BlackkKlansman (new Spike Lee film)

I agree on points Oatsdad and PhilBorder make above. The movie itself is lame, especially compared to Lee’s superior earlier work. On the evidence of BlackkKlansman, it looks like he’s deteriorated as a director.

from me.

 

Of course not. But, I can hope. Full disclosure: I don't even bother looking at people who are known to be opposite of my opinion anymore. I'm sick of hearing vicious insults against Obama, Mexicans, and liberals.

 

I am wondering how long the mods plan to let this thread continue. It has to be on their radar by now.

 

It's good, but most people aren't paying any attention. They retreat to FOX or MSNBC, depending on what end of the spectrum they may be, even though MSNBC is closer to PBS.

 

Yup, they are still around and never left. But, here is one friendship that should give us hope:
Ex-KKK member denounces hate groups one year after Charlottesville

 

Do the Right Thing is great. Have been disappointed with much of his other work. Hopefully this one is a winner.

 

Last Lee movie I genuinely enjoyed was "Inside Man".

Last Lee-written movie I thought worked was "Bamboozled". Like most of his movies, it can be a mess, but it's an interesting, thought-provoking effort that opens up for discussion in ways "Klansman" doesn't...

 

There’s a guy named Daryl Davis who is doing incredible things, too. He’s a black musician who has befriended hundreds of KKK members, and has even gotten a few dozen of them to leave the Klan and give him their robes as souvenirs.

Daryl is a better man than I am.

 

Haven't seen it. It's kind of like Lee's Serpico I thought. It should be okay to criticize it in terms of craft like any other film. I'm sure it has a strong point of view and that can be interesting. I still admire Malcolm X and many other things he's gotten together, but there are a few things I don't like too, naturally.

 

Naturally?

 

Looks like Shark Movie did better than expected, and lots better than Spike's lecturing and hectoring. Maybe peeps want to 'have a conversation' about sharks. Maybe Sharks (or any serious threat) can bring us all together. I'm actually half serious - who thought racism was the biggest issue in the country right after 911? Who didn't see we were all in this together? Only the incredibly self-centered.

 

Uh, there were many who felt on the outside and persecuted after 9/11. Racism/scapegoatism has always been alive and well, and national tragedies don't change that.

 

Here is some information about the true story the movie is based on; it involved a black police detective named Ron Stallworth: How A Black Detective Infiltrated The KKK

It's kind of funny, because you had the black detective talking to the KKK, and then Ron recruited a white colleague to show up at the meetings, and over seven and a half months, nobody suspected the difference, though the vocal tone of the two detectives was different.

Hate groups are alive and well, especially in the southern United States, including the KKK. Here is a map from the Southern Law Poverty Center, who compiled a database of hate groups:


Sad to say, Texas leads the country in having 84 hate groups. I was born and lived there most of my entire life (recently retired and moved to Colorado). I had no idea how pervasive hate groups were in Texas.

 

I saw and liked the film. I want to be entertained and he succeeded. While making his points, Spike tends to hit us over the head with all the relevance to today. It's a funny, quirky, absurdist film that after one viewing I would rank as one of his best or at least in his top 3 films.

 

Maybe this is why we will never move past the racism. In fact, it is getting worse. It's only a matter of time before people start calling the cops on Black people posting on the internet and minding their own business.

 

It's interesting to know that the highest concentration of hate groups are located where there is a high concentration of non-white populations. That right there tells me that fear of not being the majority fuels these hate groups.

 

It seems natural that you aren't going to be 100% thrilled with everything about a director's work or choices, or dislike some movies. I think it sounds dumb to call them joints myself, but YMMV.

 

True. Immediately after 9-11, the receptionist at our office told us that her minister had said "Black people have nothing to fear from Osama Bin Laden".
I asked her if she thought that all the Black people who had died in the World Trade Center and The Pentagon would agree. She did not have an answer.

 

I think it may be a cultural thing.

 

It must be a local N.Y.C. thing. Folks in Baltimore/D.C. don't say that mess and never did unless
they were white college-kids looking to score a little reefer.

 

I think it's a Spike Lee thing. I did a quick look around the Internet and didn't find any indications that "joint" has been used to mean "movie" by anyone other than him!

 

I don't think "joint" is meant to have any sort of marijuana connotation. I think it's meant more like "venue" (like "juke joint").
I grew up in D.C. and got its meaning the first time I saw it on one of his films.

 

You have to take anything published by the SPLC with a football-sized grain of salt, though. They amp up the number of “hate groups” to drive their fundraising campaigns, and lump in moderate conservative nonprofits and lone tinfoilers in their parents’ basement with the likes of the National Alliance.

 

I meant generally, the day after 911. You're right about how that played out in the years after. But I meant the day after.