Stream it now Do the Right Thing Reset Status Want to Watch Already Watched Don't Want to Watch

Coming out of the tense, pre-Giuliani Brooklyn of the 1980s, Lee's film is brilliant at turning caricatures into characters, even as you can see where the caricatures are derived. Fine performances all around.

Do the Right Thing is Spike Lee's proof that ignoring racism and racial tensions is dangerous. They must be dealt with; left idle they will explode in destructive and awful ways. Lee's film is constructed with care and complexity; executed with a great deal of finesse. Durning the day we wpend with these wonderful characters our emotions connect with them. The neighbourhood feels like home to us. But there is tension that mounts during the day. It does gradualy; starting out in bickers and arguments, each one illustration the mild contempt they have for each other. It's played with mild catiness, but represents the surface of much more dire issues. Lee examines the film from every side and angle, each group is fleshed out and examined. There's no stereotypes here just compassionate human beings, with all their character faults as well. Lee's film is also about how we can confuse the two. When Mookie's sister states that all the negative energy should be directed into something positive...that is the true tragedy of Do The Right Thing. One of the very best films ever made.

Do the Right Thing (1989) ***** (of *****)

The best film about race. Everyone is terrific, and every possible emotion is poured out on screen.

Spike Lee's best. Gets better every time I watch it.

My favorite film director and movie, i like this film.

The Cooler- This is a magnificent film that I wish I'd have caught during its theatrical release. The lighting and cinematography is striking, Alec Baldwin gives his best performance in years (and almost makes up for Pearl Harbor; ALMOST), Macy is great in his role, as is Bello. Macy and Bello give two very, very brave performances, as they are naked at least half the film. Beware the Macy balls....Anyway, the film is great, the ending sorta feels copped out and at times the film can get caught up in its subplots (the aged heroin addicted barsinger; ugh). Oh and then we can't forget the horrible casting decision of Joey Fatone; come the fuck on.....Good flick, one of the best of last year, check it out.

Do The Right Thing- At first, I didn't know really what to think about the film. Do I give it a 0 or do I give it a 10? The ending really pissed me off, i've been thinking about it for the past day, and I think I realize why it had to happen. This film HAD to be made; it successfuly gives the best representation of racial tensions ever to be captured on the medium of film. The sense of community is there within the block, yet underlying feelings of hatred and bigotry are also there. Great performances all around, except from Spike; he's better behind the camera rather than in front of it. I'll give a more in depth review once it comes up on my top 100, but for now, it was just a masterpiece. Check it out, think about it, let it stir in your head, it got to me, it will get to you to you.

Our 1st of May party went as I expected. I was drunk and broke my back. Not literally, but it hurts like hell. You should see the position I have to sit in now.

I'm pretty tired now. I only got about 14 hours of sleep in the last 3 nights combined. Some people might remember that first night. It was the night when the Mudhole vs. Ivan battle begun and I stayed up until 7.30am and then my brother woke me up at 9.15am because I had promised to buy him some vodka.

The next night didn't go that well either. I was drunk and stayed up quite late if I remember correctly, and again some girl woke me up early in the morning and threw me out of her apartment.

Today I had a really good sleep, but only for 9 hours. I dreamed about a war with ants. It was fun. Lots of nudity involved too.


Now for the ratings. I don't remember everything I saw last week, but here's some:


Miracle was pretty good, but I expeted more. Also the mistake in the end kinda bugged me since I'm a Finn. My thread about the mistake. I give it 8/10.

I rewatched Human Traffic again. I really need to get my hands on the "remixed" version, because I kinda love this movie. It's almost as rewatchable as Detroit Rock City and Dazed and Confused, and would be even more so if I was part of the "chemical generation" myself. 9/10.

I saw Do the Right Thing for the first time after I bought the Criterion Disc a few weaks ago. I really loved the movie, but like I posted in some GD thread Spike's comments kinda lowered my opinion of the film. Still a great film, but I love 25th Hour and Clockers much more. 8/10.

Might as well give my ratings to Clockers and 25th Hour while I'm at it. Even though it's been a few months since I've watched either.

That's it for now.

Comments pending.

I'd like to thank Chico and everyone involved in the "The Film Discussion Thread's 20,000th Post and Pot-luck Review Celebration". You sped up the inevitable. Me seeing this:


Do the Right Thing (Lee, 1989), recommended by RckSlck (I'll deal with you in a second...)



The ensemble is entirely convincing, but the only two performances that really stick out in my head are Ossie Davis' as the drunken, yet insightful "Mayor" and Danny Aiello's raging, yet at times subdued "Sal". A small problem lies in that fact that some characters were sacrificial stereotypes used only to exaggerate Lee's point. The film is surprisingly biased, showing the problems that both black people and white people cause.

The film is unbelievably frustrating at times and it has every right to be, even if it hurts the flow of the film at times. No easy answers are offered seeing as how there aren't any when dealing with prejudices. He attempts, but all attempts feel rather underdeveloped. He touches upon various topics, which leads for a rather full film, almost too much for its own good. The film is primarily focused on the strain in the white-black relationship and uses the Korean couple and the Hispanic men mainly to show the diversity because he doesn't do anything to really expand these characters outside of their cultural stereotypes (ie. the way they speak, the music they listen to). The film may be unpolished but its power remains unmatched. Spike Lee has an enormous ego and mouth and he did the right thing by presenting his message in the medium of film and doing it almost brilliantly. B+


This entry was strictly reserved for this film, so I'm going to throw up another entry tomorrow talking about random shit like I usually do and two more movies I saw.

Do The Right Thing is on one of the Starz right now. I love this movie! It gets me right in the beginning with Public Enemy and keeps me there. It seemed so, not revolutionary, but maybe radical for the time. I wonder if the world will ever be equal. Men/women, black/white, left/right, rich/poor. I can dream, can't I?