Freedom Writers



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Imagine trying to teach freshman English to students, who have already been written off by the school system! This film, an adaptation of Erin Gruwell's bestselling book, The Freedom Writers' Diaries: How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to Change Themselves and the World around them, portrays the unconventional means 23-year-old Gruwell (Hilary Swank) used to break through to her gang-hardened students. She comes to a southern California high school bubbling over with naive optimism, but quickly discovers that her unruly class isn't easily won over by her good intentions. After a few floundering attempts to connect with her students, Gruwell gives them the assignment of keeping journals about their own lives - an assignment that the class bites into with relish, which eventually bonds them together and pushes racial rivalries aside. Also available in widescreen, high definition and blu-ray. A touch of "class", based on a true story!

From Russia with Love



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Directed with consummate skill by Terence Young, the 2nd James Bond spy thriller is considered to be the best of all. Certainly Sean Connery was never better as the dashing agent 007 whose latest mission takes him to Istanbul to retrieve a top-secret Russian decoding machine. His efforts are thwarted when he gets romantically distracted by a sexy Russian double agent (Daniela Bianchi) and is tracked by a lovely assassin (Lotte Lenya) with switchblade shoes and by a crazed killer (Robert Shaw) who clashes with Bond during the film's dazzling climax aboard the Orient Express. This is classic James Bond, before the gadgets, pyrotechnics and Roger Moore steered the movies away from the more realistic tone of the books by Ian Fleming. Plenty of suspense, action and one of the longest, most exciting fighting scenes ever staged.