I teach 5th grade and show this movie to my class every year. It moves them and shows them an important period in the history of our country. They are amazed when I tell them that this happened in America, not some other country and that we still fight for these rights on a daily basis, both in America and abroad. It makes them appreciate the civil rights all Americans are supposed to have. There are some racially inappropriate words, but that adds to the realism and sparks discussion about words as weapons. This movie goes really well with a host of books and web sites that you can look up on the internet and use with many different age levels.
Reviews
4 Reviews
Empire Records
(1995)
every possible teen angst in two hour period
4 May 2005
This was like a large puddle - shallow and muddy. It's a sad day when the best performance in a film is by a C-grade washed up actor playing a washed up singer. Maxwell Caulfield drew from his own experiences and it showed - him I believed. The rest of the characters were so cookie cutter.
I couldn't believe the level of angst and pathos in this film. It just went on and on. I managed a CD/video store for a while and had teenage employees AND worked counseling teenagers for two years. I saw some of those problems, but in one day???!!! Give me a break. The writers got together and threw in the entire table of contents of a high school counselor's handbook. Maybe if the writers had reduced the number of characters and their many manias, there could have been a bit of character development.
And as the store manager, I would have been on the phone so fast to report the theft and the thief. I am not going down for some punk kid who thinks he has the magic touch at a craps table.
I gave it a 3 because I liked the music and from a technical standpoint, it was well done.
I couldn't believe the level of angst and pathos in this film. It just went on and on. I managed a CD/video store for a while and had teenage employees AND worked counseling teenagers for two years. I saw some of those problems, but in one day???!!! Give me a break. The writers got together and threw in the entire table of contents of a high school counselor's handbook. Maybe if the writers had reduced the number of characters and their many manias, there could have been a bit of character development.
And as the store manager, I would have been on the phone so fast to report the theft and the thief. I am not going down for some punk kid who thinks he has the magic touch at a craps table.
I gave it a 3 because I liked the music and from a technical standpoint, it was well done.
boring!
14 March 2005
Who wrote this thing? It is a dreary joke. I have seen the TV program with my son and can't figure out how this relates to it. It's deadly dull, the plot is difficult to follow and the characters are boring. Long pauses in between conversation makes it feel like you are watching underwater.
Not only is it dull, it is mean-spirited. The TV series is gentle, with easy to understand, moral lessons for children. This movie is scary, with a vindictive diesel engine, bent on destroying a mythical engine.
My poor two year old was so excited about watching a Thomas movie and he saw no more than ten minutes because it didn't keep his attention. Peter Fonda and Alec Baldwin must have had some hefty bills to pay in order to accept this drivel. The young actors should sue their parents for putting them in this film.
The best thing about this film is I had a gift card and didn't have to pay for the drivel. I gave it a 2 because the video and sound were okay.
Not only is it dull, it is mean-spirited. The TV series is gentle, with easy to understand, moral lessons for children. This movie is scary, with a vindictive diesel engine, bent on destroying a mythical engine.
My poor two year old was so excited about watching a Thomas movie and he saw no more than ten minutes because it didn't keep his attention. Peter Fonda and Alec Baldwin must have had some hefty bills to pay in order to accept this drivel. The young actors should sue their parents for putting them in this film.
The best thing about this film is I had a gift card and didn't have to pay for the drivel. I gave it a 2 because the video and sound were okay.
Mr. Wonderful
(1993)
guy loses girl, guy tries to find another guy for girl
18 February 2005
I expected this movie to bore me within the first five minutes, but I had an afternoon to kill and there was a rerun of a home improvement show I could watch. I got a pleasant surprise and never did check into ways to repaint the kitchen. I found the plot to be original because of Dillon's machinations to get another guy the girl. He's not much of a matchmaker, but he seems to sincerely want hi ex-wife to be happy. The end was predictable, but Sciorra and Dillon are convincing as angry ex- spouses who have gone in different directions and the numerous character actors fill in the occasional boring spots, especially Dan Hedeya - I like anything he does though, so I am biased.
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