For the 24th week of 2019 as part of Wandering Through the Shelves' Thursday Movie Picks. We delve into the subject of undercover as it gives people a chance to be somebody else all for the good of the law as well as explore some form of corruption from within. Here are my three picks:
1. New Jack City
Mario Van Peebles’ 1990 film is one of the most quotable films of that decade as it explores a renegade detective who teams with another hot-shot detective to bust a drug lord roaming the streets of New York City. Featuring an incredible performance from Wesley Snipes as the drug lord Nino Brown, Ice-T steals the show as Furious Styles as the man who goes undercover to Brown’s drug syndicate in the hopes of taking him down not just to stop drugs from going into the streets but also for personal reasons. “This isn’t business, this is personal. I wanna shoot you so bad, my dick’s hard”.
2. Undercover Brother
Malcolm D. Lee’s cop-comedy is an ode 1970s Blaxploitation as well as spoofing popular culture and race relations. Starring Eddie Griffin in the titular role, it’s a film that has the character don a few disguises including having to act white to infiltrate the man’s world of capitalism and turning the world white. Yet, Undercover Brother has to endure wearing corduroys, eat mayonnaise, and sleep with white women which doesn’t make black women very happy. Add the antics of Dave Chappelle and Neil Patrick Harris as the white intern in a black spy syndicate. It’s one of the funniest films of the 2000s.
3. BlackKklansman
Spike Lee’s 2018 film isn’t just a return to form narrative film for Lee following a period of lackluster-received films but it’s also a film that feels right for the times as it tells the true story of an African-American police officer who goes undercover and infiltrate a local branch of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of his Jewish partner as the face of his persona. Starring John David Washington as Ron Stallsworth, it’s a film that showcases some of the dark aspects of racism as well as a man who goes deep inside into the world of one of the biggest hate groups around the world and makes a fool out of them.
© thevoid99 2019
We were very close to matching on all 3 because I almost picked all of these before settling on the ones I did. And that performance by Wesley Snipes in New Jack blows me away every time I see it and I've seen it probably a dozen times.
ReplyDeleteYES for BlacKkKlansman! I almost picked that myself before I went down the silly route.
ReplyDeleteI've been hearing some great things about Undercover Brother this week - that's absolutely going on my watch list. It sounds like something my husband would really love.
We share BlacKkKlansman! I didn't love it as much as everyone else but it was a solid film.
ReplyDeleteI haven't seen the first 2 but I would like to see Undercover Brother as it sounds funny. I love BlacKkKlanman and I feel it should have won the Best Picture Oscar and the lead should have been up for a nomination
ReplyDeleteI wish I would've thought of BlackKklansman, I love that movie. Undercover Brother is one I haven't seen in years, and I haven't seen your first pick at all.
ReplyDelete