Comments on: Happy Birthday, Spike! http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/03/18/happy-birthday-spike/ culture blogging for the good of the planet Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:51:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Ralph DeMarco http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/03/18/happy-birthday-spike/#comment-1305 Ralph DeMarco Tue, 20 Mar 2007 02:18:16 +0000 http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/03/18/happy-birthday-spike/#comment-1305 My favorite Spike Lee film is one of his least watched, Crooklyn. It might be because his sister co-wrote the screenplay, and the story is very auto-biographical. It's a tender, thoughtful, subtle film - all qualities that many of his other films lack. I also liked 25th Hour. But there are many recent films I've heard good things about - but have not yet seen. Sorry to say I am not a fan of his early films, including Do the Right Thing. I was very dissapointed with Malcolm X because it left out so many aspects of his life, so many interesting events -his debates with James Baldwin, his many visits to Africa, and it treated the Nation of Islam way too kindly methinks. And Malcom is presented as a cold, calculating leader - his warm human, frail human side is almost never shown. My favorite Spike Lee film is one of his least watched, Crooklyn. It might be because his sister co-wrote the screenplay, and the story is very auto-biographical. It’s a tender, thoughtful, subtle film - all qualities that many of his other films lack. I also liked 25th Hour. But there are many recent films I’ve heard good things about - but have not yet seen.

Sorry to say I am not a fan of his early films, including Do the Right Thing. I was very dissapointed with Malcolm X because it left out so many aspects of his life, so many interesting events -his debates with James Baldwin, his many visits to Africa, and it treated the Nation of Islam way too kindly methinks. And Malcom is presented as a cold, calculating leader - his warm human, frail human side is almost never shown.

]]> By: carl rahn griffith http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/03/18/happy-birthday-spike/#comment-1294 carl rahn griffith Mon, 19 Mar 2007 10:43:36 +0000 http://newcritics.com/blog1/2007/03/18/happy-birthday-spike/#comment-1294 happy birthday indeed - spike is one of my all-time favourite directors. when i was living in a recently post 9/11 new york i watched 25th hour pretty much every couple of days; i was going through a lot of personal issues at the time, in parallel to business pressures and the vibrancy of living/working in manhattan - the film became very significant to me, and still is, to this day ... ... although my wife is thankful that i don't feel obliged to watch it quite so frequently, nowadays, lol. happy birthday indeed - spike is one of my all-time favourite directors.

when i was living in a recently post 9/11 new york i watched 25th hour pretty much every couple of days; i was going through a lot of personal issues at the time, in parallel to business pressures and the vibrancy of living/working in manhattan - the film became very significant to me, and still is, to this day …

… although my wife is thankful that i don’t feel obliged to watch it quite so frequently, nowadays, lol.

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