C+, Needs Improvement.The true story of a young teacher, Erin Gruwell played by Hillary Swank, in an inner city school who learns to be a better teacher by inspiring her students to be courageous, happy, and to see the error in their violent ways by teaching them to express themselves through writing. A touching and socially important message that has unfortunately been told millions of times before and was unable to bring anything new to the audience watching it. We are only truly touched by this story when we are reminded that it is based on actual events, otherwise it seems like old news that has been pumped out over and over again by Hollywood.
Hillary Swanks performance could only be described as “meh”. Apparently she is only truly talented when it comes to playing boys or socially awkward people. Her performance reminded me a lot of my teachers in high school: ambitious and important but overall pretty boring and dull.
The back-stories and the performances of the students I found to be quite interesting. April Hernandez was beautiful as Eva and I really believed the transformation that her character went through. There were some parts of the plot that bothered me though, I found the situation with her husband predictable in a bad way and I felt like it was an aspect of the story that was not totally seen through by the filmmaking team. They put it in for the sake of putting it in and it did not get the respect it deserved. They should have left it out completely or better developed the idea and the emotions surrounding it.
It was overall a decent story, but I wasn’t thrilled or moved to tears. The acting was good but the characters were way too typical, each one was very classic and had been done before thousands of times. It would definitely be good for children (maybe middle school aged) to watch and it wasn’t a total waste of my time so if you feel like being entertained for a little with a good ol’ fashion “inner city kids get their lives turned around” movie, then this one should get added to your list of ones to watch.
Hillary Swanks performance could only be described as “meh”. Apparently she is only truly talented when it comes to playing boys or socially awkward people. Her performance reminded me a lot of my teachers in high school: ambitious and important but overall pretty boring and dull.
The back-stories and the performances of the students I found to be quite interesting. April Hernandez was beautiful as Eva and I really believed the transformation that her character went through. There were some parts of the plot that bothered me though, I found the situation with her husband predictable in a bad way and I felt like it was an aspect of the story that was not totally seen through by the filmmaking team. They put it in for the sake of putting it in and it did not get the respect it deserved. They should have left it out completely or better developed the idea and the emotions surrounding it.
It was overall a decent story, but I wasn’t thrilled or moved to tears. The acting was good but the characters were way too typical, each one was very classic and had been done before thousands of times. It would definitely be good for children (maybe middle school aged) to watch and it wasn’t a total waste of my time so if you feel like being entertained for a little with a good ol’ fashion “inner city kids get their lives turned around” movie, then this one should get added to your list of ones to watch.
Overall (Out of 10):
& 1/2
& 1/2
2 comments:
Hey. Noticed that you had noticed this one on my list from flixster, or had coincidentally watched it. Either way, it's been a few months since I've seen it, and sometimes some distance with a movie makes for a different opinion... and recollecting on this one, I think I gave it less credit than it deserved. Agreed that it's the "same" teacher-students story thats gets played out time and time again, but there are many movies that repeat themes, plots, and I think it's just this genre that tends to stick out more during comparisons.
I have to disagree with you on something though... I felt that Erin's marital troubles, and eventual separation/divorce... was necessary in the movie (afterall it is based on a true story.) It really also however emphasized her devotion, and even "martyrdom" to her cause. She found her life calling, and when love clashes with that calling, it's a struggle that deserves attention. Agreed, maybe it could have been played out in a more affective way, but that would have been difficult to juggle with the other back stories in the film (the students) in the forefront.
Anyway, just curious, what is your favorite movie that falls into this category of movies?
-Dynamo Kiddo
Yes, I think we feel the same way. The marital troubles were important but they didn't give it the attention it deserved, to make it truly powerful and the way it was ultimately portrayed was I feel, not in the best interest of the overall film.
Hmmm...I would never say that I'm in general particularly a fan of this genre of film but...I enjoyed Coach Carter, they all have their endearing qaulities I suppose.
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