Posted by oohah:
spike lee has not made a good movie in over 15 years. yet he continues to direct movies, get his movies produced, and can afford 2 court-side seats. how?
Are you stating or asking?
oohah
If you are suggesting that 'Do the Right Thing' was his last "good" movie than I think you are in the minority. However, his films have not made a splash at the box office in some time so he has actually had some problems getting his movies produced (i.e. She Hate Me). I suspect that may be why he's going with a somewhat more "Hollywood" (mainstream) film for his next picture, 'Inside Man' about a bank robbery gone awry:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0454848/
which has a few big stars in it, like Clive Owen, Jodie Foster and includes the return of Denzel Washington to a Spike Lee movie. Spike was actually set to direct a movie called 'The Night Watchman' starring Keaneu Reeves, but dropped out as director to make 'Inside Man' instead.
I happen to think nearly all of his films are interesting in some way, but don't fit the typical Hollywood format of pure 'entertainment.' Spike takes a more artistic approach to film making, clearly believes sending a message in his work is important, and often his highly stylized direction does not work for the average film goer who likes Hollywood blockbusters.
His movies are more similar to foriegn film that does not appeal to most mainstream American film goers. 'She Hate Me,' while flawed, had some interesting ideas within it and kept my interest througout, '25th Hour' was a strong drama, where I liked the way he tied in some post-9/11 NYC issues into the story. 'Bamboozled' was one of the most ambitious, in-your-face, approaches to the kind of racism that exists in America today that we've seen in contemporary film. 'Summer of Sam,' which I didn't love upon first viewing, is one that grows on you (this was also the film which gave Adrian Brody serious attention, and a chance at other bigger roles) and 'He Got Game' was a very poignent take on the realities of the High School/College/NBA recruitment process.
I could go on forever, but his other films like, '4 Little Girls' (the documentary about 4 young black girls killed in the 1960's by racists who blew up a Birmingham, Alabama church) and 'Get on the Bus' are very worthwhile movies, and I'm surprised some of you don't like his 3 more mainstream films from before that, 'Clockers,' 'Crooklyn' and the long but powerful 'Malcom X' which I don't quite understand why oohah, thinks was "butchered" since it's pretty darn close to what was written in his Autobiography.
Of course, film taste is subjective, but there still are fans out there, like me, who check for Spike's work, and I frankly admire him for not pulling any punches when making movies, when most of Hollywood is not interested in really confronting contemporary issues without giving us a "happy ending." (Fortunately this year we saw a much stronger group of somewhat independent Hollywood films get made and do pretty well, i.e. 'The Constant Gardener,' 'Goodnight & Goodluck,' 'Syriana' & 'Brokeback Mountain' and to a lesser extent 'North Country' all of which focus on or relate to issues that we face in our world today with some grit). In terms of box office draw, Woody Allen's very recent films also have not done well in the U.S. (although I like most of them less, with some exceptions) but they sell in Europe (although his 2 new films with Scarlett Johansen may do better...'Match Point' was just nominated a Golden Globe for best drama, btw). America is not the only market in the world for movies, and some directors like Spike and Woody do better outside of the U.S.
Forum Po Po and #33 for a reason...
12/13/2005 6:03 PM
. Just look on the Pauly Shore shelf of your personal video collection
.
The others...I can live without