I've made it to Episode 1x07 of the OTH Drama Queens Podcast and here's some major takeaways!
Sophia Bush was apparently so unlike Brooke Davis she was actually uncomfortable with how sexualized she was:
The Drama Queens are HUGE Barbara Alyn Woods fangirls 😂
They also really love Lee Norris (Mouth), Bretty Claywell (Tim) and Antwon Tanner (Skills)!
And my BIGGEST shocker! Bethany Joy Lenz was SO FAR from being Haley in school; she was a B/C student AT BEST and it was SOPHIA who was the nerd!
Also she was a camp counselor 🤣
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Coach Carter (2005)
There are only so many ways a film about a basketball team can go. What really matters isn’t the plot but the characters who populate it. Thankfully, Coach Carter has a strong pillar at its centre. With a compelling sports story and a couple of decent side characters to add some spice, it’s a basketball movie worth seeing.
Based on a true story, Ken Carter (Samuel L. Jackson) takes a coaching job at Richmond high school. The players are rude, disrespectful and in need of discipline so he hands them contracts they must sign and agree to in order to play. The players, which include Kenyon (Rob Brown), the coach’s son Damien (Robert Ri’chard), Timo (Rick Gonzalez), Jason (Channing Tatum), and “Worm” (Antwon Tanner), must attend all their classes and sit in the front row, wear suits and ties to all games, clean up their dialogue and maintain a 2.3 grade point average. When Carter begins enforcing his rules, he rubs many people the wrong way.
Samuel L. Jackson is at his best when he’s screaming at people or bossing them around, and that’s what he does here. He rules the basketball court with an iron fist, tossing punishment to anyone who mouths off without mercy. Coach Carter is fun to watch because of him. It’s also enjoyable because you can see the logic in his method. Ken Carter has the best intentions in mind and no one else seems to believe in these players. When they do, it’s only because of their basketball abilities. Things don’t always go well with his team but it just makes you more eager to see him double-down on his efforts. You don’t want him to change or grow. You want him to inspire the others and when he does, you feel great.
The players he’s coaching also help make the film enjoyable. They’ve got their own little dramatic stories, the best of which is Kenyon's. Until recently, he didn’t think his future would amount to much. He’s got a baby on the way with his girlfriend, Kyra (Ashanti). Now that going to college might actually be a possibility, he’s caught between the plans that were thrust upon him by circumstances, and the one he wants to craft for himself. There’s a compelling story there. The other players and their stories accentuate how important it is for them to get out of the rut they’ve allowed themselves to fall into. At least, most of them do. Carter’s son, Damien, for example has few scenes. You’d think with the controversy his father faces when he stands his ground about demanding his players keep up their grade or skip games, he’d have something to say.
At points, Coach Carter milks its drama a little much. Every teacher at Richmond high school is depicted as lazy and without any hope for their students, whatsoever. Director Thomas Carter tries so hard to make us outraged you smell the phoniness and it prevents the film from being all that it could be.
Whether the story of Ken Carter followed the events depicted in this film or not, this is a formulaic picture. You won’t mind too much, as the central performance by Sam Jackson and his character gives you something to root for, look forward to, and look up to as well. (April 18, 2019)
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