Won't be a true return to form until we see some floating-sidewalk shots.
― my harp and me (Eazy), Thursday, November 5, 2015 8:27 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
there were like three briefly excepted in the trailer, weren't there? i think you're gonna be ok for them
― ♛ LIL UNIT ♛ (thomp), Friday, 6 November 2015 00:54 (eight years ago) link
"also, although the storyline would lead one to think the vibe of the film is all "girl power!," lee has an amazing knack for undermining strong roles for women with films that seem drenched in misogyny."
something about that gym scene just seems like it could be really irritating (still not sure why - the smugness of the tone maybe?) but hopefully thats not a big deal in the film overall.
"although, that said, i think there's been a lot of legitimate criticism of Spike Lee as an essentially middle-class (well, middle-class in background; these days he's rich) interloper in what's basically a working-class or poor milieu."
i think theres enough room now for him to be seen as more of a documenter of middle class black life than just black american life, full stop. not sure if the idea that he holds only black people to account for their problems, if that was the case, there wouldnt have been so much controversy over what he has said in interviews over the years.
will this film be on dvd at some point, or do i have to get on amazon prime or whatever to see it?
― StillAdvance, Friday, 6 November 2015 13:36 (eight years ago) link
New trailer, with lengthy opening statement from Lee and a lot more speeches 'n' stuff:
http://vimeo.com/144826440
― the top man in the language department (誤訳侮辱), Friday, 6 November 2015 19:51 (eight years ago) link
Rhymezone has longstanding objections to the term "Chiraq" generally
http://hiphopdx.com/interviews/id.2286/title.rhymefest-talks-empowering-rap-peers-disowning-chiraq-moniker
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Friday, 6 November 2015 20:49 (eight years ago) link
opens in ten days
http://blogs.indiewire.com/shadowandact/chi-raq-co-screenwriter-kevin-willmott-talks-the-use-of-verse-in-the-film-20151123
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 21:20 (eight years ago) link
I can't really decide if this looks good or not, but I feel like a lot of people equate hyper-stylized with per se bad.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 21:33 (eight years ago) link
was Fury Road not hyperstylized?
― skateboards are the new combover (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 21:50 (eight years ago) link
Yeah fair point I guess, but I still feel like you get more knee-jerk criticism when you go stylized, whereas mediocre "realism" wins Oscars.
― on entre O.K. on sort K.O. (man alive), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 21:53 (eight years ago) link
this movie is extraordinarily controversial in chicago right now. lots of people find it very difficult to see what this does that is positive
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 22:13 (eight years ago) link
yeah it'll be interesting to see how this plays locally vs. nationally vs. internationally (does spike lee even have much of a profile in e.g. europe right now?)
― wizzz! (amateurist), Tuesday, 24 November 2015 22:14 (eight years ago) link
i dont totally get why chicagoans might be so worried about this one movie. not like people dont know whats going on in the city (at least people who read broadsheets etc). and then theres guys like chief keef, etc, who have 'drawn attention' to the violence in the city. never mind that common did a whole album about it. i want to see it. spike is underrated as a great stylist. and i doubt he would be out to exploit gang violence. this might be a kind of companion piece with clockers.
― StillAdvance, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 12:36 (eight years ago) link
"was Fury Road not hyperstylized?"
there was a lot of kneejerk hatred of that movie!!
― thwomp (thomp), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 16:35 (eight years ago) link
five stars in the guardianhttp://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/nov/25/chi-raq-review-spike-lees-urgent-angry-and-very-sexy-midlife-masterpiece
― sean gramophone, Wednesday, 25 November 2015 20:25 (eight years ago) link
2.5 stars in the tribune;
reader gives it a soft pan: http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/spike-lee-chi-raq-rahm-emanuel-will-burns/Content?oid=20202638
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 22:17 (eight years ago) link
― StillAdvance, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 6:36 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
haha how come a guy from outside chicago cant 'draw attention' to chicago violence when chicagoans have drawn attention to it already? how about because chicagoans have drawn attention to it already? 'drawing attention' only means something to a point, then it just becomes this frozen trope about chicago violence. in the long view, sociology has 'drawn attention' to chicago violence for a hundred years but nothing's changed in that time
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 22:18 (eight years ago) link
so lemme get this straight - only people who are from the communities they wanna talk about have any business at all talking about at all in any way about those communities under any circumstances
hmm, d-40, hmmmm
― tremendous crime wave and killing wave (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Wednesday, 25 November 2015 22:52 (eight years ago) link
When did I say that?
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 00:28 (eight years ago) link
I just think the notion that Chicagoans should obsequiously appreciate spike for "drawing attention" to the problems there is facile--like StillAdvance said, chief keef did that three years ago, the question now is what he does w that and I don't think it's wrong for Chicagoans to be wary!
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 00:30 (eight years ago) link
i guess it depends if spike is merely 'drawing attention' to it, or saying something more than 'hey theres this pretty tragic wave of violence going on in chicago right now guys', which i imagine he is, cos this doesnt look like a typical 'message'/'bad things that are happening in american inner cities!' type of movie. im sure chicagoans have a right to be wary, but there have been other films/docus on it too, like the interrupters, so its not like there havent been other screen representations of it already.
― StillAdvance, Thursday, 26 November 2015 00:55 (eight years ago) link
There is no way Chicago ends up liking this movie. The rest of the world will probably actually learn a lot because of it, though. I suspect if you're in Chicago it's very easy to count up various noble and probably better efforts to raise awareness, but this is a Spike Lee Joint, this is going to be seen by a shitload of people who haven't had exposure to this yet.
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:10 (eight years ago) link
idk, once chief keef has addressed something you've probably reached maximum media saturation
― balls, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:13 (eight years ago) link
crooklyn is such a wonderful movie. i think it must be my fave of his. this one looks pretty bad. if he did a movie called illadelph about the life of cool c and steady b i would totally go see that.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:28 (eight years ago) link
wait, you guys heard that terrible song from this movie, right?
this terrible one:
http://theconcourse.deadspin.com/this-terrible-new-song-from-spike-lees-chi-raq-cant-pos-1741795557
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:30 (eight years ago) link
haha wow what the oh my god that is horrendous
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:33 (eight years ago) link
man if you told me a decade ago "don't worry, the idea of music will be destroyed in 2015, by a man named Kevon Carter" I would look at you like you were talking nonsense, but here we are!
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:36 (eight years ago) link
― El Tomboto, Wednesday, November 25, 2015 7:10 PM (46 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
It's not a doc tho, it's extremely fanciful...like its reaching for something more universal and just using the chiraq mythos as like a setting
And contra balls Chicago has been synonymous w "black on black crime" in the national media basically since keef blew up three years ago, moreso than other cities w/ the exact same issues
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 01:59 (eight years ago) link
Like is there any human in the western world right now that DOESNT associate Chicago w violence ?
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:00 (eight years ago) link
i don't. windy. oprah. that's about it.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:05 (eight years ago) link
and big fat pizza pies.
hot dogs with stuff
― El Tomboto, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:08 (eight years ago) link
da bears
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:10 (eight years ago) link
jimmy butler
― balls, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:14 (eight years ago) link
i have heard tales about the infamous plastic crimewave syndicate in chicago...or "The 'Cago" as the natives call it.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:16 (eight years ago) link
from wbez in chicago it's this american life i'm ira glass each week we bring you little stories or some shit
― balls, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:17 (eight years ago) link
deej is right though, before chief keef nobody had even heard of chicago and now that chief keef has weighed in there is nothing more that could be said about chicago
― balls, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:18 (eight years ago) link
i went there once. ate a big fat pizza. watched barney kessel and herb ellis play two sets at rick's cafe. it was chill.
― scott seward, Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:25 (eight years ago) link
IRL Spike Lee movie (feat. Brian Dennehey & Giancarlo Esposito):
https://twitter.com/BauerJournalism/status/669684294164594688
― my harp and me (Eazy), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:27 (eight years ago) link
Exciting to watch balls argue w things no one says, what is this 12 years on
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:36 (eight years ago) link
Every conservative politician in America over the past three years used Chicago as a byword for black on black crime cmon
This isn't even the first movie CALLED chiraq made in the past three years
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:37 (eight years ago) link
I'm not even saying the movie is bad just that "but it's drawing attention to these problems" is not just a low bar but a completely redundant one
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:38 (eight years ago) link
tell us what you didn't like about the movie, deej
― k3vin k., Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:39 (eight years ago) link
I haven't seen the film yet! And I was responding to other people who also have not yet seen the film but were responding to other people's wariness about seeing the film.
― Listen to my homeboy Fantano (D-40), Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:41 (eight years ago) link
seems like the best thing to do would be to see the movie
― k3vin k., Thursday, 26 November 2015 02:45 (eight years ago) link
does this speak at all to how people's attitudes towards ~art~ have changed in the, what, 25 years since do the right thing came out? or is it just a he's-not-from-round-here sentiment?
― thwomp (thomp), Thursday, 26 November 2015 03:25 (eight years ago) link
I mean no one to me knowledge says or said 'it's annoying that this film exists because, you know, we already know about inner city racial tension'
― thwomp (thomp), Thursday, 26 November 2015 03:27 (eight years ago) link
*my
looks awesome
― flappy bird, Thursday, 26 November 2015 03:27 (eight years ago) link
i'm curious how the reaction to this film compares to the reaction to 'the warriors'--another film that took the complex real-life problem of gang violence and turned it in a hyper-stylized retelling of a Classical narrative (well, one is a comedy, the other an epic).
from today's perspective it's almost impossible to think of 'The warriors' as 'topical' in any real sense. it seems to exist in a world of its own. i doubt that lee's film will be so thoroughly abstract (for worse and definitely for better, lee has never had an interest in that kind of discipline).
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 26 November 2015 05:08 (eight years ago) link
distance also tends to dilute outrage in ways that aren't entirely predictable rational. whenever i see or hear about a holocaust melodrama, i always get an icky feeling, like it's necessarily exploitative and tacky, whatever the approach. but i don't have the same reaction to films about wars of antiquity, nor am i always repulsed from true-crime narratives.
i guess what i'm saying is that it's interesting that some seem to object to lee's film simply for existing -- for taking a real-life tragedy and making it into art, or at least art that doesn't stay within the narrow bounds of a sympathetic 'regretful' humanism.
― wizzz! (amateurist), Thursday, 26 November 2015 05:12 (eight years ago) link