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LaTaviya meets Bruckheimer
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Review of Glory Road
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By LaTaviya Goldstein-Martinez
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The other night, I went to
a preview screening of the soon-to-be-released Jerry Bruckheimer film Glory Road in DC. Now, some
of you are probably wondering what the hell I was doing at a Bruckheimer screening and I can explain. I got an email from
school about the screening and it said that Jerry Bruckheimer himself would be there along with Josh Lucas, the star of the
film. I simply could not resist meeting the man who Trey Parker branded as a turd in one of the special features on the Team America DVD. I just had to meet him in person.
My mom and I went to the screening
and after a long wait, we were the first of the seat-fillers to be let in. We snagged some seats in the second row of the
theatre surrounded by film society member, people from Disney, and other people in business attire. Finally, DC Mayor Anthony
Williams arrived to introduce the film. I’m not exactly sure when the mayor became a stand up comedian, but he had the
whole place laughing and he was cracking jokes like a regular Jerry Seinfeld. Then he introduced “the man behind such
incredible films as Flashdance, Top Gun,
and Pirates of the Caribbean” Jerry Bruckheimer. I have to admit, I laughed
a little to myself at the notion of Top Gun or Flashdance
as “incredible films” but I tried to keep quiet since Bruckheimer was about two feet away. He took the mike and
told us a little about the film. He said it wasn’t quite finished and they had some music they were going to add in
along with the closing credits. Then after he finished, he introduced Josh Lucas who took the mike and politely said, “I
don’t like to say much before these things. If you have any questions or you want to chat after the film I’ll
be around so come up and you can ask me anything you want.” That was actually quite cool. When I later told my friend
about this, she said, “but Josh Lucas isn’t that big of a star” but I still think it’s very cool that
any celebrity would be really cool and humble like that.
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Pat Sue and Bruckheimer |
The room got completely dark except for the exit signs and then, after what felt like a long time, the screen lit up and the
film started. The film, which needs a new title in my opinion, was about the 1966 Texas Western basketball team, the first
to have an all- black starting line up. It was a bit cliché at times, but it really wasn’t as bad as some of you might
expect. It was just one of those things you need to take at face value. Because it was Disney and PG, it was very family friendly.
In fact, I think they only used the n-word once in the entire thing. That was understandable for the audience it was target
to, but still a bit of an annoyance. Honestly, it’s Texas in 1966, I’m sure there was a lot more violent racism than that! But,
it wasn’t horrible. It was entertaining and Josh Lucas was pretty good in it, not to mention all the players on the
team. All those guys were pretty good too. I was just happy that it was an explosion-less Bruckheimer film. That would reminded
me too much of Team America and I probably wouldn’t have been able to politely
keep it together.
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Pat Sue and Josh Lucas |
After the film, the people poured out of the theatre. Josh Lucas and Bruckheimer were standing in the hall greeting people
and taking pictures. I knew I had to talk to them. My mom and I saw Josh Lucas first and he was very nice. He took a picture
with my mom and joked around a little. Then it was on the Bruckheimer. My mom went over to him and made some comment about
how she used to be married to a college coach and he talked to her for a while before asking her name and then talking some
more. I stood by rolling on the floor laughing, at least in my mind I was, watching the whole thing. Then I snapped a shot
of them and it was back to Metro to go home. What a night!
(c) 2000-2005 Alexis Gentry
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