Hoop Dreams: Criterion Collection

Before LeBron's Lil' Thirst became the preeminent cautionary tale on what happens when youth and pro basketball collide, Hoop Dreams tracked the fates of two Chicago teens touted as NBA-quality prospects. From high school freshman to college freshman, Arthur Agee and William Gates battle success, tragedy, and clingy agents in this Criterion Collection DVD that rejoins the two for an update. Honest commentary with Agee and Gates, neither of whom sound bitter, offers more perspective into what it feels like to be pushed and prodded from such a young age. Then there's a filmmakers' commentary track that discusses the difficulty of following two impoverished young men, and their respective families, as their hopes came crashing down around them. There's also a retrospective of Siskel and Ebert clips—this is before Ebert's thumb was surgically restructured to point skyward for every new release—that compile observations from their initial glowing reviews to their naming it the best film of the nineties.