Spike Lee- Like him? Hate him? Indifferent?

Inside Man is a hella good film in my opinion!

Inside Man was a great movie that didn't have much of a racial element to it. Do The Right Thing was also great and well directed, but aside from those two I haven't seen any of his movies and I don't really like him as a person. I remember he made a Kobe Bryant short film for ESPN some years back which was so boring and pointless I stopped watching after like 10 minutes.

Can't stand the man, and don't think much of him as a director at all, haven't liked any of his films that I've seen so far. I'm interested to see what he does with the second Oldboy adaptation though.

I have yet to see 25th Hour. I've got it on DVD but yet to watch it. Everyone told me that even if you hate all his other films, you should like 25th Hour, it's amazing apparently.

I saw him once on the subway and he was acting like a dick, making fun of people.

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See, this is why I supported people calling him names.

I'll be getting to Malcolm X soon enough

Haven't seen many of his films but 25th Hour is a great film. I probably wouldn't have liked it as much as I do now if it wasn't for Edward Norton though.

I liked him but he's not overrated at all. If anything, Spike doesn't get enough credit.

I think Spike Lee is one of the best directors of the last 30 years. With movies like "Malcolm X", "Do The Right Thing", "School Daze", "She's Gotta Have It", "Mo Betta Blues", "25th Hour", "Get On The Bus", "He Got Game", "Jungle Fever", "Bamboozled", "Inside Man", and "Clockers".

His documentaries are great as well. "Jim Brown: All-American", "When The Levees Broke", "4 Little Girls" and "Bad 25" are all excellent documentaries.

Wow, this whole QT drama really got people hating on Spike. Spike is one of the most important film makers of the last 20 years. What I love about Spike's movies are they are really grounded more in reality than fantasy. His film feel like real stories cause he writes his characters based off life experience. Just like any director with a long catalog, of course he's going to have some weak joints but his strongest work is still strong.

Also Spike is very versatile doing not just movies but documentaries, commercials, etc. I think cause of how outspoken Spike is people love to hate. To me Spike always keeps it real about racial inequality in cinema. This is why "Bamboozled" was so brilliant. He was telling Black America we need more control over our image cause look how it's been portrayed.

The QT beef doesn't take away from Spike's genius. Cause honestly I've noticed recently a lot of QT fans hating on Spike cause of the beef. The man is not overrated, he's underrated by Hollywood cause he's a Black Man making quality movies. They've robbed him at the Oscars a few times. It's OK, Spike's catalog will stand the test of time and he will be ranked with the Greatest Directors when it's all said and done for his impact on showing black culture in Cinema. Also Spike was one of the Director's to be credited with the new wave of independent features so he was making movies outside of the Hollywood system. The man is a talented writer and film maker and sadly he doesn't get the true credit cause he's very outspoken:

SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT
SCHOOL DAZE
DO THE RIGHT THING
MO BETTER BLUES
JUNGLE FEVER
MALCOLM X
CROOKLYN
CLOCKERS
HE GOT GAME
GET ON THE BUS
SUMMER OF SAM
BAMBOOZLED
25TH HOUR
INSIDE MAN
MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA

All of those Films are either Classic to Solid. The weakest films of Spike career are "Girl 6" and "She Hate Me".

DOCUMENTARIES:

WHEN THE LEEVES BROKE
IF GOD IS WILLING THE CREEK DON'T RISE
4 LITTLE GIRLS
JIM BROWN: ALL AMERICAN
THE HUEY P NEWTON STORY
BAD 25

Spike's weakest Documentary was "Kobe Doin Work", it was just a pointless film to me, I know it was about showing Kobe's work ethic but it just didn't do it for me.

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER:

D.R.O.P. SQUAD
NEW JERSEY DRIVE
TALES FROM THE HOOD
THE BEST MAN
LOVE & BASKETBALL

COMEDY/SPECIALS

THE ORIGINAL KINGS OF COMEDY
JOHN LEGUIZAMO FREAK

He's produced a lot of Classics for the Black Community. I haven't seen "Red Hook Summer" but it's on Netflix so I'm going to check it out but I'm hearing mixed reviews but I also heard it was good but people are hating on it cause it's Spike.

Ahh dude, don't lay it on so thick with the "He represents our people" angle... It can go both ways. I agree that overall Spike Lee is a good director but from my POV, he's only made a couple of great films and plenty decent-to-mediocre ones. And the majority of the stuff I've read/heard about Lee over the course of his career has been largely positive, regardless of his outspokenness.

I look to directors like Scorcese, Kubrick, Kurosawa, Bergman, Hitchcock, and can't justify Spike Lee among their ranks on the basis of those two films alone.

Also, really not getting the hyperlinks you put in there.

To be fair, I've not seen most of his documentary work so I can't really speak fairly on that.

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I'm not a QT fanboy by any means. Lee's been known to say a lot of unfounded things. Also, your last sentence says nothing. All strong work is strong? Damn, put that in a book!

I never said he wasn't versatile. I prefer his documentaries, but I don't love to hate him. Why would I? It seems the other way around to me, he loves hate, and if you want to talk about image, then why is Lee so negative?

Well you say he has SOME weak joints. Anyone else will tell you most of the joints are weak. I've never denied someone I didn't care for their strong points, but you're making him out to be some philosopher when he's too blinded by his self-persecution to say much of anything.

Everyone's been robbed at the Oscars, especially people you've never heard of, who have been making movies outside the Hollywood System long before Lee first uttered "racist!" It doesn't bother me whatsoever you can see more in him, for yourself, but he's not going to be paralleled with the greats. He's been around long enough where we would have seen that happen.

He does himself a disservice by being so reactionary, antagonistic and defensive. Any valid point he might have gets lost in all his ravings.

I do think some of his movies have an interesting point of view and I do think he has some importance as a director, but it's hard to take him seriously when he's always tilting at windmills.

As far as his movies go, I like 25th Hour and Do the Right Thing a lot, but I think he really excels at documentaries.

I haven't seem much of his work, but Do the Right Thing and 25th Hour are two of the most perceptive films about society I have seen. The former is a great portrait of social unrest and the continuing racial clash in America. He has a beautiful way in the film of creating profoundness in a script that contains no words above a 4th grade level.

25th Hour is much more gentle, and serves well when looked at in its scope of a city grieving after 9/11. The seeming switch in personal philosophy of Norton's (Can't remember the characters names) two friends is incredibly beautiful and resonant. Along with Margaret (Which coincidentally also had Anna Paquin in it, but as the central character), it is the most perceptive films about post-9/11 New York

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I like Spike Lee's films, he wasn't ever my favorite though. I really thought the message of 25th Hour was thought provoking even if gloomy. Still eagerly needing to watch Summer of Sam. Hadn't seen any of his documentaries, but have seen Trouble The Water, though not by him.

I'm not taking sides in this as far as for or against Lee, people in prominent positions often do displays standing here or there, for this or that, ok, I get it?

As a music fan I've been on classical and jazz forums, eventually too much avant-garde lofty aloofness would set me off like Sid Vicious, with the constant snootiness and dismissive of everything down to earth, I became inflamed and trolled, not good, a plug in my arse helped.

Debating is good, explaining things is good, out and out meanness and personal attacks are bad.

I'm not sure why someone would respond to a discussion about Spike Lee's alleged racism by talking about how he's a good filmmaker. They're separate things, yes? His talent, whether immense or mediocre or something in-between, doesn't earn him Controversy Points that he can spend on saying inane things.

^ Ok, true enough.

Wasn't singling anyone out with that, BTW. It's just something that keeps coming up.

Talented guy, but then I think he was trained by Martin Scorsese. I have felt that some of the stuff he has said can be construed as a little prejudice, especially the recent comments regarding Django Unchained, but i'm not too bothered as I think a lot of it is knee jerk reactions and he's clearly a sensitive bloke.

I think 25th Hour may be my favourite film of his, and I look forward to his interpretation of OldBoy. He has made some terrible films though.

Personally, I'm hot and cold with Spike Lee...I think he's one of the biggest hit and miss directors in the business. Sometimes he knocks it out of the park (MALCOLM X, DO THE RIGHT THING, SUMMER OF SAM, GET ON THE BUS) and sometimes he just creates a lot of hot mess (SCHOOL DAZE, INSIDE MAN, BAMBOOZLED). I think for the most part his films are overlong and on the self-indulgent side, most of his films are at LEAST 30 minutes longer than they need to be, but I don't think there's a director out there with who tries harder to present positive cinematic intentions.

Somewhat talented director, but really disliked him after the Django Unchained comments. A director should better than to judge a film before even seeing it. So shameful.

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