I know Denzel got famous for his portrayal of X, but the movie wasn't very well made. The set pieces were good, the acting was good, but the movie was over the top and almost seemed like a tv movie.
...of all the arts, for us the cinema is the most important. - Vladimir Lenin
When you say "Denzel got famous from this movie," U obviously don't know what you're saying.
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Mr. Washington "got famous" mainly by co-starring in the 1980s TV program, "St. Elsewhere." He had appeared in at least a dozen films before MALCOLM X. He had won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in GLORY.
"May I bone your kipper, Mademoiselle?"
its true what you say but aren't you able to admit that his popularity accelerated at a much more rapid pace after this movie?
shareTrue, for the cross-over audience. However I suppose we know not where a train started from but are more familiar with where we boarded it. By the time "Malcolm-X" was made Denzel already had starring roles that predate even "St Elsewhere" ("Cry Freedom", "A Soldier's Story", "Carbon Copy"). These were all reasonably acclaimed films/ventures.
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I agree somewhat, but it was only cartoonish in the beginning part of the film when Malcolm was still known as Red. When he is in prison the film starts to have a much more serious tone. For a true cartoonish historical portrayal of African-American history you should check out Marvin Peebles' film Panther. It is over the top throughout the whole runtime, but still a fun flick nonetheless.
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It definitely is overrated and not very good. But it's that spike guy so this didn't surprise me much. Denzel, however, was awesome as usual.
shareYup. Cartoony. I couldn't stomach more than 20 minutes of this horror. I think I hate Spike Lee..... Washington's performance was superb, however, and it was the only good thing in the entire movie.
shareI mean, why were they walking all bent? The F? To revive a stereotype? And the dance scene..... those footloose moments..... why? WHHHHYYYYYYYYYYY???????? What was the role of all the professional dancers there? It all felt so contrived.
*sigh*
Having just watched it, I was not terribly impressed with the movie. It was an OK biography, with a great lead performance by Denzel. What lifted it above a standard biographical piece was Spike Lee's personal vision and political statements. Like showing the beating of Rodney King in 1991, during the opening credits. I wish the movie had more of such Spike-Lee-personal-statement moments. These would have given the movie more originality.
shareI remember academic scholar bell hooks (yes, she uses lower case for her name) had some choice words to say about this movie in an interview.
shareI enjoyed Denzel’s performance but Spike made some creative choices I didn’t care for - among them the zoot suit part at the beginning.
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