How do you make a basketball movie in 2020 that doesn’t get quickly compared to Hoosiers, Coach Carter, Glory Road, and Hurricane Season, not to mention the many other films about a sports team facing adversity? Sometimes, when you see the trailers for the first time of a movie like Gavin O’Connor’s (The Accountant, Warrior), The Way Back, you kind of groan, thinking, “Here we go again. How are we supposed to get something different from this movie?” But he was unequivocally able to do that. Admittedly, this movie could have been better in its script and sequencing. Still, its parts made up for its occasional lack of cohesion and left you feeling hopeful in a movie you expected to find hope, albeit in a much different way.
Category Archives: Gavin O’Connor
The Accountant (2016)
Gavin O’Connor’s (Pride and Glory, Miracle) The Accountant is a movie that resonated with audiences ($86 million at the box office, 78% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes) but nearly as much with critics (a score of just 51% on Rotten Tomatoes). I saw the movie on its opening weekend because I thought the trailer looked fantastic. I’ve been a big fan of just about everything Ben Affleck (Argo, Gone Girl) touches in front and behind the camera since 2007’s Gone Baby Gone, a film that led to his reemergence as a Hollywood A-lister. The Accountant looked like it would be the type of movie I enjoy. I love a gritty drama/thriller that is dark, mysterious, and violent.
Warrior (2011)
When I first saw the extended trailer for Warrior, the first Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) movie made into a drama, I thought for the first 30 seconds how stupid the movie WAS going to be. As the trailer progressed, the film began looking more and more interesting. As the trailer ended, I kept waiting to see the “Based on a true story” line because if this wasn’t based on a true story, it looked like a more intense MMA version of Rocky. The trailer gives the entire story away. Two brothers who have grown distant end up facing each other in the championship fight of an MMA tournament. If there had ever been a more predictable trailer, I would be interested to know what that is. Then when I saw that the biggest name in the movie was Tom Hardy (The Drop, The Dark Knight Rises), I was 100% convinced that the film would be terrible and flop in the theater. I was wrong on all accounts.
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