I don't think I've argued all that much for Green Day's substance. I think that their loftier work, particularly American Idiot, is best appreciated as operatic spectacle in the tradition of glam rock, invigorating for its counterconservative sentiments in spite of its obviousness. The Bowie comparison has been…

Replay: "[my black girlfriends] know I think Spike Lee is a blowhard who makes edgy films without substance. I put him in the same category as Tyler Perry."

Nah, there's a difference between comparing the two as part of a conversation on black cinema and lumping them together apropos of nothing. Lee never said "please, mention my name alongside Tyler Perry as we are indeed men of comparable ambition and talent." In fact, he quite rightly said pretty much the opposite. To…

Nah, the Tyler Perry comparison was pretty ridiculous, Wrecksracer. Literally the only thing they have in common as filmmakers is their blackness, so to assert that they are "in the same category" is to assert that these men are defined to you by their race rather than their substance, which is frowned upon. We know…

Nothing like being riled up unnecessarily, eh? But come on now. I said that American Idiot "[will] be remembered just as fondly."—I'm not claiming that the two albums are "the same" in terms of artistic merit or ultimate legacy, just that they have similar aspirations as works of entertainment, similar methods of…

Huh. Ziggy Stardust has never struck me as Machiavelli meets the Fall of Rome per se, but sure. Regardless, some critics are giddy about Green Day, many more aren't, no big deal.

good is the new ok.

Eh. I can see where you're coming from, Ohboy, but I don't really care much about the public opinion and critical consensus you're responding to. Strip away all of the hyperbolic Rolling Stone hype and retroactive Pitchfork scorn, and you have three dudes making fun music and putting on a big ass show.

Tyler Perry is the new Douglas Sirk!

We did. I played it on guitar for the ceremony actually, because, you know, high school.

Theory:
Green Day is very good glam band. Not a ton of depth, but some fun anti-establishment spectacle. I like 'em, anyway.

He's good, Wrecksracer—not entirely consistent, but certainly good. Do the Right Thing is a masterpiece, Malcolm X and 25th Hour are legitimately great, Inside Man is a fun movie that I dug the hell out of when I walked into it accidentally before I had any sense of Spike Lee as an auteur. Two of those films deal…

There are great discussions of the film happening parallel to the idiocy, Inle—I say this as a commenter who has precipitated both, the former seriously. Just filter out the dumb.

Another vote for the Malcolm X finale as amazing. It does take you out of the film in a big splashy way, but it also successfully reminds you that this is all real world shit that goes beyond movie stories.

I think that much of the point is that when you look at Raheem's actions, Sal's actions, Mookie's actions in the wider context of the day, it's not so much that anyone "did the right thing" or even that there was a right thing to do—everyone was motivated by a larger context that none of the other characters were…

I agree Idiotking, but would personally add that it's imperfect in the sense that a lot of the best films are: it's a personal and uncompromising work that takes advantage of the medium and has ambition that sprawls outside of traditionally satisfying narrative boundaries. You can see the imperfect author, you can see…

To clarify, Sommolian and Wrecksracer, my racism comment was mostly jokes. Obviously there's way more actually racist stuff happening within this thread, on this page, and in the world.

Shit, Paul, don't ask me, ask your black friend!

I know it's bad form to double post when unanswered, but seriously, "ok?" First, that's a lazy ass word choice that detracts from whatever criticism you were attempting, and second, what the hell movie did you watch?

The cinematography was okay, Wrecksracer? Interesting. Some would call it visionary, some would call it overbearing, I would personally call it intensely and deliberately stylized to great effect serving as a testament to the formal linguistic power of cinema, but "okay" I have not heard. Sounds like someone is making…