Rating: 
Summary: Off the hinges...
Review: Alright, so it was played like one long music video, as can be expected from Hype Williams. But "Belly" had enough to keep me watching it over a few dozen times. I've heard several people liken it to an updated "New Jack City", but this movie is told in a far different manner. First off, you don't see the movie through the cops' eyes, but rather through those of the criminals. Also, there isn't that annoying undertone of bad karma (don't do drugs and all that), even though it is somewhat thrown in at the end. In fact, the movie can be more likened to "Goodfellas" with a modern, urban New York twist, in that it's portraying the main protagonists (or antagonists, depending on how you look at it) in their struggle to rise to the top of the criminal food chain.
Now, there were a few negatives to the film....most notably, Nas' character Sincere got on the nerves at times and didn't really come through as a hard gangster. DMX carried that image all by himself, making you wonder how they referred to themselves as "Butch and Sundance". The plot was kinda hard to follow at times and could require you to watch the movie a couple of times, but I didn't complain, as just with "The Matrix" you pick up new things each time you watch the movie. Method Man was excellent in this film, but he didn't have enough time onscreen and it would have been nice to see a few more members of the Wu in there. Peep this, it's good watching and the soundtrack's outta control, too...
Rating: 
Summary: LOVE THE FILM HATE THE DVD
Review: I PERSONALLY AS A PROFESSIONAL FILMMAKER LOVE THIS FILM.
HOWEVER THE ORIGINAL DVD PROMISIES THAT THERE IS ENOUGH DELETED SCENES TO MAKE BELLY A 3 HOUR FILM!SO THEN I SEE THAT THE "SPECIAL EDITION" IS RELEASED AND I BUY IT ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT IT HAS ONE DELETED SCENE.
THAT ISN'T A DELETED SCENE AT ALL! ITS A DELETED SHOT. IT SUCKED ASS. SORRY BUT THIS DVD SUCKS ASS. THE SPECIAL FEATURES SUCK ASS. THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORD FEATURETTES ON THE DVD. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDNT KNOW ITS JUST PEOPLE ON STAGE
RECIETED POEMS. PISSED ME OFF TO NO END. HOWEVER IT IS A CLEANER TRANSFER OF THE FILM.
Rating: 
Summary: There is a difference between music videos and movies...
Review: While this movie can't be considered a long music video, it is essentially filmed in the Hype Williams music video style. There are numerous slow motion shots, and also present are the rich Hype Williams background textures. However while this works for four minutes of booty shaking, it works to hurt a feature length film. The slow motion shots work to slow down the film (duh) but while this helps in a music video, it seems silly used so much in a motion picture (can you imagine having 30 slow motion parts in The Godfather? ---seems silly right?). Also, the textures used in the film are cool in themselves but end up giving the film a surreal feeling, and given the gritty nature of the issues dealt with in Belly, I think that surrealism wasn't the way to go. For example, in the opening scene Williams uses light to give the characters eye's a neon hue, while the rest of thier bodies appear black. While this looks great for Busta Rhymes in a video, it serves no purpose in Belly. Why are their eyes like this? Is it because it helps to tell the story? Or is it just to show off? Another issue is Nas' acting. Not to jump on his back but he's nervous throughout the film and it's obvious he's not an actor. That is acceptable in music videos or light comedy, but in a film where he is supposed to be comtemplating deep issues, his inexperince as an actor is uncomfortable to watch. You end up nervous because you know he's nervous. Hype is obviously talented, but just because he makes great music videos doesn't mean he can make great movies. After all, just because Michael Johnson can sprint with the best doesn't mean he can excel at marathons right? It's a different animal, and this one devoured Hype Williams. Here's hoping he can improve.
Rating: 
Summary: BELLY FART
Review: One of the biggest examples of the plasticity exhibited by Hip Hop culture. I am ashamed to even be considered Black after watching this piece of trash. I have since then flung this "burned copy" of this film into the incinerator. I hope to never see this type of bad filmmaking ever again. What utter TRASH!!
Rating:
Summary: A respectable effort, nothing more, nothing less...
Review: I have to say that Hype Williams' directorial film debut is pretty respectable. Some of the dialogue, especially on the females' parts, is extremely corny. I saw an MTV movie special on this when they were filming it, and T-Boz said that Hype let her write some of her own lines. He probably regrets having done that now, because her performance is embarrassingly bad. DMX turns in the strongest performance as the hard-edged self-destructive drug dealer Tommy, proving he is one of the most charismatic talents on the scene. Now if he would only hang up the microphone and start acting full-time, he'd be alright. From a technical standpoint, it's got great cinematography, especially in the opening sequence, a brilliantly-lighted and expertly-paced nightclub stick-up in which the entire gang steps out of their cars and enters the building all in slow motion with no sound at all, except for a classic Soul II Soul a capella. As for the rest of the cast like Nas and Taral Hicks, most of 'em don't have much by way of acting chops, and the characters aren't very interesting. However, this movie is still watchable. It has a gripping storyline and is a pretty original take on the urban crime drama. And the sountrack is blazing hot.
Rating:
Summary: ITS NOT A LONG MUSIC VIDEO...GREAT MOVIE OF
Review: The story has 2 main characters Nas(sincere) and DMX(tommy)...Tommy the brains and the head of their opperations see's on the new that theres a new form of cocaine and its very potent. Tommy is down for whatever as long as he gets his money. his greed and envy is going to get him caught up. Nas is still the hard straight from the street person but he is a family man and studies the bible and see more to life than the money.IDK how these other people think its a long music video because its not at all. great movie and unlike most movies the begining is boring but not in this movie..me and my friends couldnt stop watching it.movie makes you think about the bigger picture and who really are your friends?
Rating:
Summary: BELLY FART
Review: One of the biggest examples of the plasticity exhibited by Hip Hop culture. I am ashamed to even be considered Black after watching this piece of trash. I have since then flung this "burned copy" of this film into the incinerator. I hope to never see this type of bad filmmaking ever again. What utter TRASH!!
Rating:
Summary: LOVE THE FILM HATE THE DVD
Review: I PERSONALLY AS A PROFESSIONAL FILMMAKER LOVE THIS FILM.
HOWEVER THE ORIGINAL DVD PROMISIES THAT THERE IS ENOUGH DELETED SCENES TO MAKE BELLY A 3 HOUR FILM! SO THEN I SEE THAT THE "SPECIAL EDITION" IS RELEASED AND I BUY IT ONLY TO DISCOVER THAT IT HAS ONE DELETED SCENE.
THAT ISN'T A DELETED SCENE AT ALL! ITS A DELETED SHOT. IT SUCKED ASS. SORRY BUT THIS DVD SUCKS ASS. THE SPECIAL FEATURES SUCK ASS. THEY HAVE SPOKEN WORD FEATURETTES ON THE DVD. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO DIDNT KNOW ITS JUST PEOPLE ON STAGE
RECIETED POEMS. PISSED ME OFF TO NO END. HOWEVER IT IS A CLEANER TRANSFER OF THE FILM.
Rating:
Summary: Artisan's new "Belly" DVD isn't so SPECIAL!!!!
Review: When I first heard that Artisan would be releasing a brand new special edition of "Belly", I was intrigued. I already owned the original DVD release which was alright but a little light in the special features category. On it, director Hype Williams spoke on a number of scenes that were omitted from the final release. He talked about wanting to put together a "director's cut". With this edition, I was hoping that we would finally get to see the footage he talked about. Much to my dismay, this entire "Special Edition" is one of the weakest and most half-baked attempts to re-sell the same DVD twice that I've ever come across. Not only is there no added material from the actual movie but the special features included have me more confused than most viewers were with the original version of this film. The so-called "Deleted Scene" is actually just one solid shot of a bunch of people standing in front of some strippers at a night club. When they turn around, their bare breasts are blurred out like some TV reality show or something. I find it very hard to believe that this was ever even intended to be in the movie as the inclusion of it would make no sense once so ever. In fact, I think it's safe to say that it's probably just some daily from one of the filiming days at the strip bar. As for the "Spoken Word Featurette", it is actually just a bunch of people performing live poetry based on some of the characters in the movie. What The?!?! The only added feature that has anything to do with the movie is the music video for the song, "Grand Finale" off the film's soundtrack. Even the advertised bonus CD soundtrack is not the full album but eight songs from it thrown on a disc. The rest of the features are just recycled from the previous DVD release. I have always considered "Belly" to be one of my guilty pleasures. Many critics trashed it, the film bombed in the box office, but found a cult following on video. Sadly, Artisan chose to hit said fan base in the crotch and the wallet with this awful excuse for a "special edition". If you already own the first DVD and the soundtrack, I promise you that you will regret updating your collection with this waste of time. There is no behind-the-scenes footage, "making of" featurette, or any ommitted scenes. Nobody from the cast or crew had anything to do with this at all. This is really quite a shameless attempt to cash in. Underrated film, awful DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage...
Review: there should be no other words to describe this travesty. It has no cinematic value WHATSOEVER... the END OF HIP HOP MINSTRELS... I agree with the level-headed reviewers... not these teen-age suburban white kids who are the ones buying stereotypic images of our people.
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