Friday Night Lights

[El Duderino]

Release Date
October 15

Director
Peter Berg

Screenwriters
David Aaron Cohen
Peter Berg

Cast
Billy Bob Thornton (Coach Gary Gaines)
Lucas Black (Mike Winchell)
Garrett Hedlund (Don Billingsley)
Jay Hernandez (Brian Chavez)
Lee Thompson Young (Chris Comer)
Derek Luke (Boobie Miles)
Tim McGraw (Charlie Billingsley)

Synopsis
Based on the best-selling book about high school football by H.G. Bissinger, Friday Night Lights chronicles the entire 1988 season of the Permian High Panthers of Odessa, Texas, with football players, coaches, mothers, fathers, pastors, boosters, fans and families struggling with ongoing personal conflicts while the team fights for a state championship.

A town for sale, Odessa, Texas has seen better days—the financial bust evident in its boarded-up shops and broken lives. Yet one hope sustains the community where, once a week during the fall, the town and its dreams come alive beneath the dazzling and disorienting Friday night lights...when the Permian High Panthers take to the field. In a city where economic uncertainty has eroded the spirit of its inhabitants, nearly everyone seeks comfort in the religion of the Friday night ritual, where the unfulfilled dreams of an entire community are shifted onto the shoulder pads of a team of high school athletes.



Trailer Here



this movie reminds me a lot of Varsity Blues, but Billy Bob, i think, makes a  good coach

[NEON MERCURY]

hahahaha!! tim mcgraw..........

he will never upstage billy ray cyrus as gene...

[Sleuth]

I was an extra in this movie and a lot of the times I was bored, so I'd overract a lot just to amuse myself.  I can't decide whether or not I want to end up in the movie doing that

[Pedro]

i love sports movies, and sleuth, so this should be good.

[Pwaybloe]

I've read the non-fiction book, and of course, there's nothing cinematic about it.  It's uh... non-fiction.  

But... so was "The French Connection."  Except names of the officers, the chase sequence,  police murder... y'know... the unimportant stuff.

[Finn]

I thought this well done overall. Really strong performances, great football scenes and some gripping camera work. It's pretty realistic and accurate to the experience.

[metroshane]

I wonder if you have to live in Texas to understand the complexity and level of high school football fandom?  maybe not.  But I remember this team and the finale game (it's broadcast on TV from Texas Stadium).  It was very exciting then and I'd never heard of the two schools.

Can't imagine how this could be anything like varsity blues...but can't wait to see it.

[MacGuffin]

I wonder if you have to live in Texas to understand the complexity and level of high school football fandom?  maybe not.

You don't have to live in Indiana to understand the complexity and level of high school basketball fandom portrayed in "Hoosiers."

[El Duderino]

the movie was pretty good. too many zoom in - zoom out's (remeniscent to 'intermission'). not really any character development, but i liked it overall. i'm reading the book now. i reccomend

[Ghostboy]

I thought this was really good. I don't know anything about sports, so that's how I know when a sports movie is good -- if I get caught up in it, something's working. What really stood out for me here was the direction and editing -- really standout work. Peter Berg will direct a really great film some day (I predict a Michael Mann style career trajectory). I don't know why this particular true story was so great that it had to be told (probably because I know nothing about football and just don't understand), but it made for a really thoughtful and introspective film.

I liked Varsity Blues, if I remember correctly, but this is a gazillion times better.

[bigperm]

I was glad to hear "Explosions in the Sky", great band- their music is completely cinematic and used well in this film.