Excellent, Without a doubt!!

best movie i've ever seen.

Best movie ever!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Spike Lee is an example of one we need more of in Hollywood. He is a smart director. Let me start with direct pluses before I get into the juice of this movie. In one scene, where cops are interrogating the clockers in the beginning, the origin of "bro" is gotten right. A Norman (since "Thump" comes from Middle English which is Norman) named Thumper says "bro" in a rather warm way to Strike, and it's not saying it's the same as "brotha." Cause one of the cops who does say "brotha" is saying it in a derisive tone, while holding a suspect's chin very brutally. Yup "bro" is Italian slang according to this. Kudos to all three for getting it right :D Important, because we get to see the reaction by the black people (not many whites in this movie as, except for Klein who never says the word at all).Now, the important stuff. This movie is hard-hitting. It tells of the life of clockers (drug dealers who deal in the housing projects in Brooklyn). But most importantly there is a tone of misery and in some cases, suicide. You can really feel the hopelessness of some in this movie (Rodney for instance tells Strike, "Maybe you won't have to take it much longer," which shows he'll put him out of his misery or at least that's how it's implied). It's so hopeless, it makes me wanna cry. But Strike is a symbol of hope in the midst of a hopeless environment. And so is his bro, Victor. I'm a Rivera by the way :D. If you want something happy, skip this one. But if you can handle the hopelessness of this movie, give it a try. It's a good movie. However less dreary than most movies of this genre such as "Fresh" which is more darker. This movie is a human drama about the lives of young blacks and Hispanics (cause one of the drug dealers is Hispanic, and a "bro"-sayer :D ) who deal drugs because they have no fathers. It's a thoughtful story and Spike really put his time into it. Some moments will make you laugh (like the opening scene -- a funny argument about "rappers who are hard"); some will make you jump (it's something to do with Rodney and Strike) and the last 20 minutes will make you cry (including the credits). This was a tour-de-force. Spike Lee and Martin Scorsese are true masters of cinema. But believe me this is more depressing than "GoodFellas."

Although I have only seen a few of Spike Lee's films, I am already beginning to place him very low on the ladder of the best directors alive today. Clockers fails, in my opinion, because the film's premise is lacking substance to begin with; the story is lackluster to the max. On top of this, where the film had its opportunities to reel in the audience emotionally, it instead dropped the ball. Moments where energy, tension, and suspense were supposed to effused were disappointingly overridden with anticlimactic slumps in action. The choking scene in the car as well as when Mekhi is being beat up in the park, with their odd selection of music, seem unfulfilled in their potential to capitalize on emotional appeal.I will say the denouement is shot with expert precision. Lee's patented cinematographic maneuver, the double dolly, is on full display. Moreover, his use of low-key lighting in some specific scenes that illustrate the proliferation of drugs inside the projects are done in a professionally haunting manor. Unfortunately, these instances are rare, overshadowed by the weak portions previously discussed.With regards to Lee's film style in Clockers, I like to point out two of his techniques that I find terribly annoying: 1) Those stupid circling gliding shots around characters when they are talking. 2) His persistent use of intense music to compliment serious(at least Lee thinks they must be) scenes. When put together, these two devices serve to create the ultimate exaggeration of the weight a scene carries in this film. Doing a flashy gliding pan across the park accompanied by pounding sound while Tyrone's mother yells at Mekhi and his boys about his haircut is a little excessive. Instead, I think Clocker's would benefit from a greater variation in the levels of stress and emotion we experience in each scene. This way, when the film actually does come to a TRULY significant moment, the audience will become more invested in the action.P.S. I don't think anyone from the projects would actually where a complete Arizona wildcats uniform. Just the jersey, not the shorts.

This is one of my all-time favourite films. Director Spike Lee adapts the Richard Price Novel, set in New Jersey, to his hometown and favourite movie backdrop: Brooklyn. It is often said that films never live up to the books on which they are based, but in this case I think the movie out performs the novel. This is because the book can be slow moving at times, and the action is separated by long passages of writing. However, the film chops all of these slow parts out, and the result is a film that keeps you engaged from start to finish. Spike Lee uses music perfectly to compliment the tone and mood of each scene, be it hip-hop in the urban playground, the acoustic interludes of Seal and Des'ree, or minor key, intense jazz to accompany drug use in doorways and nooks, and the final scene's soundtrack is absolutely inspired.Delroy Lindo plays his king-pin character with such comfort, at times it is hard to imagine that he isn't that person in reality! Harvey Keitel and John Turturro work well as the detective double-team, conflicting over whether to take the easy close-by-arrest, or the moral crusade to find the truth behind the case at the heart of the film. Mekhi Phifer is impressive in many of his scenes as the central character, who keeps you guessing to the end on whether he deserves your sympathy or not. For me, Lindo's performance is the standout turn.The cinematography is luscious, and the colours and compositions make this film a visual feast. But more importantly, the natural dialogue of the film and the delivery of nearly every line really reinforce the fact that you are watching a film about real situations. Overall, I give this film my maximum rating of 9.5 stars. If you like this film, you'll love The Wire Season One, and you also might want to check out another overlooked film, Jason's Lyric.

Let me say that I just finished the novel, and have only just watched the film.I try not to be one of those people who reads a book, watches the movie, and then tears the latter apart, but there are some significant issues that come to mind when considering this adaptation.1: There is just too much music and scoring.Thus the whole thing feels artificial, or like an after-school special come to life with ghetto undertones. I'm not quite sure why Spike Lee would have chosen this presentation, though perhaps it was to create an expected emotional bond with his audience that he felt was lacking due to the large ensemble cast, or maybe he didn't trust the performances of his actors. Regardless, the overall effect cheapens the drama and removes all the real life consequence the story and characters naturally possess (as written).2: The acting comes across as preachy.Consequently, the whole film seems like it trying to prove a point (and nothing else). On the one hand, it's saying to the kids growing up in the projects that, "This is no way to live. Let me show you how." And on the other, it's reaching out to the dominantly white congress, senate, electorate & bureaucracy, and trying to show these people the human cost of their ignorance, bad public policy making & flawed humanitarian ideals and voting.So the thing is, Richard Price's writing is excruciatingly realistic, and his novel, though not without its genre tropes, is equally exacting, and poignant.This film, however, feels like a very well-hearted effort to render the former, but that gets lost in way too much ideology.