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MOVIES / ON DVD / HOOP DREAMS
Hoop Dreams

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Hoop Dreams (1994)

98%
100%
92%
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98 %
Reviews Counted: 42 Fresh: 41  Rotten:1 Average Rating: 8.5/10
 
Consensus: One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all time, Hoop Dreams is a rich, complex, heartbreaking, and ultimately deeply rewarding film that uses high school hoops as a jumping-off point to explore issues of race, class, and education in modern America.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 2 hrs 56 mins

Synopsis: One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all-time, HOOP DREAMS has become a model for how to construct a fact-based film, creating intimate and emotionally resonant portraits of its subjects while exploring the larger social issues that those subjects are negotiating with.... One of the most critically acclaimed documentaries of all-time, HOOP DREAMS has become a model for how to construct a fact-based film, creating intimate and emotionally resonant portraits of its subjects while exploring the larger social issues that those subjects are negotiating with. The film focuses on William Gates and Arthur Agee, two teenagers from inner-city Chicago, and follows them for almost five years, the period where both enter and complete their high school careers. Both young men are talented basketball players, and as the title suggests, have their eyes on the college game and eventually the NBA as their best shot at escaping the poverty they grew up in. But as William and Arthur reach for their goal, they must contend with the pressing issues and difficulties of social class and racism, as well as the predatory practices of the basketball recruiters who entice the pair to attend their schools. In this way, HOOP DREAMS chronicles much more than just the individual experiences of two young men. It examines the larger problems that beset inner-city African-American families and how they cope with those difficulties through family support and friendship, as well as presenting a picture of the increasingly ruthless, big-business tactics of college and even high school sports. It remains a seminal documentary film, both affecting and thought provoking in its story of lives and dreams entangled by forces beyond their control. [More]

Genre: Sports/Recreation

Director: Steve James

DVD Info

Release:

Oct 5, 2005

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame - 1.33

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital Stereo Surround - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Commentary - 1. Arthur Agee - Actor/William Gates - Actor
  • 2. Steve James - Director/Peter Gilbert - Filmmaker/Steve James - Filmmaker/Frederick Marx - Filmmaker
  • Music Video - 1. Original Music Video
  • Trailer - 1. Theatrical Trailers

Text/Photo Galleries:

  • Essay - 1. John Edgar Wideman - Cultural Historian
  • 2. Alexander Wolff - Sports Illustrated Senior writer
  • 3. Michael Wise - WASHINGTON POST ARTICLE: LOOKING BACK AT BROKEN DREAMS.

Additional Products:

  • Booklet

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
N/A

The result not only follows the lives of the boys as they mature into men, suffering success and disaster along the way, but also provides a picture of tough inner-city life shorn of glamour or unnecessary melodrama.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/24/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
4/5

This is the best type of documentary, giving an intensely personal story you can’t help but become involved in, and also raises fundamental issues about America in the 90s.

Full Review | comment Comment
12/30/06
Kim Newman
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

Unforgettable.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/24/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review | comment Comment
03/31/08
David Ansen
Newsweek
Ratings Image
5/5

Ao acompanharem seis anos das vidas de sua dupla de protagonistas, James e sua equipe criaram um filme revelador, complexo e, acima de tudo, profundamente tocante.

comment Comment
02/09/08
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/13/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
Ratings Image
5/5

It's the closest movie equivalent to the great American novel I've seen in years.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/24/07
Rob Gonsalves
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image
N/A

A heady dose of the American dream and the American nightmare combined -- a numbing investigation of how one point on an exam or one basket or turnover in a game can make all the difference in a family's fortunes.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader
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N/A

A prodigious achievement that conveys the fabric of modern American life, aspirations and incidentally, sports, in close-up and at length, Hoop Dreams is a documentary slam dunk.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/07
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
5/5

Boasting an epic scale, and a running time to match, this seminal docu, an absorbing anatomy of the American Dream in Chicago's inner-city, has more passion, compassion and suspense than most Hollywood fictional stories.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/24/06
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
5/5

Stunning documentary which should have won an Oscar.

comment Comment
04/13/06
Steve Crum
Video-Reviewmaster.com
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
09/27/05
Chuck O'Leary
Fantastica Daily
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/19/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
N/A

An ironic drama so beautifully sculpted it could be transposed without alteration into a fictional film.

Full Review | comment Comment
06/08/05
Douglas Pratt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
Ratings Image
N/A

This extraordinary movie shattered the illusion, once and for all, that factual films can't be as entertaining as fictional ones.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/26/05
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/15/04
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/04/04
Sarah Chauncey
Reel.com
Ratings Image
2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
02/22/04
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Ratings Image
5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/10/03
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
Ratings Image
4/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/01/03
Brian Gibson
Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Canada)
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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