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Belly

Belly

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: move back to reality
Review: I don't usually write reviews but I saw how poorly some people reviewed this movie. I couldn't believe the responses. This movie is not intended to be a grammy award winner, it's supposed to be realistic. Poor acting, yes, because they are portraying life, not some fantasy land drama. To all you folks who have been in similar situations to what happens in the movie you know whats goin on. Its real up in the battlefield. this is how some grow up, and this is how they survive. those connected to the real world know. Reality always trumps. thats why this movie gets 5 stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Very underrated action movie.
Review: Why did critics scoff at this movie when it came out?? DMX played his part so well as "Tommy", a ruthless big-time drug dealer who's only goal in life was to do whatever it took to get money. So, I'm trying to understand, critics, how did DMX NOT portray this in the movie?? DMX was not only fearless and ruthless, he was pretty damn funny too. NAS plays his buddy and partner "Sincere". NAS was also great in the movie. He wasn't quite as risk-taking and evil as DMX was in the movie, but he worked really, really great with DMX as his drug-dealing partner. Also, By far, the biggest criminal in the movie was a Jamaican drug kingpin named Lennox. He was Tommy's biggest drug connection and you got chills just looking at him. This movie has some very brutal violence and action scenes, which may have turned some critics off. Jeez......if you don't want to see that stuff, then head over to the comedy section of the video store. Also in the movie, look for "Knowledge", Tommy and Sincere's partner/connection. Great urban action movie. There is no real plot, but so what? It's entertaining from start to finish.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: belly-aching and farting all ovah da place....
Review: "What was Hype Williams thinking? That everybody should grease themselves down in Vaseline and not pay their light bill?"

This review had me BELLY-up on the floor laughing. I couldn't watch more than 10 minutes of this thing. The script was all OVER the place. It stylized African-Americans as gangsters with money... but, too stupid to hire a real writer who could do justice to our culture. I do NOT think singers/rappers should consider doing both film AND records unless they really have the time to devote to their craft. Very few people can do that and NONE of these folks here CAN... REGARDLESS of this RIDICULOUS SCRIPT. I have worked on Hype Williams videos and feel bad that this "movie" even exists for he has done some amazing stuff with music... but, filmmaking... eh eh... this is not where he should put his $$$. His writing skills suck and, moreover, the rest of us "little people" who are not in musicvideoland are not glossy gangsta types. Magic Johnson did right by not playing this film in his chain. We got enough problems trying to clean up the REST of hip hop from these loony toon rappers like LudaPRIS and "Da Dredded Minstrel" Lil Jon. And, Malik Sayeed needs to open up his brain a few more F-stops and learn his craft a little better. This movie gets 1 star, because it can't get "0" Whoever thinks this movie is in the LEAST BIT redeemable is smokin TOO MUCH WEED that the volume is down on the TV SET while watchin this "MINSTRELPIECE". They ARE NOT in their right mind... fa real...

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: RE: A "USED AND NEW" SELLER
Review: DO NOT BUY FROM THE SELLER "BESTMOVIES," GO AHEAD AND GO THROUGH ALL THE PREVIOUS CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS, CHECK THE OTHER SELLERS TOO, YOU CAN NEVER BE TOO SURE, OTHER THAN THAT, MOVIE'S DEFINITELY ABOVE PAR.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: A Cultural and Cinematic Mess
Review: Some movies were never meant to see the light of day. Belly happens to be one of those movies. To begin with, when this film was initially released I was restricted from seeing it due to my age. Recently, my best friend gave this movie to me as a gift--I've regretted it ever since. Besides being an overextended music video (Hype Williams directed it) this "movie" has no plot or script. It was eccentric and trite; the odd camera scenes and cuts to various locations without explanation were annoying and hard on the eyes. Furthermore, many of the "actors" were rappers who had no talent in that field. For instance, Nas' performance in this film is downright nauseating. The man has no type of acting skills whatsoever; I've never seen an individual sound and appear so out of place with a character. The same goes for DMX and the rest of the cast. It's quite obvious that this movie wants to reflect the drug game in the same manner as "New Jack City" (a classic film) but fails miserably. The fact that other members gave this movie ratings higher than one is astonishing. This hot-mess of cinema will go down in history as the perfect example as to why rappers shouldn't make movies, let alone be directed by directors with a thirst for opulence. In an effort to spare others' money and sanity, purchase (or rent) "Paid in Full" and/or "New Jack City" in replacement of this BS.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not a good movie, yet not a bad one
Review: This movie is kind of weird, on the cover it says that the plot is about Nas & DMX starting a feud over new drugs but I have seen it 3 times and this never happened ???

The plot is barely noticable, it's more or less a look in days of the lives of these 2 criminals.
I think that HYPE should have made the twists more upfront couse a lot of things happen in this movie which makes u wonder, Who was that guy and what's his beef? and Why are Nas watching white kids bully another white kid on TV? etc. etc.

At the end of the movie not much is explained, still it's a pretty interresting piece of work and the camerawork is excellent of course but the movie leaves u more or less confused

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: this is a slept on movie politically!
Review: All this movie is about is two best friends named Sincere and Tommy ( played by nas and dmx) who grow apart and turn their lives around. You minds well say nas and dmx are playing themselves because the movie comes off like their songs. It's ironic how Nas goes back to Africa and Tommy is involved in a spiritual organization. You can't say nas did a bad job because he played himself, a family man who reads a lot and smokes a lot of weed. The best thing about this movie is it's political awareness, like how Tommy is about to got to jail for life and the government bails him out and tells him if he killed this minister he wouldn't do any time. This makes you wonder how many more black leaders were set up by our government. Only if you are really into Nas's and Dmx's music would you understand this movie because their music has a lot to do with the plot of this story.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: BELLY Review
Review: Music video director Hype Williams makes his feature-film debut in this urban action drama starring rappers Nas and DMX as childhood friends who take two seperate paths in their adult lives.

Nas, who co-scripted the story, plays Sincere, a hustler out of Queens who with his partner, Tommy "Buns" Brown, decides to invest in a big-money scheme invovling a new form of high-grade heroin. But Sincere wants out of the game badly. Torn between his loyalty to his friend and his ambitions to become a family man with a legitimate lifestyle, Sincere finds knowledge and guidance through the books. Tommy, however, is a gun-toting madman who's only goal in life seems to be the pursuit of money at any cost. Through their decisions, the two follow their lives down seperate paths with Sincere plotting an escape to Africa while Tommy is caught up in a plot to assasinate a religious leader.

"Belly" plays itself more difficult than it needs to be at times. The dialouge is so filled with street lingo that only people who truly understand the hip-hop culture will be able to really understand what is going on. While this does provide the film with a level of realism that most films never capture, it may take many people numerous viewings to pick up on what is really going on. Critics were quick to blast this film for the fact that the majority of its stars are rappers who have never even acted before but to their credit, DMX and Method Man do well. Nas as Sincere is about as painful a narrator as you can get. He trys to do Liotta in "Goodfellas" but his narration is all over the place. After explaining Tommy's transformation in one scene, he seems to "rewind" himself back and act like he doesn't know what is really going on. In some scenes, he even rambles to the point where it sounds like even he has no idea what he is saying.. Taral Hicks is one of the few actual actors in this rapper-dominated movie. She has a commanding prescene as Tommy's "boo", Keisha. Louie Rankin's Jamaican drug lord is also presented well. His English isn't great but his performance comes off authentic regardless. He sounds like the real deal, not some bad actor who can't read dialouge but rather someone who understands his character. The closing monolouge by Dr. Benjamin Chavis as "The Minister" is the icing on the cake. While some claimed that the movie seemed to glorify many of the elements that Chavis' speech criticized, many of these critics seem to be missing the point all together.

The movie is shot with a lot of dark images as Williams has a little too much fun with the visual end. The fancy imagery seems to overpower the story at times. Aside from the introduction of Method Man's "Ike Love", there really isn't a lot of humor in this film. Another problem. It could stand to lighten up at times. It's clearly not a comedy but it could benefit from pulling away from its somber overtone at least a little bit. There is no need to bombard the audience in a dark and somber atmosphere for the full two hours. Even when there are some attempts at comedy, they aren't picked up because we're paying too much attention to the aforementioned "imagery" and not enough to the characters.

"Belly" is not a terrible movie. In fact, it is pretty good but the roughness of the presentation hurts the appeal of the story. Looking past the negative, this movie does have a lot to offer. If you have the patentience to sit through the gritty images and rugged dialouge then you might be able to appreciate the entertaining aspects of this somewhat uneven film.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: DMX blew me away
Review: DMX is frighteningly honest in his portrayal of a hardened criminal. It looks effortless and he makes you believe every frame. Yes, it is a dark, deliberately provocative and graphic film. I didn't find it wholly nihilistic but it's no Disney flick. If you want to watch something edgy, you gotta check it out.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A good watch...
Review: A lot of people have no clue that this movie even exists and that's too bad. "Belly" is a story about two close friends who are headed in total different directions. The story along the way that's meant to help us out is somewhat a rehash on "Good Fellas" and "Boys N the Hood" but it keeps you interested. What really makes this a movie worth buying is the images and the music. Keep your eyes open for Method Man's appearence in the movie. If you're into crime movies and eye-candy this is good movie to watch. Not to say that the basics of the movie are not good. The story moves you along with good acting for the most part. I agree with another reviewer who mentioned that there was some pretty bad acting with some of the female parts. Rent this flick and enjoy.


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