MamaGravity
good back-story, and good acting
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
Freeman
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
Python Hyena
Freedomland (2006): Dir: Joe Roth / Cast: Julianne Moore, Samuel L. Jackson, Edie Falco, Ron Eldard, William Forsythe: Disappointing thriller about freedom of culture. Julianne Moore arrives battered at a hospital and informs a detective that she was carjacked and her four year old son was in the backseat. The fact that the alleged carjacker is black causes racial tension. Starts out fine but loses focus with the whole racial bit. Story never focuses on the issue at hand with the missing child. Instead the screenwriter throws in a racial subplot that not only distracts, but is totally unnecessary. Even the ending is difficult to accept. Director Joe Roth does well with ominous lighting but Moore is intolerable with every whine, moan and shriek. This is unfortunate given that she has done wonderful work in films that highlight her talent with notable roles. Samuel L. Jackson does his best as the detective but the role is subdued within that whole racial subplot that never worked to begin with. Flat supporting work by Edie Falco and Ron Eldard as if their contribution could save this farce. When spectators left the theatre there was more than one individual mocking Moore in her plea filled last scene. That is probably not what the filmmakers intended but it is a good sign of a bad thriller nonetheless. It never remains focused leaving one to wonder if the screenwriter was given too much freedom. Score: 4 / 10
Tss5078
Exploring racism and police misconduct in a mixed neighborhood, Freedomland had ambitious goals and tried to tell it's story without taking a position. As the film moves forward, it becomes very clear which way the films writers are leaning, and it defeats the films intended purpose. Julianna Moore plays a woman who claims she was carjacked in the black part of town. Samuel L. Jackson, one of the detectives assigned to the area, goes to investigate, and when he interviews the victim, she drops a bombshell, telling Jackson that her 5 year old son was in the car. We all know that Samuel L. Jackson is a legend and he performed like one in this film, but the problem was Julianne Moore. I get that she's playing a mother who is missing her kid, but she was so whiny and out of it the whole film, that every scene she was in was just painful to watch. Add to that the fact that she's trying to use some southern redneck accent, and she was barely understandable. A white woman claiming her child was kidnapped by a black man is the premise of the film and leads to the police putting down the hammer on the black part of town. It was a story that could have gone in so many terrific directions, but instead it falls flat on it's face, with nonsensical sub-plots, shotty performances, and of course a writer who did anything but tell his story objectively. The investigative part of the film was pretty interesting and Samuel L. Jackson is always great, but overall Freedomland is a cliché, that plays on racial conflict in order to get people to watch it.
dbdumonteil
This is a curious name for what used to be a reform school were children were mistreated .The place plays a minor role in the movie anyway but it adds some mystery to the scenes where people are looking for the disappeared child.The screenplay is terribly derivative ,and only the two actors 'performance make it a passably watchable work.Particularly Julianne Moore,an extremely ambitious actress who shines when she is given decent material to work with ("the hours" "far from heaven").Her performance as a confused distraught mum is really impressive; Samuel L .Jackson's character avoids the clichés: he is not really a superhero,his son is not the brilliant kid at the university,and we are spared the usual divorce from a wife who's sick and tired of waiting for an always absent cop.The big problem of the movie is that the writers could not (or would not) properly connect the two stories (the mother ,her child and her friends is one thing,the black community is another one ,the latter serving as a very vague and thin background ).
Batkid1
Okay, it was full of racial tension but it wasn't Racist ! It was by the author of Spike Lee's CLOCKERS (1994) so what were you viewers expecting.I found it interesting but in the end disappointing due to the irritating editing ( granted it was better then DOMINO ! ) and overlong time but it's better then any Lifetime or Hallmark movie of the Week any day.I'm actually surprised that Julianne Moore or Samuel Jackson didn't get at least a nomination because they felt like they were real people.The people who hate this film are obviously the same ones who despised similar films like CRASH ( 2004) or JOHN Q. If you want a racist, politically-incorrect movie, watch one of Spike Lee's ( few low-points on his resume) INSIDE MAN. Man, that was over-hyped and really pointless.** 1/2 Stars out of 4. Above-Average but not great.Please Note that I posted this review because I know when a film deserves better even if it isn't all that.
