All movies are free, and, unless otherwise noted, will be screened by video projection.
Ken Carter, a high school basketball coach in working-class Richmond, California, made national headlines in January 1999 when he benched his entire team (then undefeated) in midseason because some players’ grades were too poor. This dramatization of his story consistently takes the high road, stressing education over sports and responsibility over despair, and Samuel L. Jackson is good as the straightforward, maddeningly stubborn coach, who gets more static from the parents than the players. But screenwriters Mark Schwahn and John Gatins continually compromise the story’s real-world bite by recycling scenes and situations from other coach-team weepies (Hoosiers et al) and teacher-student inspirationals (Stand and Deliver et al). This is supposed to be about setting high standards, yet it’s full of fudged ultimatums; in the end I couldn’t be sure whether its morality was complex or just confused. Thomas Carter (Save the Last Dance) directed. PG-13, 137 min. (JJ) Thu 7/14, sunset, Hamilton Park, 513 W. 72nd St., 312-747-6174.
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Shrek 2
Thanks to innumerable childhood viewings, this 1939 film is too firmly planted in my (pre)consciousness for me to find the proper critical distance. In many ways, it’s stiff, ersatz, and anonymous in the usual MGM house style of the 30s (though King Vidor, one of several directors who worked on the project, does manage some graceful camera movement in the Munchkin scenes), but frankly I don’t care. Those talking trees were a staple of my nightmares for years, and Margaret Hamilton is still my prime mental image of absolute evil. I don’t find the film light or joyful in the least–an air of primal menace hangs about it, which may be why I love it. With Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Ray Bolger, and Billie Burke; Victor Fleming took the final directing credit. 101 min. (DK) Thu 7/14, 8:30 PM, Dunham Park, 4638 N. Melvina, 773-685-3257.
