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Ok, just got back from a midnight showing of this and had to weigh in my review. I really wanted to like this movie, especially since the media had been hyping the shit out of it for the last two weeks. The hype got so hard, our local paper actually did TWO feature cover stories this week. But I knew something wasn't quite right in all this "promotion". Anytime today's media hypes a film this much, you can almost bet there's an alterior agenda behind it and sadly, I have to say there's defintely one in "Hustle & Flow". All you have to do is focus on the last image you see before the film goes off and anybody with some sense will see what I mean.
The film was actually rolling really good up until a turning point in the last act by the lead DJay, which I won't reveal here and then the movie completely derails and starts literally shooting every black stereotype known to man back at you, completely betraying the story and where you thought the movie was gonna end up. This destroyed my entire viewing experience ultimately and it made me feel completely manipulated and stabbed in the back. But what else should I expect from John"sellout" Singleton. I knew something wasn't right when I found out the cat who directed this was white. Now let me elaborate before y'all trip. There are just some subject matters that only when dealing in black culture, only black directors can truly express. Only "they" can truly capture the spirit of that experience. This is one thing that I am completely in agreement with Spike Lee about, who stated this years ago about directing "Malcolm X". And it really shows here. Like I said, I rode with the film for the first three quarters, and then it just turned, and I mean turned hard! And what makes it worse is there were so many other avenues this cat coulda went down to tie this up better and make folks more inspired. I KNOW I coulda did a better job and i'm not bragging! For a critic to fucking state that this film is inspiring is a slap in the face to me as a black man and as a moviegoer. If this is what is considered inspiring nowadays, then we really are in trouble. Where are the "Purple Rain" endings? Where are the "Five Heartbeat" endings? Even fucking "BeatStreet" had a more inspiring ending than this! These films inspired people. I know they inspired me. I don't see that here really. I just ragged on John Singleton in another forum not too long ago about something he did to Mrs. P some years ago. Now, I'm just going let it out: FUCK JOHN SINGLETON! That nigga had ONE great movie in him and he's been making bullshit ever since! Just another company nigga feeding garbage to not only his own people, but to the masses as well. All under the guise of a company called "A New Deal". Who's gettin a new deal?
Certainly not his tired ass selling off three films he financed to the studios for $16 million. Sorry, I don't see that as a deal of any kind. Just more of the same ol, same ol. Do you know how much money "Hustle & Flow" is gonna make just on it's own? What they paid him was peanuts compared to what they're going to make back. And he has the nerve to say this is the first time he had total control over a film and this is how he's gonna do business from now on. What? You mean that after fifteen years in the game, you're just now figuring this shit out? And you're not in control nigga if you sell your film off to the studio! Until you distribute some shit on your own and this goes for all these so called "black" filmmakers, Spike's ass included, can't none of you niggas even talk to me, cuz that's what I'm doing and am gonna continue to do B.A.M.N(figure it out). If I do a studio film, it'll be for a damn good reason and I bet I get some George Lucas type control with my shit! So, like I said, check out that last image of DJay at the end and also listen for the final sound before the credits roll and tell me does that fucking inspire you?
Let me hurry up and get my name out there so I can show you tired ass negroes how to do this shit fo real!
Read my sig... that's what it's about!

dougdigitalpro,
Yeah I was waiting for you to pop up so we can discuss this in the http://www.richardpryor.com/forums/msgs ... 7&forum=17 - summer movies topic'Okay I feel you about the ending though I am about halfway in agreement with you about the conclusion we were left to draw from it....

******************SPOILERS**********************
Okay I was watching the 1st third of this movie thinking "WOW nobody has pulled out a gun yet!!!" Then it happened and I was let done for a second....

See even though that first third of the movie really didn't work towards the stereotypes that the end of the film portray by the end of the movie everybody had grown by the end of the movie and lives were improved...

Okay follow me I know alot people with a mentality like the people in this movie...I know people like the Anthony Anderson character (got they shit together)the DJay(still in the street)character and even the white dude from Road Trips character (I was sitting with a young white rapper that has been wanting me to help him with his music).They were all from seperate sides of the tracks and they that come together for that common goal of the music cause I live that shit....I mean I actually started making beats on the very same cheap ass keyboard DJAy gets from that fiend at the beginning of the flick!!!! I know motherfuckas from the south that act like that for real!!

So even though I was let down that it ended in violence or whatever it was still a pretty real reflection of the rap game....yeah I wish it didn't take violence for somebody to get recognized in the game (see Cassidy,50 Cents,Gucci Mane,
and other rappers who have used violence publicity to make it in the rap game hahahahaha)....anyway if I would have found my hard earned work in the toilet under the circumstances I would've had to whoop some ass too!!!

I don't think it matters that a white guy made the movie really either....it seems to me alot lately that just like jazz others people appreciate the culture more than those who created it...it's sad but alot of the time very true...

I got some more to say but I am lost right now...overall good movie...mainly because I truely I dentified with alot of the mentalities of the characters represented in the movie....but again WHAT THE HELL DO I KNOW!!!"

bingolong,
Yeah, I know a LOT of that was very relatable for you and I was a like, "damn, this connection is so strong for me...Walt is from this very area and now it's glorified in a movie!" I don't know, dawg. With all that's going on right now. I just feel like something is gonna happen for us very soon. it's just a strong feeling I got. I had the same feeling watching "8 Mile" and what BRabbit went through and then it all being shot right in your own backyard. It's pretty trippy. Now the last two big movies about the rap game are set in Detroit & Memphis. Hmmmm....makes you think fo sho. The thing about the tape in the toilet had so much more potential and I feel what he did was a cop out and destroyed everything his character stood for at that point. He had built up so much...new friendships, his girl, the baby, the MUSIC! He had so much to live for that by that point, he was a different person and had grown and to resort him back to street nigga was a complete cop-out for me. You don't even know if Skinny did it on purpose. He was slop pissy ass drunk, ya know? He coulda bent over and it fell out, which is probably the reality and shoulda been a thought going through DJay's mind. Either way, it wasn't worth doing what he did. He disrespected his man's club and defintely dissed himself to hell. There's that moment in "Purple Rain" when Prince almost does a similar copout move by running away, but then he hears the chants of the audience and realizes he can't do the same ol same ol anymore. He has to stand up and believe and in that instant, DJay just said fuck it and stopped believing. Not very inspiring. Also, it was too much of an 180 degree turn for Skinny even if he was drunk, because they played the scene out like they had really connected and became friends. I'm telling you dawg, I woulda had muthafuckas crying at the end of this shit they woulda been so inspired!
Also, on a side note, saw that trailer for the new 50 Cent movie....GARBAGE! Same ol shit and now it's even worse! Terrible!
WHEN WILL IT END????

dougdigitalpro,
Yeah dude that 50 movie really going to be garbage...

But I don't know, DJay was trying to give Skinny the benifit of the doubt for second but man when Skinny flipped it and said "Suck My Dick"........ damn what else is drunk brotha on the edge gone do....

Granted I was really impressed how the flick didn't have to resort to that until the end when it happened and I fill you ....but i think it was just a bad turn of events in that last act was not what I wanted either but it worked out in the end......I don't know between a long weekend of watching GOOD TIMES all weekend and this movie I am "ghettoed" out....besides it just got two big thumbs up on Ebert & Roeper!!!

bingolong,
Yeah, that'll do it!

dougdigitalpro,
I didn't see it....but lolol was stuck home feelin crappy and watchin t.v and wound up watchin almost alla the "Good Times" marathon! Lmaooo! Damn .... can't have been 30 fukkin years! Shit! Lolol! "What Can I Say?" Lol!!!

koda,
Hell yeah!!!!!!!