Rating: 
Summary: "They want us to kill ourselves..."
Review: If you ever wanted a great example of pure cinema drama at its finest, "Boyz N the Hood" is it. It didn't take long for me to completely involve myself during the viewing of this film. It's powerful, sad, scary, and filled with heart. This is one of those films that completely takes you by surprise by giving you something that you weren't expecting at all. John Singleton's directorial debut doesn't fail to shine for one second in this human-drama powerhouse.The film focuses around three friends who live in South Central, Los Angeles; a place where drugs, guns, and violence appears to be around every corner. The three friends are Tre, Ricky, and Doughboy. Tre's father has tried his best to raise Tre into becoming a real man; supplying him with knowledge and wisdom. Ricky has dreams of being a professional football player while his brother, Doughboy, is always getting into some kind of trouble, whether it be with the law or the neighborhood gang-bangers. In the end, the film is about choices and how every action can set off a chain of events. In the exclusive documentary that's included on this 2-Disc Anniversary Edition DVD, John Singleton says that this was the movie he was born to make, and he's able to show us exactly that and nothing less. Making the movie was taking a pretty big risk, as there was nothing quite like it on the market; however, that didn't stop him from delivering an incredible debut that really stands out from the rest. The main misconception of this movie is that people are willing to automatically assume that the movie is violent and is only about violence (these being people who have never watched the movie) when in actuality, the film focuses more on the aftermath of violent acts rather than the actual acts being carried out. The main focus is always on the characters, and Singleton does a superb job of never losing sight of that. The story is delivered with undeniable care through the great direction of John Singleton. Another factor that makes the film work the way it does is the superb cast behind it. Cuba Gooding, Jr. gives it his all early on in his career and immediately shows promise of a talented actor. Ice Cube proves that not only can he rap, but he can also act by giving life to his character of "Doughboy." Laurence Fishburne is amazing as Tre's father, as he gives an outstanding performance. Everybody else is great as well. This film really launched many careers of many of the actors that appear in this movie. The 2-Disc DVD edition really does the movie justice as it's loaded with some very cool extras. The movie looks and sounds great. The DVD offers both widescreen and full screen versions of the film. Extras that are included on this 2-Disc Anniversary Edition are theatrical trailers, commentary by John Singleton, an exclusive documentary, music videos, and deleted scenes. The documentary was fascinating to watch and was extremely informative into what went on during pre and post-production. Plenty of goodies for DVD enthusiasts all around. "Boyz N the Hood" is a touching and exhilarating drama that plays on all of one's emotions. The characters are very real and are easy to care for, and the story is well-structured and executed. I cannot think of a single flaw that I ran across while watching the film. It definitely has become a new favorite in a short amount of time. There is real power within the film that has a unique effect on us when we watch it, or at least it did on me. Definitely a film to check out if you have not already.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best of African American Cinema
Review: When I think of so called "hood" movies, Menace II Society and this come up in my mind. But unlike Menace, I was really moved by this. A big reason is because you come to care for the characters. It has Characters that reflect on life in general. It has Characters that seek a better life. It has Characters that lose a loved one in a really tragic and ironic way. This movie was nominated for Best Orig. Screenplay and Director at the Oscars. But I think they should have went all out and nominated it for Best Picture because it was really one of the best films of the early nineties.
Rating:
Summary: Beautiful and Educational
Review: This is an emotional, educational, smart, and realistic movie about one of America¡¯s biggest problems: poverty. For such a wealthy nation America has some serious poverty issues. This film highlights that in a way I have never seen before or after. I wish more people watched this movie. It could do a lot of good. This is such an educational movie yet it rarely feels like it¡¯s preaching to you. The message is simple. There is too much poverty and thus violence in the ghetto. People just don¡¯t seem to care enough. I will not mention the plot, see above for that, but must say that Cuba Gooding Junior and Lawrence Fishburne are excellent together. Also, Ice Cube does a great job as an actor, playing a key role. What I will say about the plot is that it is slow-building and then explosive for the last twenty minutes. What I also found interesting were the little scenes mixed in with the plot. There are some great side scenes, for example in one scene Furious (Fishburne) takes his son and his friend to Compton to tell them about gentrification and how people devalue property in the ghetto then buy it up cheap and sell it at a profit. All in all this is a riveting movie that you must have in your collection.
Rating:
Summary: One Of The Best Films Of All Time
Review: John Singleton's Boyz N The Hood is more than just a moving film. It is a landmark in cinema history, one of the most important films of the last few decades and arguably one of the best films of all time. The screenplay is brilliant, preaching about social class struggles and the grim realities of the hood, while remaining down to earth. This film also marks Ice Cube's acting debut where he displays excellent talent.
We meet the characters as kids. The three are Tre who lives with his strict but well-intentioned father Furious, and brothers Doughboy and Ricky.
Flashforward a few years later, Tre is a mature and intelligent youngman who has his head on straight and is most certainly college bound. Doughboy, who has been in and out of incarceration since childhood, is living the ways of the streets, hanging out with his friends he remains loyal to, dealing drugs occasionally and living his life one day at a time. Ricky is a talented football player who could receive a full college scholarship if he can get the SAT scores.
All of their lives are directly influenced by their parents and the hood. Furious has been strict on Tre, giving him plenty of chores and punishing him for wrongdoings and sitting him down to do homework, but in the process, which he had intentioned, turned him into a bright and motivated person. We see in the family across the street that Ricky is favored over Doughboy. He's going to go to college and maybe be in the NFL and Doughboy is either going to be on the stoop or in prison.
What's truly compelling is the acting of Ice Cube. He brings true emotion to his role and displays a troubled person who is good at heart but the grim reality of the hood has warped his sense of life.
Rating:
Summary: a powerhouse of a movie
Review: Boyz N Tha Hood stands into the line of being one of the best movies depicting life in the hood or South Central. I think john Singleton made a god point here. the 3 actors who play friends, Ice Cube, Cuba Gooding Jr and Morris Chestnut are magnificent and powerful. there's no flaws here only its length of time. Laurence(or Larry) Fishburne as father Furious is in one of his best roles, who tries hard to teach his son values in life. the shocking and most saddening part would be when Ricky(Chestnut) gets killed and then when Ice Cube gets his revenge. Singleton did a good job with the script also, basically telling what he saw when he was growing up in that area
Rating:
Summary: A PREMIER "HOOD" MOVIE, OF ALL TIME. BRILLIANT.
Review: Amidst the usual droll that passes for the "gangsta" genre, this movie shines like a sheer gem of movie making. A stunning, gripping, touching drama set in the real streets of LA. Veers around the tensions of inter-city culture, and what it's like to be an African-American youth growing up in South Central Los Angeles. Gut-wrenching potrayal of a hard-hitting theme as it is, the movie also sports a bevy of great names: Lawrence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jr, Angela Bassett, Ice Cube. I was hooked from Minute 1. Unembellished story line. Most of all an important message you can't possibly ignore, unless you watch it with your eyes closed. Which will anyway open when you see the ending of this stunning film. A must see -- there is a reason why the DVD is priced a bit steep. I would've bought it even if it was 10 bucks more.
Rating:
Summary: BOYZ N THE HOOD Special Edition DVD Review
Review: Finally, "Boyz N The Hood" gets proper treatmant on DVD with a double-disc special edition. John Singleton's film debut was one of the first films to take a realistic look at what was really going on in many urban California neighborhoods at the time. Telling parts of his own childhood story, Singleton gave us some deep, social commentary mixed with some groundbreaking performances from a number of relative newcomers. Cuba Gooding, Jr. is Tre Styles, a young black male growing up in South Central during the turbulent and violent early 90's. Under the watching eyes and guiding hand of his father, Furious (played brilliantly by Laurence Fishburne), Tre learns life's difficult lessons as with friends and family, he battles the harsh world that is out there on the streets. "Boyz N The Hood" is one of the most movies that is hard to forget. Once you've seen it, chances are that you will want to experience it again. While later films in the genre exploited violent images and often glorified them for entertainment purposes, this movies touches on the emotion behind the violence. When there is violence even towards characters that we may perceive as "bad", the film shows us the honest consquences. While there are many excellent performances here, it is first-time actor Ice Cube's portrayal of "Dough Boy" that really had audiences talking. No matter how many times I view the film's emotional climax, I always "feel" it. Cube's closing monolouge is just so genuine and powerful. As he walks off, fading into memory, we feel that loss. Dough Boy isn't some poor black sterotype that blows away people without thinking twice. He has human qualities. Even when he is doing things we don't agree with it, he is sympathetic. He is angry about the lack of love that he gets from his mother who praises his brother but shuns him. Despite fighting with his brother, he still runs to his rescue, moments later. Dough Boy is portrayed in a way that he can be hard-edged but we still can relate to his suffering. That seems to be what is missing from many of these hood films that try to duplicate "Boyz". "Boyz N The Hood" was and still is one of the most important films in the genre. This DVD offers a lot of things that many fans have been waiting for such as an audio commentary, a featurette looking back at the film's making, and two deleted scenes. While the first omitted scene is a rather pointless back and forth between Gooding's Tre and his mother, played by Angela Basset, the second scene featuring the movie's stand-out characters Dough Boy and Furious is excellent. This DVD is definetly worth picking up for any true fan of this epic film.
Rating:
Summary: Still A Boy From Da Hood
Review: Even after 10 years, this movie is deep and tells a story that is going on even today. I wanted to buy this movie on DVD last year but when I read they had a special 10 year anniversary edition coming out this year. So I waited and was not disappointed. I loved the special features which included commentary from the entire cast presently as they all reflected and looked back on the film and what it meant to them. To look at how much these actors/actresses have blown up since this film, it was quite a door opener for everybody. From ICECUBE, to Cuba Gooding, Jr., Morris Chestnut, Laurence Fishburne, Angela Bassett, Nia Long, Tyra Farrell, and Darius McCreary (played young Ricky, former star of Family Matters, and Kingdom Come fame), and Regina King. These are now some of the biggest names in Hollywood right now. It's started a whole generation of urban reality movies (Juice, Menace II Society, Clockers, etc) that was long missing in Hollywood or just totally ignored by the establishment. It should be just as important a black film in the 90's as Spike Lee's Do The Right was in the 80's. Even looking at it now, I enjoy it just as much as when it came out. Two things I was kind of dissapointed about with this special edition DVD was that it only had two deleted scenes and when they interviewed the guys who played Doughboy, Tre, and Ricky as kids, they never interviewed the guy that played Doughboy. However minor, it's still a 5 star classic in my book.
Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE ALL TIME BEST!
Review: It's about time this movie comes out in a re-mastered edition! It's now a 2-disc set....I hope the 2nd disc is worth it! Most 2 DVD sets the 2nd disc is NOT worth the money at ALL! Boyz-n-the Hood is by far One Of the All time BEST movie EVER! This is for sure John Singleton's BEST!
Rating: 
Summary: VERY TOUCHING
Review: NO MOVIE CAPTURES THE REALNESS OF THE L.A. GHETTOS LIKE THIS ONE. THE PLOT REVOLVES AROUND THREE BOYS THAT LIVE THERE, TRE [CUBA GOODING, JR.] WHO WANTS TO GET OUT OF THE HOOD, TRE'S GOOD FRIEND RICKY [MORRIS CHESTNUT], WHO WANTS TO GO TO COLLEGE AND BECOME A FOOTBALL PLAYER, AND DOUGHBOY [ICE CUBE], A WOULD BE GANGBANGER WHO LIKES IT IN THE HOOD. BUT TRAGEDY STRIKES WHEN A GROUP OF GANG BANGERS VICIOUSLY GUN DOWN RICKY. AND NOW THERE SEEMS LIKE THE ONLY WAY FOR PAYBACK IS VIOLENCE. THIS MOVIE IS REALLY TOUCHING AND IT'S REALLY ON THE MONEY. IT'S PRETTY SAD TO SEE THAT WHEN SOMEONE IS FINALLY GONNA DO SOMETHING WITH THEIR LIFE, IT GETS TAKEN AWAY FOR BS REASONS. THIS MOVIE WAS ONE OF THE FIRST MOVIES TO ACCURATELY DEPICT WHAT GOES ON IN THE HOOD. THE IMPACT OF THIS MOVIE SHOULD TELL PEOPLE THAT GUNS AND GANGS AREN'T THE WAY TO GO. THIS IS STILL THE BEST HOOD MOVIE TO EVER BE RELEASED.
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