Since I seem to have offended some the blue noses with yesterday's post. I will write a legitimate one with this here post. Something for you guys to think about...
Black Columnists Rap Rap Movie
Hustle & Flow received mostly positive reviews when it opened on Friday and was the second-highest grosser on a per-theater basis (behind Charlie and the Chocolate Factory), but the film is receiving decidedly mixed notices from African-American columnists. New York Daily News columnist Stanley Crouch calls it, "the latest update of blaxploitation and the most recent neo-minstrel development in black popular culture." He also expresses disappointment that the film was produced by John Singleton with support from Spike Lee and Will Smith. He writes: "This is not minor because all three of these men have previously remained removed from celebrating the sort of scum that this film -- and that the worst of the rap industry -- raises high from the dung heap of popular culture at its most irresponsible and dehumanizing." Wendi C. Thomas, writing in the Memphis Commercial Appeal (the film was shot in Memphis), writes that the film is "giving me nightmares," noting that the city is depicted as a place populated by "pimps given to preachifying, prostitutes as dumb as they are loyal, and block after block of some of the most rundown neighborhoods this side of Ethiopia." A lot of money was spent in Memphis by the filmmakers, Thomas notes, "but all money isn't good money, especially if the money is made pimping on the silver screen the worst Memphis has to offer." On the other hand, Armond White, writing in the New York Press, comments that the film "isn't really about a pimp. Its concern is with the emotional turmoil a man faces while dealing with women on top of the social difficulties that beset impoverished black men." And Desson Thomson in the Washington Post calls the film "rather wonderful .. a surprisingly charming story that -- in certain sections -- almost crystallizes into the sweetness of a Mickey Rooney-Judy Garland musical."
later days,
-e
3 comments:
are you trying to bait me? huh?
well it's not gonna work. :)
ha. i love oreos
This oreo takes serious offense. One day, all oreos will get together and possibly, maybe, perchance make a decision about some sort of action at a future uncertain point in time. bitch!
yeah, i was interested in hustle & flow at first and then i kept waiting to see what was gonna be redeeming. I have yet to see it. It's probably a good movie in every other way, but "Whoop That Trick!" isn't something I want to celebrate.
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