Freedom Writers

Pros: Acting, dialogue, ability to connect with the audience.
Cons: Pacing, sub-plots.

Freedom Writers was an interesting but somewhat sluggish look at High School life in Long Beach, California following the 1994 riots. The determined teacher faced with incorrigible students and misfits has been done a hundred times before. ...

Pros: Swank provides another great performance, impressive true story, intriguing characters
Cons: students appear a little old for their age

Executive Producer and star Hilary Swank bring to the light the true story of the Freedom Writers of Wilson High School with this film. Taking place beginning two years after the Los Angeles riots, the entire climate has changed to one of a landscape ...

Pros: moving, gritty, thoughtful
Cons: perpetuates the myth of the "good teacher" that turns "ordinary teachers" into a lawyer joke

I saw this film on opening night but postponed this review to get a little distance. Freedom Writers is a "teacher tale" that follows the formula - novice teacher, impossible students, miraculous response - with painful predictability. Yet, it elevates ...

Pros: The inspiration; The stark reality; The performances
Cons: None

Teaching high school students can be a very difficult undertaking. Parents have to be dealt with, discipline must be administered, and students’ attention spans must be lengthened to make sure they pay attention and absorb the material presented to ...

Pros: Feel good film that shows the dark and dirty with a good touch of hope.
Cons: some type-cast characters

The Blackboard Jungle with Glen Ford and Sidney Poitier as a student was one of those memorable films where a teacher works through personal inter-action to gain the respect of students and, more important for the kids, create an environment where ...

Pros: Swank, uplifting
Cons: Dempsey

The Dead Poets' Society. Mr. Holland's Opus. < b>Sister Act 2. These are some of my favorite movies about teachers who make an enormous difference in the lives of their students. Now I have another ...

Pros: concept of the film
Cons: ...

The movie Freedom Writers< b> is fairly predictable and at times slow paced. The concept that brought this movie to light, however, is outstanding. It was directed by Richard LaGravenese who adapted the screenplay from the book, "The Freedom Writers ...

Pros: awesome soundtrack; great story; terrific cast; inspiring message
Cons: may not be for those viewers over 35

Voices of teenagers are constantly silenced by authority - Especially the voices of "troubled" teens. More often than not, these teens are pushed through high school just to get them out of the way, rather than cultivate the impressionable minds they ...

Pros: Inspirational, Hilary Swank's performance, Watching the kids transform, The Movie's message
Cons: I doubt it will change anything in the long run.

After seeing previews months prior, I knew I wanted to see this film. Being a senior in high school in Southern California, I thought it would be interesting to see if the movie realistically portrayed what life was like on the streets of Long Beach or ...

Pros: True Story, inner city school students succeed
Cons: Violence, death, cursing

Reading books and watching videos, I find that my viewpoint is unique from others watching the same film or reading the same book. It is strange how so many people can come away with so many different feelings about the same material. Freedom Writers is ...

Pros: Read review
Cons: Read review

Ignorance: lack of knowledge or education. Ignorance (and the hatred it give birth to) is at the root of racism and bigotry and the source of so much human strife and suffering. In the case of The Freedom Writers (2007) ignorance led to ...

Pros: Hillary Swank, The kids, The adaptation.
Cons: None Really.

Introduction Every once in a while a movie comes, that makes you forget your surroundings and you just seem to get lost in the movie. While flying from Philadelphia to Frankfurt, I was preparing myself for a boring journey back home, when ...

Pros: Hillary Swank's performance. Engaging story based on real life incident.
Cons: Not many. Becomes a bit sentimental 3/4 in. Predictable.

Erin Gruwell - Hillary Swank Eva - April Hernandez Scott Casey - Patrick Dempsey In late 2006 we had a couple of really good crowd pleaser movies – Pursuit of Happyness and Dreamgirls. Going into 2007, we have our first crowd pleaser in ...

Pros: Best school movie since Mr. Holland's Opus...
Cons: May be too violent for some audiences...

What does it take to buy a cigar in Hollywood these days? That must be a question going through the minds of Hilary Swank, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe after the 2007 Academy Awards. Denzel and Russell, of course, swung for the fences with ...

Pros: racial discrimination, good music, attractive...
Cons: almost nothings(I can't find)

"Freedom writers" based on a fact story from the diaries of the student learned in class 203 at Long Beach at the end of 20th century. At this time, the violence phase was often happened at Los Angeles. The colour skin of each people determine there ...