1. DCI74 wrote:

All right bravo brotha it’s about damn time. I don’t agree with all that you said but relax I will spare you a long-ass Tanyaesque cut-and-paste essay lol, I’m just glad you finally watched it.

I will say this, your point about Savon and specifically how you critique an actor’s performance, we agreed. If I can’t view the role the actor is playing without focusing on the actor and other roles he/she has portrayed then they haven’t sold me on that character.

2. Blaxx wrote:

Well I purposely left the review open for discussion DC so I’d love to hear your thoughts and where our opinions differ.

3. Ann wrote:

Why you had to call my boy Larenz Tate a closeted homosexual?

4. Blaxx wrote:

Inside joke from years back Ann. I don’t know if you were around for that

5. DCI74 wrote:

Well I thought Lisa Nicole Carson was more solid than Leonard’s Eddie but I agree there was limited dialogue from the supporting characters. I also thought Bill Bellamy was good, better than Isaiah’s Savon.

6. Ann wrote:

oh okay….

7. Piscean Princess wrote:

I’mma let your Larenz Tate comment slide (even though after 2 years of eLynchings on the subject, you KNOW BETTER!).

I’m glad you gave it another honest look, Blaxx. It’s a classic love story. And considering what else is out here for upwardly mobile people of color, I’d say it’s one of the best we’ve got if you take the comedy element off the table. (Brown Sugar is another classic in my book….but as we know, I would cheat on my man w/ Black Dante….ok, not really, but maybe)

Isaiah Washington’s character always bothered be simply because he is too old to be hanging around with those kids. And yeah, Lisa Nicole Carson does have some mental health issues…..and her character could have been written in a stronger way. I hate how she just disappears in the 2nd half of the movie. But I do think that she did the best she could with flimsy writing.

I have always hated Bill Bellamy…his comedy, his “acting”, his face. So it is easy for me to hate his character Wood. He’s the original hater. Plus he’s a sleaze. But he does do a good job of being gross.

I agree, visually the movie is off the hook.

What do you mean that Nina & Darius’ turmoil is “thrown together”? Please expand on this thought.

8. Blaxx wrote:

Lisa Nicole Carson was the best supporting character no doubt but I felt Leonard fit better as Savon than Isaiah, it was just funny how it worked out that way. Isaiah probably would have made a good Eddie but that’s only because the role was so limited (Hell, I could have made a good Eddie)

Bill Bellamy did a great job of annoying the hell out of me, which is what I think they were going for.

9. Blaxx wrote:

Ok, I figured someone would ask about my thoughts on the second half of the movie when Darius and Nina went from breakup to makeup. I dunno if I missed something but I feel that a reasonable person would understand if they got involved with someone who is technically “engaged” when y’all met, you would understand if they had to find closure on that past relationship even if for all intensive purposes, it is done and over with. Even if that means going to NYC for a weekend to see if you can make it work. However, we all know that Darius isn’t exactly a reasonable person (he did follow girl home from the record store after all) so that part didn’t bother me too much. What bothered me was that Nina started messing with Wood to get back at him which did not suit her character at all. Now I know Wood and Darius weren’t really close friends but they still hung out together that is a strict violation of Man Law and none of the other characters even said peep about it. Under no circumstance can you start dating one of your “boys’” ex-girlfriends without permission and if the relationship was serious or if there are still lingering feelings, it’s just not allowed. This has been the way its been since Biblical times I think.

10. Piscean Princess wrote:

I never had the impression that Darius knew anything about the engagement. Why do you think he knew?

I have never been happy with Nina about the whole Wood thing. But I have to correct your terminology. She wasn’t “messing with” him. They were hanging out.

And the other characters were just as upset about it as Nina, Darius, you and me. There was just a whole lot going on at the time and they were mature enough to realize that it was none of their business.

But it was pretty trifling on both of their parts, you are right about that. And yes, I’m pretty sure there is a scripture somewhere discussing who you can & cannot hang out with or date. Lemme go check my Bah-ble.

11. DCI74 wrote:

#9 – On that we definitely agree, Wood was straight foul but remember Nina never actually told Darius she was engaged, all she said was she had some stuff to deal with (typical slick ish females love to say) and he handled it exactly how I would’ve, with ease because it as a non-issue and no level of seriousness has been established.

12. Piscean Princess wrote:

DC, so if you were in the same situation and just hadn’t gotten around to “defining” the relationship, you would have just let her go without any discussion? I don’t mean a “baby, baby, please don’t go” discussion….but nothing? No, “I’m really feeling you?”. No “where does that leave us?”. Nothing?

13. Blaxx wrote:

The only hint I got to him knowing about the prior relationship was during one of their arguments in the second half of the movie, Darius says something along the lines of “You went to NYC to fuck ol’ boy…” He might not have known about the engagement but he definitely knew something.

14. Piscean Princess wrote:

I think he found out after the fact. I’m pretty sure they didn’t have any direct communication about that relationship.

15. wouldn't you like to know? wrote:

i hate to be off topic (wtf is new?), but Blaxx i must say, that hoody is the bizzness. i likey! ok ok, maybe Canadians do have a good fashion sense after all

16. natural nubian wrote:

bottom line is darius did exactly what most black men do! they front like it doesn’t bother them, but then bring the SAME situation back up because it actually does!
i mean he couldn’t find a single thing to say when nina tells him she has to go to NYC (not even a sneeze), but then had no problem running after her on the train platform!! he could’ve saved himself the jog had he simply swallowed his pride and said ‘but i’ll miss you’ or ‘WHY are you going?’
….and if yall don’t recall, the look on nina’s face when darius didn’t say anything read sumthin’ like “i can’t believe this negro is really letting me take off, not knowing when imma come back, and not saying a dayum thing about it!”

17. Blaxx wrote:

You raise a valid point but didn’t Josie warn her about exactly that happening? She laid out the two possible reactions to a ‘T’ when Nina told her what she was gonna tell Darius.

18. Piscean Princess wrote:

Josie isn’t the girlfriend I’d be taking relationship advice from.

But yeah, Nina could have handled that situation more honestly. Baby girl found herself in quite a pickle, though.

19. Blaxx wrote:

Thanks WYLTK! My closet and most of my room is LRG’d out (note the jeans hanging on the door)

20. shani wrote:

I love that you all or discussing this movie in such detail after like 10 yrs! It’s one of my favorites too, along with Best Man and Life. But I can’t believe no one has the opinion that this movie is such a cliche of the artsy, educated but edgy, young black crowd who loves spoken word, miles davis, good wine, etc. Kinda a dreamworld. My uncle once asked me if I go to spoken word and I said no. He then said, “oh, I always thought of you living like the movie Love Jones.” I laugh because I only wish life was that cool.

21. Blaxx wrote:

I love that this review is provoking so much discussion. I think I will make these reviews a weekly thing if Marc will let me.

22. Piscean Princess wrote:

Shani, I used to have a similar lifestyle. The poetry scene where I live was pretty hot back in the late 90’s and we were bout it just like in the film. I think I was the only one who had a career-type job in the whole crew.

23. DCI74 wrote:

Yeah Blaxx LRG all day!

Umm PP, based on the way things were laid out in the film then yes I wouldn’t have blinked an eye when she left other than to say “see you when you get back” because there was no reason to question anything or get upset. Now nn what are you talking about, how is this typical of black men fronting like they (we) aren’t bothered? It’s not like Nina ever came right out and said she was engaged before meeting Darius she just pretended like she was unavailable until he broke her down lol. Why would a man get upset about something he doesn’t even know actually exists?

24. DCI74 wrote:

Likewise PP, when this movie came out it very close to the lifestyle I was and to a degree still am living, far from a cliche Shani. I rolled with and still am around many educated urban black folks the love jazz, live music, poetry, ect.

25. jay wrote:

Whaaaat! Love Jones is the top discussion of the day! That is my movie. Blaxx good review and great comments from others. (snaps, snaps, snaps for all). Where do I start?

Savon: yea, his character was old but sometimes you need the ‘older wiser’ person in the click to give you all balance. Their friendhsip was belieavable to me.

Josie: ummm, she did the best she could do with that role

Wood: he was a the ‘hater’ and there are haters in our clicks that we continue to hang with and they too give us balance. He did what haters do..he was foul…no doubt..

Darius: closet homo??? new one for me, but anyway, I’m with Princess, he is just like ’some brothas’ (let me not generalize) he was feeling Nina and acted like her going ‘to handle her biz’ness’ didn’t bother him yet he was running after her like Carl Lewis to let her know ’she’s was the s*@%! And got his face cracked when he didn’t catch up with her.

Nia: Nia Long, that’s my girl to the end. She was the black Julia Roberts in the 90s. However, her charachter could have handled things better and communicated better w/Darius about her reason for leaving. She kind of left a brotha hanging, not cool. She liked him a lot, but I do understand the need to clear up unfinished biz’ness. As bad as it sounds, you need to do that in order to move forward.

Overall, the movie was great, great, great and yes a classic. Makes me look forward to the cold weather, hot tea, dark rooms and spoken word. OOOOh, brought back some memories…I may need to call an old beau…LOL.

26. Blaxx wrote:

I’m going to post a poll on my blog this evening for the next movie y’all want me to review. I wanna see if we can keep this going.

27. Dale J. Thomas wrote:

Yo Blaxx, I have never seen this movie either big pimping, and it is not on the must watch list.

28. Piscean Princess wrote:

Blaxx, please warn Dale about being in the barbershop and not having seen the offical barbershop movie.

I would love to get more movie reviews from you. But I think they should all be older movies….I vote for Mahogany next.

29. ChgoSista wrote:

“I have always hated Bill Bellamy…his comedy, his “acting”, his face”–>HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAA

“all she said was she had some stuff to deal with (typical slick ish females love to say)” –>DC, THAT’S CALLED “PIMPING”!!!!!

“Savon: yea, his character was old but sometimes you need the ‘older wiser’ person in the click to give you all balance. Their friendhsip was belieavable to me.” –I AGREE. I HAVE FREINDS WHO ARE SLIGHTLY OLDER THAN I AM AND THEY DON’T THINK OF ME OR REFER TO ME AS A “KID”.

Blaxx, don’t you feel like you “coming out about 10lbs. lighter” now that you have done this? And my goodness, you were only ELEVEN when the movie came out?? Damn–I DIDN’T feel “old”… Geez!!

30. jay wrote:

Princess, they ain’t ready for Mahogany!!!!!

31. S.A.M. wrote:

I am a serious lurker (read: since Day 1, literally).

Having said that, I can get with Mahogany. I would also suggest Claudine. Or how about Sparkle?

32. Tanya wrote:

DC,

I HAD to cut and paste that bit from The Federalist Papers in that other post. It was imperative! (So stop jock-ing me! ) lol

33. Tanya wrote:

BLAXX!!!!

Ok, you know I was waiting for this, but what happened????

You didn’t get into the knitty-gritty of it all!!!

Love Jones is the greatest black movie ever made. Love Jones is generation X’s Casanova! Love Jones is the beyond classic; it’s timeless art!

There is so much to appreciate here. The cinematography is magical. The soundtrack is enticing. The characters are complex, yet simple. The story line is beautiful, yet paining. And it’s all encompassed in slick humor. The movie deserves a million awards! It was so well done.

Why waste any time talking about who would have played what role better?

Let’s talk about the dynamics of the characters’ relationships: Nina and Fiancé, Nina and Darius, Darius and Wood, Savon and wife. There is so much interesting stuff going on there. There is so much within these relationships that I think EVERYONE can relate to – so much wrong, so much right, so much in between. There is so much to discuss regarding how they handled the situations they were presented with.

I, for one, would of left Darius’ a** after he fronted like he didn’t care when she left. Then he had the nerve to “cheat”. (yes his little fake fling with that other chick was cheating, even though he and Nina weren’t really together) And let’s not forget how his stalker a** got her info and then just arbitrarily showed up at her door in the first place. (That would have gotten him placed on a stalker watch list with the local PD, if that were me!)

If I was Nina, I would have stayed in NY with the Fiancé. He looked better and was more stable! Darius was the type of immature little black boy that gets on my nerves. He was just all over the place.

But every time I watch the movie (my roommate from freshman year in college and I use to watch it everyday) I have to re-play the first “Brother to the Night” scene at least three times!!!

“I’ve got to admit girl, you’re the shit girl
And I’m diggin’ you like a grave”
…
“And I just wanna give you injections, of sublime erections”
…
“I’m the blues in your left thigh
Trying’ to become the funk in your right
Is that alright?”

Whooo! Yes it’s alright! It is allllllll right!

You didn’t get into the film with your review like I thought (hoped) you would! (But I guess I have to wait for the 25 year old Blaxx to do that!!!)

But I still really enjoyed your review Blaxx. And you are absolutely right, “The scene of Darius and Nina on the motorcycle is probably the greatest 3 seconds of film…” – Cinematography wise, yeah!

Looking forward to your next review! (Roots or The Color Purple, maybe?)

34. Tanya wrote:

Oh, btw, my roommate from freshman year would always say that they should make a Love Jones part 2. But I think that would destroy the high we all received off the first. I just can’t imagine a sequel to this being good. So I’m content with just one. I mean, there can only be just one Love Jones!

But I love “The Sanctuary” type vibe; we need another movie with that vibe!

35. MrsPickron wrote:

I love Love Jones. I even have the movie soundtrack. I know the entire movie word from word!

“and none of the other characters even said peep about it.”

Their friends were upset and disagreed with Wood & Nina “kicking it”. At that house party Wood got dirty looks from his friends as a disapproval.

I think I’ll watch it tonight after reading your review, I have a few things to look for.

36. Blaxx wrote:

Tanya, I tried to review the movie with no spoilers. There are some who haven’t watched the movie yet but I think this review will get them to drink the Kool-Aid and go rent it.

37. Blaxx wrote:

If you want to get into the nitty-gritty, we can do that in the comments but I hate people who spoil movies (even though I love spoilers)

38. Tanya wrote:

Oh, ok! That makes sense! This was a good Ad then!

39. Tanya wrote:

Blaxx,

This is way off topic, but:

I was in Harlem today meeting with a vendor and as I was walking to the building I overheard these guys (they looked like trouble-makers) talking about “one-time”. And a light bulb went off! lol I thought to myself, oh I know what they’re talking about! lol So thanks for explaining that a few months back for me!

40. lisa wrote:

Also off topic:
Who in Philadelphia is going to “Urban Philly.com presents Conversations on Love and Relationships: The Dichotomy Between Black Men and Black Women” on September 24th at 6:30pm? Dr. Hill is speaking.

Sorry Blaxx, continue on.

41. Blaxx wrote:

Sorry that I didn’t get the poll up last night, I spent the entire evening hacking the firmware on my spare wireless router trying to turn it into a wireless adapter for my Xbox 360. 6.5 hours + a lot of trial and error = EverythingBlaxx on Xbox Live. Who wants to get whomped in Madden?

42. wouldn't you like to know? wrote:

Blaxx,

is there any way you could shoot some wi-fi to my nintendo DS, so i could bus’ your ass in some wario world???

i’m nice son. . .

43. jay wrote:

Marc,

Allow Blaxx to post more movie reviews on the site. I’m loving it. Someone mentioned a review of the movie Claudine. Oooh, another goodie. I watched it last week on TV One.

Keep it coming Blaxx!

44. shani wrote:

I don’t agree with giving Nina a pass. She was dead wrong for playing games in the first place. Of course, Darius reacted in the wrong way by getting all proud and insecure, but Nina started it. Don’t test men, or play one against the other. Just go do what you need to do for your own reasons. She only told him it was another man to see if he would do some movie-romantic stuff or get jealous. I don’t think she was in the right to come back to town mad. If she felt like she needed to tell him everything, at least come back and call the brotha to let him know you want him. She came back with her own brand of pride. In the words of Marcellus Wallace, “Pride only hurts, it never helps.”