I'm really excited for "Straight Outta Compton"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:40 something AA woman

i was excited to see it until my husband informed me that now women are mad and bringing up an incident of dr. dre's hitting a lady journalist ages ago.

wow that's all it takes huh. Well then I guess you don't watch many movies because if you dig up the past of most directors and actors, you will find many skeletons.

Free country though. Just a sad way to go around living life.

[Anonymous]

The original, controversial casting call.

http://www.businessinsider.com/racist-straight-outta-compton-casting-call-2015-8

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how that casting call is racist. They had to ask for the look they wanted.

You cannot really be this jawdroppingly stupid. They couldn't just say light skinned black women wanted to play video vixens and dark skinned black women wanted for character roles? They had to rank it from A to D in order of skin color and connect skin color to beauty, class and values? I think you know exactly what is wrong with that casting call and you are just a dick who doesn't care how women of color are treated.

Your comments are due to a lack of understanding of the entertainment and movie industry. Directors don't have the time or money to waste time with PC. They were specific b/c they were trying to portray/project a specific imagine. Sometimes that image is offensive. For instance, if a specific scene or role calls for the casting of a very obese south eastern Asian woman (darker skinned), the casting call for this would not be too flattering. The most important thing for the actress that accepts the role is to nail it. Then it opens her up for better opportunities.

The descriptions are what they are but the ranking of ABCD? No. Wasn't needed for a casting call.

[Anonymous]

AA female here. I saw the movie last night and enjoyed it. Being 43 I vividly remember that era, the Rodney King verdict and the death of Eazy E. The acting was good and not cheesy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Easy E was a musical genius who is often overlooked due to how he died. So excited to see it!

43 yo white female.

I liked Eazy too, but he most definitely was NOT a musical genius. Anyone who was a NWA fan knew he was the money and face of the group, nothing more.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how that casting call is racist. They had to ask for the look they wanted.

You cannot really be this jawdroppingly stupid. They couldn't just say light skinned black women wanted to play video vixens and dark skinned black women wanted for character roles? They had to rank it from A to D in order of skin color and connect skin color to beauty, class and values? I think you know exactly what is wrong with that casting call and you are just a dick who doesn't care how women of color are treated.

Your comments are due to a lack of understanding of the entertainment and movie industry. Directors don't have the time or money to waste time with PC. They were specific b/c they were trying to portray/project a specific imagine. Sometimes that image is offensive. For instance, if a specific scene or role calls for the casting of a very obese south eastern Asian woman (darker skinned), the casting call for this would not be too flattering. The most important thing for the actress that accepts the role is to nail it. Then it opens her up for better opportunities.

Thank you!

Some people just want something to be outraged about.

Entertainment is the only industry that's allowed to get away with "discrimination". Only in this industry can you say, "I'm looking to hire a 6 ft tall white male...obese light-skinned black male...thin, drop-dead gorgeous Asian woman age 20-25 with long hair..." Nowhere else would you be able to get away with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:40 something AA woman

i was excited to see it until my husband informed me that now women are mad and bringing up an incident of dr. dre's hitting a lady journalist ages ago.

wow that's all it takes huh. Well then I guess you don't watch many movies because if you dig up the past of most directors and actors, you will find many skeletons.

Free country though. Just a sad way to go around living life.

Exactly!

Even worse, the hitting incident happened in 1991--nearly 25 years ago!!! Dr. Dre couldn't have been more than 20/21. The man is pushing 50 now, likely a grandfather and billionaire after transforming himself from a gangsta rapper to successful producer and entrepreneur.

Again, some people need something to be outraged about.

Imagine a world we were were judged, denied jobs, etc. based on things we did in our early 20s or 25 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Easy E was a musical genius who is often overlooked due to how he died. So excited to see it!

43 yo white female.

I liked Eazy too, but he most definitely was NOT a musical genius. Anyone who was a NWA fan knew he was the money and face of the group, nothing more.

Exactly!

[Anonymous]

Okay, late 30s AA woman here. I had no intention on seeing this movie because the casting call notice pissed me off, and I have a real problem with Dre, despite his contribution to hip hop and pop culture in general. LOVE me some Cube though.

Ultimately, I saw the film because my husband and I are both from the South Bay LA area (Compton, Carson, Long Beach, etc) and we just couldn't not pass up the opportunity to see such an iconic story with music that was the dominant soundtrack of our youths. Everything we saw is pretty accurate So Cal lore, although the portrayal of Suge Knight was LOL funny, the only thing he was missing was a mustache twirling scene. Such a villain, he is. Interesting his downfall happened during the filming of this movie, right in Compton. Good riddance.

It was fun revisiting fashion and slang from our youth! Calling cops "One Time", "baggin'" on people, etc.

The film was heavily sanitized, and I think they really tried hard to show Eazy some respect and not villainize him when he's not here to defend himself, but the money and contract situation was shady, and he obviously had full knowledge of it. They were gentle with Heller's portrayal too. I remember when Cube released "No Vaselline" and I'm surprised that ANY of them recovered after that, he completely humiliated them in the streets. Eazy had a response diss track, and then another diss track directed at Dre, Dre and Snoop had an Eazy diss track, and for about three years, they were all just beefing at each other on wax. Again, not shown in the film just how antagonistic the relationships had gotten, but they only had so much time to tell the story.

I enjoyed it, but I would probably enjoy an unauthorized biopic even more.

One more thing, this was as close as we'll ever get to seeing all of the members performing live. Really wish Eazy had taken better care of himself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how that casting call is racist. They had to ask for the look they wanted.

You cannot really be this jawdroppingly stupid. They couldn't just say light skinned black women wanted to play video vixens and dark skinned black women wanted for character roles? They had to rank it from A to D in order of skin color and connect skin color to beauty, class and values? I think you know exactly what is wrong with that casting call and you are just a dick who doesn't care how women of color are treated.

Your comments are due to a lack of understanding of the entertainment and movie industry. Directors don't have the time or money to waste time with PC. They were specific b/c they were trying to portray/project a specific imagine. Sometimes that image is offensive. For instance, if a specific scene or role calls for the casting of a very obese south eastern Asian woman (darker skinned), the casting call for this would not be too flattering. The most important thing for the actress that accepts the role is to nail it. Then it opens her up for better opportunities.

The descriptions are what they are but the ranking of ABCD? No. Wasn't needed for a casting call.

SO would you have prefered 1,2,3,4???

The "ranking" makes perfect sense to me.

Again, I don't know if this is a case of people wanting to be outraged about something, absolutely needing to have a chip on their shoulders or a classic case of the black crab in the barrel.

Blacks are the only group who have to find something wrong with people of their race who are doing big things. If Dr. Dre had ended up penniless and back in his aunt's tiny house after NWA, no one would be crying about him assaulting a woman 25 freaking years ago!!!

As a black woman, I see nothing wrong with the casting call. Casting directors MUST be specific in their descriptions. And what you see as ranking, I see as categorizing.

But that's just me. I'm not insecure, and I don't look for reasons to feel like a victim.

Jasmine Guy (Whitley from Different World) has said that there were many times she showed up to audition for the role of a black woman only to be told that as a fair-skinned biracial woman, she was not what they had in mind. So no just calling for a black woman is not enough. There are too many hues and types of black women for a person to be that general.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, late 30s AA woman here. I had no intention on seeing this movie because the casting call notice pissed me off, and I have a real problem with Dre, despite his contribution to hip hop and pop culture in general. LOVE me some Cube though.

Ultimately, I saw the film because my husband and I are both from the South Bay LA area (Compton, Carson, Long Beach, etc) and we just couldn't not pass up the opportunity to see such an iconic story with music that was the dominant soundtrack of our youths. Everything we saw is pretty accurate So Cal lore, although the portrayal of Suge Knight was LOL funny, the only thing he was missing was a mustache twirling scene. Such a villain, he is. Interesting his downfall happened during the filming of this movie, right in Compton. Good riddance.

It was fun revisiting fashion and slang from our youth! Calling cops "One Time", "baggin'" on people, etc.

The film was heavily sanitized, and I think they really tried hard to show Eazy some respect and not villainize him when he's not here to defend himself, but the money and contract situation was shady, and he obviously had full knowledge of it. They were gentle with Heller's portrayal too. I remember when Cube released "No Vaselline" and I'm surprised that ANY of them recovered after that, he completely humiliated them in the streets. Eazy had a response diss track, and then another diss track directed at Dre, Dre and Snoop had an Eazy diss track, and for about three years, they were all just beefing at each other on wax. Again, not shown in the film just how antagonistic the relationships had gotten, but they only had so much time to tell the story.

I enjoyed it, but I would probably enjoy an unauthorized biopic even more.

One more thing, this was as close as we'll ever get to seeing all of the members performing live. Really wish Eazy had taken better care of himself.

How in the world did cops get the name "One Time"? What did that mean?

I think they were pretty fair in their portrayal of Eazy. He wasn't a villian although he did stay in bed with Heller, which they made clear. And I thought that if they villianized anybody it was Heller (and Suge--then again, given all the stories, he was probably made to look good). Surprised you thought they were easy on him.

Growing up on the East coast, and not really being into NWA, I wasn't aware of their beef. I'm not sure No Vaseline or Eazy's diss raps were in heavy rotation here. However, I do remember "Dre Day" and couldn't understand what their issue was with Eazy. As I watched the money/contract thing unfold in the move, I was sitting there thinking, "Ohh so that's why Dre & Snoop made that song where they ethered Eazy." I had no idea that was just one record in a diss series.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Okay, late 30s AA woman here. I had no intention on seeing this movie because the casting call notice pissed me off, and I have a real problem with Dre, despite his contribution to hip hop and pop culture in general. LOVE me some Cube though.

Ultimately, I saw the film because my husband and I are both from the South Bay LA area (Compton, Carson, Long Beach, etc) and we just couldn't not pass up the opportunity to see such an iconic story with music that was the dominant soundtrack of our youths. Everything we saw is pretty accurate So Cal lore, although the portrayal of Suge Knight was LOL funny, the only thing he was missing was a mustache twirling scene. Such a villain, he is. Interesting his downfall happened during the filming of this movie, right in Compton. Good riddance.

It was fun revisiting fashion and slang from our youth! Calling cops "One Time", "baggin'" on people, etc.

The film was heavily sanitized, and I think they really tried hard to show Eazy some respect and not villainize him when he's not here to defend himself, but the money and contract situation was shady, and he obviously had full knowledge of it. They were gentle with Heller's portrayal too. I remember when Cube released "No Vaselline" and I'm surprised that ANY of them recovered after that, he completely humiliated them in the streets. Eazy had a response diss track, and then another diss track directed at Dre, Dre and Snoop had an Eazy diss track, and for about three years, they were all just beefing at each other on wax. Again, not shown in the film just how antagonistic the relationships had gotten, but they only had so much time to tell the story.

I enjoyed it, but I would probably enjoy an unauthorized biopic even more.

One more thing, this was as close as we'll ever get to seeing all of the members performing live. Really wish Eazy had taken better care of himself.

Great review! I have family in LA and I lived in Gardena for a few years so I could relate to a lot of what you mentioned. I wished they would have mentioned Michl'le because she was more of a piece of NWA history than Dre's wife Nicole. I also heard the way Dre talked to Suge was totally fictitious.
Dre clowns his World Class Wrecking Crew days but I thought Before You Turn Off The Lights was kinda hot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

How in the world did cops get the name "One Time"? What did that mean?

I think they were pretty fair in their portrayal of Eazy. He wasn't a villian although he did stay in bed with Heller, which they made clear. And I thought that if they villianized anybody it was Heller (and Suge--then again, given all the stories, he was probably made to look good). Surprised you thought they were easy on him.

Growing up on the East coast, and not really being into NWA, I wasn't aware of their beef. I'm not sure No Vaseline or Eazy's diss raps were in heavy rotation here. However, I do remember "Dre Day" and couldn't understand what their issue was with Eazy. As I watched the money/contract thing unfold in the move, I was sitting there thinking, "Ohh so that's why Dre & Snoop made that song where they ethered Eazy." I had no idea that was just one record in a diss series.

You could only look at a cop "one time" before getting your ass beat, thrown in the back of a cop car, or worse. LAPD of the 70s, 80s, and 90s pretty much had unchecked power and terrorized the entire county.

Heller was supposedly Satan in a meat suit, no one ever has anything good to say about him at all--even artists who were associated with him peripherally, like Bone Thugs in Harmony pretty much confirmed that he was a terrible human being. Like I said, CONSIDERING the amount of animosity that went down between all of them in the 90s, his portrayal here was pretty tame. But then again, time heals wounds and Dre and Cube are more wildly successful than any of them could have ever imagined. It's probably easier for them not to hold grudges when they are probably sitting on almost a billion dollars between them.

It's funny that you mentioned "Ether", because that is exactly what I was thinking as the scene played out in the film--the phrase didn't exist back then because this beef predated the Nas/Jay beef, but Cube completely ethered the remaining members of NWA. I hadn't listened to that song in about twenty years, but I was almost embarrassed for all of them listening to it again, Cube had no chill at all. They didn't even try to come back at him, they just let it go ... lol because Cube was THE talent in the group. Whatever they came at him with, he would go twice as hard. It was just better for all of them that they bowed out of the Cube beef gracefully.

All of the other diss tracks were between Eazy/Ruthless and Dre/Deathrow.

I really can't believe Tomika Wright got as much screen time as she did. Being Eric's widow, I guess she had some sort of script approval. But really, that was too much.

The rise and fall of Deathrow really can be its own film.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Okay, late 30s AA woman here. I had no intention on seeing this movie because the casting call notice pissed me off, and I have a real problem with Dre, despite his contribution to hip hop and pop culture in general. LOVE me some Cube though.

Ultimately, I saw the film because my husband and I are both from the South Bay LA area (Compton, Carson, Long Beach, etc) and we just couldn't not pass up the opportunity to see such an iconic story with music that was the dominant soundtrack of our youths. Everything we saw is pretty accurate So Cal lore, although the portrayal of Suge Knight was LOL funny, the only thing he was missing was a mustache twirling scene. Such a villain, he is. Interesting his downfall happened during the filming of this movie, right in Compton. Good riddance.

It was fun revisiting fashion and slang from our youth! Calling cops "One Time", "baggin'" on people, etc.

The film was heavily sanitized, and I think they really tried hard to show Eazy some respect and not villainize him when he's not here to defend himself, but the money and contract situation was shady, and he obviously had full knowledge of it. They were gentle with Heller's portrayal too. I remember when Cube released "No Vaselline" and I'm surprised that ANY of them recovered after that, he completely humiliated them in the streets. Eazy had a response diss track, and then another diss track directed at Dre, Dre and Snoop had an Eazy diss track, and for about three years, they were all just beefing at each other on wax. Again, not shown in the film just how antagonistic the relationships had gotten, but they only had so much time to tell the story.

I enjoyed it, but I would probably enjoy an unauthorized biopic even more.

One more thing, this was as close as we'll ever get to seeing all of the members performing live. Really wish Eazy had taken better care of himself.

Great review! I have family in LA and I lived in Gardena for a few years so I could relate to a lot of what you mentioned. I wished they would have mentioned Michl'le because she was more of a piece of NWA history than Dre's wife Nicole. I also heard the way Dre talked to Suge was totally fictitious.
Dre clowns his World Class Wrecking Crew days but I thought Before You Turn Off The Lights was kinda hot.

It was ridiculous that Tomika Wright was featured prominently in the second half, but not Miche'le. This woman with kids by both Dre AND Suge! lol

I liked the WCWC too! At least he wore the jacket in the film!

There's no way in hell that any of those Dre/Suge scenes were anything but pure fantasy. I do remember though that Dre always looked vaguely embarrassed whenever he was around Suge in public.

I mean really. They were all hood, but Suge was thug to his very core. They gave a BODYGUARD free reign!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how that casting call is racist. They had to ask for the look they wanted.

You cannot really be this jawdroppingly stupid. They couldn't just say light skinned black women wanted to play video vixens and dark skinned black women wanted for character roles? They had to rank it from A to D in order of skin color and connect skin color to beauty, class and values? I think you know exactly what is wrong with that casting call and you are just a dick who doesn't care how women of color are treated.

Your comments are due to a lack of understanding of the entertainment and movie industry. Directors don't have the time or money to waste time with PC. They were specific b/c they were trying to portray/project a specific imagine. Sometimes that image is offensive. For instance, if a specific scene or role calls for the casting of a very obese south eastern Asian woman (darker skinned), the casting call for this would not be too flattering. The most important thing for the actress that accepts the role is to nail it. Then it opens her up for better opportunities.

The descriptions are what they are but the ranking of ABCD? No. Wasn't needed for a casting call.

SO would you have prefered 1,2,3,4???

The "ranking" makes perfect sense to me.

Again, I don't know if this is a case of people wanting to be outraged about something, absolutely needing to have a chip on their shoulders or a classic case of the black crab in the barrel.

Blacks are the only group who have to find something wrong with people of their race who are doing big things. If Dr. Dre had ended up penniless and back in his aunt's tiny house after NWA, no one would be crying about him assaulting a woman 25 freaking years ago!!!

As a black woman, I see nothing wrong with the casting call. Casting directors MUST be specific in their descriptions. And what you see as ranking, I see as categorizing.

But that's just me. I'm not insecure, and I don't look for reasons to feel like a victim.

Jasmine Guy (Whitley from Different World) has said that there were many times she showed up to audition for the role of a black woman only to be told that as a fair-skinned biracial woman, she was not what they had in mind. So no just calling for a black woman is not enough. There are too many hues and types of black women for a person to be that general.

Glad you enjoyed the movie, but please don't confuse someone's beliefs with being a victim.