Something that seems too good to be true usually is; war is hell; don’t count your chickens before they hatch, or a variety of other euphemisms can be used to describe Spike Lee’s (Malcolm X, He Got Game) 2020 film Da 5 Bloods. While this is not Lee’s first venture into a historical war drama (2008’s Miracle at St. Anna), it is his first look at the Vietnam War. While a strong contender for a Best Picture Oscar nomination, Da 5 Bloods could also give Lee his second Best Director nomination (2018’s BlacKkKlansman). Its best Oscar nomination chance is Best Actor (Delroy Lindo – The Cider House Rules, The Last Castle).
Category Archives: Spike Lee
He Got Game (1998)
A few friends and I recently discussed movies we thought warranted a second watch. We debated whether a film aged like fine wine or sour milk. It meant whether we thought a movie held up, or was even better, years after its original release, or whether we didn’t think it was all that good now, even though we once held it in high esteem. One of my friends said Terminator 2 aged like sour milk. Though I haven’t seen it a second time, this movie was so far ahead of its time in terms of technology in 1991, but I don’t doubt it might be unwatchable 30 years later. The sour milk example I gave was The Great Outdoors, a movie that a 12-year-old me thought was hilarious in the theater, but that I didn’t chuckle at once during my 2012 viewing. An example of a movie that aged like a fine wine was Apocalypse Now, a movie I didn’t necessarily love when I first saw it, but one I grew to appreciate as I aged. Spike Lee’s Malcolm X, Do the Right Thing, and He Got Game are fine wines. I remember thinking it was “pretty decent” in 1998. It has stood the test of time and, as we have seen in recent years, applies more to the sleaziness of college basketball recruiting.
BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Over seven years into my movie review website and BlacKkKlansman, this is the first Spike Lee-directed movie I’m reviewing. I realized this when I checked his category and saw that he wasn’t on my list. It certainly isn’t because I don’t enjoy a good Spike Lee movie. It’s more than one of my first 370+ reviews; more than 300 have been since 2010. And while Lee has certainly directed many films since 2010, I haven’t heard of nearly any of them. I did see (and enjoy) 2013’s Oldboy and am pretty surprised I did not write a review on it. It is a movie that I will go back and watch again and review. However, Lee is better known for the movies he directed over a 15-20-year period, starting with 1989’s Do the Right Thing and ending with 2006’s Inside Man. Shockingly, he does not have a Best Director Academy Award nomination to his credit and only has one actual nomination (as a screenwriter for Do The Right Thing). While Lee isn’t a Steven Spielberg, he has directed many memorable movies that people can immediately roll out of their mouths.