why does spike get so much hate?
Mostly because of the way he is. He comes off as an unforgiving a$$hole and that doesn't sit right with people. I don't know or care about his personality, the man's a good filmmaker when he's on. He has a distinct personality behind the camera and I can respect that. Malcolm X is one of the best biopics to ever be filmed. I didn't really like Do The Right Thing but that's because I'm biased against Spike Lee the actor.
I'm just so glad he stopped putting himself in his movies. If it were just small shyt I wouldn't have even minded that but to cast yourself as Malcolm's best friend when you are a genuinely awful actor is just terrible decision making to me.
As for Chi-raq. You might've heard it was bad from people who didn't see the movie or refused to see it because 'it doesn't reflect the real Chi-raq' and wanted it to be a documentary. That's all I saw. Or people who saw it and didn't really get it. I personally loved the movie and thought it was his best in years.
Now mind you, the shyt was all over the place but it was still enjoyable as hell. The things that people typically liked about the movie didn't resonate with me though.
- John Cusack was alright but nothing to write home about.
- Jennifer Hudson was terrible. Like just flat out awful and the film could've done without her really.
- The mayor was a bit too over-the-top even for the tone of this film.
- And I could've done without Sam Jackson as Dolomedes but he wasn't outright bad. Just a bit superfluous.
- Wesley Snipes should've played it a bit more straight.
The good things about it:
- The two leads. Both Nick Cannon and Teyonnah Parris surprised me in this movie. Nick Cannon surprised me because I am the first person to hate on the dude for being corny. There's probably even a few posts on here about it. But he played the hell out of his role without sliding into his Drumline tough kid face. He came close but avoided it.
- Teyonnah Parris is leading woman material. She should and needs to get more work after this. She deserves to have her name be known.
- The direction of this movie and the style of it was just plain fun. The hard tonal shifts really play on you. It's very obviously a Spike Lee Joint.
- The story, although all over the place as I mentioned, still works. It doesn't offer up depriving young men of sex as a permanent or even viable solution to ending violence. Examples are given in the end of things that could help in a scene I thought was ridiculous but I still ended up liking.
All in all, I would recommend watching it at least once.