Reviews
Next Friday (2000)
your reviewer is culturally ignorant...
... or else how would you mistake the mexican-american characters (this is LA, remember?) for puerto ricans?
There are plot and story weaknesses, but they don't take away from the enjoyment. The movie is funny - that's all it aspires to be and that's enough.
25th Hour (2002)
Excellent film!
Stop hating! This film was an excellent work by Spike Lee, who shows himself in this film to be one of the best "actor's" directors in the biz. He pulled Oscar-caliber performances from Ed Norton, Barry Pepper and Rosario Dawson. his visual statements about New York and America, and his artful interweaving of the 9/11 scenes showed his prowess and ability to tell this story on multiple levels. He also continues his streak of talent discovery in casting the unlikely Tony Siragusa (recently retired from the Baltimore Ravens) as a Russian gangster.
My one criticism of the film was the Spike Lee signature scene, which borrowed much too heavily from "Do The Right Thing" and sort of dropped me out of warp and reminded me I was watching a Spike Lee Joint. I think this scene should have either been trimmed or cut completely and saved for the DVD.
Despite this, Spike has clearly earned at least a Best Director nomination, and I hope he does not get snubbed.
Empire (2002)
Bites hard on Carlito's Way
From the first person narrative to the reluctant gangster storyline tothe ending, this movie borrows heavily from Carlito's Way, a film where Leguizamo played a supporting role and was involved in the ending. Leguizamo also reunites in this with Nestor Serrano, who was in Hanging With the Homeboys. THis movie is saved by a strong cast (Isabella Rosselini, SOnia Braga) but there is nothing outstanding about this film.
The one improvement over Carlito's Way is that this film had more real Puerto Rican culture.