N.W.A. Straight Outta Compton

[JabarR]

What are actually the chances that we get an extended cut?

Have you ever heard of Unrated version of DVDs and Blu Ray?

 

[Slick]

This movie was fantastic.

 

[JaD]

Just got back from this now, this was very good Great acting from everyone and just very entertaining throughout. Always been a fan of N.W.A. and this was as good of a movie you could do on them.

I also loved the "Bye Felicia." from Cube at the hotel. My brother and I got that little joke there and we were cracking up.

 

[MadVillainy]

Have you ever heard of Unrated version of DVDs and Blu Ray?

Chill

Those extended unrated cuts are usually meaningless with less than 10 minutes of extra footage. Those aren't real or good extended/director cuts

 

[Hypestyle]

The film needs to also be marketed in various other countries, besides the USA. Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin/South America, Australia, etc.
Hopefully Universal will campaign for some awards for the film @ Golden Globes & the Academy Awards, both for the actors and for the filmmakers.

Side note- more hip-hop biopics wanted: Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Ice-T, Boogie Down Productions, LL Cool J.

 

[BLACKVULCAN]

I saw it yesterday and freakin LOVED IT!! That dude playing Dre was Awesome and that scene in Detroit was FANTASTIC!! All the music they were playing reminded me of bumping it while i was in the military!!
Dang! and whats crazy is how nothing has really changed with police after all these years! that flick was REALLY GOOD!

 

[_Superman_]

The film needs to also be marketed in various other countries, besides the USA. Europe, Asia, Africa, Latin/South America, Australia, etc.
Hopefully Universal will campaign for some awards for the film @ Golden Globes & the Academy Awards, both for the actors and for the filmmakers.

Side note- more hip-hop biopics wanted: Run-DMC, Public Enemy, Ice-T, Boogie Down Productions, LL Cool J.

I'm still waiting for a proper Tupac movie.

 

[JabarR]

Those extended unrated cuts are usually meaningless with less than 10 minutes of extra footage. Those aren't real or good extended/director cuts

F. Gary Gray himself confirmed that a Director's Cut is coming and I hope Universal will release it as an Unrated version.

 

[JabarR]

Oscars: 'Straight Outta Compton' — Could It Be a Contender? (Analysis)

'Straight Outta Compton' Jaimie Trueblood/Universal Pictures The film about the rise and fall of the groundbreaking hip-hop group NWA had a big weekend not only at the box-office, but also at the Academy, where its screening for members drew a massive crowd and overwhelmingly favorable response.


This weekend, as Straight Outta Compton racks up ticket sales that are projected to amount to $56.1 million, members of the industry are asking: Could the drama, which chronicles the rise and fall of the groundbreaking hip-hop group N.W.A, also become one of the year's first Oscar contenders?


Universal is said to be bullish about the film's awards prospects and, based on the audience it drew and reception it received at its official Academy screening on Saturday night, it's hard to disagree.


Almost all major motion pictures are invited to screen for Oscar voters at the Academy's 1012-seat Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, but many play to a largely empty room, especially prior to the fall. Compton, however, drew a massive crowd, according to several Academy members with whom I spoke. "It was one of the bigger screenings I've seen in a long time," said one, "maybe 80 to 85 percent full." The week before, he said, a screening drew perhaps 200 people; this one, according to a Universal rep who was monitoring attendance, drew "well over 700." (One caveat: Prior to the fall, members are invited to bring with them up to three guests, so not everyone in the room was an Academy member — but even so, it was an impressive showing.)


The film itself seemed to go over very well. A powerful scene that plays before its opening credits was met with applause, an extremely rare response from hard-bitten members in the middle of a movie. (There have been only a few instances of it in recent years: following some of the numbers in Chicago, Anne Hathaway's show-stopper in Les Miserables and the thrilling finale of Argo. And all of those films went on to win major Oscars.) According to another member, "I talked to many members afterwards and they were very impressed."


Compton's cause was further boosted by a post-screening Q&A with producers Ice Cube and Scott Bernstein, producer-director F. Gary Gray and actors O'Shea Jackson Jr., Corey Hawkins and Jason Mitchell, moderated by KPCC's John Horn, which the filmmaker Julie Dash, an Academy member, Periscoped for people who were unable to be in the room. "They handled the crowd expertly," said one member. "Ice Cube said to the crowd, 'I’m not anti-police,' even though there’s a lot of police brutality portrayed in the film. He said, 'I support the police.'"


Every year, at least one film comes out of nowhere to become a major player in the Oscar season. Could Compton be that film this year? In the words of one Academy member, "It succeeds as a studio picture while transcending what that usually is. It’s a very visceral, poetic, terrific film. It is worthy of some real consideration, particularly I think for acting, directing and even best picture — but, but, it’s very early in the season, and there are a zillion other pictures coming out."


In my view, there are several other things that the film has going for it. For one, many — perhaps most — Oscar nominees tap into the zeitgeist, directly or indirectly, in some way. I would argue that No Country for Old Men (2007) spoke to the fatalism felt by many Americans (and particularly many left-leaning people like many of those in the Academy) about the state of the nation during the final years of George W. Bush's presidency, while Slumdog Millionaire (2008) spoke to the optimism and hope that those same people felt around the time of Barack Obama's election to replace him.


At the present moment, Americans are on edge about race relations — and specifically relations between black communities and white police officers — across our country, and many seem hungry for a smart look, direct or indirect, at the black experience and race relations today, or at least in recent history. On TV, Fox's massive hit drama Empire touches on many of these themes, employing as its lead actor and actress the stars of a 2005 film about hip-hop music that did the same, Hustle & Flow — for which, it is worth recalling, Terrence Howard was nominated for the best actor Oscar and the song "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" won the best original song Oscar. Why couldn't Compton resonate as that film did?


Also of note: Compton is an L.A. story — a story about a slice of life in and around the largest hub of Academy members anywhere — and recent history has shown how much Oscar voters respond to stories near and/or dear to them. Crash, another film about racial tensions in the L.A.-area, is the most relevant example, but The Artist and Argo also are L.A.-set, and Birdman, while not L.A.-set, was about the strains of the jobs of those who are. It's hard to ignore the fact that each of those films won the best picture Oscar.




Speaking to those points, Ava DuVernay, the black director of Selma (2014) who was invited to join the Academy in 2013, posted a string of Tweets on Sunday morning after catching Compton at a theater in South Central L.A. on Saturday night "with a beautiful, alive invested audience. Invested because many of them, like me, were there": "Damn, they got it right. Under @FGaryGray's brilliant direction + @MattyLibatique's gorgeous cinematography, I was transported back... The music of my youth and how it came to be and why it was what it was. We rapped along, clapped, laughed, cried. For all that has happened. All the stifling of our voices as young black people in that place at that time while a war was going on against us... Terrific acting, solid production design, swoon-worthy cinematography and fab costumes... @FGaryGray gets you as close as you'll ever get... This film did it for me on multiple levels. It's fantastic."


Now, in fairness, there are several other things that could potentially work against Compton's awards prospects.


For one, the Academy has rarely recognized films about black people except when they are depicted in subservient roles, as the actor David Oyelowo noted earlier this year. Among other egregious snubs, Oscar voters opted not to nominate for best picture Do the Right Thing (1989), Glory (1989), Boys n the Hood (1991), Malcolm X (1992) and Selma; The Color Purple (1985) was nominated for 11 Oscars, including best picture, but lost all of them (a record-tying shutout); Sidney Poitier wasn't even nominated for best actor for In the Heat of the Night (1967), which won the best picture Oscar; and the documentaries Hoop Dreams (1994) and The Interrupters (2011) weren't nominated for an Oscar.


In other words, those who suggest that the best picture win of 12 Years a Slave (2013) means that the Academy no longer avoids matters of race aren't necessarily correct. As one member said to me when this came up during our discussion of Compton, "Just because [my fellow members] liked 12 Years a Slave does not mean they're all open to this. I loved 12 Years a Slave, but let’s be honest, it’s the Masterpiece Theatre version of that story, and we all know how popular Masterpiece Theatre is and who its audience is."


This member added about the people in the voting group, "They’re not all Neanderthals," but pointed out that while the film's Academy screening generated strong attendance from those "who are aware, willing and open," there were still a considerable number of members who weren't there and who may not make the effort to catch up with the film at a later time. "I hate to say this," he said, "but when you think about all the members who will not see the film or who will watch it for 20 minutes at home and then say it’s too violent — that may be a problem. Plus, a lot of members who do see it, won’t get it — they just don’t understand the richness, the variety, the rhythm of what movies can be. They still wish all movies were like The Sound of Music." (Of course, violence and vulgarity didn't keep the 2006 film The Departed, with its mostly white cast, from winning the best picture Oscar.)


The bottom line: Straight Outta Compton may well end up serving as something of a barometer for how successful the Academy's efforts to increase the diversity of its membership actually have been.

 

[Bruce Malone]

I heard the academy was thinking of going back to 5 films nominated vs up to 9? so that could affect its chances.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

I heard the academy was thinking of going back to 5 films nominated vs up to 9? so that could affect its chances.

It was dumb going with 9.

They should've picked TDK when they had the chance instead of trying to fix it later with an increase to 9 nominees.

 

[Bruce Malone]

It was actually all the way up to 10 films nominated in the year after TDK was snubbed then they further changed it to up-to 9 and now like I mentioned they are looking to go back to 5.

 

[Voltron]

Decent movie. Great casting, it was like the actors where really E, Cube, Tupac and so on. I can't believe they left out Dre assaulting that female journalist and his women.

How weird was it for O'Shea Jr playing his dad being intimate with an actress playing his mother??

 

[RockSP]

I can't believe they left out Dre assaulting that female journalist and his women.

I can. Dre was an exec on the movie. It should go without saying that everyone is going to be cleaner in this fictionalized version than in reality. Same goes for most other biopics.

 

[Hurm...]

I think they filmed it, because there is a deleted scene where Dre is in jail, wearing an orange jumpsuit and his wife says "good bye," and Dre yells for her to come back (this takes place in 1995 when Dre spent a few months in jail).

I seriously think that if Dre pushed for that part of his life to be absent in the film, they would not have filmed the scene at all (saving production money). However, they did film it, and I think that it was removed due to pacing and time constraints. This film is packed with so much, it may have been a smart choice.

Also, Dre himself has admitted to abusing women these past few weeks saying that he made poor decisions when he was younger. If he didn't want to remind people, why would he speak about it in interviews at all?

 

[Assassin32]

I enjoyed this flick. There are, however, several things that grate on me. Beyond all the sloppy, eye-catching anachronisms, many of the famous character cameos feel shoehorned in. This was an issue with Walk the Line and Ray, too, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story satirized it all rather brilliantly with its Beatles scene. I also take issue with the costume designer on this movie. Even before the characters become famous, they are always shown wearing fresh-off-the-shelves sports caps. You could make a drinking game out of the number new, pristine caps featured. And I'm pretty sure some of those colorways on the Dodgers hats are anachronistic. Solid flick, though. I was pleasantly surprised by Ice Cube's son and the actor who played Eazy.

 

[Pickleweasel]

Pretty good movie, great cast like everyone was saying lil ice cube and Jason Mitchell killed it, I look forward to Mitchell getting more work

 

[MadVillainy]

I think they filmed it, because there is a deleted scene where Dre is in jail, wearing an orange jumpsuit and his wife says "good bye," and Dre yells for her to come back (this takes place in 1995 when Dre spent a few months in jail).

Also, Dre himself has admitted to abusing women these past few weeks saying that he made poor decisions when he was younger. If he didn't want to remind people, why would he speak about it in interviews at all?

I seriously doubt they had any intention of showing the Dee Barnes incident or any of Dre's history of violence against women.

From what Ive gathered the part where Dre is in jail is from unpaid parking tickets in 87. Eazy apparently bailed him out then.

If I had to guess the prison scene happens between when Dre is arrested in near the beginning and when they come up with the idea for Ruthless right after Eazy bails him out. If I remember right when Dre is bailed out he is shown putting his shoes back on. I don't know much about holding but they don't take your shoes as stuff right? That's only jail/prison.

or if not then it could've happened after the police chase. I didn't know Dre leading the police on a chase was a real thing I thought it was just going to be for dramatic effect
http://articles.philly.com/1994-09-01/living/25839228_1_andre-young-probation-jail-time


The movie does paint Dre as kinda a saint, who didn't do anything wrong. Besides the domestic violence, he also has multiple assaults on record but as others have said that's to be expected. He's a board member on Apple, he's still out here getting a lot of money. he doesn't want the movie to show his blemishes and affect him getting money. If he was old and washed up I could see them including that kinda stuff in the movie, but not while he's still out here.

As for why he spoke about it, he kinda had to. I think he knew that he was going to receive backlash for not including it in the movie. So might as well, get somewhat ahead of the backlash.

 

[Hurm...]

Good points I guess we'll have to see what that seen was all about - maybe it will be featured on the DVD. I think it takes place after the police chase, since that 1987 event takes place prior to Dre meeting Nicole.

 

[Dark Victory]

The movie does paint Dre as kinda a saint, who didn't do anything wrong. Besides the domestic violence, he also has multiple assaults on record but as others have said that's to be expected. He's a board member on Apple, he's still out here getting a lot of money. he doesn't want the movie to show his blemishes and affect him getting money. If he was old and washed up I could see them including that kinda stuff in the movie, but not while he's still out here.

As for why he spoke about it, he kinda had to. I think he knew that he was going to receive backlash for not including it in the movie. So might as well, get somewhat ahead of the backlash.

I was definitely disappointed in the way all members of the group were portrayed in a saccharine way, but you're right that Dre has a brand image to maintain. Although, considering people like Chief Keef can get big today and those issues have long been resolved, I doubt his criminal history would hurt him now.

Adding to your point, Ice Cube and Dre have been labelled as the lowest kinds of criminals their entire lives since they made it big. I would assume they wanted to portray themselves much more sincerely than the nihilistic, gangbanger caricatures that perpetuated each NWA member and rap culture on the whole.

 

[Stringer]

I enjoyed this flick. There are, however, several things that grate on me. Beyond all the sloppy, eye-catching anachronisms, many of the famous character cameos feel shoehorned in. This was an issue with Walk the Line and Ray, too, and Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story satirized it all rather brilliantly with its Beatles scene. I also take issue with the costume designer on this movie. Even before the characters become famous, they are always shown wearing fresh-off-the-shelves sports caps. You could make a drinking game out of the number new, pristine caps featured. And I'm pretty sure some of those colorways on the Dodgers hats are anachronistic. Solid flick, though. I was pleasantly surprised by Ice Cube's son and the actor who played Eazy.

That's actually pretty common and reflective of the culture.

 

[_Superman_]

I seriously doubt they had any intention of showing the Dee Barnes incident or any of Dre's history of violence against women.

From what Ive gathered the part where Dre is in jail is from unpaid parking tickets in 87. Eazy apparently bailed him out then.

If I had to guess the prison scene happens between when Dre is arrested in near the beginning and when they come up with the idea for Ruthless right after Eazy bails him out. If I remember right when Dre is bailed out he is shown putting his shoes back on. I don't know much about holding but they don't take your shoes as stuff right? That's only jail/prison.

or if not then it could've happened after the police chase. I didn't know Dre leading the police on a chase was a real thing I thought it was just going to be for dramatic effect
http://articles.philly.com/1994-09-01/living/25839228_1_andre-young-probation-jail-time


The movie does paint Dre as kinda a saint, who didn't do anything wrong. Besides the domestic violence, he also has multiple assaults on record but as others have said that's to be expected. He's a board member on Apple, he's still out here getting a lot of money. he doesn't want the movie to show his blemishes and affect him getting money. If he was old and washed up I could see them including that kinda stuff in the movie, but not while he's still out here.

As for why he spoke about it, he kinda had to. I think he knew that he was going to receive backlash for not including it in the movie. So might as well, get somewhat ahead of the backlash.

I was definitely disappointed in the way all members of the group were portrayed in a saccharine way, but you're right that Dre has a brand image to maintain. Although, considering people like Chief Keef can get big today and those issues have long been resolved, I doubt his criminal history would hurt him now.

Adding to your point, Ice Cube and Dre have been labelled as the lowest kinds of criminals their entire lives since they made it big. I would assume they wanted to portray themselves much more sincerely than the nihilistic, gangbanger caricatures that perpetuated each NWA member and rap culture on the whole.

I agree they watered down that whole era IMO. They tried to make it seem like Dre and Pac were always on good terms and that wasn't the case and they made Eazy and Suge to be the villains of the movie when that wasn't the case. It was well known that Dre was apart of that Death Row style and culture Suge brought at first he walked away from it after making up with the rest of his old crew. Cube during that time was in trouble a lot too however with him and Dre's image being what they are today they were water down big time. Also if they really wanted to talk about the Death Row days then they should've talked about how Daz was making all those beats and giving Dre the credit. I thought the movie was a good but it wasn't honest at all and while I do want to see a Tupac movie I do not want to see one like this or Notorious where they try to make Pac look like a saint when he was far from that.

 

[Assassin32]

That's actually pretty common and reflective of the culture.

No. I am part of this culture. My issue is how pristine all the caps are. It looks phony and inauthentic. The anachronisms are also a sticking point. There is a lot being said about the opening scene, set in 1986, where Eazy-E wears a black-and-white White Sox cap (the Chicago White Sox did not change their uniform colors to white and black until the 1990s), but that isn't the only flub on the part of the filmmakers. It's lazy work, and it's eye-catching. It broke the narrative dream for me in a few instances.

 

[MadVillainy]

I agree they watered down that whole era IMO. They tried to make it seem like Dre and Pac were always on good terms and that wasn't the case and they made Eazy and Suge to be the villains of the movie when that wasn't the case. It was well known that Dre was apart of that Death Row style and culture Suge brought at first he walked away from it after making up with the rest of his old crew. Cube during that time was in trouble a lot too however with him and Dre's image being what they are today they were water down big time. Also if they really wanted to talk about the Death Row days then they should've talked about how Daz was making all those beats and giving Dre the credit. I thought the movie was a good but it wasn't honest at all and while I do want to see a Tupac movie I do not want to see one like this or Notorious where they try to make Pac look like a saint when he was far from that.

1) some of what youre talking about are rumors. That Daz thing is just a rumor. Why would they address that?

2) And the Dre/Pac thing, save that for the Pac movie. Pac was like in 1 or 2 scenes why address Pac's problem with Dre that didn't even happen until after Dre left Death Row.

3) Dre might've been with that Death Row stuff at the beginning but he got tired of the violence and left. Much like in the movie. To my knowledge it wasn't just because he made up with NWA

---------------------------------
On another related note: I think focusing too much on the anachronisms is just going to ruin a person's enjoyment
Theyre not going to cover everything in a biopic. I mean like Dre and Cube reunited for Natural Born Killaz in 94 but I don't think that was introduced. I don't think PAc was even on Death Row when Eazy was still alive Im pretty sure he was in prison (EDIT: I checked Pac was still in Prison in March 95 when Eazy was released). Dre didn't leave Death Row until 96 but the movie kinda made it seem like it wasn't that long after Eazy's death.

 

[_Superman_]

1) some of what youre talking about are rumors. That Daz thing is just a rumor. Why would they address that?

2) And the Dre/Pac thing, save that for the Pac movie. Pac was like in 1 or 2 scenes why address Pac's problem with Dre that didn't even happen until after Dre left Death Row.

3) Dre might've been with that Death Row stuff at the beginning but he got tired of the violence and left. Much like in the movie. To my knowledge it wasn't just because he made up with NWA

---------------------------------
On another related note: I think focusing too much on the anachronisms is just going to ruin a person's enjoyment
Theyre not going to cover everything in a biopic. I mean like Dre and Cube reunited for Natural Born Killaz in 94 but I don't think that was introduced. I don't think PAc was even on Death Row when Eazy was still alive Im pretty sure he was in prison (EDIT: I checked Pac was still in Prison in March 95 when Eazy was released). Dre didn't leave Death Row until 96 but the movie kinda made it seem like it wasn't that long after Eazy's death.

That Daz thing is no rumor Pac admitted it, Suge did also as well as Kurupt and Daz and most others on the label at the time. As for point number 3 I agree but they way the portrayed it is that he just walked in and was shocked to see all this going on like he didn't know what was happening when he did. As far as the Tupac stuff I agree with as well. All I'm saying is it was far from an honest representation of them.