Reptileenbu Did you people see the same film I saw?

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

Baseshment I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Uriah43 After spending 17 years in prison "Eugene Brown" (Cuba Gooding Jr.) goes back to his home in Washington D.C. and tries to make an impact in the lives of young men and women who are forced to grow up under the same conditions as himself. Since he is an ex-convict he doesn't have many choices and so he decides to use chess as the means to get his message across as all too often the high school students react rather than think ahead or plan. One particularly bright student named "Tahime" (Malcolm M. Mays) becomes the focal point of Eugene's efforts as Tahime is at a definite crossroads in life due to a hopeless family situation, peer pressure and the lack of any substantive alternatives available to so many in the inner city. Now rather than reveal any more of this movie and risk spoiling it for those who haven't seen it I will just say that the director (Jake Goldberger) did a reasonable job in staying focused and presented the plight of young African-Americans trapped in poverty and despair with few recourses other than a life of crime and subsequent imprisonment. Although the performances of both Cuba Gooding Jr. and Malcolm M. Mays stood out I have to say that there were other unknown actors who performed quite solidly as well. In short, this was a pretty good movie and I rate it as above average.

TxMike We were able to view this movie on Netflix streaming movies. It is based on the real life of a man who spent 17 years in prison and came out to help others follow a better path in life. Cuba Gooding Jr. is Eugene. While in prison he learned a bit about chess, enough to know that as a board game it can be a metaphor for life. In chess all the other pieces protect the King, and "Life of a King" can represent what each of us goes through. Jobs are hard to get for convicted felons but he manages to get a job at the neighborhood school in Washington, D.C. as a janitor. On a whim he is asked to watch a group of unruly students in detention after the usual teacher walked out in fear. He got them interested in chess but when it came to light that he had lied on his application, saying he had never been convicted of a felony, he had to be let go.But he found some property in disrepair that he could rent cheaply and formed the neighborhood chess club. It wasn't without significant obstacles and setbacks, but over the years it has been successful in giving disadvantaged students a better chance at life and has turned out a number of chess competition championships.Good movie and good job by Gooding, Jr.

Prismark10 Cuba Gooding Jr an Oscar winning actor who now tends to do rather a lot of straight to DVD films which he stars in and some cameos or supporting roles in major films destined for the cinema.This film is obviously a low budget film destined for DVD and pay TV. Gooding now looks like a guy in middle age and in this film he is an ex con with grown up kids, becomes a janitor and teaches chess to a class of kids in detention. Chess equals life lessons and his students are from the wrong side of life.Its a feel good film with a slight hard edge, but you have the usual plot points that these type of films always tend to have. A class of alpha male hoodlums, a bright but reluctant chess player, a tragedy which leads to one character at a crossroads, superior officials placing obstacles as when one of them wins his victory is rescinded leading to a showdown later on.Gooding is more reserved, a man who has added years to his youthful zest and there is no mugging for the camera here and he is the anchor in this low budget but affirming film.

jeremyhanselgonzal I'm all for using movies about chess, or about any other matter, to tell a story with intent.But in real life, in real chess games, unless you have above average or even good understanding of the game, it is boring. So they stepped up the tempo a tad for good storytelling. Although to some real players, they'll immediately spot the inaccuracies.The principal did not demonstrate any knowledge whatsoever about chess. Nothing shown on the movie that is. And yet she had that ominous comment while she was watching the 'bad guy's game that he was "really good". The scene where T just won the last match on his first tournament and what do you know, a second after that the tournament admin shows up and tells him he was disqualified because he didn't have complete credentials. In real life, that guy would be in trouble. From EVERYONE there. Why did they let him finish the tournament and THEN spring the news to him? Might as well say, "Oh, you know what, you're disqualified. But thank you for wasting a lot of time and energy on this tournament. We hope we didn't break your heart and discourage you at all."And that help the chessman was supposed to coach T about? He started out with describing how his opponent would use the queen to hammer him, or some such. In real life, that is JUST NOT how you coach chess if you have decent enough skills to actually coach it. At least it should have been something vague, like how the guy would like to play a closed game. Preferred openings. Something like that. Not a specific piece that the opponent likes to use to win games. That's just ridiculous.In other words, they could have paid a little more respect for people who actually like and play the game on a regular basis. You know how some movies make you cringe, not in horror, but because there are just some scenes that are downright terrible? That's because most likely, the scene is an insult to your intelligence. And for chess players, there are scenes like that.Don't get me wrong though. Aside from these inaccuracies, it's a great movie. Worth watching at least once.