Cinema Society

Just Added! WON'T BACK DOWN

Average
Rating

1.4

Thursday, September 27, 2012, AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres

Cinema Society of San Diego

JUST ADDED FOR SEPTEMBER!

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27

7:10 PM: Introduction – Auditorium 9

7:20 PM: Introduction – Auditorium 6

7:30 PM: WON’T BACK DOWN, Auditoriums 9 and 6 Discussion will follow screening in Auditorium 9 AMC La Jolla 12 Theatres

WON’T BACK DOWN

WON’T BACK DOWN is a powerful story – inspired by true events – of parenthood, friendship, hope and courage. Maggie Gyllenhaal and Viola Davis portray determined mothers who will stop at nothing to transform their children’s failing inner city school. Facing a powerful and entrenched bureaucracy and a system mired in traditional thinking, they risk everything to make a difference in the education and future of their children.

WON’T BACK DOWN, a 20th Century Fox release, opens commercially in San Diego on September 28th.

Rated PG for thematic elements and language Running Time: 119 Minutes

PLEASE NOTE: This event takes place on a Thursday.

ALSO PLEASE NOTE: There is one showing only for this special screening at 7:30pm.

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6-Oct-12: Jerry - Rating: 1

Just dropped in to give my 1 rating and I wish it could go lower.

After reading comments, there is just not much more to say except that I hated the movie and stayed to the end only because we were in the center of the aisle.

29-Sep-12: Paul - Rating: 1

Inspired by a true story, I find no evidence for that. Apparently the film was inspired by the efforts of a group of parents who in 2010, citing that new state law, attempted to take over failing public schools in the Sunland-Tujunga community of Los Angeles. However, I did a little web searching and failed to turn up reports of attempted bribery, protests, etc. While I found the story of parents and teachers seeking to take charge interesting, I couldn't get past the obvious teacher union bashing agenda. The clear effort to manipulate the audience was insulting and disappointing. Reading reports on the LA effort, the union was clearly not supportive, fearing outside groups were using the law to push their own agendas. This could have been portrayed in the film without casting the union leaders and members as evil, unethical monsters who don't give a damn about the kids.

28-Sep-12: Mroe - Rating: 3

It was very definitely “Lean on Me” meets “Norma Rae” meets ”Erin Brockovich”…though good it may be better as a rental. One of my favorite all time movies “To Sir with Love” is one that carries this theme (though it is more focused on the relationships between teacher & student), it still proves to me that being a teacher isn’t just a job, it’s a “calling”, a teacher needs to have more than a certificate that says he or she has a great education there needs to be a natural desire to not just teach a subject but help their students grow in life and prepare them for life and inspire them. I know those qualities wouldn’t be easy to detect in the vetting process but it should be easy to detect once they start teaching and if they don’t have those abilities/characteristics (or more importantly show that they are hurting rather than helping) they should be shown the door and I think that is what is one of the biggest contentions with the teacher’s unions is the once thought inability to let a teacher go (but were informed last night it is doable just tedious and undesirable). Maybe this movie was a little heavy handed in its message but where there is smoke there is fire and so there has to be some truth to what the movie depicts.

28-Sep-12: pb - Rating: 2

The best part of the evening was the guest speaker. Thank you Andy, for bringing her. More educators like her are what our school system needs.

Movie was trite, predictable and it's anti-union agenda was irritating. All the characters were irritating and stereotyped except Viola Davis. What an outstanding actress. She saved the movie from being a 1.

28-Sep-12: MovieMaven - Rating: 2

It was a mediocre movie. Maggie Gyllenhall's plastic, ever present smile got annoying very quickly. Really? The movie would have been passable as an enjoyable Thursday night outing had it not been for the HORRENDOUS audio problems in theater 6 and the seeming indifference of the staff to correct the problems. It was obvious the track with the voices was not working right, so what did they do, just cranked the volume. Many people left the theater early, including myself and my guest. For the amount of money they are gauging us for the rent of the auditoriums, you would think they would do a better job of ensuring that everything works.

27-Sep-12: Margaret Downing - Rating: 1

I hated this movie, even considering the wonderful performance of Viola Davis. Why? It was melodramatic - not in a good way - the dialogue was preachy and wooden, and even the music was a cliche. I have no doubt that the American education system is plagued by bad teachers, evil bureaucrats, union thugs... So what else is new? The sound quality of the film was terrible -- was this the fault of AMC? Although the kid actors were terrific, I sincerely doubt children in their situations would be so articulate and empathic. Personal peeve: Why was Maggie Gyllenhaal smiling all the time? Creepy!

27-Sep-12: M - Rating: 1

Great performance by viola Davis. Other than that, the movie clearly had an agenda, and used every cheap emotional trick in the book.oversimplification. I was barely able to sit through it. I did because I wanted to hear Shirley Webber. She was great. The movie could have used some of her dialogue. She is so well spoken and knowledgeable, it's refreshing to know there are people like that in positions of power.

I hope this movie does not do harm to good people trying to improve our school systems. I hope it flops.

27-Sep-12: Georgi - Rating: 1

My husband wanted to walk out. I wanted to give it the benefit of a doubt. No doubt. No benefit. Just a poorly crafted conglomerate of cliches.

27-Sep-12: RichG - Rating: 1

It is a pity we can't give a grade below 1. What a painful waste of time. The words popping in my mind include, drivel; cartoonish; tedious; predictable, and just plain awful. That artificial grin on Ms. Gyllenhaal grew tiresome very quickly. The sole scene with any feelings was between Ms. Davis and her son . Other than that this turkey was a colossal waste of time.

An issue with the theater was the sound system. While the dialogue was inconsequential it might have been better had it not been so muffled.

I know Andy does not make them. I'm just disappointed he even selected this one