CINEmelma: inside man

Tutti i film di Spike Lee dovrebbero concludersi con una partita di basket. E' il pubblico a chiederlo...

Quattro rapinatori si asserragliano all'interno di una filiale new yorkese di una grossa banca, prendendo in ostaggio dipendenti e clienti. Sono in gamba e determinati, e la polizia non sa che pesci prendere; da un lato il negoziatore Denzel Washington cerca di trattare, dall'altro ci si prepara ad una irruzione delle teste di cuoio.
Il tempo passa, e ben presto ci capisce che forse i rapinatori non sono lì solo per svaligiare la banca; le storie e le trame dei personaggi, ad ogni livello della scala sociale, iniziano ad intrecciarsi e ad assomigliarsi sempre più.

Inside Man ha un certo numero di pregi: la regia è ben fatta, alcune trovate sono simpatiche, le musiche ottime e tutto sommato il messaggio che voleva comunicare viene spiegato chiaramente.
Non sono neanche pochi i difetti: oltre due ore di stallo sono difficili da sostenere, e certamente non erano necessarie. Molte situazioni poi sono oltre il limite del credibile, e si ha la sensazione che ci si sia sbattuti molto poco per rifinire il prodotto sotto tutti i suoi aspetti; se il contenuto può essere sufficiente, lo stesso non può dirsi della forma con cui è stato espresso, ed in un film non è un difetto da poco.

Voto: 6, ma da Spike speravo molto di più.

PS: Spike Lee è in piena turf war con 50 Cent, accusandolo di dare un esempio negativo (come se fosse colpa sua, se è bulletproof) e di fomentare la violenza nei ghetti. Lo accusa perfino d'essere dietro all'omicidio di una guardia del corpo di Busta Rhymes. L'interessato risponde che Spike fa film del cazzo (i suoi film e videogiochi, invece...)
La subcultura gangsta mi fa sempre spanciare dalle risate... yo bro, respect!

Cent, 50

Nome di battesimo: III, Curtis James Jackson
Data di nascita: 6 July 1975
Altezza: 6' (1.83 m)

Ultimi lavori:

Home of the Brave (2007) .... [attore]
50 Cent: Bulletproof (2005) (VG) .... 50 Cent (voice) (as Curtis Jackson) [attore]
50 Cent: The Massacre - Special Edition (2005) (V) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
BBQ Pool Party (2005) (TV) .... Himself [attore]
The Game: Documentary (2005) (V) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Get Rich or Die Tryin' (2005) .... Marcus (as Curtis '50 Cent' Jackson) [attore]
Barbershop 2: Back in Business (2004) .... (singer: "Unconditionally") (as G-Unit) [misc]
50 Cent: The New Breed (2003) (V) .... (co-executive producer) [produttore]

Biografia:
Born in South Jamaica, Queens, Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson has lived in New York City all his life. Raised by his grandparents after his father ran out and his mother was shot when he was only eight. Growing up, the Queens rapper originally wanted to be a heavyweight boxer, but eventually fell back on rapping. DJs had taken it upon themselves to release two Best of 50 Cent mix CDs, before he had even signed to a major label. 50 Cent hit the scene with "How To Rob An Industry Nigga" and he's been on a rampage ever since dealing with bootleggers, label back stabbing and other platinum selling artists trying to get at him physically. In 1999 his album Power of the Dollar, was heavily bootlegged and Trackmasters/Columbia never released it. Supposedly, Trackmasters weren't comfortable with him being caught up in the streets and getting shot three days before filming the video for "Thug Love," (with Destiny's Child) -- his first single. 50 was shot nine times that night, two shots hitting him in the head, the bullet that struck his face he carries as a reminder of what happened. That event led to the fall out with Columbia and negotiating his release from their grasps. He still showed love and rhymed over a Trackmasters produced remix of "I'm Gonna Be Alright" on J-Lo's latest album, but rivals at Murder Inc. had 50 cut from the track which could have launched the rapper. This all changed in one night when Eminem said on a radio show that "50 Cent is definitely my favorite rapper right now, he's the only one keeping it real." The very next day a bidding war started on 50, ending when 50 signed to Eminem's very own label Shady/Aftermath. 50 Cent's fame has exploded, being produced by Dr. Dre and Eminem and finally making his debut album "Get rich or Die Tryin'." 50 has full access and advantage of the streets through mix-tapes; that's his forum because he controls it. 50 Cent is the most anticipated artist of 2003. It's well deserved because he's "been patiently waiting."

Trivia random: Album "The Massacre" was originally titled "St. Valentine's Day Massacre" and set for a February 15 release date, but due to halted production of CD, it was set back to March 8th.
Citazione random: "The only thing that I'm scared of is not livin' up to the expectations of Dr. Dre and Eminem."

Washington, Denzel

Nome di battesimo: Jr., Denzel Washington
Data di nascita: 28 December 1954
Altezza: 6' 0½" (1.84 m)
Coniuge: Pauletta Washington::(25 June 1983 - present) 4 children

Ultimi lavori:

American Gangster (2007) .... (attached) [attore]
Deja Vu (2006) .... Doug Carlin [attore]
The Great Debaters (2006) .... [regista]
Inside Man (2006) .... Detective Keith Frazier [attore]
Steinbeck's Point of View (2006) .... Tom Bailey [attore]
Untitled Sammy Davis Jr. Project (2006) .... (producer) [produttore]
Man on Fire (2004) .... Creasy [attore]
The Manchurian Candidate (2004) .... Ben Marco [attore]
Out of Time (2003/I) .... Matthias Lee Whitlock [attore]
Antwone Fisher (2002) .... (producer) [produttore]

Biografia:
Tall, strikingly handsome leading man of films and television in the 1980s and 1990s, Denzel Washington was born in 1954 in Mount Vernon, New York. He was the middle child of the 3 children of a Pentecostal minister father and a beautician mother. After graduating from high school, Denzel enrolled at Fordham University intent on a career in journalism. However, he caught the acting bug while appearing in student drama productions and upon graduation he moved to San Francisco and enrolled at the American Conservatory Theater. He left A.C.T. after only 1 year to seek work as an actor. With his acting versatility and powerful sexual presence, he had no difficulty finding work in numerous television productions. He made his first big screen appearance in Carbon Copy (1981) with George Segal. Through the 1980s he worked in both movies and television and was chosen for the plum role of Dr. Chandler in NBC's hit medical series "St. Elsewhere" (1982), a role that he would play for 6 years. In 1989 he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his portrayal of Tripp, the runaway slave in Edward Zwick's powerful historical masterpiece Glory (1989).Through the 1990s Denzel co-starred in such big budget productions as The Pelican Brief (1993); Philadelphia (1993); Crimson Tide (1995); The Preacher's Wife (1996); and Courage Under Fire (1996) - a role for which he was paid $10 million. He lives quietly in Los Angeles with his wife Pauletta and their 4 children. Cerebral and meticulous in his film work, he made his debut as a director in 2002 with Antwone Fisher (2002).

Trivia random: His father was a Pentecostal minister; his mother a beautician and former gospel singer. They divorced when he was 14.
Citazione random: "I remain thankful for the gifts that I've been given and I try to use them in a good way, in a positive way."

Lee, Spike

Nome di battesimo: Lee, Shelton Jackson
Data di nascita: 20 March 1957
Altezza: 5' 5" (1.65 m)
Coniuge: Tonya Lewis Lee::(2 October 1993 - present) 2 children

Ultimi lavori:

The Goal (2006) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Inside Man (2006) .... [regista]
Shark (2006) (TV) .... [regista]
When the Levees Broke (2006) .... (producer) [produttore]
""Miracle's Boys"" (2005) (mini) .... (episodes 1 and 6) [regista]
All the Invisible Children (2005) .... [scrittore]
Birth of a Nation: The Making of 'School Daze' (2005) (V) .... (special thanks) [misc]
Dream Street (2005) .... (executive producer) [produttore]
Jesus Children of America (2005) .... (producer) [produttore]
Secuestro (2005/I) (TV) .... (special thanks) [misc]

Biografia:
Spike Lee was born Shelton Lee in 1957, in Atlanta Georgia. At a very young age he moved from pre-civil rights Georgia, to Brooklyn, New York. Lee came from a proud and intelligent background. His father was a jazz musician, and his mother a school teacher. His mother dubbed him Spike, due to his tough nature. He attended school in Morehouse College in Atlanta, where he developed his film making skills. After graduating from Morehouse, to go to the Tisch School of arts graduate film program. He made a controversial short, The Answer (1980), a reworking of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (1915) - a ten minute film. Lee went on to produce a 45 minute film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), which won a student academy award. However success did not mean money, and Lee's next film, 'The Messenger', in 1984, was somewhat biographical.In 1986 Spike Lee made the film, She's Gotta Have It (1986), a comedy about sexual relationships. The movie was made for 175,000 dollars, and made seven million. Since then Lee has become a well-known, intelligent, and talented film maker. His next movie was School Daze (1988), which was set in a historically black school, and focused mostly on the conflict between the school and the Fraternities, of which he was a strong critic, portraying them as materialistic, irresponsible and uncaring. With School Daze in profit, Lee went on to do his landmark film, Do the Right Thing (1989), a movie specifically about his own town in Brooklyn, New York. The movie portrayed a neighborhood (Bed-Stuy, to be exact) on a very hot day, and the racial tensions that emerge. The movie garnered an Oscar nomination, for Danny Aiello, for supporting actor. It also sparked a debate on racial relations, and exactly where Lee was taking the film.Lee went on to produce the jazz biopic Mo' Better Blues (1990), which is often considered heavy handed, but still good, and did not seem to be as controversial as his previous efforts, but showed his talent for directing and acting, and was the first of many Spike Lee films to feature Denzel Washington. His next film, Jungle Fever (1991), was about interracial dating. Lee's handling of the subject proved yet again highly controversial although it did not quite arouse the debate that similar earlier films did, such as Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967). Lee's next film was the self-titled biography of Malcolm X (1992), which had Denzel Washington portraying the civil rights leader. The movie was a success, and resulted in an Oscar nomination for Washington.His next films were the comparatively light, Crooklyn (1994), and the intense crime drama, Clockers (1995). In 1996, Lee directed two movies: the badly-received comedy, Girl 6 (1996), and the politically pointed, Get on the Bus (1996), about a group of men going to the Million Man March. His next film, He Got Game (1998), proved to be another excursion into the collegiate world as he shows the darker side of recruiting college athletes. The movie, in limited release, yet again featured Denzel Washington. It was well received and well liked, if for nothing else than the fine quality of acting and directing the film showed its audience.Bamboozled (2000), proved so over the top and too much for Hollywood. The movie made a near mockery out of television and the way African-Americans are perceived by white America, and the way African-Americans perceive themselves. The movie, however, was a resounding critical success.Lee also has produced films like New Jersey Drive (1995), Tales from the Hood (1995), and Drop Squad (1994). He also has produced and or directed movies about Huey P. Newton, Jim Brown and has commented in many documentaries about varied subjects.His personal life has become somewhat well known, too. He had a relationship with Halle Berry, and started a family with Tonya Lewis Lee, with whom he has two children. Lee is also known to have an obsessive love of the New York Knicks.With pointed political messages, insightful, different and intelligent films, Spike Lee has become a well known political presence. He looks likely to have further success in the film business.

Trivia random: Between the making of his award-winning student short, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (1983), and his debut feature, She's Gotta Have It (1986), Lee attempted to make a featured called "Messenger". Over $100,000 was raised, but the film never materialized.
Citazione random: "For me, a large part of Jungle Fever (1991) is about sexual mythology: the mythology of a white woman being on a pedestal, the universal standard of beauty, and the mythology about the black man as sexual stud with a ten-foot dick. Buying into the mythology is not a strong foundation for a relationship."

domenica 9 aprile 2006

inside man

Rhymes, Busta

Cent, 50

Washington, Denzel

Lee, Spike

Inside Man (2006)

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