Carly Schroeder. I consider Lizzie McGuire to have some retrograde aspects, grit stemming from the blatant vengeance culture approach of Lizzie's family. It was a step towards me considering modern Disney to be highly suspicious, but a few years on and I have to find Disney's Lizzie McGuire, also Nickelodeon's Zoey 101, still to be head and shoulders better than most other television series for kids that I have on DVD. Carly occasionally appearing as 'Melanoma', a memorable and very beautiful but scary friend of Lizzie's scary little brother.The past two years I have looked to see if Carly had anything else out on disk. I found Firewall, which did not appeal to me. Now I have obtained this.This story shows that she can handle a very different role to Melina. Not that all who have commented on this would agree. In this her beauty is usually tamed down but she is trying to head in directions that often feel to be sensible. The people around her have different understandings of sensible. For me, this is the power of the story.There is a lot of grit in this story as well. It is based on the 1970's and the males remind me of the males in such as Detroit Rock City, alien and really vomit level aggressive cavemen. The football field is not understood as a place with rules of good conduct, it is more a battlefield where the opposition are tough and players are tough even to players on their own team who they do not consider to rate good conduct. They are supposed to be tough, skilled but tough. This would never be a Dr Spock understanding of manly male? This is nothing like the bits of football or UK rugby league that I used to occasionally go to in the 1960's.It reminds me of the world of battling 'heroes' that I occasionally noticed in sports posters, local UK in the 1990's. An alien world. In the UK 1970's I did not notice the violence in people, it was there but more a hidden thing, silent and deadly.In this, lead character Gracie is damaged by the violence, it knocks her down for more than half a year. She shows herself as having what it takes to gradually become a survivor. For me that is not the important part of the story, what counts more as this being a story that I can find okay on a second or third viewing. It is an okay way to pass the time.Add the soundtrack including the sort of 1970's related music that I can rate as hot.The bird is an American Kestral, aka American Sparrowhawk. A young male, not European but very common in the USA. The commentaries add detail. These are more real than one's average commentary.

This is my favorite soccer movie I have ever watched. I always enjoy to watch soccer movies from Ladybugs to Bend it like Beckham. I didn't find Bend it like Beckham to be all that great of a movie. Gracie is more about soccer. And I don't have to explain that. From the many reviews that talk about it, they are all right. Its about the loss this family had to deal with. And its about the hardship Gracie faced trying to join a boys soccer team in a time when that wasn't accepted. As for someone's comment saying that Guggenheim failed to make an emotional connection with the audience, apparently that person must have no heart if they didn't feel a connection! I was one of many who were an "audience" to this movie and I can speak for myself when I say that I was connected emotionally to this movie and to the character, to all of the characters. There is so much more to sports than winning and losing. There's the heart and soul that many of the athletes put into the game and I think Gracie is a great example of someone who didn't give up and succeeded in their goal.

Judging by the trailers you know this movie is going to be a tearjerker. It did not let down. They did not though dwell on certain subjects forever meaning the story progressed and in doing so kept you locked and wanting to see the rest of it. I was really impressed and shocked to find out the family aspect behind the creating of this movie. The story was just brilliant and I've watched Carly Schroeder grow up on T.V. in Lizzie McGuire. Mean Creek is a movie that showed she can do dramatic and can do something different then Teen Television and this movie sealed the deal. Dermot Mulroney as the father was by far one of the best castings in this film. You saw his give and take and his struggle to either help or be against the obstacles in front of him. Elizabeth Shu can do no wrong. This was a the perfect role and she did not over play it. She really did have the believability of a concerned mother in the 70's. Weighing everything around her. The siblings especially Johnny were casted great as well as Kyle and Peter. They gave such a believability to their roles that you loved and hated them at the right times and you really struggle for Gracie in the since where putting yourself in her shoes and saying well I would have done this but your not Gracie and you have to stick with her and watch her triumph. I recommend this to Anyone and Everyone especially families or just mom's and daughters to watch and enjoy!~!

Gracie is a great, family film. Gracie is played beautifully by Carly Shroeder as a girl surround by three soccer-playing brothers, Johnny, Mike, and Dan. The film opens as her brother has her kick a soccer ball barefoot to hit an empty bottle on top of the car. This film is set in South Orange, New Jersey in 1978 and is inspired by the events of the Shue family. Elisabeth Shue plays the mom and school nurse at Columbia High School in South Orange which does exist and whose alumni includes the Shues and Zach Braff. South Orange is also an upscale suburb of New York City and Newark, New Jersey. At the time of the movie set in 1978, an average dual income working class couple with four children could live comfortably there. South Orange has become an upscale white collar community ever since 1978 to feature celebrity residents like Kelly Bishop and Andre Braugher. Also, South Orange is home to Seton Hall University. The film was filmed on location around New Jersey including Maplewood where we see Gracie running on a downtown street. It was a family affair in the filming process including Elisabeth Shue not only as an actress but as an executive producer along with her husband and director, Davis Guggenheim. Her brother Andrew Shue plays an assistant soccer coach and history teacher. In real life, Andrew played soccer too. Dermot Mulroney is terrific as the father, coach, and moving man in his profession. At first, the family has a star, Johnny Bowen, but tragedy strikes the family. We see Gracie rebelling against her parents who are already heartbroken with despair over their loss as well. The two younger brothers seem unaffected at least in the movie. Gracie has one best female friend who is afraid of being labeled a lesbian because of her association with Grace. She decides one night to take her brother's spot on the team much to her father's laugh. She is serious but rather than prepare and strive. She rebels, dates a boy, fails history, and plays hooky at Asbury Park with a college boy. Until her father decides that he will coach her to get on the team, there are difficulties since she is a girl but she is determined and the film is not entirely predictable. It is a family oriented. It's just in time for Father's Day! The film is somewhat believable and realistic at times. They do their best to maintain the authenticity of the time and playing Bruce Springsteen songs as well. I admire the Shues for their determination in making the film entirely on location in New Jersey keeping with their roots. Stay until the end of the credits, you will be interested to see what it has to say. I like this film overall and it's message is that a girl can do it too.