Poll

Your Favorite Spike Lee Joint Is...

haven't seen any
0 (0%)
don't like any
0 (0%)
other
0 (0%)
Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads
0 (0%)
She's Gotta Have It
0 (0%)
School Daze
0 (0%)
Do the Right Thing
11 (61.1%)
Mo' Better Blues
0 (0%)
Jungle Fever
0 (0%)
Malcom X
1 (5.6%)
Crooklyn
0 (0%)
Clockers
0 (0%)
Girl 6
0 (0%)
Get on the Bus
0 (0%)
4 Little Girls
0 (0%)
He Got Game
0 (0%)
Summer of Sam
0 (0%)
The Original Kings of Comedy
0 (0%)
Bamboozled
0 (0%)
25th Hour
4 (22.2%)
She Hate Me
0 (0%)
Inside Man
0 (0%)
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
0 (0%)
Miracle at St. Anna
0 (0%)
Passing Strange
0 (0%)
Red Hook Summer
0 (0%)
Bad 25
0 (0%)
Oldboy
1 (5.6%)
Da Sweet Blood of Jesus
0 (0%)
Chi-Raq
0 (0%)
BlacKkKlansman
1 (5.6%)
Da 5 Bloods
0 (0%)
American Utopia
0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 18

Author Topic: Lee, Spike  (Read 14971 times)

sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #20 on: May 02, 2008, 02:59:51 PM »
You can define the words that way if you like.
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roujin

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #21 on: May 02, 2008, 03:06:26 PM »
I, personally, don't see the difference between "Director's Best" and "favorite."

edgar00

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #22 on: May 02, 2008, 03:11:32 PM »
This poll has the same problem so many polls here do. The title of this thread is "director's best", but the poll itself says "favorite". Those are totally different things. Do the Right Things is definitely Spike Lee's most important and influential film. But I'm not all that interested in owning a copy and watching it repeatedly. Other films of his are more (to me) enjoyable to watch.

I don't think that really matters in this particular case. I think people have been voting for whatever film they liked 'best', hence their 'favorite' They're meant to be somewhat synonymous  throughout these polls.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2008, 03:13:15 PM by edgarchaput »
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zarodinu

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #23 on: May 02, 2008, 05:42:54 PM »
Spike Lee made ONE good film in his whole life.  Do the Right Thing.  The rest is either junk or racebaiting junk.  Malcolm X is one of those movies like Ghandi that everybody pretends to like because its 'important'.   I hated that film, and most of his other stuff.  Even Do the Right Thing is one of those movies that I like despite its nasty political tone, like Birth of a Nation.

He is a mediocre commercial director who is pretending he can make serious cinema.  Inside Man is him in his element, a fun Heist movie and nothing more.
« Last Edit: May 02, 2008, 05:49:12 PM by zarodinu »
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Wowser

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #24 on: May 02, 2008, 06:55:40 PM »
Do The Right Thing is a great film because of its 'nasty political tone'. Without all that, it'd be some sentimental piece of shit.

zarodinu

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #25 on: May 02, 2008, 07:39:25 PM »
Its inseparable from the film, but it leaves an unpleasant feeling.  Overall the movie is much more Malcolm X than MLK.
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edgar00

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #26 on: May 02, 2008, 09:21:21 PM »
Spike Lee made ONE good film in his whole life.  Do the Right Thing.  The rest is either junk or racebaiting junk.  Malcolm X is one of those movies like Ghandi that everybody pretends to like because its 'important'.   I hated that film, and most of his other stuff.  Even Do the Right Thing is one of those movies that I like despite its nasty political tone, like Birth of a Nation.

He is a mediocre commercial director who is pretending he can make serious cinema.  Inside Man is him in his element, a fun Heist movie and nothing more.

It'S nice to see someone with strong opinions every once in while. It adds a bit of spice to the debate.  ;)

Having said that, I will have to defend Lee on this one. I think a lot of his movies have interesting characters. He often tries to tell somewhat familiar tales but through different eyes. Being one of the few well known African American filmmakers, race plays a essential role in many of his tales. He puts a different perspective on certain issues, opens up a new window. Is he successful on every occasion? No, no one is on the mark every time. But does his body of work hold some value? I would be inclined to think so.
So while you're perfectly entitled to call it 'junk or racebaiting junk', I'm going to politely disagree with you on that one.
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zarodinu

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #27 on: May 02, 2008, 11:09:20 PM »
Having said that, I will have to defend Lee on this one. I think a lot of his movies have interesting characters. He often tries to tell somewhat familiar tales but through different eyes. Being one of the few well known African American filmmakers, race plays a essential role in many of his tales. He puts a different perspective on certain issues, opens up a new window.

See that is where I disagree with you.  I have no problem with being exposed to different perspectives or having my beliefs challenged by a film.  What Spike Lee does is not that though, he is race baiting.  He uses race as a tool to shock and offend, all his personal movies are about race and racism and all his mainstream movies have some distracting subplot about race.  His politics are stuck in the 1960's with one leg in a multicultural democracy and another in black supremacy and separatism.  I liked the way he showed that in DtRT, but he went from exploring the subject to exploiting it a long time ago.  No white filmaker with that kind of political sentiment would ever get work in Hollywood, Lee gets a free pass for the reason you mentioned.  Even the way he calls his movies joints is dishonest; he pretends to make 'black' movies byt here he is perpetuating a negative stereotype.

As for his body of work...   He made one good film.  Besides that one, his best films are 25th Hour and Inside Man BECAUSE those are not personal films.  The producers forced him to tone down the race baiting and make good films.  Hence I think that he is in his element when making mainsream films.

just my 2c 
« Last Edit: May 02, 2008, 11:13:13 PM by zarodinu »
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sdedalus

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #28 on: May 02, 2008, 11:32:24 PM »
I don't recognize Spike Lee's films in any of the things you are saying.
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zarodinu

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Re: Directors Best Poll - Spike Lee
« Reply #29 on: May 03, 2008, 01:01:27 AM »
I don't recognize Spike Lee's films in any of the things you are saying.

How would you summarize the overall message of Do the Right Thing?  What does the hero (played by Spike) do in the end?  This is a nonspoiler forum so I will leave it at that.   

         
I’ve lied to men who wear belts. I’ve lied to men who wear suspenders. But I’d never be so stupid as to lie to a man who wears both a belt and suspenders.