Forever Strong (2009/Picture Rock/Excel/Crane DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: C+ Extras: C- Feature: C-
The
latest entry in the tired, annoying, pretentious “if you play sports (rugby
here) and conform, you won’t be useless” cycle, Ryan Little’s Forever Strong (2009) follows the cycle
by daring to tell us that what we are about to see is based on “actual events”
when all is about as believable as a bad TV movie. This time, drunk driving lands a young man
named Rick (Sean Faris, seeming too old for this role like most of the cast
here) in juvenile detention, he is suddenly a “brat” who “does not want to do
anything” and “needs to grow up” though the script is the real brat here.
Then
there is this new aspect of the cycle where only minority characters can see
“the truth” in what has become a strange politically correctness issue that
amounts to a kind of reverse racism and does no viewer any good. It is also an appeal to pity con artist ploy
to push the conformity the film wants to push in the first place that plays
like a form of White Nationalism despite the minority cast. Idiotic films like Dangerous Minds helped to bring this about.
Sean
Astin is cast as the counselor here to complete the con job. Yea, get the nice guy from Rudy and the Lord Of the Rings films to complete the brainwashing and you get a
cunning piece of junk that wastes some good actors and our time. Nothing like a feel good film really making
you feel bad, stupid, inadequate and like a moron, but that is what the cunning
mess with its “Heartland Truly Moving
Pictures Award” does. Think of that
as a well-decorated Razzie and warning there is a group out there that thinks
your brain is mush!
The
anamorphically enhanced 2.35 X 1 has its share of motion blur and issues, but
color and some more consistent elements make it the default highlight of this
venture, while the Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is just fine for a low budget
production, but don’t expect Pro Logic surrounds of any kind. Extras include an audio commentary by Little
and Coach Larry Gelwix whose story this is supposed to be in part… somehow,
outtakes, viral videos, trailers for this and two other DVDs and three making
of featurettes.
- Nicholas Sheffo
