So what do you guys think of these films? and the effect it has had on modern ''hood'' films. And do you think people really get ''the message''

As for the social message... i think Boys N The Hood had the more i guess you can say ''preachy'' vibe going for it. And Menace was a little more subtle...

Now these films are obviously very anti-gang violence. And a lot of the characters pay the price in the end, but a lot of people think the films are just cool because of the slang and violence

There just like ahhh shit remember when so & so got killed or when ice cube called Regina king a hoe or when he shot the Asian store owners.

I think these are 2 great movies.. but some people just see the ''cool'' stuff and not the message imo.

And there where some great actors in these movies! first off people may forget but Ice Cube is a good actor. In the 90's we had Boys, Higher Learning, Trespas, Friday, The Glass Shield etc.

Nia long was in a lot of the same movies to! always loved here.. and Lorenz Tate went on to do some great work as well!

I feel the BNTH was the more somber and serious of the two where the audience really fell out when Ricky was killed, that emotion was real. AS for MIIS, it was the sensationlized one, the over the top violence may had some elements of truth but all it did was make you feel angry, O Dog deserved his fate as did Caine. Boyz had the most convincing actors that certainly went on to bigger and better roles.

I think that both of those movie are good cinema. I would say that Boys had more of a positive impact and Menace had more of a negative. The relationship Cuba had with his dad(in boys) made the difference. Menace had aspects of that but it seemed to have more of the straight thuggin, gang banging mentality. Menace reminds me of how some of them bangers are today.... straight don't give a f.

The sad thing is that 3 guys from the movie are dead in real life. One died in a car accident and two got murdered.

The guy that shot Ricky killed two people, was then convicted of murder, went to prison and then got murdered by his cellmate.

[Edited 6/15/12 21:05pm]

JoeyC said:

I think that both of those movie are good cinema. I would say that Boys had more of a positive impact and Menace had more of a negative. The relationship Cuba had with his dad(in boys) made the difference. Menace had aspects of that but it seemed to have more of the straight thuggin, gang banging mentality. Menace reminds me of how some of them bangers are today.... straight don't give a f.

The sad thing is the two guys that played doughboy's(ice cube) homies are dead in real life. One died in a car accident and the other one got murdered.

Also the guy that shot Ricky got killed. He killed two people, got convicted, went to prison, and then got murdered.

[Edited 6/15/12 19:10pm]

DAMNNNNN i didn't know all that

Both movies are a bit manipulative

M2S sometimes looks like an exploitative film

BNTH is too melodramatic/mainstream, but it's the better movie, M2S lacked key

characters like Jason "Furious" Styles...

On a whole different front, I think "Do the Right Thing" just gets better and better with time. It's genius.

Gunsnhalen said:

JoeyC said:

The sad thing is the two guys that played doughboy's(ice cube) homies are dead in real life. One died in a car accident and the other one got murdered.

Also the guy that shot Ricky got killed. He killed two people, got convicted, went to prison, and then got murdered.

DAMNNNNN i didn't know all that

Yep, sad.

[Edited 6/15/12 20:56pm]

ufoclub said:

On a whole different front, I think "Do the Right Thing" just gets better and better with time. It's genius.

the way I see it

DTRT is the "East Coast" movie

and BnTH is the "West Coast" movie

both essential

Colors and M2S have not aged that well...

JoeyC said:

Gunsnhalen said:

DAMNNNNN i didn't know all that

Dookie

Lloyd Avery

Leixie Bigham

Guy with Pacifier in his mouth.

[Edited

Looks like i made a mistake with Monster.

Lexie Bigham is the dude in the third picture with the pacifier in his mouth. Hes the one that died in the car accident. He played Mad Dog. He's the one that, when the kids go to look at the dead body,says "give the little niggas the ball back".

Dookie(Dedrick D. Gobert) got murdered in LA and Lloyd Avery(Ricky's killer) got murder in prison.

Monster(Baldwin C.sykes)is still alive.

[Edited 6/15/12 21:02pm]

JoeTyler said:

Both movies are a bit manipulative

M2S sometimes looks like an exploitative film

BNTH is too melodramatic/mainstream, but it's the better movie, M2S lacked key

characters like Jason "Furious" Styles...

Most folks from the streets will tell you that BNTH was WAAY to Hollywood...and I agree. In my eyes, the only thing Singleton got right were the Furious/Trey relationship and the friendship between Doughboy, Monster, Chris and Dookie. Most everything else was a miss, especially the "gangster" scenes.

Some look at Menace as exploitative and whatnot, but both movies are supposed to be a glimpse into what life is like in the hood. Menace hit the nail on the head and put little shit that only folks from the hood would recognize on the screen. Look closely at the scene where the two guys who carjacked and killed Caine's cousin are talking to the girl at the restaurant window. They are "bloods" and when the fat dude tells the girl to fuck off and flips her off, he's "tossing up" CK (Crip Killa), which is the way bloodhounds flip people off. Little things like that may seem stupid and foolish, but thats what endears Menace to us folks from the hood...it was true to the way things really were. It wasnt trying to win an Oscar and it definitely had its over the top moments (ODog killing the crackhead and then casually offering his cheeseburgers...Caine carjacking in a McDonalds drivethru, then ordering food were both just stupid), but for the most part, it was TRUE. The same cannot be said for BNTH.

There is no way in hell that a group of Bloods, wearing RED from head to fucking toe, walk through the middle of the Crenshaw kick it spot...which was FULL of Crips, Ice Cube and his boys included...and have no one say a fucking word to them until they bumped into someone. Then the Crips jump out the car and flash a gun, only to let the Bloods walk on their merry way when they show they dont "have a problem". That shit was so ridiculous...we were laughing in the theater. The constant police helicopter..."I wish they'd stop shootin' all the time!"...the Bloods constantly rolling through the Crips hood with no fallout...Ice Cube's Clint Eastwood impression as he killed Ferris and his boys...straight Hollywood. Again, Doughboy and his clique SAVED that fucking movie. If it wasnt for the funny scenes of them kicking it on the porch, playing dominoes, etc...

^ That was probably South Central but yeah I need to investigate that...

Anyways, love both of these films and I think both left behind a message just like Do the Right Thing did in theirs.

StonedImmaculate said:

JoeTyler said:

Both movies are a bit manipulative

M2S sometimes looks like an exploitative film

BNTH is too melodramatic/mainstream, but it's the better movie, M2S lacked key

characters like Jason "Furious" Styles...

Most folks from the streets will tell you that BNTH was WAAY to Hollywood...and I agree. In my eyes, the only thing Singleton got right were the Furious/Trey relationship and the friendship between Doughboy, Monster, Chris and Dookie. Most everything else was a miss, especially the "gangster" scenes.

Some look at Menace as exploitative and whatnot, but both movies are supposed to be a glimpse into what life is like in the hood. Menace hit the nail on the head and put little shit that only folks from the hood would recognize on the screen. Look closely at the scene where the two guys who carjacked and killed Caine's cousin are talking to the girl at the restaurant window. They are "bloods" and when the fat dude tells the girl to fuck off and flips her off, he's "tossing up" CK (Crip Killa), which is the way bloodhounds flip people off. Little things like that may seem stupid and foolish, but thats what endears Menace to us folks from the hood...it was true to the way things really were. It wasnt trying to win an Oscar and it definitely had its over the top moments (ODog killing the crackhead and then casually offering his cheeseburgers...Caine carjacking in a McDonalds drivethru, then ordering food were both just stupid), but for the most part, it was TRUE. The same cannot be said for BNTH.

There is no way in hell that a group of Bloods, wearing RED from head to fucking toe, walk through the middle of the Crenshaw kick it spot...which was FULL of Crips, Ice Cube and his boys included...and have no one say a fucking word to them until they bumped into someone. Then the Crips jump out the car and flash a gun, only to let the Bloods walk on their merry way when they show they dont "have a problem". That shit was so ridiculous...we were laughing in the theater. The constant police helicopter..."I wish they'd stop shootin' all the time!"...the Bloods constantly rolling through the Crips hood with no fallout...Ice Cube's Clint Eastwood impression as he killed Ferris and his boys...straight Hollywood. Again, Doughboy and his clique SAVED that fucking movie. If it wasnt for the funny scenes of them kicking it on the porch, playing dominoes, etc...

the biggest turn of BnTH was the stereotypical "evil" black cop, yeah right

I have to say "Boys N The Hood" was the better made movie out of the two, however, as most have said, "Menace 2 Society" is probably the more realistic out of the two. I say probably because I didn't grow up in the hood, so for me to try and point out things that really happen in that life would be really fake. So with that said, Menace pissed me off more so while watching it than BNTH, which is why I came to the conclusion that Menace was more realistic. There were a lot of dumb and unexplainable about things the main characters did that just made me want to shoot them my damn self. When you look on the news there's a lot of dumb ass things that real people do that make no damn sense. So that's how I came to my opinion. Another movie that drove me up the wall was "New Jersey Drive"

Oh and also in Menace, the relationship between Jada Pinkett's character and Caine irked the hell out of me. So he ends up having a relationship with his mentor's ex-girl (or baby momma) and let's it slide? Somehow that was the most unrealistic scene in the movie, IMO.

Boyz N The Hood had more dimensional to the story and the characters, you had the sense that John Singleton knew those people, they weren't just characters that came up conveniently to form a story.

M2S felt like a comic book story. You got the villains, you got the heroes and you got the downtrodden girl in between, for good measure.

Harlepolis said:

Boyz N The Hood had more dimensional to the story and the characters, you had the sense that John Singleton knew those people, they weren't just characters that came up conveniently to form a story.

M2S felt like a comic book story. You got the villains, you got the heroes and you got the downtrodden girl in between, for good measure.

Menace definitely seem like something you would see on Boondocks or something.

Let me just say this....

I love anti-heros... i really do!

But Menace had this feel.. that i wasn't supposed to give 2 fucks about the character

Larenz Tate is a great actor & probably the best one in the whole movie! but 0-Dog is a piece of shit. Tony Montana did some bad shit but he never killed anybody that was completely innocent.

O-Dog killing the store owners.. yes they said some dumb shit. but they where elderly and he killed them! and the crackhead like it was nothing. And he said he would smoke anyone and not give a fuck.

O-Dog imo had little good values.. he deserved to die. Doughboy was a bad guy but he had good values about him to. He still got killed... but you felt more for him imo than O-Dog

Gunsnhalen said:

Let me just say this....

I love anti-heros... i really do!

But Menace had this feel.. that i wasn't supposed to give 2 fucks about the character

Larenz Tate is a great actor & probably the best one in the whole movie! but 0-Dog is a piece of shit. Tony Montana did some bad shit but he never killed anybody that was completely innocent.

O-Dog killing the store owners.. yes they said some dumb shit. but they where elderly and he killed them! and the crackhead like it was nothing. And he said he would smoke anyone and not give a fuck.

O-Dog imo had little good values.. he deserved to die. Doughboy was a bad guy but he had good values about him to. He still got killed... but you felt more for him imo than O-Dog

For me, there was more compassion for Doughboy than O-Dog because even though Doughboy may had been a deadbeat, he was avenging his brother. As far as we knew, Doughboy didn't kill any innocent bystanders.

Boyz N The Hood. Matter of fact, just watched the classic yesterday.

Strangely I was attracted to Cube's character out of everyone in the movie. I thought it was just the curls but I was watching his recent releases in youtube today and he can still get it. The three moles he has near his eyes are seriously sexy.

[Edited 6/16/12 22:27pm]

Asymphony5 said:

Boyz N The Hood. Matter of fact, just watched the classic yesterday.

Strangely I was attracted to Cube's character out of everyone in the movie. I thought it was just the curls but I was watching his recent releases in youtube today and he can still get it. The three moles he has near his eyes are seriously sexy.

[Edited 6/16/12 22:27pm]

better watch out! you and SUPRMAN May have to fight for him

Gunsnhalen said:

Asymphony5 said:

Boyz N The Hood. Matter of fact, just watched the classic yesterday.

Strangely I was attracted to Cube's character out of everyone in the movie. I thought it was just the curls but I was watching his recent releases in youtube today and he can still get it. The three moles he has near his eyes are seriously sexy.

[Edited 6/16/12 22:27pm]

better watch out! you and SUPRMAN May have to fight for him

I wil win that fight for sure. Too bad, Cube is almost as old as my Daddy. I have to give him props though because he still looks pretty young.

Asymphony5 said:

Gunsnhalen said:

better watch out! you and SUPRMAN May have to fight for him

I wil win that fight for sure. Too bad, Cube is almost as old as my Daddy. I have to give him props though because he still looks pretty young.

True, Cube has aged pretty well. He's still at a young age though, 43.

Really dug both flicks. I just picked them up on Blu-ray along with Set It Off.

Graycap23 said:

Really dug both flicks. I just picked them up on Blu-ray along with Set It Off.

damn! have not set it off in some years...

Set if Off is my shit!! The end always gets me though.

StonedImmaculate said:

JoeTyler said:

Both movies are a bit manipulative

M2S sometimes looks like an exploitative film

BNTH is too melodramatic/mainstream, but it's the better movie, M2S lacked key

characters like Jason "Furious" Styles...

Most folks from the streets will tell you that BNTH was WAAY to Hollywood...and I agree. In my eyes, the only thing Singleton got right were the Furious/Trey relationship and the friendship between Doughboy, Monster, Chris and Dookie. Most everything else was a miss, especially the "gangster" scenes.

Some look at Menace as exploitative and whatnot, but both movies are supposed to be a glimpse into what life is like in the hood. Menace hit the nail on the head and put little shit that only folks from the hood would recognize on the screen. Look closely at the scene where the two guys who carjacked and killed Caine's cousin are talking to the girl at the restaurant window. They are "bloods" and when the fat dude tells the girl to fuck off and flips her off, he's "tossing up" CK (Crip Killa), which is the way bloodhounds flip people off. Little things like that may seem stupid and foolish, but thats what endears Menace to us folks from the hood...it was true to the way things really were. It wasnt trying to win an Oscar and it definitely had its over the top moments (ODog killing the crackhead and then casually offering his cheeseburgers...Caine carjacking in a McDonalds drivethru, then ordering food were both just stupid), but for the most part, it was TRUE. The same cannot be said for BNTH.

There is no way in hell that a group of Bloods, wearing RED from head to fucking toe, walk through the middle of the Crenshaw kick it spot...which was FULL of Crips, Ice Cube and his boys included...and have no one say a fucking word to them until they bumped into someone. Then the Crips jump out the car and flash a gun, only to let the Bloods walk on their merry way when they show they dont "have a problem". That shit was so ridiculous...we were laughing in the theater. The constant police helicopter..."I wish they'd stop shootin' all the time!"...the Bloods constantly rolling through the Crips hood with no fallout...Ice Cube's Clint Eastwood impression as he killed Ferris and his boys...straight Hollywood. Again, Doughboy and his clique SAVED that fucking movie. If it wasnt for the funny scenes of them kicking it on the porch, playing dominoes, etc...

Agree.

I personally lean toward Boys N The Hood though as my favorite. Like G pointed out, you had more sympathy for the characters even though it was a Hollywood gangsta movie. They definitly dont make movies like that like they use to. I wish today we had more cultural current movies about urban youth or black America with more meaning versus the stereotypical ones.

Gunsnhalen said:

Graycap23 said:

Really dug both flicks. I just picked them up on Blu-ray along with Set It Off.

damn! have not set it off in some years...

Love that movie.

BNTH had a way bigger emotional impact for me. A lot of that movie felt very real to anyone who had ever spent any time in certain neighborhoods in the greater LA area. More so if you'd been in that one in particular. In a post-LA Riots world people just don't believe that it was ever that bad. Most of those other films, even newer ones, feel like they're trying to paint an artistic picture of that world. BNTH was a still photo of what was really going on. There was over 2000 victims (including injuries, not just deaths) of drive by shootings in LA in 1991, the year BNTH was released. Shit was not good.

I just watched Set It Off a couple weeks ago. That shit is so unbelievable, but I still get emotional at the end every time.