"Hoop Dreams" follows two Chicago teens, Arthur Agee and William Gates, for 5 years. Both hope to eventually make it to the NBA to play basketball but their more immediate goals are to receive scholarships to top basketball colleges.In the history of documentaries, "Hoop Dreams" is super-important and it helped usher in a newer style and scope of documentaries (such as the many excellent films by ESPN). I do appreciate that. However, after I watched it, I found myself underwhelmed. After all, the film has a current score of 8.3--and that is incredibly high. So, I think I found my expectations were just too high. Additionally, and I know this will perhaps sound mean, but I really didn't find myself that connected with the characters. I was hoping they'd get to live their dreams...but why should I pull for them as opposed to any other young wannabes?

I have seen a few of the documentary films featured in the book of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, some are standard subjects, some are controversial, and some are unusual, but of course all are interesting for their own reasons, I was hoping this one would be another good one. Basically this film follows two African American teenagers, William Gates and Arthur Agee, both from inner-city Chicago, who dream of becoming superstar basketball players for the NBA (National Basketball Association). The film starts from their early beginnings in St. Joseph High School in Westchester, Illinois, and sees them grow and progress through the following five years, including starting and graduating college, and maturing into men. William and Arthur were both recruited into the same school that Isiah Thomas came from, and put into a team where white and black people mix, which then was not usual, we see their workouts, practises and struggles through learning all about the game, and obviously their skills come into play and they do rise to become noticed. By the end of the film one of the young men grows into the star he dreamt of becoming, while the other keeps trying, but they stay true to each other and support one another through whatever happens, and their families, friends and closest supporters are with them all the way as well. With narration by Steve James, and also starring Emma Gates - William's Mother, Curtis Gates - William's Brother, Sheila Agee - Arthur's Mother, Arthur 'Bo' Agee - Arthur's Father, Earl Smith - Talent Scout, Gene Pingatore - High School Basketball Coach, Sister Marlyn Hopewell - High School Guidance Counselor, Bill Gleason - Television Reporter, Patricia Weir - President: Encyclopedia Brittanica, Marjorie Heard - High School Guidance Counselor, Luther Bedford - High School Basketball Coach, Aretha Mitchell - High School Guidance Counselor, Shannon Johnson - Arthur's Friend, Tomika Agee - Arthur's Sister, Joe 'Sweetie' Agee - Arthur's Brother, Jazz Agee - Tomika's Daughter and Arthur's Niece, Catherine Mines - William's Girlfriend, Alicia Mines - William's Daughter, Alvin Bibbs - William's Brother-in-Law, Willie Gates - Himself - William's Father and film director Spike Lee. I will be honest that I faded in and out of the story because I did think the three hour length was a bit too much, obviously the five year span of filming makes sense for this length, however I did pay attention to the actual basketball stuff, and the two true life characters are likable, so it is I suppose a worthwhile sports documentary. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Film Editing. It was number 11 on The 50 Greatest Documentaries. Good!

I remember when this movie came out in 1994. I saw it, but being 16 and living an affluent small town existence I couldn't relate at all to a 3 hr documentary like this.Fast forward 15 years and as adult that lives in Chicago(setting of film) and having seen and experienced many more of the ups and downs of life, I really liked this film when I saw it again.I found this film extremely moving. The struggles of the main characters and their families really made an impact on me. The 3 hrs passed quickly and I must say that the film really stuck in my mind. It made me think critically about sports and our society in general in this day and age. To me, that indicates it was a great film!

Engrossing documentary about two inner city kids and their struggles to make it into professional basketball."Hoop Dreams" made a big splash when it was released in 1994, and there was a big controversy around Academy Award time when it was deemed ineligible in the Best Documentary category. It likely would have won had it been nominated, and it ranks right up there among some of the best documentaries of all time. This is mostly due to how engrossing the storytelling is. You forget you're not watching a fictional film, which just supports the claim that truth can be more compelling than fiction.You don't have to be a fan of basketball to enjoy this movie.Grade: A