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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.

I didn't know about Apocalypse Now. Very cool! I thought I recognized Julian from somewhere but it turns out The Usual Suspects is the only movie I remember him from. The administration "toady" helps Bruce Willis in Die Hard 2.

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.

When I was a kid I saw a magazine that kind of suggests that some people even look at butts just for fun. Lol, don't ask me why but for reals, they do!

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.

For sure. The first time I saw this, I don't think I understood how big a deal or personal identifier that was even though I'd had a black woman try to educate me when I was younger on natural hair and how it's perceived by society. My main memory of this movie was there was a sequence set in a beauty shop and, on this viewing, I was like "oh, this makes a lot more sense."

Isn't that the whole purpose of including women in film?

Yeah. I think Lee tries to make Dap seem more enlightened but he still has faults. I'd be fine with that since I think everyone is a character type rather than a character but I feel like this is just a failing of Lee himself on his treatment of women in film. If I thought his point was about society being misogynist, I'd accept that but I don't think they was the intention. I think he just treated the women as objects to advance the men's stories in this.

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.

With the stepping "competition" at Homecoming, were the same dances done year after year or did they change each time? Also, Wikipedia says the fight was unstaged and real. Spike kept the actors apart (a la Animal House) during filming so their animosity was somewhat genuine.

This movie was significantly less musical than I remember it being from the first time I watched this. And it's kind of hurt by spending so much time on the musical numbers instead of building up relationships or a narrative. For a movie that has a lot to say about colorism, it spends a lot of time kind of just spinning its wheels. I listened to the commentary on this and the are a couple things that were interesting. 1. Spike Lee didn't have much to say. There were several long stretches where he didn't say anything at all which is kind of telling. 2. Spike Lee's brother died during hazing at a fraternity. So, that explains, in part, why the fraternity is functionally evil.

It's closer to Die Hard, there are even nods to it throughout the movie. One non-spoiler aspect being the villain calling his henchmen, and actually saying "So don't waste time talking to me", an EXACT Hans Gruber quote. I'm amazed they got away with adding so many Die Hard references.

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.