Chi-Raq

Review by Pamela Zoslov

Where Spike Lee goes, controversy inevitably follows. The latest imbroglio for the 58-year-old filmmaker was over the making of CHI-RAQ, a film about gun violence, in Chicago. Windy City mayor Rahm Emanuel objected to the title, which uses a street nickname — pronounced “Shy-rak” — that likens the gun-plagued city to war-torn Iraq. Emanuel gave Lee the go-ahead anyway, over objections of Chicago alderman Will Burns, who said the title would hurt Chicago's brand, labeling as violent “whole parts of the city,” where people “already walk around with a chip on their shoulders.” Media outlets piled on Lee, a resident of Brooklyn, for focusing on the violence in Chicago. And the Huffington Post wrote a damning screed against the movie, based solely on the pre-release trailer!

Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (opens in Cleveland February 13th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre)

[DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS opens in Cleveland on Friday February 13th exclusively at the Cedar Lee Theatre.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

The 1973 cult vampire/art film GANJA & HESS is exactly the kind of movie that should be remade. Writer/director Bill Gunn's strange hybrid of horror, blacksploitation, and art film had a lot of interesting ideas and potential, but it's the kind of film that even admirers tend to describe as “flawed”. Evidently one of those admirers is Spike Lee, who has remade GANJA & HESS under the title DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS. The results are... well, about the same.

Repost: Red Hook Summer (December 12th at the Cleveland Museum of Art)

[RED HOOK SUMMER screens Wednesday December 12th at 6:45 pm at the Cleveland Museum of Art.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Spike Lee's RED HOOK SUMMER starts out as a fairly typical coming of age story. 13 year old Flik Royale (Jules Brown) has been sent by his mother to spend the summer in Red Hook, New York under the care of his Grandfather, Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters). The urban locale is a bit of a culture shock for Flik, accustomed as he is to life in suburban Atlanta, but even more jarring is his sudden immersion in religious life. Flik is far more interested in recording the strange new world around him on his iPad2's camera and hanging out with Chazz (Toni Lysaith), the asthmatic daughter of a one of his grandfather's parishioners, than in heeding Enoch's calls to come to Jesus.

Red Hook Summer (opens in Cleveland on August 31st exclusively at Cinemark Valley View)

[RED HOOK SUMMER opens in Cleveland on August 31st exclusively at Cinemark Valley View.]

Review by Bob Ignizio

Spike Lee's RED HOOK SUMMER starts out as a fairly typical coming of age story. 13 year old Flik Royale (Jules Brown) has been sent by his mother to spend the summer in Red Hook, New York under the care of his Grandfather, Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters). The urban locale is a bit of a culture shock for Flik, accustomed as he is to life in suburban Atlanta, but even more jarring is his sudden immersion in religious life. Flik is far more interested in recording the strange new world around him on his iPad2's camera and hanging out with Chazz (Toni Lysaith), the asthmatic daughter of a one of his grandfather's parishioners, than in heeding Enoch's calls to come to Jesus.