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Freedom Writers, a review by Tom

Title: Freedom Writers
Year: 2006
Director: Richard LaGravenese
Rating: 12
Length: 118 Min.
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, Commentary: Dolby Digital Surround
Subtitles: Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, Norwegian, Swedish

Stars:
Hilary Swank
Patrick Dempsey
Scott Glenn
Imelda Staunton
April Lee Hernandez

Plot:
Two-time Oscar-winner Hilary Swank stars in this gripping story of inner-city kids raised on drive-by shootings and hard-core attitude - and the teacher who gives them the one thing they need most: a voice of their own. Dropped into the free-fire zone of a school torn by violence and racial tension, teacher Erin Gruwell battles an uncaring system in a fight to make the classroom matter in her students' lives. Now, telling their own stories, and hearing the stories of others, a group of supposedly "unteachable" teens will discover the power of tolerance, reclaim their shattered lives and change their world. With electrifying performances from its all-star cast, including Golden Globe Award winner Patrick Dempsey (Grey's Anatomy) and recording star Mario, Freedom Writers is based on the acclaimed best-seller, The Freedom Writers Diary.

Extras:
Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Photo Gallery
Scene Access

Gokusen perfected this theme, though that one is a comedy whereas this movie is a drama.

Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on June 18th, 2009)

Black Lightning, a review by Tom

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Title: Black Lightning
Links: IMDb | Wikipedia

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Year:	2009 / Russia
Director:	Dmitriy Kiselev, Aleksandr Voytinskiy
Writing:	Dmitriy Aleynikov (Writer), Aleksandr Talal (Writer)
Rating:	FSK-12
Length:	106 Min.
Video:	Widescreen 2.35
Audio:	German: DTS 5.1, English: DTS 5.1, French: DTS 5.1, Italian: DTS 5.1, Spanish: DTS 5.1, Russian: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles:	Arabic, Danish, English, Finnish, German, Icelandic, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish

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Stars:
Grigoriy Dobrygin as Dima
Ekaterina Vilkova as Nastya
Viktor Verzhbitskiy as Kuptsov
Valeriy Zolotukhin as Perepelkin
Ekaterina Vasileva as Romantseva

Plot:
A student's life turns upside down when he discovers the battered old car his father gave him can fly...

After his entire world falls apart he makes a choice and shoots from zero to hero as a crime fighter known as 'Black Lightning'. Little does he know that evil forces are watching, they want the incredible car, and will stop at nothing to get it, even if it means killing him and destroying the city.

Produced by Timur Bekmambetov (Director of Wanted and Night Watch), this fast-paced action-adventure features the Special Effects Teaam behind Wanted and stuntmen from The Bourne Identity & Quantum of Solace.

Extras:
Deleted Scenes
Featurettes
Scene Access

A russian superhero movie. The title translates to "Black Lightning". I had fun watching it. A guy finds a flying car. It has many similarities with the first Spider-Man movie. His relationship with his father is directly lifted from that film (Uncle Ben). It is almost exactly the same motivation for that guy to use the flying car for good, as it was the motivation for Peter Parker to use his new powers for helping people. Even though it is not a high budget film, I enjoyed the action sequences with the car. It wasn't nearly as ridiculous as the premise would suggest.



Rating:

(From Tom's Random Reviews on September 12th, 2010)

The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon, a review by DJ Doena

Battlestar Galactica (2003)



What's the show about?
The Battlestar Galactica leads a group of refugee ships away from the destructed twelve colonies of Kobol to what they hope to find: the thirteenth colony, a planet called "Earth". They are hunted by the Cylons, a race of Robots that were once created by the Humans.

What happened before?
The new series is a re-imagination of the old one, not a continuation, therefore nothing "happened before". There are however many similarities between both shows but just as many differences.

"Battlestar Galactica"
The Battlestar Galactica is about to be decommissioned, it was commisioned during the last Cylon War. But then the unbelievable happens: after an armistice that lasted 40 years, the Cylons attack the colonial fleet and all the colonies. They have access to the colonial defense systems and are able to disable any resistance. After a great deal of the fleet is destroyed, the Galactica is the last remaining Battlestar and Adama becomes the head of the remaining forces. Meanwhile the secretary of eduction Laura Roslin is sworn into the office of the President of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. Adama plans to strike back, but President Roslin has another point of view...

My Opinion
Really great show and I hope we are going to see the 4th season (that's currently uncertain due to the WGA strike). I'd hate to see that show be left open-ended, especially because they promised to bring the story to an end in the 4th season.

(From The One Where It All Began: The Pilot Marathon on January 5th, 2008)