Freedom Writers and some thoughts on watching movies

Dusk is dawn is day
Where did it go?
I've been laughing
Fast and slow
Moving in a still frame
Howling at the moon
Morning found me laughing
Up and down, down
Low low low
Night suits me fine
And morning suits me fine
I've been so happy
Way up high, high
In between
Down below
Low low low

REM - Low

So usually when you're on a plane and they have an in-flight movie, its some piece of crap that you couldn't care less about. You might watch it, but it still sucks. Flying from Portland to Philly last weekend, I watched Because I said So, some sort of awful mother-daughter chick flick. The only redeemable part of the movie was Mandy Moore, and even then, she would've had to do a lesbian scene with Jessica Biel to make the thing bearable. So flying back on Sunday, I didn't expect much. Looking in Continental's magazine, I saw that the movie being shown would be Freedom Writers, one of those "inspirational" movies featuring Hillary Swank. I remember when this thing came out a few months ago, and it didn't seem to grab my interest. But hell, I had a few hours to kill, so I figured it was worth a watch. And, well.... I loved it.
Freedom Writers is a movie about inner city kids beating the odds; in a similar vain to Stand and Deliver or Coach Carter. And though both of those movies were entertaining, there was something about Freedom Writers that was different. The movie managed to actually move me (honestly, not an easy task). Now, maybe this was due to my egregious lack of sleep, the fact that I had no Ipod on a six hour trip, or perhaps because I was flying back from a graduation ceremony (which always do me in) and was an emotional shell of myself. Or maybe Freedom Writers really was an awesome, touching movie. I really don't know. If anyone else has seen this movie and has an opinion, do let me know. For my money, though, I'm gonna say it was pretty damned good.
The thing about movies is that they're often only as good as our expectations. Pretty much everyone I know had high expectations for X-Men 3, and everyone I know was disappointed with the result. But disregarding the previous two movies, if X -3 is seen expecting absolutely nothing, would it really have been that bad? It certainly does not belong in the same class as Battlefield Earth or Freddy Got Fingered (two of the single WORST movies ever made). But the fact is that there were high expectations for X-3 and they certainly were not met. I had no expectations for Freedom Writers, and perhaps this made the movie much more enjoyable. People built Wedding Crashers up for me so much, I was ultimately disappointed. On the other side, people built down Troy for me and I watched The 40 Year-Old Virgin expecting nothing, and was pleasantly surprised with both movies. The last movie I can think of that actually lived up to all the hype for me was Little Miss Sunshine. Before that...
In the end, how much we truly enjoy a movie will be based upon what we expect of that movie going in. Expect a lot, and more often than not you'll leave the movie disappointed. Go in expecting nothing, and you might find that you enjoy yourself a lot more. Granted, this is easier said than done (especially if you're a movie snob like me). And when you're spending up to $10 a movie sometimes, you probably should have rather high expectations. But going into a movie is similar to many experiences you will have in life. Expect little, and you will probably be happy. Expect a lot and most likely you will not get what you want. Ultimately, everything truly is relative. I plan to put this to the test whenever I see Spiderman 3. Evidently I'm the only person under 25 in the country yet to see this movie, and all I have heard from anyone I talk to are negative reviews. So I'm taking a new approach going into Spiderman 3. I'm gonna enter the theater not expecting much. Maybe this will make it as good as Feedom Writers.
Side note: I probably WILL be disappointed by Spiderman 3. I mean, it's motherfucking Spiderman 3! Of course I have high expectations, regardless of what I've heard. It's hard to get past natural biases, especially when these biases pertain to something as important to me as super-heroes. Once I see the movie, and decide its fate myself, rest assured there will be a post about it. Till then, go watch Freedom Writers so I can figure out if it's good or if I was just completely out of it.