ajzepp Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I saw this one listed on the Amazon Roku channel, so I looked it up on RT and saw that it had a surprisingly high rating. I'm always a sucker for a lower budget sports flick, and I thought the supporting cast (Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel) was strong. I had a lot of fun with it, and I think with all the hockey fans on TBD it makes for a good suggestion. If you check it out, post your thoughts below! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhg Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Been wanting to check it out too. Friend of mine saw it and he thought it was funny. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erynthered Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I saw this one listed on the Amazon Roku channel, so I looked it up on RT and saw that it had a surprisingly high rating. I'm always a sucker for a lower budget sports flick, and I thought the supporting cast (Liev Schreiber, Jay Baruchel) was strong. I had a lot of fun with it, and I think with all the hockey fans on TBD it makes for a good suggestion. If you check it out, post your thoughts below! I just watched the trailer. Looks freaking great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWYhkViWj98 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 Been wanting to check it out too. Friend of mine saw it and he thought it was funny. It definitely had some funny parts...and I give Sean William Scott credit, cause he didn't overact like he typically does. He was directed well and I thought he did a great job in the role. I don't think this will take it's place among the venerable classic sports films that we often talk about and quote around these parts, but it's worth a viewing for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SageAgainstTheMachine Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Pretty good effort in my opinion. I'm nervously anticipating Kevin Smith's 'Hit Somebody' in 2013, which is based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodBye Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 It's interesting to see the difference between the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix for this movie. Netflix viewers only gave it 3/5 stars yet RT gave it 81% positive. When I see a 3/5 stars on Netflix, I figure the movies is so-so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Pretty good effort in my opinion. I'm nervously anticipating Kevin Smith's 'Hit Somebody' in 2013, which is based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name. He is a huge fan and travels all over playing in Ball Hockey tournaments. I have heard stories from a few people who said they met him while he was heading to some tournaments in Ontario Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 I just watched the trailer. Looks freaking great!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! youtube.com/watch?v=WWYhkViWj98 I loved that it's based on a true story. Supposedly Doug Smith himself signed off on the finished product, so I can only assume that much of the events - even if they are sort of embellished for the sake of the movie (assuming, anyway) - are probably true. BTW, if you guys check it out, watch through the credits for some archival footage of Doug Smith's playing days. Pretty good effort in my opinion. I'm nervously anticipating Kevin Smith's 'Hit Somebody' in 2013, which is based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name. Thanks for putting that one on my radar...I'm a big fan of Kevin Smith, so I expect it'll be an entertaining flick It's interesting to see the difference between the ratings on Rotten Tomatoes and Netflix for this movie. Netflix viewers only gave it 3/5 stars yet RT gave it 81% positive. When I see a 3/5 stars on Netflix, I figure the movies is so-so. "Average of 1,367 Ratings: 3.9" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 I have to be the turd in the punch bowl here. I also thought the trailers looked great, and I play so I was eager to like Goon. Couldn't be more disappointed. The writing is just awful. Characters and plot threads are introduced and you never see or hear from them again. Painfully bad, and I really wanted to like it. But I will say it has some funny moments, like the two Russian players messing with the goalie's mask. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoodBye Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 "Average of 1,367 Ratings: 3.9" Ah, I was looking at what they thought I'd rate it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted April 12, 2012 Author Share Posted April 12, 2012 I have to be the turd in the punch bowl here. I also thought the trailers looked great, and I play so I was eager to like Goon. Couldn't be more disappointed. The writing is just awful. Characters and plot threads are introduced and you never see or hear from them again. Painfully bad, and I really wanted to like it. But I will say it has some funny moments, like the two Russian players messing with the goalie's mask. PTR The Russians were great. Can you put in spoiler tags some more details about which plot points you're referring to that didn't get developed? I'm trying to think back and figure out what you're referring to (?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HopsGuy Posted April 12, 2012 Share Posted April 12, 2012 Pretty good effort in my opinion. I'm nervously anticipating Kevin Smith's 'Hit Somebody' in 2013, which is based on the Warren Zevon song of the same name. When I saw the trailer for this movie last year, I thought, "Oh, this is the Kevin Smith movie. They changed the name on him again. ('Cop Out' was supposed to be called 'A Couple of Dicks.')" But it's a different film entirely. It appears to be basically the same premise, though. Didn't Mitch Albom co-write the song "Hit Somebody"? It seems as though he was involved tangentially. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spun Posted April 19, 2012 Share Posted April 19, 2012 Goon was unsurprisingly very violent and at times uncomfortably so. In light of current times, the comedy struggles not to be a tragedy. In many films, we have to take a leap of faith and just go with the story. The concept of a guy barely able to skate, suddenly thrust into a sport in which most of the guys he was sharing the ice with had been skating since chidhood, was hard to buy. I once played on a team in which two of the guys could barely skate. They were football players but their hockey skills were so bad that they couldn't skate close enough to the competition to even instigate a fight. Goon can't be taken too seriously or the viewer won't like the film. The film did capture the feeling of hockey players on the edge of the sport with few prospects for the future. Minor league baseball has similar stories in that there are broken marriages, kids in limbo and no backup plan for the future. As for "goons", their role has become diminished and their days after the sport are typically a big unknown. I thought the camera work was well down on and off ice. The establishing shots in the various Canadian cities were effective. I did notice that one of the players had the name Ennis on the back of his jersey! I wonder why Ennis? I thought the music had an interesting range including classical, country, tick and rap (en francais!). I do wonder who the rappers en francais were. See the film if you are a hockey fan. Don't expect a bookend to Slapshot and just roll with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajzepp Posted April 19, 2012 Author Share Posted April 19, 2012 In many films, we have to take a leap of faith and just go with the story. The concept of a guy barely able to skate, suddenly thrust into a sport in which most of the guys he was sharing the ice with had been skating since chidhood, was hard to buy. It's based on a true story...Doug Smith didn't touch a pair of skates until he was 19 y.o. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spun Posted April 23, 2012 Share Posted April 23, 2012 It's based on a true story...Doug Smith didn't touch a pair of skates until he was 19 y.o. I knew the part about this being based on a true story. I just assumed the skating was a stretch. Sometimes, weird stuff happens in minor league hockey. Novelties such as giveaways (and fighting) can pack in the crowds. It amazes me that they would add this guy to the roster! I have met some guys who played a spell in the AHL. You have to be a fairly good player to play in the AHL. I checked out Smith's stats on hockeydb.com. 37 games played, 0 goals and 1 assist. And in season one of his career 28 games with 179 penalty minutes! In this video, Smith's friend talks about Smith's time as a goon being a time when Smith was "searching for things in his life". That experience is true for a lot of guys playing minor league hockey especially when considering the low pay and the subsistence lifestyle. Some people look at the players and ask "why bother". Years later, they look at these same guys and say "he played in the AHL". I have to check out the book! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9B8cTdLJizM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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