Straight Outta Compton - The Motion Picture

sounds promising! probably gonna be awhile before I can see this

I def want to see this

but whatever is glossed over is also still there in plain view.

Not necessarily:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/08/12/straight-outta-compton-dr-dre-s-assault-on-dee-barnes-and-the-problem-with-music-biopics.html

haha yeah I was wondering about that

I meant more in a general sense--there's enough there that you can infer the rest. (Or maybe I just know enough of the story that I could.)

I spent 20 minutes on that post, trying extra-hard not to say anything that could be misconstrued.

haha there was that thing going round a couple of days back w/ 'dre and cube address abuse allegations and misogyny in lyrics' and dre said some contrite things, he didn't sound so much like it was something he genuinely agonized over like lennon, but still i thought 'well that's good they've matured and they're wiser' and then i read the bit about misogyny which was pretty much the same 'if you're not a bitch or a ho then we're not talking about you' line from 1988 and thought 'or maybe not'.

Good review from David Edelstein, and pretty accurate, I'd say:

http://www.vulture.com/2015/08/film-review-straight-outta-compton.html

Another thing I meant by "in plain view"--it's there, but most of the really unsavory stuff is attached to Suge Knight (including a virtual reenactment of The Godfather's bandleader-contract anecdote). If you to into the film knowing even some of the background, I think you'll be aware of that.

Yea Dee Barnes incident is one I called out during the movie as being a glaring omission. Even Dre's high speed pursuit is painted as more of a lashing out in frustration more than him being blinded by his good fortune at Death Row.

Still liked it a lot though. Found it pared down the Eazy-Dre beef in the 90s a bit. Dre Day didn't get a mention and I know Eazy was very hurt by that song.

But it covered A lot of ground. Cube smashing up the Priority office was ace.

Holy shit, I just read about the Dee Barnes incident for the first time. What a fucking asshole. If that happened today his career would be over faster than you can say Ray Rice.

My friend saw it & said he was surrounded by ppl (young kids he assumed mostly) who audibly gasped when the cops werent charged in the Rodney King trial, and who were shocked when Eazy got diagnosed

lol

? Cops went to trial

think she means convicted

yeah sorry, brain fail

in Heller's autobiography he says Eazy was a brilliant businessman, which isn't hard to believe -- I suspect Heller choosing Eazy as the breakout star had to do with 1) Eazy's personal charisma 2) his faith in Eazy as a smart businessman

If that happened today his career would be over faster than you can say Ray Rice.

― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, August 15, 2015 4:49 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Strongly Disagree With This Statement

Rappers are forgiven for everything.

I mean Ray Rice only Vaught heat cos of the vids. And even after the first dropped the narrative that he pushed her and she slipped and hit her head on a bar had a lot of traction til the second put it to resy.

If Dee Barnes happened in 2015, she'd be doxxed and getting death threats on twitter.

*caught f u phone

Fairly sure Chris Brown is still a star. Famous men can beat women and still be loved/revered.

Sadly

Yup

Just watched, and agree with clemenza above -- was pleasantly surprised with this, and since I wanted it to be good, I came out inspired. Heck, I'm playing Straight Outta Compton as I type! Also agree w a sentiment in the Edelstein review in that I'm sure a lot was glossed over, but still feel like I learned a lot about these guys, and what it might have been like going through all that stuff. The NWA members all came across as basically "likable", basically because they wanted to be successful, true to themselves and in control of their own destiny. I will never know how accurate the characters were to their true-life counterparts (though I can say I thought all the main actors were good, particularly Jason Mitchell as Eazy E), but their actions seemed believable, even relatable, in the context of the movie for the most part. I thought the movie was good at communicating their constant need to prove themselves, and to not let anyone take away everything they'd worked hard to build. It did a GREAT job at depicting the general shadiness of the music business in general, and how in the end, it really isn't any different than any other extremely competitive operation ("legit", street or otherwise). thumbs up!

Went in with fairly low expectations, and I enjoyed it for the reasons clemenza laid out, particularly during the first 90 minutes or so. I went in prepared to be disappointed by Ice Cube's son, but I think he acquitted himself pretty well! And I agree Jason Mitchell was really good as Eazy E. I think the actor playing Dr. Dre was the weak link in the crew, but I also feel like it may have been harder to play Dr. Dre than the other two.

I saw some criticism on twitter of the film's timeline getting muddy in the second half, but that didn't bother me too much. What are you going to do? You gotta throw 2Pac in there at some point, even if Eazy E died like six months before 2Pac set foot in Death Row's studios.

Also, I really liked the part with the "Friday" screenplay. It definitely felt like a producer's note: "Put that in there! Not enough people know that I wrote that movie!"

haha

I just skim ILX film threads until I've seen the movie myself, so I didn't know until after I saw this that O'Shea Jackson Jr. is Ice Cube's son. I sat in the film thinking, "Jesus, he sure looks and sounds like Ice Cube."

Made me smile: as Heller makes his initial pitch to Eazy-E (sounding a lot like the guy in Almost Famous who tries to sign Stillwater), with his gold records on the wall and stories about REO Speedwagon--Eazy oddly unimpressed--you can hear Grand Funk's "I'm Your Captain" in the background.

2nd half was kind of a business-snooze & goddamn two and a half hours cmooooon

but first half was p dope & i liked it for the shined-up "nice" version that it is

didn't know until after I saw this that O'Shea Jackson Jr. is Ice Cube's son

if only there had been some clue

cool that they told their story & that ppl are showing out in big numbers

they had an officer watching over things periodically in our theatre. i was like c'mon

nothin like that at ours

but 4 theaters showing it, p cool

the theatre I go to is normally empty on Thursday openings and there were a looooootta people there to see it. was cool.

The last hour wasn't quite as entertaining to me because a chunk of it is predicated on the idea that mid-90s Dre and Cube were totally into an N.W.A. reunion spearheaded by Eazy. Maybe I've just never heard about this, but it didn't strike me as plausible whatsoever.

Also, it is awesome to see it is over-performing box office expectations. Universal has made a bunch of money this year by releasing movies centered around women and people of color. One would hope that other studios would take note and follow suit, but I'm not holding my breath on that one.

#1 this weekend

if only there had been some clue

Again, I went into the film pretty much cold--if there was a lot of advance hype about the casting, I missed it. The resemblance, physical and aural, was unmistakable, but I wouldn't think "Obviously, Ice Cube's son" would be the first conclusion you'd jump to.

I saw it on a weekday afternoon, maybe 100 people in the theatre. There was a couple in their 60s sitting near me; I'm not sure that they were aware of what they were seeing. I've made a vow to never again show up to a multiplex early. The half-hour of device-games, commercials, promos, and trailers was excruciating.

The last hour wasn't quite as entertaining to me because a chunk of it is predicated on the idea that mid-90s Dre and Cube were totally into an N.W.A. reunion spearheaded by Eazy. Maybe I've just never heard about this, but it didn't strike me as plausible whatsoever.

― intheblanks, Sunday, August 16, 2015 10:20 PM (25 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't think it was publicly reported but Cube and Dre are insisting in recent interviews that they were close to a reunion had Eazy not died.

Interesting. It's still hard for me to buy. Dr. Dre is arguably the most powerful person in hip-hop in late 1994, I have trouble seeing him jumping back into N.W.A.

I guess I could see them reuniting to put something on a movie soundtrack, then Dre announcing that they've signed with Aftermath, then never releasing anything else they recorded.

Clem: that's why I sit down 15 mins after the advertised start time.

also remember it's the hip-hop world. potential collaborations and reunions tend to happen and blow up in a matter of minutes. N.W.A. almost reunited one other time in the early 2000s (actually released a few singles with Snoop) but then it blew up. Commercially speaking, though, it could have easily worked. They were all only local heroes when N.W.A. first blew up, now three of them were multi-platinum hip hop superstars. A reunion album with Dre's new bag of tricks at the time would have sold mad units. they could have been Wu-Tang before Wu-Tang, keeping the solo careers alive and also the group simultaneously. From a business model, they could have made out like bandits.

Eazy dying obviously put a stop to that - the other problem would have been that Dre, Cube, Eazy arguably didn't need N.W.A. from a career or financial standpoint as much as Ren and Yella did, so it might have been a short-lived reunion at best.

Dre has made clear over the years that he was terrified by what was going on at Death Row (even told a story about an engineer getting his ass beat for rewinding the tape too far), so the thought of him fleeing a new level of discomfort for something familiar and warm isn't too farfetched.

it just kinda blows my mind what Death Row could have become had Suge not run it like a legit gangster. When I was a 13 year old chatting with my friend about Snoop and Dre, none of us would have believed in two-three years, those two would be on their way out, and the label would hit big with a few Pac albums and then fade into obscurity.

I remember the stunned disappointment on "man on the street" folks who were given Doggfather at random for an advance listen. I realize many folks defend the album now (I'm still not a fan), but folks really thought that pop-infused G-Funk of Death Row was a mainstay and it was gone fairly quickly (g-funk as a whole obv has had a much longer lifespan but Dre's brand specifically what I'm referring to obv)

xpost I usually get to the movie in time for previews intentionally. and only go to the least populated theatre cos other moviegoers are the worst.

I think the main issue with the dude playing Dre is that while he looks similar, he looks too young. Dre has had an 'old guy' face since his early 20s.

genuinely surprised at O'Shea Jr's quality. he apparently had a horrible first audition, and one of the hardest things to nail as an inexperienced actor is comic timing, but his delivery during his insult and subsequent dismissal of the poolside interviewer was great.

but 4 theaters showing it, p cool

It's running 3-4 times an hour at the Arclight in LA

clemenza: I was joking on you citing his name. "Who on earth could O'Shea Jackson, Jr.'s father possibly be???!?!¿"

I guess I could see them reuniting to put something on a movie soundtrack, then Dre announcing that they've signed with Aftermath, then never releasing anything else they recorded.

― intheblanks, Sunday, August 16, 2015 6:13 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is essentially what did happen a few years later - there was an NWA 'reunion' song on the Next Friday soundtrack, with Snoop in place of Eazy, but then talking of doing a full album never led anywhere.

Chin Check I think it was

Snoop & Em both wrote for Dre on the Ice Cube / Dr Dre / MC Ren song off Cube's War & Peace vol. 2 album, "Hello."

Yup. God that song mighta been decent if not for Cube's "who gives a shit" attitude on the entire album and the ToeJam and Earl beat from Dre

sic: I just took his name from IMDB when I first posted--still didn't clue in as to who he was, and wouldn't have unless his name had been O'Shea Cube.

Some reaction from Eazy-E's daughter: http://www.bet.com/news/music/2015/08/16/eazy-e-daughter-straight-outta-compton-review.html.

You thought his government name really was Ice Cube?

Because I'm about to blow your mind with some news about Emilio Estevez.

loooool