See if you can find a copy of "Fear Of A Black Hat" which is _the_
most biting satire on the hip hop/rap scene ever made--
no contest.

I loved that, but it is pretty raw. The director should do more
work and maybe he has, but I haven't tracked any down.

Saw Barbershop (I) and looking forward to II coming off the
first run shelf. It has that Spike Lee "Do The Right Thing"
community flavor and I'm glad that Ice Cube continues
in the movie business. But frankly, I thought this would
be snapped up by tv and made into a series.

It's Spike Lee who tours college campuses and cautions the black
students (male students) not to be seduced by dreams of
becoming a basketball or football hero. Today he is probably adding
that being seduced by becoming a war hero is an even bigger
illusion.

That fraternity film is not coming to mind but I've seen
quite a bit of Spike Lee's work. I could not sit through
"She's Gotta Have It", though I tried once. I thought it played
to stereotypes as a 'saleable product' for a young director.

But films like "X" and especially "Get On The Bus" show
Lee as a craftsman of drama. Do not confuse character dialog
with a personal stance by the author. The best of theatre
shows both sides of the argument and lets the audience decide.

The most severe statement that Spike Lee has made is a film called Bamboozled. This one deserves a whole separate discussion. It's
not at all surprising that the film did not get much notice. There
is much to make the viewer uncomfortable, regardless of color.

This doesn't make it a bad film. It makes it an important film.

OTOH, Summer of Sam I didn't care for and can hardly give an
opinion about. Some things work, some don't.

What I think emerges in an artists work is that the more
the artist grows as a world figure, the more he grows as a creator.

But no, I have not heard the interviews you mentioned.

cf: The Painted Word by Tom Wolfe. He agrees and says that art
today is driven by critics and sales rather than invention.

Let me ask you what you think about this phenomena of quality actors and directors reaching a certain noteriety and becoming caricatures of themselves. Is that axiomatic within that proffesion?
I don't remmember someone like Gregory Peck becoming a shell of himself and his talent; whats going on with these guys. You see a picture with a name star and expect it will be watchable and you are disappointed.

There are several actors and actresses I have on a permanent
avoid list: Robert DeNiro, Gene Hackman, Heather Graham, Julia Roberts... there's a few others-- Hugh Grant. Al Pacino is flirting with this list as well.

Bobby D; Jack; lots more to name. Where are the true practitioners of the craft? Can you picture Spencer Tracy acting the fool in a movie?
Ever see the movie, The Cup? Made in Tibet real nice flick.

I've seen The Cup, Bend It Like Beckham, Monsoon Wedding.
The Cup tackled the exile of the Dahlai Lama doesn't it?

To answer your question, it is simply laziness on the part of
producers and directors to go to the well for the same named
actors over and over.

Over the past 15 years, quality work without named stars has
been coming out of places like HBO. I'm thinking in particular
of the excellent performance by Halle Berry in "Introducing Dorothy Dandridge." The French have done a striking adaptation of
"The Count of Monte Cristo" with Depardieu.

What sometimes amazes me is the selection made by my
public library in the area of foreign films... stuff I never
heard of.

To get out of the big star/big disappointment rut, you simply
have to take chances: select things you know absolutely nothing
about. In doing so I've found my share of dogs, but I've also
found things that have made the search worthwhile.

"Bamboozled" was one of those. "Eight Women" was another. And
"The Reflecting Skin", whaaaa. What sort of brain does Philip
Ridley have anyway?

Here's is my editorialization: Whether it be films, politics,
tv or even dates, American people are scared sh*tless of everything.
So they let their taste be made by critics, advisors, polls, box office-- _anyone_ but themesleves. And in so doing they are manipulated like never before. Then as this manipulation is taking place they will congratulate themselves on being with the 'authentic'
majority: the ones who vote based on who they'd rather have a beer with.

The answer, as Arundhati Roy says, is to make mass media
irrelevant.

Today there is a movement afoot to release films directly to the
public via broadband. Morgan Freeman has produced the first of
these. Radio available commercial free via satellite or streamed
is another broadband possibility.

But these things isolate people even more in their "home theaters"
which, rightly put, is a contradiction in terms. The theatrical experience is supposed to be a collective one.

What has to be done to improve quality is to 'stay away in droves.'