the town to face him, following an incident involving bricks flung through his home's windows.

Boone's first act as head coach is to undo the racial divide among his players. Instead, the team is split along offensive and defensive lines. This forced integration soon causes conflict, allowing the audience to explore the large cast of characters in more depth. It is remarkable that so many minor characters stand out in memory and if some of them seem a little shallow, there are limits to what can be achieved in under two hours.

True reconciliation, perhaps even racial harmony, does not begin building until the team is lead on a crippling morning run that finishes at the Gettysburg battle ground. Boone, who set up the event, gives a shaming speech comparing the "cause" that their forefathers fought and died for, to the smaller battles still being fought within their team. In addition, each player was given an ongoing assignment to get to know each and every other member of the team, forcing some level of understanding in most of these young men.

There is a fair amount of football in the film but for me, it was the character expositions and interpersonal conflict that held my interest. I'm sure those who enjoy the game will get a lot more out of the film but the game does not overshadow the strong narrative, creative cinematography and moving soundtrack. In the end, the film's value rests on the shoulders of the two leading men rather than on football. These two honourable men may start out as adversaries but, like the team's offensive and defensive captains, they eventually become life-long friends.

Sometimes, when we are part of a team, the sweetest victories are shared outside the playfield.

Such affirmation is true in the case of Remember the Titans, a film based on real life, starring Denzel Washington, Will Patton and a remarkable cast of young actors.

In 1971, high school football was everything to the folks of Alexandria, Virginia. But when the education committee is forced to merge two schools (one of white race, the other African-American), the football tradition is put under test.

To make things worse, Herman Boone (Washington) is brought from South Carolina to teach as a lead coach of the titans, the team of TC Williams High school. His arrival is bad news to the regent coach, Bill Yoast, a kind man, beloved and admired who's relegated to an assistant coach position.

Boone and Yoast accept to work Together, putting their differences aside, while the boys began a long training where they are supposed to learn to respect and tolerate each other to form a united team.

In that process, they also learn that your skin color doesn't matter. And once that barrier is broken, friendship blooms between the boys.

But one thing is to survive camp and the other to confront a community full of prejudice. The Titans are soon forced to face their own realities, social violence, racism, corruption, infuriated parents, friends and personal threats.

Remember the Titans shows you can make a sentimental drama that's effective and not manipulative. Although it harbors one or two clichés, the triumph of this film lies in the honesty and strength played by their characters and the screenwriter's clarity to not sweeten or soften the reality these characters lived.

Denzel Washington delivers a stellar performance as the tough Boon. His demands are sometimes harsh and mean, but he's an honorable man, a winner.

In Will Patton, who gives life to Hill Yoast, Washington finds a perfect complement. As Boone, Yoast is a remarkable man, decent and with a great passion for football and his boys.

The big surprises are the Titans themselves, a group of characters described in sufficient detail to interest us in their lives, relationships and future. They deliver the best as the kids that learn the true value of friendship, the respect of your equals and the satisfaction to be part of a team.

A Dream team in this case. Winners in the playfield and in life, let's remember always the Titans.