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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 12, 2020 14:48:51 GMT
Might as well get the ball rolling. I won't say too much because I want to let it marinate a bit but I will say this.
GIVE DELROY LINDO HIS FUCKING OSCAR
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Post by TerryMontana on Jun 12, 2020 15:19:42 GMT
90 Tomatometer 82 Metacritic 6.6 Imdb
Few ratings atm.
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Post by pupdurcs on Jun 12, 2020 15:23:47 GMT
90 Tomatometer 82 Metacritic 6.6 Imdb Few ratings atm. The IMDB rating is the least surprising thing in the world Why people still use it as a measure of anything is beyond me. It's always had such a strong racist contingent in it's voting patterns.
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Post by sterlingarcher86 on Jun 12, 2020 15:41:31 GMT
I won’t get to see it for a bit. Can anybody tell me how Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock are in it? Big Wire fan over here and hoping maybe one of them can sneak in alongside Lindo.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 12, 2020 15:57:01 GMT
This movie is one of those where setting is everything - like Lynch's Mulholland Drive - things that didn't make sense in other Lee films make perfect sense here or you cut them more slack. The movie starts like a sort of retread of Last Vegas with a device that is a Spike Lee special that at first annoys like hell but later does not: The stopping of the film to insert photos of real life people when they are mentioned (if someone refers to Aretha Franklin - a picture......refer to Crispus Attuck - a picture). That device rings false but sometimes in how it's edited - rapid fire, like a military gun - it works gangbusters. There is a back to back sequence that not only saves the film - it puts it on the right track: the MLK scene and the PTSD scene that will rival anything else this year I'm guessing. In between there's his usual BS mumbo jumbo - awkward dialog right out of Blackkklansaman like discussing "fugazi Rambo" (fugazi dialog is more like it) and things like that - a trite Trump visual joke during the drawn out finale........this movie is also too long and could have used less characters and a tighter focus Still enough works that the movie works and Lindo is nothing short of remarkable in this - the way he shakes to suggest his PTSD raging in him always and his performance has not only a musicality in it, his performance becomes literally song in an unforgettable scene here .....and he's (by far) the best written character......it's an Oscar worthy turn.....performance of his life. ~7/10
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BlackCaesar21
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You're barking up the wrong acorn!
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Post by BlackCaesar21 on Jun 12, 2020 15:58:31 GMT
Delroy got the best performance of the year so far. Damn, Spike Lee never makes a boring film, I'll give him that (maybe Oldboy).
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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 12, 2020 17:05:15 GMT
I won’t get to see it for a bit. Can anybody tell me how Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock are in it? Big Wire fan over here and hoping maybe one of them can sneak in alongside Lindo. Peters is actually #2 in the cast for me, he's very very good, could see him possibly making it in. Whitlock is good too but I'd say he's comfortably behind Majors, Peters and probably even Boseman, in terms of Oscar chances.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Jun 12, 2020 19:10:43 GMT
So I quite liked this overall. Could have probably been cut down a little but it didn’t drag too much. All the Lindo praise is well deserved. Obviously a lot more to (hopefully) come out this year but he’s certainly the early frontrunner for supporting (?) actor. Really liked Peters quite a bit as well.
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Post by mattfincher on Jun 12, 2020 21:40:20 GMT
90 Tomatometer 82 Metacritic 6.6 Imdb Few ratings atm. Using an IMDB score as a metric for a film by Spike Lee with an all-black cast that bashes Trump is about as useful as walking outside without a mask right now and grabbing hold of everyone you pass. As for the film, it's very good. Lindo is extraordinary and there's no way in hell he's supporting (way more of a lead than even Ali, Pitt, or Waltz). But we all know how these things go, so who's to say where he'll be campaigned.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 12, 2020 21:44:46 GMT
90 Tomatometer 82 Metacritic 6.6 Imdb Few ratings atm. and there's no way in hell he's supporting (way more of a lead than even Ali, Pitt, or Waltz). But we all know how these things go, so who's to say where he'll be campaigned. I lost track of how much the film goes on after he leaves it so maybe that will be part of it since it doesn't seem like a BA performance but a BSA......definitely ...................... I didn't really like the Trump shots in the finale because it seemed like low hanging fruit and that finale really seemed to take a lot of screen time too imo..........but yeah while he's in the movie........he's lead
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Post by mattfincher on Jun 12, 2020 21:48:42 GMT
and there's no way in hell he's supporting (way more of a lead than even Ali, Pitt, or Waltz). But we all know how these things go, so who's to say where he'll be campaigned. I lost track of how much the film goes on after he leaves it so maybe that will be part of it since it doesn't seem like a BA performance but a BSA......definitely ...................... I didn't really like the Trump shots in the finale because it seemed like low hanging fruit and that finale really seemed to take a lot of screen time too imo..........but yeah while he's in the movie........he's lead The film has exactly 15 minutes that goes on after he dies not counting credits. And he still gets an intercut monologue after he dies. I dunno, that's not nearly enough time in a 2.5 hour movie where he's given primary focus for at least half of it. I don't see how someone can claim fraud towards Ali, Waltz, or Pitt, and think this is a supporting performance. Who is he supporting?!?
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thomasjerome
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Post by thomasjerome on Jun 12, 2020 22:21:11 GMT
This was great, I'd say even one of Spike's bests? I always liked Lindo; he's doing so much with little he's given in "Get Shorty", "Cider House Rules" and others. He leaves an impression even in stuff like "Romeo Must Die". So I'm really happy to see he finally got such a terrific part.
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The-Havok
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Post by The-Havok on Jun 12, 2020 23:51:18 GMT
Some of my peeps are already seeing it and looks absolutely terrible
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Post by stephen on Jun 13, 2020 1:33:36 GMT
I think in terms of directorial flourish, it’s definitely one of Spike’s most dynamic films. And at its core, it’s a cracking good send-up of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Problem is, as is usually the case with Spike, there’s a lot he’s trying to cram in and not nearly enough screentime to do it in. My biggest issue with it is how Norm Lewis and Isiah Whitlock, Jr.’s characters are minimized to mere background presences—I think if all four Bloods had been given the focus and care that Delroy Lindo and even (to a much lesser extent) Clarke Peters’s roles are, it would’ve been a richer experience. And that’s not even getting into Jonathan Majors’s storyline.
Lindo deserves all the plaudits he’s been getting, but it’s largely because he’s really the only actor given enough meat to really sell it—oh, but sell it he does. Rage, paranoia, grief: he runs the gamut and makes one hell of an awards sizzle reel. Really, he could make a leading run if Netflix had the balls. But it’s because Lindo dominates the film so thoroughly that it exposes the weaknesses of the film around him by sidelining everyone else.
The craft surrounding the movie is impeccable, and I thought Spike got one over on a certain other legendary director in his usage of older actors playing their younger selves (although what the fuck was that final snapshot image of the squad, Spike?! A CGI de-aging test that snuck into the final product?). It’s just that the script keeps it from true greatness, and that’s largely because it feels built around one character rather than the five in its title.
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Post by Viced on Jun 13, 2020 3:07:31 GMT
Pretty underwhelming, unfortunately... and at least 20 minutes too long. First of all, this is one of the most ridiculously plotted movies of all time. Going back to Vietnam to find lost gold? Lol. And miraculously finding the lost gold while barely even trying to look for it... while taking a dump.... double LOL. And Eddie randomly turning into a maniac and slowly walking backwards was so fucking random and it was so obvious what was gonna happen to him. And wtf did they do with Norman's body once they dug it up? The flashbacks were very awkward too. The first one felt like Call of Duty gameplay, the rest with Chadwick Boseman being a mentor to a bunch of old dudes was 1000x weirder than Pesci calling De Niro "kid" in The Irishman. The only one that actually added to the film was Norman's death. And why'd they even need to meet with the evil Jean Reno before acquiring the gold? Easily could've been done afterwards, but I guess the plot needed to be turned into a shitshow. Spike obviously is saying a lot of interesting things here, I just wish it all came together more smoothly.
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dazed
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Post by dazed on Jun 13, 2020 4:25:44 GMT
Pretty underwhelming, unfortunately... and at least 20 minutes too long. First of all, this is one of the most ridiculously plotted movies of all time. Going back to Vietnam to find lost gold? Lol. And miraculously finding the lost gold while barely even trying to look for it... while taking a dump.... double LOL. And Eddie randomly turning into a maniac and slowly walking backwards was so fucking random and it was so obvious what was gonna happen to him. And wtf did they do with Norman's body once they dug it up? The flashbacks were very awkward too. The first one felt like Call of Duty gameplay, the rest with Chadwick Boseman being a mentor to a bunch of old dudes was 1000x weirder than Pesci calling De Niro "kid" in The Irishman. The only one that actually added to the film was Norman's death. And why'd they even need to meet with the evil Jean Reno before even acquiring the gold? Easily could've been done afterwards, but I guess the plot needed to be turned into a shitshow. But outside of that, a lot of it was still quite good and I don't want to bitch too much. Delroy Lindo was as great as everyone says (though I could've done without the scene of him talking to the camera for 10 minutes) and the rest of the cast is strong too. Spike obviously is saying a lot of interesting things here, I just wish it all came together more smoothly. 6.5/10This pretty much sums up my thoughts.
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Post by dadsburgers on Jun 13, 2020 4:41:10 GMT
Criticisms are fair but I really liked it. And what's more, my parents actually liked it too. I think that says something about Spike's accessibility even given the stunts he pulls and the messages he tells. I was waiting the whole movie for a land mine to go off, but once it did, holy shit was it effective. One of the most haunting death scenes I've seen in a while. Lindo definitely deserves an Oscar for this. I can see him getting put supporting, and I might forgive it for the sake of it being an ensemble piece (although he clearly emerges as the main character). If they push him supporting, I feel like the Oscar is his no question. In lead, other performances could come out on top later. The argument makes more sense here than for Viola in Fences, at least. I don't think another actor will get in; if one does, it should be Jonathan Majors.
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Post by mhynson27 on Jun 13, 2020 4:47:42 GMT
Jasper Pääkkönen is now 2/2 when it comes to getting blown up in Spike Lee movies.
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Post by DeepArcher on Jun 13, 2020 5:23:50 GMT
Delroy Lindo should be the first two words of any review written on this film, otherwise that review is wrong. Not just "as good as everyone says," which is true of course but sounds like it undersells the performance, Lindo's work is staggering, a truly astonishing portrait of PTSD both in the harrowing physicality and bare emotional honesty that he delivers. He has so many amazing moments starting most notably with that breathtaking scene on the boat, and he sustains that level of intensity, without ever overplaying it, in just about every scene from then on. Paul's crumbling psychological frailty reaches its climax when his years of pain and guilt and regret surface in heartbreaking soliloquy. Everyone else in the cast is good too, but no one is given a tenth of the weight or depth that Lindo has, which made everything not directly related to his character so much less interesting to me. Clarke Peters gets the next closest thing to a compelling arc, with the suggestion of a possible opioid addiction and a family reunion subplot that never manifest into the same emotionally cathartic ends that Lindo's arc has. Norm Lewis' character is given an interesting backstory that probably could've offered more drama for the character than it did; Spike gets one good "Sheeeeit" out of Isiah Whitlock which I guess justifies why he's there other than holding the metal detector; Jonathan Majors, who gave last year's best breakout performance in The Last Black Man in San Francisco, unfortunately gets sequestered in a romance subplot that goes literally nowhere.
The narrative may be unfocused, but there's still a lot to love here even beyond Lindo's performance, even if a lot of the film's weight falls unevenly on his shoulders. The minefield sequence is its most tense set-piece, and one of its most emotionally overwhelming moments, if not the most. There's a lot of great Spike touches spruced throughout here -- the inserting of photos of the referenced real-life figures, which works so well with the rhythm of the film that it's a sort of didactic gimmick that actually works really well; the framing of the film with archive footage at the film's bookends which sufficiently broadens the scope of how we think of the story in a way that feels logical and earned; lots of nice references, lines of dialogue, etc. and the "Hanoi Hannah" radio host character who kinda evokes the role of Mister Señor Love Daddy in DTRT in a way. Unfortunately, much of the centrally-focused narrative gets kinda wonky, with a lot of convoluted elements to the plotting that eventually just lost me as it got to the last act and for some reason felt the need to become an action movie in the last half-hour especially. I guess it's sort of Spike's send-up of the sort of Rambo movies that he also calls out, a sort of reclamation of that dishonest history rewriting that also imitates it to emphasize de-glorification -- with a great, notable use of overkill too -- but I don't know, I got tonal whiplash from how over-the-top some of it was, like the final dramatic shootout in particular, that whatever Spike was doing just didn't come together to me. Shoutout to Terrence Blanchard's stirring score -- Barry Alexander Brown is notably absent though, and while Adam Gough's editing is good and as I noted quite rhythmic too, this does sort of feel like the type of thing that wasn't entirely reined-in in the editing room, whether that's correlated to a different collaborator or not.
Still, it's my favorite film of the year so far, and at the rate things are going, I'm sure it will be for some time.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 13, 2020 5:48:53 GMT
It will be interesting to see how this film ages and holds up to rewatches - it's so timely it's almost uncanny and literally mentions police brutality at least twice (more?).......and aside from that so much of this movie is built on surprise moments that maybe won't hold up seeing again. Although that's where surprise moments become classic moments too.......
I liked it, I'm not sure how it would hold up to another view although the Bloods themselves are an ingratiating bunch which could go a long way in wanting to revisit it.......
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Post by pupdurcs on Jun 13, 2020 6:23:32 GMT
Fuuccck!
That was awesome!
A stone cold Masterpiece. The first one of this decade. Spike Lee just effectively gave cinema the most modern possible update of The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre, but in his own distinct and imitable style. It's every bit on the level of that film, but frankly a lot of people will never sit down and watch a black and white movie from 1948, no matter how many cinephiles sing it's praises, so Lee, himself a cinephile steeped in film lore and history has made something with the same DNA, that a much broader cross-section of audiences can relate to.
This, my friends is fucking cinema (ironic since, it's also Netflix, but I guess it shows that the medium cinema is delivered through is not the be all and end all). Very few filmmakers push the boundaries of the form as fearlessly as Lee. Here, his experimentation in terms of film stock, archive footage, inserts all add to the brilliance of the piece overall. I read a review that compared Lee's penchant for experimenting in film form with Jean Luc Godard. I can sort of agreee with that, and while it can be an issue for some, it's what makes Lee easily the most vital American film director working today. The one-two punch of BlackKKlansman and Da 5 Bloods has restored Lee right to the very top of the food chain in terms of the most important American filmmakers currently working. I know many people on this board think someone like Paul Thomas Anderson is "better" or more relevant, but most of those people would be dead wrong
One of the amazing things about this film was how long it was, but how quickly it seemed to pass. This film was close to the same length as The Irishman, an interminable bore of a film that was incredibly difficult to get through in one sitting. But the pacing on Da 5 Bloods was fantastic, and I barely felt the length. Lee being Lee has made not just a stunningly entertaining adventure film, but one with precise political and social relevance for our times.
Delory Lindo stands above the cast in terms of performances. His jittery, erratic and tortured Vietnam veteran is another in string of great performances Lee has directed. I feel this should compete in Best Actor, but it may well be pushed in Best Supporting Actor, as the category tends to be easier and a win would all but be ensured. I do think, especially because his film is so strong, Lindo could probably win over any competition in lead as well.
A lead push for Lindo, could open up potential supporting actor nominations for Clarke Peters or Jonathan Majors, who both had far less showy roles than Lindo, but gave wonderfully nuanced performances. My preference would be for Peters though.
I even think a Best Supporting Actress nod is very possible for Melanie Thierry if the Academy goes bananas for the film. She does very nice work as a determined Aid/Charity worker, and her character is fleshed out enough and has enough to do to merit a nod (especially in a world where Margot Robbie's performance in Once Upon A Time In Hollywood made waves in awards season).
This should do well across the board. Score, direction, screenplay, production design etc. A major work by a master. I think Lee might just possibly snag his first Best Director Oscar win for this. Your move David Fincher!
Anyway, this is a 9.5/10 for me.
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Post by pupdurcs on Jun 13, 2020 6:46:24 GMT
Delroy Lindo should be the first two words of any review written on this film, otherwise that review is wrong. I disagree. It's a great performance by Lindo (and hopefully he wins an Oscar) , but the movie itself is a staggering achievement by Lee. I think some people are actually underselling what Lee managed to pull off here. There's too much going on cinematically and in terms of film form, craft and ambition to boil it down to one performance in the ensemble, as good as it is. The amount of references Lee packs into the film, not just social and political, but in terms of film history means there is a lot to unpack. Terrence Blanchard's score is incredible as well.
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Post by DeepArcher on Jun 13, 2020 6:51:41 GMT
Delroy Lindo should be the first two words of any review written on this film, otherwise that review is wrong. I disagree. It's a great performance by Lindo (and hopefully he wins an Oscar) , but the movie itself is a staggering achievement by Lee. I think some people are actually underselling what Lee managed to pull off here. There's too much going on cinematically and in terms of film form, craft and ambition to boil it down to one performance in the ensemble, as good as it is. The amount of references Lee packs into the film, not just social and political, but in terms of film history means there is a lot to unpack. Terrence Blanchard's score is incredible as well. Just a deliberate hyperbole to emphasize how the performance stuck with me, lol. By no means meaning to devalue Spike, a filmmaker I love, who ya know directed that performance and insisted on Lindo's casting too so the performance is in part his achievement too.
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Post by pupdurcs on Jun 13, 2020 8:08:20 GMT
I disagree. It's a great performance by Lindo (and hopefully he wins an Oscar) , but the movie itself is a staggering achievement by Lee. I think some people are actually underselling what Lee managed to pull off here. There's too much going on cinematically and in terms of film form, craft and ambition to boil it down to one performance in the ensemble, as good as it is. The amount of references Lee packs into the film, not just social and political, but in terms of film history means there is a lot to unpack. Terrence Blanchard's score is incredible as well. Just a deliberate hyperbole to emphasize how the performance stuck with me, lol. By no means meaning to devalue Spike, a filmmaker I love, who ya know directed that performance and insisted on Lindo's casting too so the performance is in part his achievement too. Fair enough. I just love what Lee has done here. He's made a love letter to cinema (among other things), without being as literal about it as someone like Tarantino with Once Upon A Time In Hollywood.
Da 5 Bloods is such a dense piece. And it feels like the work of a young filmmaker in his prime, not a guy in his 60's nearly 35 years into his career.
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Post by pacinoyes on Jun 13, 2020 8:40:23 GMT
Cool behind the scenes stuff here with insights from Lee also:
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