Do the Right Thing: The (The Criterion Collection) (1989) Review

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(More customer reviews)In only his third film, Spike Lee created a classic that is both socially relevant and artistically accomplished. By focusing the actions at one location in one day, this film reminds us that race relation cannot be improved if we don't improve the way each one of us interacts with everyone else. The film's finale is notable for its echos of real events that occurred not long before the film was made, and its prescience of events to follow. It is an unforgettable movie scene that shows how intolerance can victimize everyone. Nevertheless, the apocalyptic vision of the final scene did not sit well with some critics. Is it a call to end violence or to start violence, they asked. In the film Lee seems to say there are no easy answers.
Somewhat overlooked is the fact that the film also makes keen observations of lives of American black underclass, especially in the portrayals of the "cornermen". Their exchanges are as amusing as they are trenchant in commenting the state of affairs of lower-class blacks.And through them, Lee takes the uncompromising position that sometimes the underprivileged can also be victims of their own mentalities.
Also, Lee subtlely shows the many faces of racial intolerance. While Sal's son Pino overtly hates blacks, and Buggin' Out is overtly intolerant of whites, but is the attitude of Sal himself really conducive towards racial harmony? Does he have a desire to get to know his neighbors, or does he simply want to "have no trouble with these people", as he puts it? By leaving this aspect ambiguous, Lee makes us think just what IS the right thing to do...
Despite all the criticisms against him, I believe Lee tackled the difficult subject as intelligently as any director could have done.
The Criterion DVD contains most of the supplements in the Criterion laserdisc released in 1995 -- audio commentaries, cast meetings and screen tests, 'Making Of' documentary. New supplements include Lee's press conference at the '89 Cannes festival, video interview with editor Barry Brown, "Fight the Power" music video, and a video segment showing the filmmakers re-visiting the Bed-Stuy neighborhood.
The DVD's video quality is characterized by deep, rich, saturated colors which cinamatographer Ernst Dickerson so brilliantly captured in order to create a feeling of overwhelming heat (literally and figuratively). There is a Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track (Prologic-decodable to surround), and a PCM stereo track that actually sounds brighter and crisper than the DD track.

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The hottest day of the year explodes onscreen in this vibrant look at a day in the life of Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Featuring a stellar ensemble cast that includes Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Samuel L. Jackson, Bill Nunn, Rosie Perez, and John Turturro, Spike Lee's powerful portrait of urban racial tensions sparked controversy while earning popular and critical praise. Criterion is proud to present Do the Right Thing in a new Director Approved special edition.

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Dinner Rush (2002) Review

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(More customer reviews)I've spent the bulk of my adult life in the food business as a student in cooking school, a chef, in restaurant operations and in food procurement. So I can attest to the accuracy of the crazy, loud cacaphonous milieu that serves, not just as a back drop, but as an active character in Bob Giraldi's "Dinner Rush." Giraldi himself is the owner of the restaurant where this movie was filmed. So he knows of what he speaks. The story itself involves bookmaking, addiction to gambling, murder, art, old style cooking versus nouvelle, the chef as star and old courtly values vs new cavalier ones to name a few things. Danny Aiello is the owner, Louis Cropa his son the chef, Udo (Edoardo Ballerino) at a bustling, newly busy restaurant in Tribeca. Udo has recently "saved" the restaurant from extinction and red sauce and meatballs with his new ideas and recipes...or has he? Aiello, with his raspy, quiet voice and his total command of the screen acts as the voice of reason and experience and it is obvious he longs for the old ways and the old times when his wife ran the restaurant and where he good get a plate of sausage and peppers. Stylistically, "Dinner Rush" is more like "The Godfather" than "Casino," in that, not only was the film shot in beautiful earth tones in middle light (as was "The Godfather") but, the values put forth are more like those of the 40's and 50's than those of the the year 2001. Giraldi seems to be saying: let's return to a time when life was more clear-cut and simple and Italian food meant red gravy and meatballs and you could tell the bad guys by the shoulder holsters,stick pins and two-toned spectator shoes. Danny Aiello dominates the movie but Edoardo Ballerini, Vivian Wu (Nicole) and Kirk Acevedo (Duncan....late of HBO's "Oz") definitely make good impressions. "Dinner Rush" is a call for reason, re-evaluation and a reinstatement of old ways and values....and hey this makes more sense to me every day.

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During the course of one frenzied evening, a restaurant owner and bookmaker deals with a potential hostile takeover, a snooty critic, and his attraction to his dead partner's widow. Danny Aiello and John Corbett bring the behind-the-scenes drama of a NYC Italian restaurant to life through an exciting tale of gangsters and gourmet food.

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