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it aint their 1st rodeo

But...but you've surely seen the masterpiece that is the music video for Don Johnson's Heartbeat featuring Giancarlo Esposito? And, he's not as recognizable in Do The Right Thing but he's definitely fantastic in it. [

That's the ONLY thing you remember him from?

I always love to see Sam Jackson in early roles. I sometimes forget that even though he didn't really get big until, I want to say, Jurassic Park, he's been around forever. I was also thinking this might be the youngets I've seen Lawrence Fishburne, but then I turned on Apocalypse Now and I was like, "Oh, yeah! I forgot all about Baby-Baby Morpheus..."

Daddy. Come to Brazil.

here’s me listening to the ep: “LOL”

Count me in as someone else who has neither seen - nor cares to see - Breaking Bad. I watched the first episode years ago, because everyone was always talking about it, and it did nothing for me.

It turns out he's in Trading Places as well, in a bit part.

Whaaaaat. Man it's really good so I think you'd like it lol. He's also one of the first killed in Maximum Overdrive lol.

You're right. This is a big difference, at least for me, in the making of the movie. I found a clip of the commentary where Spike Lee talks about it.

Just want to clear up this point above. I listened to a Spike Lee interview about School Daze and he says that "a" brother died during pledging, not that "his" brother died.

I did appreciate that the movie made me consider issues within the black community without having to include a white experience. I'm glad I watched it, as I've only seen 2 of Spike Lee's movies before. But it just doesn't work as a musical for me.

Agreed. I also didn't find any of these really tied up in the end. I took the "wake up" scene to basically say that everyone needs to wake up from the notion extremism and an unwillingness to work together are productive. I think that whole message could have been better conveyed through one of the story lines, but instead Lee tried to pack in as much as possible and it became overrun with side issues.

I think I would have appreciated it more if more of the movie was like that, but it just comes so late in the game. I think it was like 30mins into the movie or something. By that point, I had completely given up on there being any kind of big Musical numbers and then this scene comes out of nowhere like PLoW! And then, there's really nothing like it for the rest of the movie. I just don't feel like it worked overall - especially because the whole natural vs. straightened hair dynamic had just played out in dialogue. It was like, "You know that thing we clearly just talked about for two minutes? Well, now we're going to sing about it for another four - shifting the tone and style of the movie inexplicably - and bring no new insights." As I've said above: I appreciate what it is he's doing (or trying to do), but I just don't think it works.

This is interesting especially seeing Lee, himself, playing the part of a pledge.

I liked the song in the beauty shop about hair. I thought it was a re-interpretation of Grease's "Beauty School Dropout." I also chuckled at the Ice Ice Baby bit. As a whole, I agree that the movie was jumbled. I wish they had gotten more into the alumni donations and divestment arguments. I found that more interesting than the frat pledging, but that may be because I have always been anti-Greek. I expected the divestment argument to come to the fore, but as Cinco says, it never got resolved. That was disappointing. Also, as June might say, the scene with Julian asking Jane to "prove" she loved him, and everything that followed after that, was upsetting. I would say Spike Lee's movies at this time have a tendency toward being anti-woman and this was definitely part of it. That was such a horribly disgusting way for Julian to treat Jane, and for Half-Pint. Just bad, bad, awful, horrible, bad.

I saw She's Gotta Have It not too long ago and I really liked it. It's progressive, modern, and sexy, a good look at adult relationships.

I think one of the reasons this doesn't work as well as Do The Right Thing is these characters feel le character types. Spike wants this to be representative of a larger conversation and each character has to represent everyone in that mold. Do The Right Thing is more about being able to happen anywhere and it just happens to be these individuals it happens to. It's been a very long time since I saw She's Gotta Have It but I definitely don't remember it as fondly as School Daze. Well, Spike Lee said on the commentary about women refusing to acknowledge some guys until they were part of a fraternity then suddenly being into them. While I know the are women and men who simply want a partner who are particular group or status, this felt really gross for him to talk about. I had thought the movie came across as anti-fraternity but the commentary made me think "No, it's also anti-woman".

Yea, I just found the whole thing clumsy. Which is so weird, because Spike's first movie is great ("She's Gotta Have It") and his third is legendary ("Do The Right Thing"), and "School Daze" was made right between them somehow. I feel like there's gotta be a greater story about how this happened. Anyway if you look closely at the musical productions, they were so lo-fi, the choreography wasn't sharp, it all felt amateur. I did like a couple of the songs though.

I agree. It's kind of like the whole sub-plot regarding fraternities. I can't stand them, I never could. So I am already biased against movies about them. So I really had to look beyond that to understand what School Daze was saying about what fraternities as they might mean to people of color in the mid-Eighties. That, yes, there was the same toxicity about them that has always existed, but they also provided a place where people felt like they could belong. I liked the "Wake up" scene because it was saying all these things just provide a false sense of belonging (i.e. fraternities, sororities, colorism, etc) and they only serve to further weaken and divide.

I agree with you, Grud, in that I felt like the Musical numbers were out of place. It kind of took me out of the story rather than enhance it. Not to steal from Ghost’s Letterboxd review, but I felt like the movie had a lot of important stuff to say, but the narrative was kind of a mess. It was trying to do too much at once. I admire the ambition, but the pieces just don’t seem to fit quite right. Like, the “Wake Up” scene would have maybe been more effective in another movie.

There is a specific reason why you can't get to Machu Picchu from New York by bus. It's called the Darien Gap, a dense rainforest / swampland that sits between Panama and Colombia. Fun facts about the Darien Gap: 1. It's home to many endangered species, including the adorable Cotton Tip Tamarind. 2. It's the only reason why you can't drive from Alaska to Patagonia. 3. It's a haven for right wing paramilitaries, who use it as one of the main routes to transport the many tons of cocaine produced in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru into Central America and the US. 4. It's one of the most dangerous segments along the Ecuador-Colombia-Panama-Mexico-USA route that many refugees and immigrants use to get into the US. Obviously, this is where the sequel should take place...

An amazing movie that apparently no one has seen. The entire movie is available on YouTube From IMDb: "A hard rock band travels to the tiny and remote town of Grand Guignol to perform. Peopled by hicks, rubes, werewolves, murderous dwarves, sex perverts, and Hitler, the town is a strange place but that doesn't stop the band's lead singer from falling in love with a local girl named Cassie. After Nazi sex perverts kill the band to satisfy their lusts, Cassie calls the rockers back from the grave to save her, the town, and maybe the world."

Normal actors playing mentally handicapped is insulting as hell, and I can't think of a single time it's been pulled off. There are actors with these handicaps -- use them. It's like Gary Oldman walking around on his knees in Tiptoes, just totally unnecessary and kinda offensive.

Something about the movie sounded familiar, and it turns out it was mentioned in a Cracked article. It points out something the original poster seems to have ignored: The local girl who the lead singer falls in love with is a teenager, and he's a full-grown adult. I haven't watched the movie, but it wouldn't surprise me if they thanked NAMBLA in the end credits. Also, ha ha, the town is called Grand Guignol.