by Nathaniel R
Currently in love with this image of Spike Lee and Topher Grace on the set of BlacKkKlansman. But let's get to the point. After a long hiatus, we're back with a new season of our Friday series "Posterized"... I know it's Sunday. Shush. What better way to kick off than with the films of Honorary Oscar Winner Spike Lee? His latest joint, BlacKkKlansman, which we've reviewed, is new in theaters. We hope you'll go as it will surely prove to be one of 2018's defining films. But for now on to his filmography as a whole.
People often disagree on what his best work is aside from Do The Right Thing (1989), his consensus masterpiece. That's probably because he's a natural risk taker so naturally his output is uneven. For the purposes of this exercize we had to limit it to traditional features because Spike Lee has always done everything: short films, commercials, music videos, tv movies, miniseries, documentaries, segments within movies, filmed stage shows. The two most acclaimed pieces not included below are his Emmy-winning docuseries When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006) for HBO and his Oscar-nominated documentary4 Little Girls (1997). How many of his joints have you seen? All the posters are after the jump...
Act 1 - a bold new cinematic voice (1986-1989)
SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT
SCHOOL DAZE
DO THE RIGHT THING
Act 2 - Established A lister (1990-1992)
MO' BETTER BLUES
JUNGLE FEVER
MALCOLM X
Act 3- Diminishing rewards? or merely misunderstood/underappreciated? (1994-1999)
CROOKLYN
CLOCKERS
GIRL 6
GET ON THE BUS
HE GOT GAME
SUMMER OF SAM
Act 4 - Truly Over the Place: A Big Hit, Some Misses, Weirdly Ignored Awesomeness, Polarizing Stuff (2000-2012)
BAMBOOZLED
25TH HOUR
SHE HATE ME
INSIDE MAN
MIRACLE AT ST ANNA
RED HOOK SUMMER
Act 5 -Creative Burnout Followed By Immediate Rebirth (2013-2018)
OLDBOY
DA SWEET BLOOD OF JESUS
CHI-RAQ
BLACKKKLANSMAN
So how many of his 22 features have you seen?
I've seen half of them, but I'm always meaning to catch up with Crooklyn and School Daze which somehow escaped me. Where would you rank BlacKkKlansman within his filmography? My five personal favs as of this writing...
- Do The Right Thing (1989) - masterpiece
- The 25th Hour (2002) - amazing
- BlacKkKlansman (2018) - too new to know its staying power but a must-see
- Summer of Sam (1999) - I'd argue his most misunderstood / underappreciated
- Chi-Raq (2015) - fun, provocative, electric
Yours?