Nothing wrong with that...

The DVD has a '95 video segment of Roger Ebert blasting the Academy members of the documentary branch for voting for a film made by one of its ex-members instead of Hoop Dreams. That film was, some of you may recall, Freida Lee Mock's Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, which went on to win the Oscar that year. It should be noted that, however, Ebert was later so impressed with Mock's film that, in a classy gesture, he issued an apology to Mock on his TV show.

Can anyone please tell me if this disc is actually single layer or not? It is listed as so here.

I should hope so. 3 hours plus...it would look pretty shabby as a single-layer.

This release seemed pretty stacked with extras to me (especially for the lower price). Only a few months ago a single commentary would automatically mean a $39.95 price tag.

Presumably the follow-up film you're missing will fit in better with (or be superseded by) the feature-length follow-up Criterion are planning.

Hoop Dreams was among the 25 inductees into the National Film Registry this year. Of course, so was The Rocky Horror Picture Show, but I digress.

I just saw this film tonight for the first time and I must say I was deeply moved and impressed. I'm also struck that Roger Ebert didn't participate in a commentary, considering his strong appreciation for the film after all the years since its premiere. Having all the Siskel & Ebert bits were fine, but this man does wonderful commentary, and I see it as a sore spot that he wasn't involved, especially when he's participated in other Criterion commentaries in the past. I'm also disappointed in not seeing any video of the two gentlemen in the present day, or their families. You would think that would be a given, too. It's also very sad news that Curtis and Arthur's father have since passed away due to terrible circumstances.

I think for any struggling artist, athlete or any other hopeful type dreaming of the big time, this film paints a stark, stunning and quite sobering portrait. All the useful things like having a back-up, maintaining good grades, consistently hang in the wings between games. It's very fortunate that they both were able to make it onto college with full scholarships. I'm glad. I have yet to hear the two players together on the commentary, but I look forward to it.

In addition, I'm surprised that dvdbeaver claims the image quality is 'not very', since I was blown away by the look of it. Perhaps that's due to two reasons: First, I'm viewing it through component, whereas beaver's screencaps look like s-video. Second, in the Siskel & Ebert show, the video clips presented of the film look absolutely horrendous, as if the filmmakers shot it all on vhs and had it taken down a few generations. The way Criterion presents it, however, the video quality looks like beta, though I don't know for sure. It really is wonderful considering how old some of the footage is. In fact, only rarely was I reminded of a video-type look...

Anyway, aside from the slim bonus extras, I was completely blown away by this film. Its impact is thunderous, and I only wonder how long it will take for the follow-up documentary to be released...

what other Criterion commentaries has Ebert participated in?

Only one, Floating Weeds.
It's easy enough to search for this information. Go to the Criterion website, search for Ebert, including "special features".

It is great to hear the two main subjects of this documentary talk about their impressions of the movie and also their experiences after all these years. They provide real insight into how they viewed the filmmakers intruding on their lives and also speak very candidly and eloquently about their lives and the film. Definitely worth a listen.

This is a wonderful disc, firstly, and a wonderful commentary. I'm generating this from (my unreliable) memory, but Steve James et al were solicited by Criterion to film an update on Agee and Gates, and found that their stories necessitated another film. Being as this - to my knowledge - was initially to be produced by Criterion, I'm not sure what that spells for its distribution...

Is any one else's copy of this non-progressive?

Mine is, and if its a one off, I wonder how much I could get for it on ebay.

A follow-up piece ran on Chicago's PBS affiliate station WTTW/Channel 11 a few years back, I wonder why it wasn't included on Criterion's disc?

I don't actually own the DVD so I'm just speculating, but I know for a fact the movie was shot on Hi-8 video, and thus I think the transfer would have been non-progressive because Hi-8 is interlaced to begin with.

Chicago Tribune catches up with William Gates and Arthur Agee and where they are now.

The sequel Hoop Reality has been put on the schedule for a Blu-ray and SD-DVD release late in September, it looks like it's being released by a different label. I can't find a press release but the listing has shown up on Amazon from "Terra Entertainment". I don't think this is the same film that was hinted at by the NYT article from a few years ago - the creative team behind it seems to be different, though Arther Agee will be in the film.

Hoop Reality? I'd rather see Hoop Nightmares, they can start with Stephon Marbury.

Looking at imdb, this was first released in 2007, in 1 festival? (Hoop Realities) Has ANYONE seen it?

Here's the trailer for Hoop Reality.

Terra Entertainment mostly focus on special interest DVDs and their website appears to be down right now.

Can't find a single review of the DVD of the sequel. Any comments?

Saw this for the first time a couple days ago and was so engrossed by it. Such excellent work, though I know I'm saying nothing new here. Hope to see The Interrupters sometime soon, as well.

FWIW, Steve James is working a new project with Raj Patel (The Value of Nothing, Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System) and they are raising funds for their next film, Generation Food, about "people fixing a broken food system today so that everyone can eat tomorrow."

The commentary track on this is excellent, pretty much a great lecture/class for anyone entering documentary filmmaking, all three creative leads recorded the track together so there's a lot of dialogue going back and forth. Going by memory, but it sounds like they were pretty fresh out of school when Steve first thought of the idea that became Hoop Dreams (it definitely evolved into the film sometime after shooting began). The first year or so was done with no money, so they shot very, very little compared to the last few years. How they got it done - from editorial/creative decisions to technical matters to other practical matters - is covered in thorough detail. I'm inclined to agree with Ebert, it's definitely one of the best films ever made on American life. Frederick Wiseman's Public Housing - which came out around the same time - is an excellent work as well, both are highly recommended to anyone who wants to see what inner city life is actually like.