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I tried getting an old girlfriend of mine to watch this movie. We get like 20 minutes into it "ugh is this all about racism  " dammit girl just watch the movie jeez 
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Feb 21, 2015 05:31
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| # ? Apr 26, 2024 18:22 |
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Raxivace posted:You're missing out on one of the greatest films of all time then. sorry, i only watch movies about animals who do funny stuff
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Feb 21, 2015 05:37
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GrrrlSweatshirt posted:sorry, i only watch movies about animals who do funny stuff Do you like dance numbers?
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Feb 21, 2015 05:42
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does a big friendly dog knock over someone while running after a ball in this movie
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Feb 21, 2015 05:42
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Raxivace posted:Do you like dance numbers? only w/ cgi characters
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Feb 21, 2015 05:42
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WTF this movie isn't on Netflix anymore
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Feb 21, 2015 05:44
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Lutha Mahtin posted:WTF this movie isn't on Netflix anymore This is the one problem. It was on Netflix for awhile, which is how I first watched it; it's no longer on there, but it's still worth buying/renting/whatever, because it's so ridiculously good.
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Feb 21, 2015 09:30
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You can actually get it for cheap from YouTube's streaming service. It's about $4 Canadian to rent it in regular definition.
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Feb 23, 2015 23:31
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I watched this one a few years back and I mainly found it disturbing when it was all said and done. The structure and the way things play out were increasingly incendiary until the point of death. So many of the characters are crazy racists screaming at one another and flying off the handle about all kinds of topics. It highlights some of the worst of the US and humanity in general. It's the antithesis of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32l3sTFRFX8 Gummo, Titicut Follies and Bamboozled are some others that evoked the same kind of feelings. Alan Smithee posted:Was Mookie justified in thinking Sal had designs on his sister? Was Sal justified in smashing Radio Raheem's radio to smithereens? Was Radio Raheem justified in attempting to strangle Sal? Basically, "Was X character justified in doing Y action?" the answer is usually no. Quovak posted:Would it make sense to put a blanket spoiler warning on the thread? It's really awkward to discuss this kind of thing when half the post is hidden in black bars. I think so. Traditionally the MOTM thread has been a spoiler zone. Lutha Mahtin posted:WTF this movie isn't on Netflix anymore It's showing up for me or do you mean on instant?
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Feb 26, 2015 01:16
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People still use Netflix for the discs? I just automatically assume if someone's saying "Netflix" they mean the streaming service.
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Feb 26, 2015 14:11
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Some other thoughts: It's often been said that this was robbed in 1989 at the Academy Awards (and also that this is reason to malign the Academy for the past, present and future but that's another issue I suppose) but I was always puzzled by that because this one feels so far from something that'd win best picture or even be nominated. It seems like something more likely to win most frightening picture of the year to the average academy voter. Create a perfect gem quality film covering these issues and it'd still seem way too raw and contemporary for pensioners to get behind. Driving Miss Daisy is like the perfect yin yang to this one that year. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xo52VywZve0 -I knew Ossie Davis was a good actor when I saw him play JFK in Bubba Ho-Tep. That should've won an award. Maybe it did. -Also, when it comes to racism on film the first segment from Twilight Zone: The Movie called "Time Out" sticks out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5tItxKucwQ After that he meets some Nazis, KKK members and the US military. Bown posted:People still use Netflix for the discs? I just automatically assume if someone's saying "Netflix" they mean the streaming service. Last I read millions of people still do.
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Feb 27, 2015 03:03
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This movie's sad yo.
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Mar 1, 2015 04:57
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I'll be the first person to say I thought the movie was weak. Most of the main cast were one-dimensional. There was Angry Black Man, Overtly Racist Italian, Confrontational Black Man, Wise Black Woman, Pestering Girlfriend, Stuck-in-the-Middle Protagonist, et al. The only characters who had any dimension outside of the stereotypes were Italian with Temper and Mookie (at least in the final scene). Other than that the whole movie was about simplified cliches interacting with each other in predictable ways and ending with expected results. The whole thing seemed totally uninspired. Especially the "atmospheric" tension Lee tried to promote by continually beating his audience over the head with "IT SURE IS HOT OUT HERE TODAY". Tension comes from subtly, not repeating the same phrase once every 15 minutes. And Lee's performance as Mookie was frankly quite bad. Up until this thread I was convinced the only reason people even claim to like this film is because it makes white people feel good to learn about the Black Man's struggle in America. 90% of the movie is shallow, and I don't think the remaining 10% can make up for that.
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Mar 4, 2015 15:28
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Killed a Girl in 96 posted:Most of the main cast were one-dimensional. There was Angry Black Man, Overtly Racist Italian, Confrontational Black Man, Wise Black Woman, Pestering Girlfriend, Stuck-in-the-Middle Protagonist, et al. Who did you perceive as the "angry black man"? I would guess Buggin Out, but then who's the confrontational one? I hope you aren't referring to Raheem! Sal isn't really "overtly racist". At least, if that's all you got from his character, I think you missed a lot of nuance. Sure, he shouts racial slurs at the end of an insanely tense day, but look at the conversation with his sons: He loves the neighborhood and is proud that its residents grew up on his pizza. He gives Mookie way more chances than he deserves. He and Mookie come close to understanding each other in the end. Sal definitely views people through a somewhat racist lens, but he's not a straw man who hates black people and wants to smash radios all day. A bunch of the characters are actively unstereotypical. Da Mayor seems to want to be played by Morgan Freeman so he can assure the audience that everything will be fine if we act like adults, but his actual role in the film and reception by other characters is nothing like that. As for "wise black woman", is any wise character in a film worth brushing off as stereotypical? Would a wise white woman also fit the bill? Killed a Girl in 96 posted:Other than that the whole movie was about simplified cliches interacting with each other in predictable ways and ending with expected results. It kind of shocks me that you think the result is expected. Raheem is killed for, at worst, being inconsiderate about playing music, Sal loses his business because, at worst, he had some racist attitudes and couldn't see eye to eye with Buggin Out, the Koreans are almost attacked for nothing, and the community will never be paid back and your reaction is "yawn, how banal"? You seem to be saying that community-shattering violence is the expected outcome whenever "stereotypical" members of different races interact with any degree of empathy gap. Was it shockingly unexpected when Driving Miss Daisy didn't go there? If anything, the film shows pretty convincingly that extremely minor actions can build into something huge very easily, because the background radiation of our lives is so charged in itself, but in ways we don't always see. Doesn't Lee deserve credit for showing you that, at some level, you "expect" a black man to be killed in front of his friends because he looked intimidating and played music too loud? That you find it obvious and inevitable that anyone who isn't perfectly egalitarian will end up shouting racial slurs in someone's face? Killed a Girl in 96 posted:Up until this thread I was convinced the only reason people even claim to like this film is because it makes white people feel good to learn about the Black Man's struggle in America. I don't think that's even close to what the film is about. The black characters aren't righteous victims of an evil society. They harbor their own prejudiced view toward the Koreans, Buggin Out harasses a white resident and makes the neighborhood more hostile for him, many of the black characters are alienated from each other's concerns, etc. The film goes out of its way to be vastly more than "angry black guys v. racists" or "white people suck: the film". I would strongly recommend you rewatch the film with more of an open mind. You might still dislike it, which is fine, but it feels like you missed a lot of what the film tries to do.
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Mar 4, 2015 17:28
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I'm guessing 'Overtly Racist Italian' refers to John Turturro's character, not Sal.
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Mar 5, 2015 09:59
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The only weak part of the film was Mookie and Tina's sex scene; out of place, awkward, mom-in-the-next-room fuckin'. Sex scenes in movies are rarely, if ever, done well though, I forgive Spike Lee for writing himself an opportunity to trace a line up Rosie Perez's body with his tongue.
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Mar 5, 2015 10:45
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Quad posted:The only weak part of the film was Mookie and Tina's sex scene; out of place, awkward, mom-in-the-next-room fuckin'. Which, according to Rosie Perez, was shot from the neck down because off camera she was crying.
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Mar 5, 2015 13:57
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Characterizing Mother Sister as a Wise Black Woman is also underselling the complexity of her role. She may have the appearance of being wise and certainly positions herself that way on the perch, but she's actively offering advice to destabilize the system. She encourages Mookie to work as little as possible and constantly rebuffs the well-meaning Da Mayor partly because he has "bought in" in her perception. This is to say nothing of her actions at the end when she is screaming for the place to burn down louder than anyone else in the mob. Her "wiseness" is called into question the very next morning when she's seen presiding over Da Mayor with sadness over what she devolved into last night. If there's anything Do the Right Thing does well, it's show how these people are more than their stereotypes like "Wise Black Woman" or "Angry Black Man". Heck, the saddest line in the movie for me is when the "Angry Black Man" Radio Raheem is leaning against a wall with Buggin' Out and weakly says, "He told me to turn down my tunes and didn't even say please." He's willing to correct his behavior, he just wants someone to be considerate about it.
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Mar 5, 2015 15:09
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Quad posted:The only weak part of the film was Mookie and Tina's sex scene; out of place, awkward, mom-in-the-next-room fuckin'. Agreed. I love this movie, but I tend to skip this bit.
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Mar 5, 2015 23:38
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Icon-Cat posted:Agreed. I love this movie, but I tend to skip this bit. "Thank god for the fast-forward button."
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Mar 6, 2015 00:43
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sex is so disgusting. it should be illegal to show sex in movies
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Mar 6, 2015 01:37
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Awkward sex scenes where you know the actress was crying off-camera are not palatable to some.
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Mar 6, 2015 01:41
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It's not even knowing Perez's feelings that bugs me. It's just tacked-on, out of place. It feels barely more motivated than that sex scene Scorsese's producer or distributor or whoever made him put in after-the-fact in his first movie. I grant you that Do The Right Thing is hardly the film to complain about scenes that don't move the core story forward, but.
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Mar 6, 2015 01:52
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It was powerful back in the day. My favorite memory was from film critics saying the movie would cause massive rioting after black people would watch it. 3 years later, it was the Rodney King verdict that actually started the LA riots. Lesson learned: real life, not movies, get people upset. When Sam Jackson told everyone to vote, the election coming up put David Dinkens in the mayor's mansion. Giuliani was waiting in the wings and things just got worse (look up the phrase "its Giuliani time"). Spike admitted on Oprah that Sal was in the right when it came to playing music and what pictures to put up. But what was shocking is that no one questioned whether someone's life was worth it. But look at how far we've come! To the guy whose girlfriend whined about it being about 'racism', she sounds like a bitch. No seriously...I hear a nasally valley girl voice with a Lena Dunham t-shirt when I picture it. I know, I know. I'm a racist.
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Mar 6, 2015 06:04
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Killed a Girl in 96 posted:Other than that the whole movie was about simplified cliches interacting with each other in predictable ways and ending with expected results. You predicted the the police would kill someone and the pizzeria would burn down? Quovak posted:Raheem is killed for, at worst, being inconsiderate about playing music... I thought that happened more directly because Raheem was strangling Sal on the floor. Quovak posted:If anything, the film shows pretty convincingly that extremely minor actions can build into something huge very easily, because the background radiation of our lives is so charged in itself, but in ways we don't always see. That's where this one seems to excel. The conflicts are pretty real in that they start off on some cursory issue and then veer sharply into race. Reminiscent of many things I've witnessed firsthand but also of many iconic moments that could be called "Do the Right Thing" moments: DTRT on the bus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4OnhnvczTk DTRT in the parking lot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqdCWpUmP-Y DTRT in the classroom: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUfFZ8z2IyU DTRT in the convenience store: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHx21vr624Y Do the Right Thing could have a sequel every year. Gimmedaroot posted:3 years later, it was the Rodney King verdict that actually started the LA riots. Lesson learned: real life, not movies, get people upset. Do the LA riots happen without the infamous recording? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SW1ZDIXiuS4 Gimmedaroot posted:To the guy whose girlfriend whined about it being about 'racism', she sounds like a bitch. No seriously...I hear a nasally valley girl voice with a Lena Dunham t-shirt when I picture it. I know, I know. I'm a racist. "Racism is alive and well!"
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Mar 8, 2015 00:14
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I graduated high school the year this came out, in a rural Oregon town. My high school had around 1100 students, 2 or 3 of whom were black, and maybe 50 were Hispanic. "lily white" I believe is the phrase. So when this movie came out, not only was I very young and relatively immature, but completely uncultured. I did not get this movie. At all. I'm much more educated and better travelled now, and I understand the point a lot better, but this whole thread, with those youtube links is an emotional rollercoaster because it's amazing how the movie is 100% as relevant today as it was then. It's easy to criticize the characters as one dimensional just as it's easy to do to real people who get beat down by the police or participate in a riot. After Ferguson, seeing the outpouring of racism on the internet not by random comments, but by people I know on Facebook was so saddening and cringe inducing. Such a huge amount of one dimensional judgment and victim blaming, I even at one point had to remind a friend of mine that he doesn't have to live in fear of traffic stops. As in, he needs to ask our one black friend who grew up in the projects of Oakland, what it's like to know that a) you can be stopped for no reason, b) that stop will suck a minimum half hour of your life away, c) it will happen all the time, and d) it might end in jail or even death if you do or say the wrong thing at any moment. Us white guys don't have to deal with that, at all. We get pulled over because we did something, we're treated with respect, and we're let go as soon as we get our ticket. It really is a different world for other races and we desperately need poignant movies like this to give us not just empathy, but the right kinds of empathy. Watching a white friend say poo poo like "when they act like criminals they get treated like criminals" and having to remind him that "no, even when they don't act like criminals THEY GET TREATED LIKE CRIMINALS". It sucks and we all have to work to fix it. Everybody. Sorry if this is too far off topic but these are the kinds of things this movie makes me think about.
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Mar 10, 2015 00:40
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I think that poo poo is exactly on topic. I bet several people thought Radio Raheem deserved his fate when they watched the film as well.
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Mar 10, 2015 04:48
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