Spike Lee appreciation thread

young_cream

so far seen:She's gotta have itSchool DazeDO THE RIGHT THINGjust seen now:Mo' better blueson the netflix list:Crooklyn

Almond

GOTTA SEE "THE INSIDE MAN." LOVE THAT MOVIE.

SoulOnIce

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

dollar_bin

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

I wish they had left in the part in the book where the Delroy Lindo character had dozens of Garfield window cats in his car. I believe this is the first appearance of Bomb Malt Liquor, though.

I really liked Inside Man, my wife loved it. Ziggy makes an appearance.

m_dejean

It's been a minute, but I don't remember ever seeing a Spike Lee movie that I didn't leave saying "that would've been a lot better if it was 20/30/50 minutes shorter".

I don't feel that way about every Lee movie I've seen, but I hear what you're saying. He's got some undeniable classics in the catalogue (e.g. Do The Right Thing), but I often have a hard time with his ??ber-dramatic, theatrical approach and indiscriminate use of clich??s. Like the ending of "Jungle Fever" where Wes is hugging his daughter/the hooker on the street, camera moving from the two towards the sky, Wes screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!". *Cringe*. That "actor moving with dolly" thing he does gets kind of tired too.

I think he's an interesting director, but I think there's something cynical about his movies which makes it difficult for me to really get into them. I haven't seen his recent stuff, though, so I can't comment on that. Last one I saw was "Summer Of Sam", which I thought was OK. I should check "Inside Man" and "25th Hour".

Special_Ed

Crooklyn
Malcolm X
Bamboozled
When The Levee Breaks (Acts I-IV)
Mo' Better Blues
Do The Right Thing
Inside Man
Get On The Bus

--
All unfadeable.

roisto

Last one I saw was "Summer Of Sam", which I thought was OK. I should check "Inside Man" and "25th Hour".

25th Hour along with DTRT is the best film he's done, IMO.

Surrealist

25th Hour was one of the best, in my opinion, because he abandoned most of the Spike Lee cinematography/storytelling tricks and kind of stepped out of his own film stylistically and let the actors/script take over. Don't get me wrong, I always thought Ernest Dickerson was an amazing cinematographer, it's just that he started to let Spike pimp him and only do some of the same tricks over and over.

Do The Right Thing - what I liked about this one is the way he captured certain cultures and addressed the idea of stereotyping. He also captured summertime well, had a great soundtrack. He also was able to capture a lot of tension between characters.

Mo Better Blues - aesthetically, this film was one of his best. Loved the soundtrack on this one as well.

School Daze - I'm sorry, but my favorite scene was when Samuel L. Jackson's character was talking in the fried chicken joint.

bassie

Big fan, even the talking dog in Summer of Sam was OK by me - lol. Even when things fall apart, like they did in Bamboozled, I still don't think he's a bad filmmaker. He's more consistent than not - there is a Spike Lee style. He takes these odd chances that sometimes work, sometimes don't, but I am glad that he takes the risks.

He and Scorsese have the best touch imo when it comes to almost wall-to-wall music in their films.

Mo Better Blues

Huge disappointment.

edpowers

she's gotta have it -

school daze -

dothe right thing -

mo betta blues -

jungle fever -

malcolm x -

crooklyn -

clockers -

girl 6 -

get on the bus -

he got game -

summer of sam -

bamboozled -

25th hour -

she hate me -

inside man -

Rockadelic

I appreciate the fact that no matter how bad the Knicks are...Spike is still courtside at MSG rooting for them

Junior

she hate me -

I always see this for cheap and have almost bought it a number of times but the front cover makes it look like some left on the shelf Eddie Murphy film from when he stopped being funny and hadn't yet discovered Disney. Is it worth checking out?

Oh yeah, this thread has made me realise the only Lee I've seen since Clockers is Summer of Sam and Inside Man. I feel shamed.

edpowers

You'll either hate it or love it.

tonyphrone

is anybody else here ready for Spike to get angry again?

i think it might be this one:

http://imdb.com/title/tt1046997/

keithvanhorn

he got game -

i enjoyed this movie but it could have been SOOO much better. the only way i could watch this now would be to fast forward to the basketball scenes and anything related to denzel's character that DOES NOT involve the prostitute.

onetet

I feel the need to depreciate a little... I agree with the comments about his films being too long, but it goes deeper than that.

Almost all of his films set up entertaining, interesting storylines that include some potentially subtle social and political commentary. And then far too many of them in the final acts include:

---the main characters shouting at each other, bluntly bringing the film's main themes to the forefront and trashing any subtlety in the process -- sometimes while unneccessarily introducing guns into the picture

---Film 101 montages

---maudlin, weak-suace smooth jazz provided by spike's dad

I think he's a sometimes-great filmmaker that feels like every film might be his last, and therefore crams too much shit into each one. In the process, he doesn't trust his audience enough, and feels the need to explicity articulate his themes instead of trusting them to walk away with his message.

I know he still has problems raising $$$ for his films, especially some of his dream projects like the Jackie Robinson biopic, but one would think that after 15+ features he'd realize that he's here to stay and try to make some of his films a little smaller and a little more focused.

On the APPRECIATION tip:

---When the Leveees: damn. He did this the right way. I cried several times, which is very rare for me, and I have great admiration for how he kept his maudlin impulses in check.

---The book "Spike Lee Interviews" made me look at his career in a whole new way. He was very consistent over 20 years in maintaining that he never wants to carry the burden of being America's # 1 Black Filmmaker, but rather wants to be a filmmaker whose many legacy is to make filmmaking accessible to anyone, and encourage as many people as possible to pick up cameras. That's consistent with the variety of projects he's tackled, the rapid pace at which he works, etc etc.

---Some of his genre films, especially Clockers and Inside Man, are pretty tight

---Do The Right Thing as a cultural moment > Do the Right Thing, The Movie... but both are dope.

ariel_calmer

---maudlin, weak-suace smooth jazz provided by spike's dad

His parents get a pass for...

faux_rillz

is anybody else here ready for Spike to get angry again?

Have you seen his Katrina documentary?

mannybolone

Did Spike invent the "put an actor on a rails and shoot them as if they were walking even though they're clearly not walking" shot?

I always thought this was an odd/awkward technique - so much so that Chris Rock totally clowned it in "CB4."

That said, when he does this in "Clockers" with the kid on the bike with "Outta Here" blasting?

Birdman9

Did Spike invent the "put an actor on a rails and shoot them as if they were walking even though they're clearly not walking" shot?

I always thought this was an odd/awkward technique - so much so that Chris Rock totally clowned it in "CB4."

That said, when he does this in "Clockers" with the kid on the bike with "Outta Here" blasting?

Isn't that a Frankenheimer staple?

DjArcadian

Did Spike invent the "put an actor on a rails and shoot them as if they were walking even though they're clearly not walking" shot?

I always thought this was an odd/awkward technique - so much so that Chris Rock totally clowned it in "CB4."

That said, when he does this in "Clockers" with the kid on the bike with "Outta Here" blasting?

Isn't that a Frankenheimer staple?

I know he did it in Seconds which predates Scorsese's Mean Streets which I think is where Spike really got the idea from. It's a tired technique which should be put to rest. The bike scene in Clocker's was well done though so I'll give him a pass on that.

I'll have to give Seconds another look. Haven't seen it in a while.

motown67

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

I haven't seen Clockers since it came out in the movie theaters, but when I did I was a bit disappointed. I loved the book, and didn't think the movie was as good.

grandpa_shig

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

this is the first movie of his that really made me rethink my opinion of his flicks. i am not a fan of his and i think his films are often way too preachy and heavy handed and clockers is not exempt from this. however, this was the first time spike lee and malik hassan sayeed worked together and that dudes camera work is very very nice.

i also liked bamboozled, for the wrong reasons, and crooklyn is prolly the one that i truly love. that flick is awesome. other than that, no thank you.

DjArcadian

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

this is the first movie of his that really made me rethink my opinion of his flicks. i am not a fan of his and i think his films are often way too preachy and heavy handed and clockers is not exempt from this. however, this was the first time spike lee and malik hassan sayeed worked together and that dudes camera work is very very nice.

i also liked bamboozled, for the wrong reasons, and crooklyn is prolly the one that i truly love. that flick is awesome. other than that, no thank you.

Clockers is my favorite. When I saw Mekhi Phifer in those Curb Your Enthusiasm episodes I couldn't believe how much dude had grown up.

faux_rillz

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

this is the first movie of his that really made me rethink my opinion of his flicks. i am not a fan of his and i think his films are often way too preachy and heavy handed and clockers is not exempt from this. however, this was the first time spike lee and malik hassan sayeed worked together and that dudes camera work is very very nice.

i also liked bamboozled, for the wrong reasons, and crooklyn is prolly the one that i truly love. that flick is awesome. other than that, no thank you.

It may also be the first one of his movies that he didn't write--in recent years, I think Spike has done much better directing other people's material. See 25th Hour (excellent) vs. She Hate Me (a mess redeemed only by the presence of Kerry Washington and Dania Ramirez).

This is one of my favorite novel adaptations ever.

Contrast with the absolutely wretched recent adaptation of Richard Price's next novel, Freedomland.

motown67

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

this is the first movie of his that really made me rethink my opinion of his flicks. i am not a fan of his and i think his films are often way too preachy and heavy handed and clockers is not exempt from this. however, this was the first time spike lee and malik hassan sayeed worked together and that dudes camera work is very very nice.

i also liked bamboozled, for the wrong reasons, and crooklyn is prolly the one that i truly love. that flick is awesome. other than that, no thank you.

It may also be the first one of his movies that he didn't write--in recent years, I think Spike has done much better directing other people's material. See 25th Hour (excellent) vs. She Hate Me (a mess redeemed only by the presence of Kerry Washington and Dania Ramirez).

This is one of my favorite novel adaptations ever.

Contrast with the absolutely wretched recent adaptation of Richard Price's next novel, Freedomland.

Are you talking about Crooklyn? Did his sister write that one? Also he didn't write Inside Man did he?

grandpa_shig

makes sense

faux_rillz

How come people never mention Clockers?

That movie is ill.

this is the first movie of his that really made me rethink my opinion of his flicks. i am not a fan of his and i think his films are often way too preachy and heavy handed and clockers is not exempt from this. however, this was the first time spike lee and malik hassan sayeed worked together and that dudes camera work is very very nice.

i also liked bamboozled, for the wrong reasons, and crooklyn is prolly the one that i truly love. that flick is awesome. other than that, no thank you.

It may also be the first one of his movies that he didn't write--in recent years, I think Spike has done much better directing other people's material. See 25th Hour (excellent) vs. She Hate Me (a mess redeemed only by the presence of Kerry Washington and Dania Ramirez).

This is one of my favorite novel adaptations ever.

Contrast with the absolutely wretched recent adaptation of Richard Price's next novel, Freedomland.

Are you talking about Crooklyn? Did his sister write that one? Also he didn't write Inside Man did he?

What?

No, Clockers--Spike cowrote the screenplay with Price, but it's based on Price's novel.

Crooklyn--which I like--was written by his sister and brother.

He didn't write Inside Man.

He did write She Hate Me and Bamboozled, and they're both disasters, albeit interesting ones.

bassie

All the heavy-handedness and yelling and archetypes and guns and music and actors on dollies and dance sequences and big statements....Lee makes melodramas and that is another reason why I like his films.

grandpa_shig

i like charles burnett's understated style.

SoulOnIce

i like Girl 6's understated (for Spike) style.