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Freedomland (2005)
Genre: Dramas
Starring: Samuel L. Jackson, Julianne Moore, Edie Falco, William Forsythe, Ron Eldard
DVD Info
Release:
Jan 7, 2008
UMD Features:
- Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78
Audio:
- Dolby Digital 2.0 - English, French, Spanish
- Subtitles - English, French, Spanish - Optional
Reviews
This mixed-up, self-important thriller is adapted by Richard Price from his own novel and wastes a talented cast.
Freedomland might just play to the MTV generation, but even they'll likely have trouble swallowing this particularly clumsy pill.
Flabby, dull and overlong, it's a B-grade movie with A-list talent and an inflated idea of its own importance. Think Tsotsi crossed with Clockers with the imagination of neither.
Freedomland has an extremely strong opening sequence but its intriguing premise is quickly squandered in favour of overwritten speeches and a series of boring, nonsensical scenes that seem to go nowhere.
As an excuse to examine urban malaise at novel length, this premise works; as a film drama, it feels both overlong and sketchy.
Clunky, disjointed and with a couple of subplots that linger and then vanish.
A compelling, beautifully written and impossible-to-put-down book has been turned into a mediocre film that seems self-important and listless.
An intensely engrossing melodrama, despite its ultimately squandering an opportunity to deliver an emotional payoff.
As I sat there watching the final slow motion image of a young man framed against the flames of a burning refrigerator box I couldn't help but think, "boy, I should have gone and seen Eight Below instead."
Not much of this is new territory, but it can be gripping at times.
Filme triste de temática complexa, surpreende por ter sido dirigido por um cineasta normalmente incompetente e traz performances brilhantes de Jackson e Falco (já Moore, apenas correta, carrega na caracterização).
Freedomland is a drama that plays like an episode of a TV cop show stretched beyond its limits.
Moviemakers who exploit the suffering and death of children to ratchet up the dramatic stakes belong in the innermost circle of hell, but Freedomland -- clumsy and overwrought as it is -- earns the right to its harrowing trajectory.
Richard Price’s dual plot, of the investigation and the escalating racial tensions that surround it, befuddles director Joe Roth from the very start.
Promises much but doesn't connect in the same way as another recent film with racial themes, Crash.
[The] thematic material is so far beyond [director Joe] Roth's reach, you feel that even offering him a stepladder wouldn't help.
If nothing else, Freedomland tries very hard to be a good film.
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