Brooklyn's Finest

"Who shot ya? Mob ties like Sinatra, Peruvians tried to do me in, I ain't paid them yet, Tryin to push 700's, they ain't made them yet, Rolex and bracelets is frostbit; rings too"

-Brooklyn's Finest (Notorious B.I.G and Jay-Z)

This is a movie that I had been pretty excited about ever since I saw the trailer. It made me think could this be the new New Jack City?

You can't help but witness the familiar staples of the tough streets and housing projects as they are put on full display: murder, drugs, prostitution, white slavery, theft, police corruption and killings in the name of law and order. Brooklyn's Finest demonstrates overcoming personal demons, life skills, personal triumph and much more. You feel their pain and they take on each new day. It's truly survival of the fittest...eat or be eaten!

After watching the movie one will realize the movie relies heavily on perpetuating all kinds of stereotypes to move the story and pretty much suggests a level of corruption that if plausible would render our society fatal. However the story does works, primarily due to the fast paced action and superb acting. All in all it seems to manage being able to keep the audience's attention. One is kept wondering how the various subplots will work themselves out and who will survive the war in the end.

The true stars of this film are what I like to call a Triple Threat (Gere, Cheadle, and Hawke). They truly bring life to the film, you can't help but focus on each of their stories. In addition, the supporting cast helps to balance the darkness that is exhibited throughout the movie. And to top it off the camera work is gritty , extensive and realistic and the supporting cast members are tops in this well-made and interesting drama.

I will admit I was not to keen on the ending, but I have come to realize that maybe this is Fuqua's style for movies such as this (hence Training Day). In addition, even though the end may not be want we want, but it is actually reality and that gives it an authenticity different many other films.

Grade: A-

Throwback Thursday: New Jack City

And they are back...Throwback Thursday!! I figured to get you back on the good foot, I would give you a throwback sure to knock you off your feet! What is it you ask...New Jack City!!

New Jack City is a 1991 crime-thriller/neo-noir film starring Wesley Snipes, Ice-T, Mario Van Peebles, Judd Nelson and Chris Rock. Snipes stars as Nino Brown, a rising drug dealer and crime lord in New York City during the crack epidemic. Ice-T plays a detective who vows to stop Nino's criminal activity by going undercover to work for Nino's gang.

The screenplay was co-written by journalist-turned-screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper, who also scripted 1994's Above The Rim, and Sugar Hill, which also starred Snipes. Cooper is the first African-American screenwriter in history to not only have two films produced in one year--Sugar Hill was released on February 25th, 1994 by Beacon-20th Century Fox Pictures, and "Above The Rim" was released on March 23rd,1994, by New Line Cinema--but a month apart from each other.

This is one of those movies that you becomed glued to the screen because the plot is so enticing. It's a film to remember.

The story revolved around the 20th anniversary of the 1967 riots in Detroit, and in its wake, the rise of crack cocaine gangs in the mid-to-late 1980s, like Young Boys Inc., and the Chambers Brothers. Some of the most memorable lines in the film were ad-libbed by the actors - especially Ice-T and Wesley Snipes - encouraged by director Van Peebles to improvise in a free-flowing naturalistic style.

It received a favorable reception by film critics for its cast, storyline and soundtrack. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three and a half stars of four, writing:
"Truffaut once said it was impossible to make an anti-war movie, because the war sequences would inevitably be exciting and get the audience involved on one side or the other. It is almost as difficult to make an anti-drug movie, since the lifestyle and money of the drug dealers looks like fun, at least until they're killed. This movie pulls off that tricky achievement. Nino, who looks at the dead body of Scarface and laughs, does not get the last laugh."

And not to forget it would do quite well as it pertain to the box-office numbers/dollars, considering it was produced on an estimated $8,000,000 budget. The film initially premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1991, before being released nationally on March 8, 1991; it grossed $7,039,622 during its opening weekend. It became the highest grossing independent film of 1992, grossing a total of $47,624,253 domestically.

Not only would the movie itself do well the but the soundtrack would be a hit on the market as well. To this day one can watch this movie and probably quote it word for word. This would be one of those movies that goes into your black classics collection.

Here are some classic scenes from the film:

Rewind Wednesday: Rising Sun

Today's Rewind Wednesday is definitely a throwback! This is a film that came out during Wesley Snipes and Sean Connery's prime filming days. If you haven't guessed it with that clue it would be that of 1993 crime/mystery/thriller Rising Sun. I felt compelled to choose this one considering HBO and AMC kept showing it on tv I figured why not!



Just in case you don't know here is a little synopsis of the film:

During a party at the United States offices of a Japanese corporation, a professional escort is found dead, apparently after a violent sexual encounter. Police Detective Web Smith (Wesley Snipes) and John Connor (Sean Connery), a former police Captain and expert on Japanese affairs, are sent to investigate. During the initial investigation, Smith believes the evidence indicates a sexual encounter and murder, however Connor insists there is a deeper involvement by the corporation. After a grueling investigation Connor receives a disc which contains the surveillance footage from the night of the murder. This later turns out to be a digitally altered video of the actual murder.
The alteration implicates Eddie (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa), who is the son of a wealthy Japanese businessman. After recovering the original unaltered footage the video shows that the prostitute was only unconscious following rough sex with a powerful politician at the party, and that a company employee strangled her after the politician left. The head of the company was unaware of the crime and subsequent cover up, and exiled the perpetrator of the cover up to a desk job in Japan. The murderer himself runs away when he is identified, but is soon taken care of by Eddies Yakuza friends.

Rising Sun was one of those movies that you truly enjoyed from beginning to end because you would soak up so much, that it would leave you speechless. Since this was based on the book (same title) by Micheal Crichton I pretty much expected quality work. Not only that there was an amazing all-star cast including Sean Connery (who was also the executive producer), Wesley Snipes, Harvey Keitel and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa. that would lay down the foundation for this great film!

I will admit the movie is not always easy to understand but if you give it a couple of looks, which it's definitely worth doing, all the pieces finally fit and it's a good two hours of entertainment. Connery and Snipes complement each other as a "buddy" cop duo with Connery being mostly responsible for making this story interesting. "The still-suave ex-James Bond plays the cool veteran and it's fun to watch him operate." Great thriller with great characters.

It would end up spending six weeks in the Top 10 during the time that it was in theaters.