Seth_Rogue_One Good drama with some fine acting from Ellen Page and Julianne Moore.They feel realistic as a couple and as the characters they portray, Ellen Page plays a tomboy with a bit of a manly body movement pattern and a boyish haircut to match which is true to the real life person she is portraying and Julianne Moore plays a detective who's in the closet.Starts out solid but drops the ball a bit in the middle when it becomes a little too focused on politics instead of the close-up romance between the 2 it initially is and other characters taking up a little too much space and time.I like Steve Carell a lot and I don't necessarily dislike his character in this it's just that his character is not the reason why we are watching the movie Julianne Moore's and Ellen Page's characters are so giving him so much to say and do in the second half takes away a little too much focus.But it occasionally gets back on track and is overall still a pretty good film.6.5/10

bkoganbing One of the things that has always annoyed me about people opposing gay rights laws is the absolute refusal of the opposition especially those religiously based to recognize romantic love. It's not recognized in the holy works of religion therefore it doesn't exist. Even in this film where we are talking about two people in love. Believe the evidence of your own eyes about Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree in the film Freeheld.I worked for NYS Crime Victims Board and in death I came in contact with a lot of ordinary LGBTQ people who in death had their lives magnified far more than what they did in their lives. Such is the case with Laurel Hester who was a detective with the Ocean County Police in New Jersey. I'm not sure she was closeted, but she certainly was discreet in her male dominated work place.Discretion went out the window when she meets Stacie Andree a much younger woman at a softball game. The two start living together and while it's not all roses, the commitment is truly there.And then cancer strikes and what to do about whatever estate Hester might leave. This story illustrates precisely the problem that LGBTQ people had before marriage settled the issue permanently. You could in some places get a domestic partnership certificate and have the relationship recorded. But it wasn't mandated that private industry and government recognize it.Thus was the issue of the film as the town of Freehold and its governing body would not extend survivor benefits to Ms. Andree. They were not married, but legally they could not get married. At least without a lot of agitation and organizing.Which is where Steve Carrell as Steven Goldstein comes in, leading the same sex marriage lobbying group. The issue as he says is so neatly encapsulated in the problem that Hester and Andree face.Two things I liked about Freeheld that make this a special film. One was the chemistry between Julianne Moore and Ellen Page as Laurel and Stacy. They made me believe the love was real.The second was the scenes among Laurel's police colleagues with her and among themselves. The differing reactions was a sampling of straight and male America, quite nicely documented.Freeheld is a great film showing the need for same sex marriage as few others have.

leonblackwood Review: Although this movie is about an emotional true story, I must admit, I found it slightly boring. I thought that there was going to be much more depth to the touching subject matter but it seemed to skip from one scene to the next, once Laurel Heater (Julianne Moore) was diagnosed with Cancer. The love story between Laurel and her partner, Stacie Andree (Ellen Page), was sweet and I liked the fact that the tough cop, Laurel, fell for such a innocent young girl but the courtroom drama wasn't in the same league as Philadelphia. With that aside, the performances are top class, especially from Julianne Moore, and the outcome of Laurels uphill battle, to fight for gay equality, was truly amazing. I'm glad that the director added some wit, with Steve Carell's character, Steve Goldstein, because the movie needed a bit of a pick-up after a while. Michael Shannon also added great support to Laurel and when the officers showed up to her hearing and gave her there sick days, it was an emotional moment. The main problem with the whole film is that it seemed a bit rushed, towards the end and you don't get to hear much from Laurel, even though everyone is fighting for her partner to get her pension. Anyway, it's a watchable movie which does have some touching moments but I still think that this amazing true story, could be told much better. Average!Round-Up: Although this movie received some good reviews, it still suffered a big lose at the box office, which is a shame because the subject matter is brilliant. The movie was directed by Peter Sollett, who also brought you Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist and an episode of the new Martin Scorsese/Mick Jagger series, Vinyl. The movie was written by Ron Nyswaner, who also wrote Philadelphia in 1993, so the subject matter must be close to his heart. I personally had high hopes for this film but I felt a bit let down with the final product, especially as the director had some great actors to work with. Budget: $7million Worldwide Gross: $600,000 (Terrible)I recommend this movie to people who are into their biography/drama/romance movies starring Julianne Moore, Ellen Page, Michael Shannon, Steve Carell, Josh Charles, William Sadler and Luke Grimes. 5/10

David M Farrington It's 2002 and we open on… No, wait, it's 2003 now. A year has gone by and… No, wait, she's typing "as per the law enacted in 2005" now but only a month has seemed to pass in the story and… Oh, screw it! I can't keep up anymore. Freeheld, the new movie from director Peter Sollett and Oscar nominated writer Ron Nyswaner, is a relevant film with a discussion about LGBTQ equality that must be had, though it has suddenly become not so relevant. The message is the star of the film and it seems as if Sollett and Nyswaner rushed to make the movie in time forgetting that at heart they are storytellers. They defaulted to the use of clichéd dialogue and stereotypical archetypes, mostly wasting the talents of a stellar cast to release a film that could have had so much more impact if seen just four months earlier, before the SCOTUS decision on Marriage Equality. What they forgot in their haste is that if the story is not told well, we become lost and the thematic elements become insignificant as we just don't care.Freeheld tells the moving true story of Laurel Hester (Julianne Moore/Still Alice, Boogie Nights), a highly decorated detective of the Ocean County, New Jersey Police Department who was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. Closeted at work in order to...Check out the full review on David 'n the Dark! https://davidnthedark.wordpress.com/2015/10/12/too-cliche-and-too- quick-to-care/