My All American (2015)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Strong and Moving!

Best movie ever!

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

'My All American (Courage)' brings nothing more to the table than an article you can read online. The screenplay constantly stays safe and the writing never takes a chance to create more depth to portray Freddie Steinmark in a realistic way. This is a glossed over family film, with the strong hint of bland Christian morals. There is no room for character building and change, as everyone remains flat and stale.Any attempt of trying to add a backstory away from his football career is quickly drowned out by, well, more football. Every conversation, whether its with his family, girlfriend, or friends, is quickly shifted to football, which portrays Freddie as a robot bowing down to the game; nothing more is on his mind. His early life struggles are quickly resolved and move on to the next football task; nothing more.Sure, we can understand that he loved football, but Angelo Pizzo does not show the effort in film-making as the real Freddie Steinmark showed for the game. Pizzo's script and direction can be equally fulfilled by reading only a single article, or skimming the SparkNotes from 'Courage Beyond the Game: The Freddie Steinmark Story' written by, Jim Dent. What we are watching in this film is the first adaptation of a screenplay, as Pizzo forgot that screen writing takes a few more drafts.

This film, in my eyes, was the perfect mix of beautiful story telling and action which allows the story to progress whilst keeping the film enjoyable for the whole 2hrs. I would say though that if you don't like sport the first half of the film may be difficult viewing but I do not play American football and was still able to appreciate action. As for the story, it did not disappoint and for me the conclusion was very satisfying. All in all, I was laughing at start and by the end I was in tears, the perfect rolercoaster for an amazing film experienceAlso, very inspirational true story, I can't believe what the guy went through.

Although he only lived for 22 years on planet earth Freddie Joe Steinmark touched a whole lot of lives and still does today in the great state of Texas. He's their version of the Gipper for those University of Texas Longhorns.The film is done in flashback with Freddie's Knute Rockne, UT's coach Darrell Royal played here by Aaron Eckhart. Freddie Joe Steinmark did not make All American, but in Royal's mind he's his once and forever My All American.Finn Wittrock plays Freddie with a minimum of sentimentality who led that Texas team to its first national championship in a generation and then it's discovered he has one bad almost always terminal version of bone cancer. Both Wittrock and Eckhart are supported by an impeccably cast group of supporting players.To this day in Texas the Longhorns win for Freddie the way Knute Rockne had them win one for George Gipp. The film is also a winner.

I'm not sure about a spoiler warning for this one...it's akin to reviewing Titanic and letting it slip that the boat sinks.In the end Freddy dies, there's no sugar coating that. I was in high school at the time. I have a vivid memory of him on crutches at the '70 Cotton Bowl. A heartbreaking and inspiring story, which the movie fails to capture.When I heard they were filming in San Antonio, I took time off work to go be some small part of the story that touched me as a 15 year old HS football player. We sat in 100 degree heat in jackets and sweaters, crew went over our dress with a fine tooth comb, looking for authenticity. No watches, or shoes or hats that were not time period correct.Then I see the movie (along with 7 other people for a 7:45pm start) and the CGI of the stadiums is horrid. You'll see better in Saturday morning kids cartoons. Yes, I saw that picture in DKR's office with the west side upper deck in it, how'd ya miss that? Here's another news flash, DKR was not blonde...ya couldn't afford a bottle of black hair dye? The make-up for "old" Darrell was horrific, perhaps the worst effort at aging a character I've ever seen, and I'm OLD.The face-masks were all wrong...ALL wrong. How can you spend hours looking for Nikes and not 5 minutes on something as obvious as a face-mask? So much, so wrong, but rest assured, when that camera pans a stadium full of extras, not one of us was wearing a digital watch or a pair of Reeboks.The script was disappointingly cheesy. The dialogue was campy and stifled. I was afraid of this knowing the writer's previous work on Rudy and Hoosiers, 2 horrid and over-rated little films.On the other side...the cast was pretty good, Finn & Sarah especially, even tho this pivotal relationship, despite extensive screen time together, seemed superficial and under developed.In the end, I cried, not because of Freddy's plight, but that such a poignant and inspiring story had been so poorly done.