Spike Lee

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Rahm Emanuel Dings Spike Lee Over Chiraq

Mayor told director he's not a fan of movie's working title

(Newser) - Rahm Emanuel is not a fan of "Chiraq" as a nickname for Chicago —and he's really not a fan of the idea of Chiraq as the title of a film about black-on-black violence in the city. He told Spike Lee—the director behind Chiraq—as much yesterday,...

Stop Using This &#39;Ugly&#39; 4-Letter Word
Stop Using This 'Ugly' 4-Letter Word

OPINION

Stop Using This 'Ugly' 4-Letter Word

Danielle Cadet argues that the word 'rant' invalidates important arguments

(Newser) - There's an "ugly" four-letter word that's repeatedly used in reference to black men, and it's about time we drop it. No, it's not thug . It's rant, writes Danielle Cadet for the Huffington Post . Why R-A-N-T? Simply put, it labels an argument "as unimportant...

Spike Lee Rant Triggers Debate on Gentrification

He unleashes during Brooklyn event

(Newser) - A Spike Lee tirade earlier this week on gentrification in New York City's black neighborhoods continues to resonate, with Lee going on CNN last night to explain his expletive-laden rant. He's fine with new people moving into neighborhoods that were once mostly black and mostly poor, he says....

Couple Sues Spike Lee Over His Trayvon Tweet

He retweeted wrong address of George Zimmerman

(Newser) - An errant tweet sent out by Spike Lee in the wake of the Trayvon Martin killing might end up being costly to the filmmaker. A Florida couple has sued because he retweeted their address in Sanford, Florida, in the mistaken belief it was George Zimmerman's, reports the Smoking Gun...

8 Stars Who Were Interns First

Can you picture Oprah making coffee?

(Newser) - Think being forced to make coffee won't get you anywhere in Hollywood? Well, it actually might: The Huffington Post rounds up 17 successful people who started out as interns. Read on for a sampling:
  • Tom Hanks: In college, he interned for Ohio's Great Lakes Theater Festival, and eventually
...

Celeb Gives Fellow Celeb $10K for Kickstarter Project

Steven Soderbergh pledges to Spike Lee's film

(Newser) - Celebrities are still going on Kickstarter, asking for your money to fund their pet projects ... and now, bonus! They're getting money from other rich, famous people in the process, at least in one case. Spike Lee is trying to use the crowdfunding site to make his next movie, and...

Star-Studded Jackson Civil Trial Kicks Off Today

Prince, Spike Lee, and more on the witness list as mom sues concert promoter

(Newser) - Michael Jackson's doctor has already been held accountable in his death, and today his mother will set out to prove that his concert promoter should be, too. The wrongful death suit against Anschutz Entertainment Group promises to provide, according to the AP , the "most complete account" yet of...

Tarantino: Criticism Over N-Word 'Ridiculous'

'Django' is set in 1858 Mississippi, he says

(Newser) - Quentin Tarantino's Django Unchained makes liberal use of the n-word, which has brought plenty of criticism the director's way. Salon picks up on an interview he did with Harvard's Henry Louis Gates in which he defends its use in the slavery drama:
  • "Personally, I find [the
...

Spike Lee to Tarantino: Slavery Isn't 'Spaghetti Western'

He slams 'Django Unchained'

(Newser) - Quentin Tarantino's Civil-War-era Django Unchained is getting good reviews from critics and audiences alike, but don't count Spike Lee in the thumbs-up camp. "I can't speak on it 'cause I'm not gonna see it," he tells Vibe . "All I'm going to...

Spike Lee: Sorry I Tweeted Wrong Zimmerman Address

After director's retweet, David and Elaine McClain had to move out

(Newser) - Spike Lee apologized last night for a pretty major "oops": retweeting an address that he thought was the address of Trayvon Martin shooter George Zimmerman, but which was actually the address of a Florida couple with no connection to the case. David and Elaine McClain had to leave their...

Spike Lee: Hollywood Clueless About Black People

Sundance speech gets testy

(Newser) - Spike Lee screened his latest film—Red Hook Summer, a quasi-sequel to Do the Right Thing—at the Sundance Film Festival last night, but what really got people talking was the profanity-laden tirade he delivered in the Q&A afterward. The fireworks started when surprise attendee Chris Rock stood up...

Brad Pitt Rebuilding 9th Ward Home at a Time

Quirky houses boast top material, solar panels

(Newser) - Officials bungled rebuilding New Orleans' Ninth Ward after Katrina, but the devastated district is sprouting colorful, quirky, elevated homes boasting top-notch materials and solar panels thanks to a massive effort spearheaded by Brad Pitt. The actor is highlighted in Spike Lee's new two-part HBO documentary If God is Willing and ...

Brad Pitt Suggests Death Penalty for Oil Spill Execs

Yep, he'd consider it

(Newser) - Brad Pitt didn’t believe in the death penalty … until the BP oil spill. Now he says he is “willing to look at it again” when it comes to those responsible for the crisis. The remark is part of Spike Lee’s documentary, If God is Willing and ...

Spike Lee to Obama: 'One Time, Go Off!'

Now would be a good time to lose your temper

(Newser) - Spike Lee offers his two cents of frustration over Barack Obama's seeming lack of passion and control over the oil spill. "One time, go off!" he tells Anderson Cooper on CNN . "If there's any one time to go off, this is it, because this is a disaster....

On the Waterfront Writer Schulberg Dead at 95

(Newser) - Legendary Hollywood screenwriter Budd Schulberg has died, the New York Times reports. He was 95. Schulberg, who won an Oscar for On the Waterfront in 1955, was the son of a movie mogul and grew up as a Hollywood insider. His 1941 novel What Makes Sammy Run?, a scathing look...

Post's Cartoon Apology No Good for Spike Lee

He calls on celebs to boycott the paper

(Newser) - Unimpressed by the New York Post's apology, Spike Lee has called on celebrities and athletes to boycott the paper and help "shut it down" for its chimpanzee cartoon. Lee and his 11-year-old son, joined by Al Sharpton, led 300 protesters in New York yesterday, the Daily News reports. "...

Nothing Divine in Lee's Miracle
 Nothing Divine in Lee's Miracle 
movie review

Nothing Divine in Lee's Miracle

War epic tries to do too much, runs too long

(Newser) - Miracle at St. Anna strives to be inspiring and powerful and epic, but Spike Lee's latest isn’t any of those things, critics say. “Mostly it's just unfocused, sprawling and badly in need of editing,” writes Claudia Puig of USA Today. Full of odd tonal shifts, stereotyped characters,...

Spike Refights WWII (and Other Directors)

(Newser) - Spike Lee hopes to set the record straight about the African American presence in WWII—but he also hopes to tell a good story. His new film, Miracle at St. Anna, tells the fictional tale of Buffalo Soldiers trapped in a Tuscan town, in his own inimitable style. "I...

Spike to Clint: 'We're Not on a Plantation'

But he takes 'Obama high road,' wishing Dirty Harry 'peace and love'

(Newser) - Clint Eastwood told him to “shut his face,” but Spike Lee is talking back in full force: “The man is not my father, and we’re not on a plantation,” he said. Lee further chided the star director for ignoring blacks in his WWII films, calling...

Eastwood to Spike Lee: Shut Up

Clint rejects criticism from black filmmaker

(Newser) - At 78, Clint Eastwood doesn’t have much patience for his current critic Spike Lee. The most influential African-American filmmaker has taken issue with the lack of black people in Flags of Our Fathers and, previously, with having a white man direct Bird, the 1998 Charlie Park biopic. "A...

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