my Movie

Movie Details

Title:   Straight Outta Compton
Director:   F. Gary Gray
Year:   2015
Genre:   Non-Musical Music Film
Times Seen:   2
Last Seen:   09.04.16

Other Movies Seen By This Director (2)
- Be Cool
- Law Abiding Citizen

Notes History
Date Viewed Venue Note
09.04.16Internet Watched this again with Molly. Still like it a great deal. I kind of want a three hour documentary companion to this a la Team Foxcatcher or that Whitey Bulger doc, just to see the real stuff and hear the real guys talk. But you know, not taking anything away from this movie which is really good. I could've done with more. And why was Suge Knight on the set of this? He really does not come off well at all. I'd think they wouldn't want anything to do with him these days. Maybe my fantasy doc will also cover the making of this movie. Get on that, filmmakers!
01.17.16Internet Great movie. This is one of those perfect storm movies where the real life subject matter is interesting, the producers have the creative and legal access to use all the assets that are needed to tell the story, the script is knowledgeable and informed by first parties, the director is very close to the subject matter and knows that world well, and the actors are capable (and in one case related) enough to portray their real-life counterparts well without ten pounds of make-up or coming off like a pale imitation. The result is really why I love movies.

I love that the movie is long enough to really tell the whole story in regards to solo careers and different record labels. This movie was probably dangerously easy to just focus on the early years or take a snapshot in time or something like that, but to me the real interesting stuff happened after the group split. You'd miss all that stuff... The Chronic, America's Most Wanted, Snoop, Suge, Tupac, Bone Thugz, Warren G, Boyz n the Hood, Friday, the feuds, the reconciliation... I'm so glad they extended the timeline out enough to include all of that stuff. And I love the soundtrack. First you hear the sample sources, the inspirations, but then later on you hear the musical landscape change. Wu Tang's on at the club all of a sudden... And I really REALLY love how they show the real music video. Ice Cube's son is missing his father's hard edge but it's still uncanny to see his performance. Really everybody (except Snoop but then again where the hell are they gonna find another guy who looks like Snoop?). And everybody comes off looking intelligent. Ice Cube's interview was hilarious.

I guess I'm gushing at this point. I loved it.