Lucybespro It is a performances centric movie

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

Juana what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

leonblackwood Review: I've never really been a big fan of Spike Lee's movies, mainly because I don't like his directing and writing methods, and his pro-black message was used to death but I thought that it would be good to see how far Denzel Washington has come in his career. He definitely gave this movie this all, and the instruments were played very well by the top actors but I got a bit fed up with the flow of the movie because it seemed to be going round in circles. It wasn't as pro-black and most of Spike Lee's earlier movies, thank God but it did seem extremely dated, and for a two hour movie, nothing really happened. For those of you who don't remember the plot, the film is based around a trumpet player, Bleek Gilliam (Denzel Washington), who regularly plays in a club with his band, and is managed by his best friend, Giant (Spike Lee), who is addicted to gambling and hasn't paid the band for a long time. As Bleek is the leader of the band, everyone turns to him for there wages, knowing that there manager is useless but Bleek stays loyal to his friend, whilst trying to hold a relationship with Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams). With the debt collectors constantly after Giant, Bleek tries to steer him in the right direction but after a heated alteration outside the club, Bleek's life is changed forever and his band decide to go it alone. That is the basis of the storyline, which did have some emotional moments but nothing memorable. Wesley Snipes (Shadow), was the same as he is in a lot of his movies and the rest of the cast were very average but Denzel stood out from the rest, and I haven't seen him show this side of his acting skills since this movie. With that aside, I still wasn't impressed with the film, in this day and age but it was good to see some top black actors together on screen, before they hit the big time. Average!Round-Up: I'm not a total Spike Lee hater, because I did enjoy Inside Man, 25th Hour, The Original Kings Of Comedy, Summer of Sam and Clockers but the rest of his projects, really wasn't my cup of tea. Do the Right Thing was a big deal when it was released in 1989, mainly because of it's pro-black message and the great soundtrack, which went down well in the urban market but he seemed to get a bit big headed after releasing Jungle Fever, Malcolm X and Crooklyn. He also had a few scraps with fellow directors in the media, and his movies started to take less money at the box office, mainly because people was getting a bit fed up with the same theme, so after releasing Girl 6 and He Got Game, he decided to make a movie about true events called Summer Of Sam. 25th Hour was also a change of direction for Spike Lee, and he started to turn his career to TV for a while. He still was making controversial comments in the media, and after his poor attempt of a remake of Oldboy in 2013, which lost the studio $25million, he has been out of the limelight for some time. Personally, I think that he is his worse enemy, like Quentin Taratino and Mel Gibson, because they are known for the wrong reasons. They are all talented directors but there mouth seems to get them in trouble. Anyway, it's a watchable movie but not a classic.Budget: $10million Worldwide Gross: $16millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their music/romance/dramas, starring Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Wesley Snipes, Giancarlo Esposito, Robin Harris, Joie Lee, Bill Nunn, John Turturro, Cynda Williams, Nicholas Turturro, Samuel L. Jackson, Charlie Murphy and Doug E. Doug. 4/10

ElMaruecan82 "Mo' Better Blues" is Spike Lee's immediate follower of the unanimously acclaimed "Do the Right Thing". And if not 'Mo' Better' than the glorious predecessor, Lee still 'did the right thing' by tackling a less political subject and pay a beautiful tribute to jazz music through one of the most under-appreciated performances of the 90's: Denzel Washington as Bleek Gilliam, the trumpet player."Do the Right Thing" also coincided with the year Washington won his first Oscar for his performance as the tormented Afro-American soldier questioning the value of his engagement with the Yankees. As Bleek, Washington not only shows a more light-hearted facet of his acting range, but also proves a unique ability to portray men driven by anger, selfishness but with enough pride and confidence to win our respect. His characters might be flawed but we understand them and the emotional pay-off is that they ultimately try to change, for the best, closing some fascinating characters' arcs, among which Bleek isn't an exception.Bleek is interesting because he crystallizes the curse of making constantly bad choices, and by 'bad' I mean 'tragic', even more because only the scope of a life highlight them. And "Mo' Better Blues" spans thirty years of Bleek's life so we have glimpses on the devastating effects of the most benign choices. It opens in 1969 when Bleek's friends urge him to come play softball, but it is trumpet which he must play, under his mother's tyrannic supervision. His father coerces her to let the boy be a boy, but he's too busy watching TV to be listened to. The kids finally leave, calling Bleek a 'sissy', Bleek resumes playing with much reluctance.The immediate ellipse endorses the mother's authoritarian education; Bleek became a handsome trumpet player with a way with women, leader of a quintet featuring Shadow Henderson (Wesley Snipes) the saxophone player, Bill Nunn in the bass and Giancarlo Esposito in the piano. What a great delight to watch all these actors joined interacting in the artist's room. The list would be incomplete without Spike Lee who plays Giant, an ironic name for the vertically challenged manager of the band. Anyway, life seems to smile to Bleek, but all the film's stylish shots can't hide behind the shadowy and smoothly designed atmosphere, the presages of an imminent downfall. "Mo' Better Blues" chronicles a series of bad choices made by a man not by lack of luck or intelligence, but because his ego and certitudes prevent him from realizing the harm he causes to his entourage, and ultimately, to himself. Bleek is too blinded by his leadership to understand that it might not last, especially with such a promising sax player, who proves his value every night through outstanding solos. He's too caught up by his friendship with Giant he lets him ruin the band's career. Giant is a gambler who makes the wrong bets, who fails to convince the club owners Moe and Josh Flatbush (John and Nicholas Turturro) to renegotiate the contract, and much more, who gets no respect because of his diminutive size. Not stupid or unlucky, but Bleek's tragedy is that his best friend is. Spike Lee perfectly plays Giant, the lovable loser. But Bleek is also the architect of his own demise, notably on the love department. He dates two women who couldn't have been more opposite: Cynda Williams as Clarke Bettencourt, a glamorous, light-skinned artist whose dream is to be Bleek's Muse and sing for him but she can't break the iced gate of his own ego forcing Bleek to turn the subject into a "Mo'Better" moment, a classy euphemism for sex. But it is interrupted when she accidentally bites Bleek's very tool of work: his lip, confirming the impossible junction of work and passion. But Clarke's pleas find echoes in Shadow and her character magnificently blooms when she sings a sweet ballad for Shadow's quartet (guess who misses?) and proves Bleek wrong. But his heart belongs to Indigo (Joie Lee), the less glamorous but more dedicated woman who patiently endures his rejections.We know they're meant for each other, but Bleek is still obsessed with Clarke's body, the highest in the hierarchy of beauty standards in the black community. Realistically, it's only when Bleek's career is over that he seeks Indigo's help, and she knows. Paying the highest price of being Giant's friend, his lip is permanently hurt by two loan sharks. By the way, the film tactfully avoids the ridiculous triumphant comeback cliché invited to join the band by Shadow, Bleek can't play correctly and leaves the stage … forever, the heart full of pain and humiliation. All he's got left is Indigo, and she only accepts after he begs her to ''save his life', which means that he finally triumphed over his own ego.Part choice, part luck, the film subtly parallels life with jazz music, which is one third- dedication, one third-inspiration and one-third improvisation, Bleek was too dedicated to himself to see how listening to the others could help him. I could relate to Bleek for I had my share of bad choices, for I'm still trusting my best friend to whom I owe many of the biggest problems I have (and he's still a friend) for even with my future wife, I kept lusting about other more voluptuous women, while I still know that she was the one. I remember an old man who hardly knew me but said "there's something erroneous" about me. Now, I knew what he meant and this is something I can also say about Bleek, hoping that, like him, my life will change positively.And the ending says it all when the exact opening scene is recreated, only this time, Bleek lets his son go play with his friend, probably realizing that one simple choice can have one hell of an effect on one's life, and not repeating the same mistakes is already a way to succeed.

OllieZ I am shocked this film has such a low IMDb score! I watched both this and Crooklyn the past few days, and this is the better film.It has all the flaws of Lee's films - tonally all over the place and a tad overlong.But that's why I love Lee. He is always interesting. I love Inside Man, a more conventional film for Lee, but Mo' Better Blues is far more personal. This is quite clearly a work of love for the director. The cinematography is stunning. The fast dolly shots are similar to that of Scorsese and Hitchcock. The colour is wonderful too, full of rich blues and reds on the New York skyline.The story is pretty good too, though you will have seen it all before. The tale of a jazz musician and his band, through their highs and lows: in terms of live and music. The acting is all round great, headed by Denzel Washington as Bleek, the artist who loves the music more than his friends. Wesley Snipes is Shadow Henderson. This is back when Snipes didn't have to phone in a performance in a silly action film. Lee himself, and Joie Lee also give fine support.Let's not forget the music, which is what the film revolves around anyway. If you don't like jazz, I guess this film isn't for you. I myself liked it, it had me tapping my feet all the through.The film is a little long and can sometimes lose its way, but this is a very enjoyable film, a solid effort from Spike Lee.

drtturner This is a good romantic film featuring two of hollywood's biggest stars in denzel and wesley. What struck me most about this film was what it shared with the film called "Unforgiven". Without giving away too much, I was shocked that the hero here was found to clark kent leanings more than superman ones. Unsettling at first, I grew to appreciate that the protagonists small steps and minor triumphs are okay and arguably more realistic than the shafts of the world. I grew to accept the vulnerability of this spike lee character called bleak.