Beanbioca As Good As It Gets

TrueHello Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Harry Waterman I remember watching Freedom Writers in school, so you can understand what I mean already by more gloss than grit. To a younger audience, the film's detailing of racial tension in Long Beach, USA is really quite hard-hitting, but to a cinephile like myself and anyone else who's seen films like American History X and how powerful they can be. Freedom Writers is a far more watered down account of racism and gang warfare, even sometimes stooping to "Step Up" levels of bittersweetness. I've still given it a 7 out of 10 because whilst I feel it is inaccurate, the film was thoroughly enjoyable because of its young cast of talented unknowns and an extremely good performance from Hilary Swank with an insightful script to work with. Note the discussion of the Holocaust as one of the best scenes.

kavan Hazeli In contrast to many screenplays that tell ordinary stories or picture an unnecessary personal imagination, here the screenwriter touches socially important concerns. It is absolutely necessary that someone bring to people's attention that "hey, there are millions of people out there who fight every minute of their lives, just to survive". Public awareness needs to be raised and art is the most effective way. A good artist sees a situation from different angles and subsequently gets inspired to create something new with constructive consequences. This artistic screenplay, apart from demonstrating many social obstacles faced by a large number of families throughout the nation, highlights other concerns such as poorly designed education system. People should be approached and educated differently. Irrespective to how hard we are working, how much conflict we are facing every day, we should learn from the students of room number 203, to wear a kind smile on our face.

kpangilinan Watching Richard LaGravenese's Biographical film Freedom Writers gives an important message of camaraderie, social justice, and racial tolerance. Academy Award winning Hilary Swank plays as Mrs. Erin Gruwell, a young teacher who strives to inspire her students to learn tolerance and succeed in finishing high school. The movie takes place in Long Beach, California in 1994 where an integration program was created giving student minorities around the area for a better high school education with higher qualifying teachers than other areas would provide.The integration program has stirred the dynamics in Woodrow Wilson High School leaving teachers petrified of their lives and students fighting for their own. A community filled with hatred towards other ethnicities only to protect their "own kind," comes together in one class room inspired by a teacher who willingly listen to their stories. The students of Woodrow Wilson High School are in a never ending war, living day by day, not knowing what the future holds for them. Teacher Erin Gruwell (Hillary Swank) enlightens her students with history that relates to their stories. Teaching them the story of the Holocaust and how many lives were taken due to racial intolerance. As an assignment, the students had to write in their journals and express their story, why they live the way they live and why they make certain decisions Erin Gruwell emphasizes in order to receive respect, you got to give respect. In the lives of her students, all they want is respect from society. By being the alpha female or male of their clan by gaining control and power of the community, they believe they will gain respect. Through this they beat up recruits for gang crews, kill other people that is not their race, and create riots in campuses. Erin Gruwell herself goes through her own struggles when it comes to monetary issues while passionately working in a field that requires a lot to keep the interest of her students. Erin and her students go through an enlightening journey of learning from each other on racial tolerance, education, and respect. Hillary Swank in the role of Erin Gruwell acted very well in a way where people can really absorb the things she says as she teaches her students. Her words of wisdom that really touch the hearts of these kids helped them not only stay away from trouble on the streets but also giving themselves the respect to continue on with high school. These students have a purpose to go to school because none of the other teacher cared to pay attention to their stories or the wars they fight every day. What's very interesting in this movie, is the gender roles. The girls in this film are portrayed very strong in which they must protect their own, while the guys are all trying to avoid being caught up in a situation that would lead them to jail or death. One of the guys is homeless and after learning the importance of family and school, he decides to swallow his pride and come back home to his mother. My overall reaction of the film was 9 out of 10 because it was well developed and kept the stories realistic. For most people, they expect a happy ending for all these students, however, life does not really work that way. Many people take different paths. Some may make good decisions, others may make bad decisions. The shots were really good in following the tension between different racial groups knowing the segregation in Woodrow Wilson High School. I recommend this film to everyone, although most people can't relate to how these students live their lives, I believe everyone has their own battle and struggle in life. Overall, this was a great film that showed great strength from a female perspective (especially from the protagonist, Erin Gruwell) and educating on how these students fought their wars in life and will continue to fight until they obtain their highest achievement.

jane smith The classic white savior teacher who rescues the class of minority students from their cemented fate as gang bangers. Of course there is the token awkward, shy white kid who lacks the ability to dance, and the evil white teachers who refuse to give books to the students. The hoop earring wearing Latina girl with an attitude, and a plethora of troubled young black man who are secretly sensitive and intellectual. I am inclined to agree with the teacher who said it is ridiculous to compare these kids to Anne frank. They are growing up in one of the best countries in the world. I fail to sympathize too much with their plight. Perhaps if they were Somalian villagers I would feel more empathy, but the truth is this country has many free learning resources and minority scholarships, and if they tried to make something of their life they could. Yes, I realize it was a true story, but I just don't like the way they presented it. As if living in the inner city is soo tough and we are required to sympathize. I find myself rolling my eyes at statements like "we fight for territory" To be honest, the person I sympathized most with was the failure husband, pushed to the side by his wife, and too old to realistically pursue his dreams. maybe I'm being a bit harsh here. I have never been shot at walking down the street. but as a child I was very poor; we had no furniture, no heat, no plumbing, no electricity, and literally no money. I don't think that I had it very bad, and I don't think these kids did either, compared to a significant portion of the human race. Thats not to say that I hated this movie. I just wish for once someone could make a movie about inner city life that it not preachy, but simply showing it like it is without trying to make any statements.