John N. Smith
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Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
This drama recalls 1995's "Dangerous Minds," and many other films going all the way back to 1955's "Blackboard Jungle," the granddaddy of white-teacher-instructing-troubled-inner-city-kids movies.
Sadly, it's way too easy to be cynical about a movie that follows the "teachers can make a difference" formula we've seen so many times, especially when the first twenty minutes comes across like a remake of the Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle "Dangerous Minds."
In "Dangerous Minds" Michelle Pfeiffer woke up her inner-city English class by getting relevant and quoting Bob Dylan.
The first thing that popped into my mind when I saw ads for "Freedom Writers" in January was that it looked remarkably similar to another true-life film about an inspirational female teacher at an inner-city school, "Dangerous Minds" (1995).
Based on the story of an actual Richmond, Calif., high school basketball coach who benched his undefeated team until some of its members got their grades up, "Coach Carter" falls squarely in the group-Pygmalion tradition established by Sidney Poitier in "To Sir, With Love" and faithfully carried on by Morgan Freeman in "Lean on Me," Michelle Pfeiffer in "Dangerous Minds," as well as countless others, in which a lone-educator-who-cares rides into the mean streets of town to battle complacent parents, craven bureaucrats, low expectations and moribund systems, and single-handedly save the school day.
In Dangerous Minds, ex-Marine Michelle Pfeiffer earned her "unteachable" brood's undivided attention with some well-aimed karate chops.
Morgan Freeman used a Louisville Slugger to scare straight the students in "Lean on Me." Michelle Pfeiffer donned a leather jacket and busted out some goofy kung fu to prove to a class of ruffians that she was down with them in "Dangerous Minds."
Yes, Miss Halsey is the anti-Louanne Johnson, that inner city teacher-crusader played by Michelle Pfeiffer in the insufferable “Dangerous Minds.”
With a plot reminiscent of eye-rollers like Dangerous Minds and Music of the Heart, this is the most conventional movie of Linklater's eclectic career.
It's Sister Act meets Dangerous Minds, with the most galling qualities of both in bas-relief.
In the "Dangerous Minds" and "Wildcats" world of filmmaking, screwed-up kids haze shell-shocked teachers, who think about quitting before gutting out the job and earning trust.
Forget about Robin Williams in Dead Poets Society, Michelle Pfeiffer in Dangerous Minds , and Richard Dreyfus in Mr. Holland's Opus .
Spotlight gets us thinking about that, but ultimately leaves the answer to other movies (I recommend, for starters, the two-part powerhouse The Boys of St. Vincent).
“It’s Dangerous Minds meets The O.C.," she groans to Sebastian, Gosling’s piano player.
The Internet Movie Database, f'rinstance, lists the following 1995 flicks under Bruckheimer's name (and partner Don Simpson's, though he died soon afterward): Crimson Tide , a surprisingly good men-yelling-at-each-other submarine movie, Bad Boys , a mediocre action flick that launched the career of ADD-afflicted movie director Michael Bay, and the atrocious Michelle Pfeiffer vehicle Dangerous Minds.
Taylor has not only shoehorned in much of the book’s narrative, he’s headed off some of the inevitable criticism that “The Help” is yet another variation on “Dangerous Minds” and “Freedom Writers,” those patronizing movies about bleeding heart liberals showing black children the way.
Examples range from epics like Lawrence of Arabia and The Last Samurai to classroom dramas like Dangerous Minds .