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Summary: Boyz N the Hood : a stark but true outlook on the projects
Review: Boyz N the Hood was the movie debut of african-amemrican movie director John Singleton.Anyone who've seen this movie can remember the stir it caused around 1991 when it was released, at a time when George Bush was president and ghetto riots occured in LA later in the Rodney King incident.One can be rather amazed but such such a a stark but accurate portait of the hood and most impotantly what it is living in the projects. I have rarely seen such as clever and brillant outlook on african-american issues in a movie.John Singleton here doesn't glorify violence or gangs, he address and demonstrates these issues by telling the story of three young black teenagers living in a rather harsh neighborhood : South Central LA. What struck the most was how accurate this movie actually is.It doesn't portait mens who thrives with gang-violence but rather are trying escaping it, finding a better surrounding. Not only Boyz N the Hood does a great job in acheiving this but it also manage to tell us meaningful issues such as single-parenthood, fatherhood, sex and education. A strong duality also did struck me : scopes of imporoving your life and how it can be done.On one hand you've got one child who's got a caring and reponsible father, played amazingly by Lawrence Fishburne and other young mens such as Doughboy who live wihout knowing his father.Clearly Singleton has pointed out brillantly that men that have fathers taking care of them and loving them are more chance to suceed.In the end, Tre choose not to live within the gang-violence framework showing us how crucial a role-model father can be for his child. Two different paths and two different families, those of Tre and Doughboy, demontrates how single-handly having a father can change their fate : life or death. The daring finale where Tre choose his fate and doughboy avenge his brother is one of the most touching and emotionnal scenes I have ever encountered.I was emotionnally touched and deeply saddened by this scene (along when Cuba Cooding jr handles the gun to Lawrencne Fishburne). The fact that Singleton also manage to capture the true essence of South Central LA when football wiz Ricky encounter his death is also one of the most daring scene.The music stops, Ricky runs trying to escape his death, gun's fired, the shooting happens and nobody can stop it : this is the realness of violence.You can't escape it. More importantly, you are not witnessing the hood YOU ARE LIVING IT.It is truly breathtaking !!! Such a clever movie should not be overlooked. It has genius written all over it... 5 stars and tears to your eyes
Rating: 
Summary: Tepid and deadeningly overlong
Review: There are no surprises here in this redundant dud about life in one of the most dangerous places in America, South Central. The characters here feel contrived and even unsympathetic, and the movie tries too hard (and fails) to shed light on a topic that everyone knows very well about.
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Summary: this is tha best movie i have ever seen
Review: this is such a great movie i think that everyone should see it because it doesnt sensationalize living in a violent urban society but humanizes it and shows that it isnt glamourous living there. the story and directing was great using distinct shots like seeing Furious's face after he had shot a gun off and then pulling back to see tha bullet wholes. also at tha beginning of tha film showing a scarred stop sign to show tha violence around tha neighborhood and not to stop. there is also some symbolism in tha film, but if i tell u it then i will ruin tha film for you. but pay attention to 10 year old Ricky when he misses tha bal that a gangster throws to him. the acting is also terriffic with a lot of drama and some humor. Dooky is by far my favorite charecter and then Doughboy.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear in its message as a cautionary tale
Review: Usually, I hate these kinds of films about ghettoes, gangsters, and guns because they tend to glorify the very things they are supposed to warn the kids against (Superfly, Belly, New Jack City, The Mack, Colors, ad nauseum). But this is different and a tad more realistic. No high rolling pimps or drug dealers with flashy cars and fine women here, just some confused, wrectheced, stupid kids who choose the wrong path (Ice Cube and co) compared to Cuba Gooding who is growing up with wise guidance. So there's no delusion of the youth here. Oh yeah, for those who are put off by Fishburne's conspiracy theories in the film, these were inspired largely by a series of lectures that Min. Louis Farrakhan was giving at the time that were widely circulated in tapes in the ghettoes in the early 90s. Writer/director John Singleton was at one such lecture when he met Ice Cube and talked about making this film.
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Summary: I Loved It
Review: Put together a thought-provoking concept and the sexiest man on the planet and you have the ingredients for an incredible movie. With the violence and hardship Tre and his friends live with every day and the way they try to overcome it, and Laurence Fishburne (as Tre's father)you have just that.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Illuminating
Review: I have read some interesting reviews and I admit I enjoyed the movie. Yet, I can't give it a good review. One interview said to be African-American is a curse. No. To have a very narrow negative perspective on life is the curse. It's self defeating and the worst aspect of this movie. Some choice examples: Tre's father explaining why there's a gun shop and liqueur store on every corner in black neighborhoods - 'they want us to kill ourselves." Really, I never knew about this grand conspiracy. I thought the shop owners might simply be entrepreneurs. Instead, maybe the government owns the shops in this grand master plan to destroy blacks. Perhaps the shop owners are Klansmen with a few extra bucks to spare. Sound plausible? In another scene Tre's father explains that the army is no place for a black man. Yet, I knew plenty of ex-armed forces people who found good jobs at the company I worked. Dr. Stanley in his book "The Millionaire Mind" claims that some of the very rich found their military training very useful in helping to build discipline and leadership. Yet, the army is just a trap for black men. A friend of mine once admonished me that I don't know what it's like to be black in this country. Well, I don't know what it's like to be Vietnamese in the 1970s. Yet many of the Vietnamese in my neighborhood are very successful. I have little doubt if Vietnamese had been gang-bangers and drug dealers there would be no shortage of apologists saying how these disenfranchised people just can't help themselves. And that is the general theme of this movie. Yes, Tre makes it because of his father's strict discipline. Other than this point the movie is negative. And even on the score of parental responsibility the movie falls short. Perhaps it isn't the grand white conspiracy, bully cops, or racism but illegitimacy - 70% among blacks up from 20% in 1964 - that is one of the causes of all the problems in the hood.
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Summary: To be an Afro-American Male is a Curse
Review: This film is a masterpiece about Afro-American fate in America. We can see some black boys growing up with all the pains of their age in the midst of a neighborhood that is no community, but only the battle field of violence and the exploitation of the weaker ones by the stronger ones under the ever-roaming police helicopters that beam their lights down over the houses and the streets. When age goes by, when they get big enough to know how to put bullets in a gun, they start shooting and they all end up in a pool of blood, with the police, particularly the black members of it, just watching those « n.... » getting drunk, getting high and then getting shot. Few are those who can escape that fate. Few are those who can resist the desire to be with their brothers and fight against the others, who are, from another point of view, also their brothers. Those happy few are entirely locked up in their fateful individualism which is nothing but the result of their being coward enough or smart enough not to take part in the slaughter or just of their being lucky enough to be spared. Then they are alone, condemned to be alone and they will only try to survive in this society, alone, not caring for a non-existant community, having lost their friends and running away from those who killed their friends. More that fate this is a curse. Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, Paris Universities II and IX.
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Summary: Deep Ghetto Drama
Review: I thought where I live was bad, but compared to how Singleton described Long Beach, I was dead wrong. This movie is a great portrayal of life in one of America's toughest slums. If you live in Irvington, Plainfield, or Sparta NJ, check out this video. You'll see where we live aint that bad. I'm out.
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Summary: All time favorite
Review: This is one of about 5 movies that can bring me to tears. This is the first movie I ever saw Cuba Gooding Jr. in, and his performance was spectacular. Everything else I watch him in is judged against this movie. Some of Singleton's imagery is a bit over the top and cliche, but all in all, he captures the experience of his characters near perfectly. The movie felt real. All the characters had real concerns, real problems, and reacted in very legit ways. It didn't glorify gangs or violence, quite the contrary in fact. The movie isn't about gang life, it's about three kids' life and their coming of age amidst tragedy. See this movie, and then I hope you realize that all this Columbine and suburb school shootings isn't anything new. This has been going on for quite sometime in neighborhoods you don't hear much about.
Rating:
Summary: This is a good movie
Review: This is a good movie... I recommend it to anyone... If you like menace II Society you'll like this too!!!!
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