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classic film. i've convinced myself that since we technically didn't see kane die, he moves to atlanta and betters himself.
Just celebrated it's 20th anniversary. Can't believe it came out that long ago. Still a great movie, imo.
and LOL @ leonardo dicaprio supposedly knowing it word for word
http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2013/05/31...ce-ii-society/
classic film. i've convinced myself that since we technically didn't see kane die, he moves to atlanta and betters himself.
Still an awesome fox body 5.0
classic film
I hate that movie; most of the characters have no redeeming qualities and I wasn't sad at all to see Kane die after he started teaching the kid stupid like how to hold his gun. Everyone just seemed like a stereotype, and the characters were no where near as interesting as those in Singleton's classic Boyz n the Hood. Menace II Society did have a way better soundtrack though. That remix of Streiht up Menace when Kane is jacking that fool for his Daytons was classic.
Last edited by baseline bum; 05-31-2013 at 09:08 PM.
One of VERY few legendary films I never watched because A) I dont care about black people's struggles B) I thought I saw it when I was a kid but it turns out it was the Don't be a menace.....drinking your juice in the hood film which was even more legendary tbh
That opening scene was raw, loved that in movie.
Boyz N Tha Hood felt dated and out of touch the day it was released. Outside of appreciating a few performances, I've never been able to get into that one at all.
But, then, I generally think that the Hughes Brothers are better filmmakers than Singleton, so that's hardly a shock.
You gotta expand on that. What was dated about Boyz N the Hood? The gang wars were going pretty strong until the 92 riots. I found the characters so much more interesting in Boyz N the Hood. Everyone was pretty one-dimensional in Menace II Society, but I loved the story of Furious saving Tre from the life he was headed to when with his mother in Boyz N the Hood.
And what a lame ending Menace II Society had. Kane goes out in a blaze of glory, the Muslim friend who got his life together (was his name Shareef?) gets killed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, you see Shareef fall back in death 3 times, Kane crawls to the kid drawing all the gunfire there but somehow the kid isn't hit, O-Dogg is there shooting his gat sideways like a , and then Kane cries about blowing his life in his last breath... I mean, what a piece of ending.
Last edited by baseline bum; 06-01-2013 at 01:58 AM.
Boyz has just always felt unbearably heavy handed and packed with cliches in a way that Menace does not. And I'm sure a lot (or most) of that is purely subjective and based entirely on my own personal tastes and my fondness for the understated -- until the ending, which you address later on, Menace II Society moves at a pretty relaxed pace and spends much of its run time at a relatively low volume, compared to Boyz N The Hood which feels more like the film itself, and all of the actors in it, are cranked up to 11 from beginning to end.
To be clear, I don't think either one is a perfect film. I'm fine with how the ending of Menace was written, but do think the directors' inexperience is on full display there as they throw in every possible trick they can think of. It's silly, and hasn't aged well, and is especially problematic now that I've watched the film enough that I'm no longer emotionally invested enough in Kane's death to ignore the poor choices made in terms of direction. Nor do I think that Boyz is a bad film. It can be quite effective and, as I said in my earlier post, several of the performances are quite engaging. At the end of the day they're both good, flawed films, but Menace II Society felt more recognizable and more immediate to me (as a high school kid growing up in the LA area who had a ton of friends and acquaintances that were directly and/or tangentially involved in this life) than Boyz N The Hood ever did. To that extent, Menace felt more like it was capturing something and Boyz felt more like it was imagining something.
But, again, I fully acknowledge that being entirely subjective and based on nothing other than my own gut feelings and reactions.
I think the structure of the ending is fine. Whether or not it succeeds, it's aspiring to be classic tragedy and makes sense when considered in those terms.
I agree that it's ridiculously choreographed, however, and that it relies far too heavily upon cheesy slow motion shots and repe ive edits.
I never knew there could be audience participation at a movie theater until I saw Menace in the summer of '93.
tbh when someone mentions menace the first thing I think of is Kurupt saying "I'm goin out loony like O-Dog"
Boyz was perfect for its time.
Menace was horrible - and still is today.
The writing was nowhere near the same ballpark and Boyz was clearly superior.
Watching Menace in a hollywood theatre with my son - with wanna-be thugs laughing as people got killed on screen - was a sad commentary on what we were to become in the coming years.
In my experience - ymmv.
The only weak part of Menace was the narration throughout the movie, it sounded as if the actor wasn't too great at reading aloud
Wait a minute....how old are you?
Menace was one of those movies - that played for years at midnight shows in hollywierd - along with a few other cultish flicks...but older than you probably.
Last great "hood" movie? I think so. There hasn't been one like it since.
I said wit cheese .....classic...
The memories this movie brings. Being a 4th grader and hearing all of my friends w/ the "cool parents" who had HBO quoting all the parts..wasn't for some time after before I actually got to see it..
I also love Blood In Blood Out, two of my all time favs.
It makes me feel old that a movie that came out after I graduated from HS is now dated, tbh.
Best scene, imo:
The cliches in those movies were fine with me because that's how stupid gang-bangers would act. In this case, it was OK, for me. And I hate cliches. Boyz N The Hood though edges Menace out for me though.
I care more about the characters in Boyz. Menace has O Dogg and Jada Pinkett who really carried that film, along with Charles S Dutton. But Boyz N the Hood felt real close to home growing up in the hood, ghetto birds and all lol.
And I love American Me, but Blood in Blood Out beats that one out for me too.
RIP to cousin Harold, tbh. was a G.
Dat Daz still got the best line in that song:
I flip-flop and serve hoes with the fat
Till I die I'm still screaming that " es ain't "
90% of you just don't get it.
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