What I’ve done here is to weed through all of the piling on that has taken place in the blogs and reviews, and I present here an index for you to take a look at what has been said about what I expect to be a great film of 2012.
I’ve broken the chatter into four groups of representative articles.
The Good – these are reviews that support Spike Lee and James McBride’s effort
The Bad – these would be mixed reviews (having compliments and criticisms)The Ugly – these are the reviewers who were simply disappointed with the film
The Q & A – because people are talking about the post screening session
I have provided links (below) to the source reviews of the day with excerpts which represent the writer’s essential comments. The only other thing that I have included is the number of twitter followers of these critics. You can scroll down this page to simply get the flavor of the reviews, or you can follow the links. I have no intention of adding any commentary of my own, other than, “Don’t believe the hype!”
The Good
Los Angeles Times 24 Frames Jan 23, 2012 2:13pm | by Steven Zeitchik 3934
Sundance 2012: Spike Lee made 'Red Hook' because Hollywood wouldn't
“It was one of the most difficult scenes I’ve ever done,” Lee acknowledged on Monday. “But I knew it had to be done. It would have been cowardly and gutless and punkish to not deal with it straight on”
Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer is his most interesting/ambitious film in yrs, tho the last section will be polarizing.
MovieNation Jan 23, 2012 07:49 PM | by Ty Burr 1402
Sundance 2012 Day 5: Get the 'Hook'
I didn't need to hear Spike Lee's post-screening rant … to appreciate how hard the movie struggles to get the flavors, rhythms, music, and emotions of a neighborhood and a society the movie industry has no interest in depicting with any realism.
I also appreciated the parts of "Red Hook" that work, specifically the evocation of a still-vibrant community in an economic and social squeeze. This is a movie that's best when it's at its most overtly poetic.
New York Post Jan 23, 2012 12:17 AM | by LOU LUMENICK 830
Sundance: Spike Lee's 'Red Hook Summer' packs a punch
the film turns out to be Lee's most powerful and controversial narrative feature in years.
The grandfather, brilliantly played by Clarke Peters, is a fire-and-brimstone preacher at a small black church who tries to inspire a fear of God in his non-believer grandson (Jules Brown),
Salon.com Jan 23, 2012 12:10 PM EST | by Andrew O'Hehir 2940
Spike Lee takes Sundance by storm with “Red Hook Summer”
Do Lee and co-writer James McBride (a Red Hook native) really have to include three fire-breathing, social-gospel sermons by Bishop Enoch? No, not for narrative reasons — but they’re so awesome, so tragic, so heart-rending and so inspirational I never wanted them to stop.
This is an unpolished, loosey-goosey, street-level film that surely isn’t for everybody. It’s also a passionate, painful, tragic, haunting love letter to Brooklyn and New York City, to black America and the black church, to the possibility of childhood innocence in rough circumstances. I found it tremendously moving, and the memory of that premiere screening is one I will long treasure, cuss words and all.
Slant Magazine Jan 23, 2012 at 11:47 pm | by Simon Abrams 480
Sundance Film Festival 2012: Red Hook Summer and Smashed
It takes a little time to get used to the sprawling scope and the blocky dialogue of Red Hook Summer
Lee and McBride have created a new microcosm of uncertainty and shaky hopefulness and it's a shambling, wonderful mess.
Red Hook Summer is set in a rich, thriving world that has both the potential to self-destruct and to be rejuvenated by its community leaders. It's a rousing drama and certainly Lee's most hopeful since 9/11.
SunFiltered Jan 23, 2012 | by Matt Singer 6755
The Sundance Review Revue: Spike Lee’s RED HOOK SUMMER
the film was as divisive as any that’s played at Sundance ’12 so far
Andrew O’Hehir from Salon called it a “very special movie” and said that while some of his colleagues wanted Lee to trim RED HOOK SUMMER by half an hour, he completely disagreed, writing “They simply don’t like what Lee’s trying to do here, and that’s fair enough. But RED HOOK SUMMER, like Lee’s other personal, Brooklyn films, isn’t about telling a story. It’s about capturing a mood and a moment, a place and its people. It’s about heart and soul, and whatever its flaws, this film has those things in abundance.”
With some Sundance movies, negative or even mixed reviews are a bad sign. Not here. To me, the variety of responses to RED HOOK SUMMER means Lee is back where he belongs: exploring new territory, saying what other directors won’t, and pushing some (mother_*king) buttons.
The Bad (mixed)
Chicago Tribune - Variety Jan 23, 2012 | by Peter Debruge 1298
Red Hook Summer
As Flik interacts with his new neighbors, Lee presents personalities so colorful and richly conveyed that by the end of the film, we feel we've known them our entire lives.
The movie meanders, which fans accustomed to Lee's more conventional work may find frustrating, and yet, there's a method to its seemingly loose form.
Cinema Blend.com Jan 23, 2012 10:15:30 | by Katey Rich 4384
Spike Lee Brings Brooklyn To Sundance In Shaggy But Powerful Red Hook Summer
Red Hook Summer chases dozens of thematic ideas but only really nails a handful of them.
there were walkouts but also standing ovations, and tweeted reactions that claimed it was everything from a return to form to one of the worst things that ever premiered at Sundance
But nobody tells Brooklyn stories the way Lee does, and for all the fat in the movie that ought to be trimmed, there's enough powerful stuff in there to make the case that Lee's New York is a place worth visited.
Fourth Row Center Jan 23, 2012 | by Jason Bailey 380
#Sundance Review: "Red Hook Summer"
Red Hook Summer is part of a body of work, a growing filmography preoccupied with certain places and ideas.
is not a great film. But it is an interesting one, and it has moments of greatness.
The direction Lee goes in simply won’t play for some audiences—it’s both risky and more than a little derivative … But it worked for this viewer.
EW.com Inside Movies Jan 23, 2012 01:49 AM ET | by Anthony Breznican 3263
Sundance 2012: Inside Spike Lee's shocking, ranting 'Red Hook Summer' premiere
Noah Cowan, tweets via @NoahLightBox: “Red Hook Summer: Now THAT’s a complex text. 2 acts of sweet homily + 1 of anticlerical terrorism. And a Bruce Hornsby score!” 2027
@andohehir: “Spike Lee’s RED HOOK SUMMER is a passionate, painful love letter to Brooklyn, NYC, black America & the black church. Very special movie.” 2941
theGuardian uk Jan 23, 2012 16.21 EST | by Damon Wise 2030
Sundance 2012: Red Hook Summer – review
For start it is so very long – a whopping 130 minutes, ... For another thing, it is loud.
In a single jaw-dropping 10 or 15 minute stretch, Peters' performance spins on a dime, and for a short time the old Spike is with is: tender, sharp, smart – but above all dramatic. This nirvana doesn't last long but it proves that Lee can do it if he tries. For the most part, though, this bloated, flapping, directionless weather balloon of a film is simply trying
Indiewire SUNDANCE REVIEW Jan 23, 2012 | by Eric Kohn 4621
Why 'Red Hook Summer' Is Both Spike Lee's Weakest and Most Sincere Work In Years
lack of a filter helps make the noticeably low-budget effort into an earnest, occasionally powerful work, but also one routinely afflicted by sloppiness.
Lee's ode to life in the projects contains a handmade, DIY spirit that keeps the movie honest and heartfelt despite many cracks in its design.
A stunning final montage takes the movie in a profound direction and brings the vitality of the setting into sharp focus, proving that even a weak Spike Lee joint is better than no Spike Lee joint at all.
ScreenDaily Jan 23, 2012 | by David D'Arcy
Red Hook Summer
Lee’s beloved Brooklyn is a mix of nurturing and violence, yet in this film it also seems a place worth escaping. Lee’s ode to Red Hook is often perplexing
A filmmaker in transition, Lee is asking questions. Like any transitional work, Red Hook Summer also shows its seams.
The Ugly
Brooklyn Heights Blog January 23, 201210:32 am | by Chuck Taylor
Spike Lee’s “Red Hook Summer” Sinks At Sundance
EW.com Inside Movies Jan 23, 2012 12:49 PM ET | by Owen Gleiberman 1186
Sundance: In 'Red Hook Summer,' Spike Lee does the wrong thing
Red Hook Summer has some great gospel numbers, but aside from that, it’s a messy, disorganized dud, and not just because it lacks structure. What it’s missing is a moral center we can fasten on to.
EW.com Inside Movies Jan 23, 2012 01:49 AM ET | by Anthony Breznican 3263
Sundance 2012: Inside Spike Lee's shocking, ranting 'Red Hook Summer' premiere
by ComingSoon.net’s @WkndWarriorCS: “Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer joins Hounddog, Downloading Nancy and [The Informers] as one of the worst movies to ever premiere at #sundance.” 137
Erik Childress of efilmcritic.com tweets: “I have so many negative things to say about Spike Lee’s RED HOOK SUMMER that I don’t know where to begin.” 2095
Moments later, stunned by the out-of-nowhere twist, yours truly tweets via @Breznican: “Okay, so Red Hook Summer ISN’T a coming-of-age movie. It’s a what-the-hell?!? movie.”
The Hollywood Reporter Jan 23, 2012 12:30 AM PST | by David Rooney
Red Hook Summer: Sundance Film Review
Spike Lee’s sermonizing new film is too chaotic (and) a strange, unruly beast of a movie,
rambles through almost two hours of unfocused drama, burdened with endless didactic editorializing, before lurching out of nowhere into ugly revelations and violence.
a dig at Tyler Perry.
The Q & A
Sundance Film Festival Q&A Jan 23, 2012 04:01 PM | by Eric Hynes 506
Spike Lee Returns to Sundance (and His Old Brooklyn Stomping Ground) with Red Hook Summer
The look and feel you gave to the film was absolutely brilliant. You brought us into the neighborhood, it felt so real
The Hollywood Reporter Q&A Jan 20, 2012 8:00 AM PST | by Stacey Wilson 93
Sundance 2012: Spike Lee Talks 'Red Hook Summer,' His Feature Debut at the Festival (Q&A)
AceShowbiz Jan 24, 2012 01:56:53 GMT
Spike Lee on 'Red Hook Summer' Rant at Sundance: I Don't Condemn Hollywood
IMDb Red Hook Summer(2012)
Rolling Stone Jan 20, 2012 2:30 PM ET | by Dan Hyman 117
Spike Lee Makes Musical Discovery for 'Red Hook Summer'
Interesting, eh?
Bob Mahone
This weekend I flew to New Jersey to visit with three of my children and three of my grandchildren, and especially to watch the NFC Championship game with my son. I am a Giants fan, so I am very happy today. And, though I was very excited about the premier of the new Spike Lee Joint – Red Hook Summer, I did not get to follow any of the chatter from the Sundance Film Festival because I spent Monday at the Atlantic City airport (sans Internet access) waiting to catch a flight back to Florida. So imagine my surprise when I logged in and started checking reviews once I was home. Now, I am nobody of significance, so I do not want you to think that I am espousing any movie critic expertise. What I am is a movie-goer who would like a fair review to help me with my spending choices. I am also a computer programmer who knows how to synthesize mounds of data.
Admittedly, these counts do not reflect the audience that has seen these reviews, given the publications where many of the reviews appear. But, I believe that they are significant when compared to the nearly 170,000 twitter followers of Mr. Lee.
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