#allenhughes

[film-book]

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Universal and Death Row Pictures Team Up for an Upcoming Movie About Snoop Dogg https://film-book.com/universal-and-death-row-pictures-team-up-for-an-upcoming-movie-about-snoop-dogg/?feed_id=111850&_unique_id=636c5b6fb9e04

[thethoughtelevator-blog]

My baby😍😍😍 #Repost @theshaderoom • • • • • TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94 _____________________________________ It looks like there will be a new documentary series about the late and great #TupacShakur coming our way. _____________________________________ According to @deadline, director #AllenHughes has closed on a deal with Tupac’s estate that grants him full access to Tupac’s released and unreleased recordings, writings and poetry. Hughes will be using the content for a five-part documentary series about Tupac, which he will direct and executive produce. _____________________________________ This documentary is set to be “the first definitive, comprehensive project on Shakur with the full cooperation of the estate.” This will reportedly be Hughes’ follow-up project to his HBO series “The Defiant Ones,” which focused on Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine. Some of you may remember that Tupac had a relationship with Allen Hughes and his brother #AlbertHughes. The #HughesBrothers directed Tupac’s—read more at TheShadeRoom.com https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx0ZGcVghww/?igshid=wcgrqlekusu2

[worldwrapfederation]

Tupac Docuseries To Be Directed By Allen Hughes: http://worldwrapfederation.com/profiles/blogs/tupac-docuseries-to-be-directed-by-allen-hughes #tupac #tupacshakur #docuseries #director #allenhughes #entertainment #news #hiphop #music #rapper #hiphopnews #blogs #photooftheday #worldwrapfederation #website https://www.instagram.com/p/Bxyj4kmn7ly/?igshid=vdov5id6spnv

[josephfrady]

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#menace2society #1993 #alberthughes #allenhughes #billduke #tyrinturner #crime #drama #quote #movie DP #lisarinzler (à Los Angeles, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/BuXMrKsIkz6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19g5nbs6b7su8

[doomonfilm]

Favorites : Menace II Society (1993)

The mid-1990′s were an interesting time in regards to the minority landscape in film.  John Singleton had recently delivered Boyz N the Hood to rousing success, Dr. Dre had just shifted the entire popular representation of hip-hop culture with The Chronic, and echoes of the 1992 Los Angeles riot were still ringing loud and clear.  This was the perfect setting for a film to give an honest and unflinching look at the circumstances that drag people down in the inner-city, and the seemingly unsurmountable obstacles they face in trying to escape.  Enter the Hughes brothers, and their debut offering Menace II Society. 

Caine (Tyrin Turner), a resident of Watts, is no stranger to the criminal life.  As a child, he witnessed his father Tat (Samuel L. Jackson) mix and sell drugs, and he once even witnessed his father kill a man in cold blood.  Now 18 and on the verge of post-graduation summer, he’s already neck deep in trouble, finding himself an accessory to murder and armed robbery thanks to being in a liquor store his friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate) decided to rob after a confrontation gone wrong.  Things get no better when he is shot at near point blank range weeks later during a carjack confrontation between thieves and his cousin (Saafir).  With his grandparents no longer able to have influence over him, Caine is asked to leave home.  He’s been making a connection with Ronnie (Jada Pinkett-Smith), wife of Caine’s former mentor and protector Pernell (Glenn Plummer), and she urges him to move to Atlanta with her family.  With one foot in the streets and one foot in the presence of forces urging him to escape, Caine must make the biggest decisions of his young life, all while making sure the streets don’t get to him first. 

Until Menace II Society, most films that dealt with the 1990′s gangster lifestyle seemed to go for grittiness over style.  The Hughes brothers, however, soaked their film in artistic flare, often using music video techniques to create surrealistic tones to the ultra-honest depiction of life in the Grape Street community of Los Angeles.  The stylistic flare includes slow-motion introductions of key characters, highly expressive lighting choices (particularly in the iconic Bill Duke interrogation scene), visual and sound editing chiaroscuro used to heighten key moments, and an overall highly dramatic visual tone used to offset the bleakness of the environment.  For a debut film, Menace II Society played like work produced by seasoned veterans with a clear vision.  

Seeing rappers outside of the familiar spectrum on film (which, to be honest, was a small list at the time) was extremely exciting.  MC Eiht played a major role in the film as A-Wax, with a considerable amount of screen time and involvement in major scenes that defined the overall narrative.  Saafir, then relatively unknown outside of the underground hip-hop fandom, was a wonderful surprise as Caine’s cousin.  Oakland legends Too Short and Pooh-Man played the guys that ran the trap house, and even Ice Cube protege Yo-Yo (a South Central legend at the time) made an appearance in the film.

What really set this film apart from its contemporaries was its unwillingness to shy away from the bleakness of the situation the characters found themselves in.  Caine, no matter what he did, continued to find ways to sink further into the quicksand his life was rather than make attempts to escape.  The company he kept, outside of Sharif (Vonte Sweet) and Ronnie, were all clearly negative influences.  His upbringing was bleak, his choices were limited and guided by instant gratification, and his values were skewed due to an inability to achieve even a moment of clarity in all of the madness that surrounded him.  In one of the most heartbreaking and thought-provoking endings ever, O-Dog, the one character who continues to show no remorse for his monstrous actions, is the one man left untouched when karma rains down in a hail of bullets. 

First time film actor Tyrin Turner brings an everyman feeling to the lead role of Caine that puts the viewer directly in his shoes, allowing you to feel his stress as the world closes in on him quite effectively.  Fellow film first timer Larenz Tate hit the scene like a bomb, instantly creating easily the most iconic character seen in the hip-hop gangster film to date, and possibly since.  Jada Pinkett-Smith (then just Jada Pinkett) was just beginning her trajectory towards super-stardom, and this was a key step in that process, with her sincerity helping ground the film emotionally.  MC Eiht brought a realness to the film only achieved by the likes of Ice Cube or Ice-T at the time.  Glenn Plummer, then a rising star, brought his earnestness to a pair of appearances in the film.  The list, in all honesty, goes on and on with this film... there are MANY familiar faces, and nobody brings anything less than their A-game.

Outside of Belly and Do The Right Thing, I often consider Menace II Society to be one of the key films in hip-hop cinema as high art.  What the Hughes brothers were able to achieve as first time directors (with the budget of a first time director, at that) is nothing short of phenomenal, and it was only a glimpse at what they had in store.  A must-see for those who have not seen it.

[hay-mansaray]

#nofilter so much love for this one forever! Media mentor, friend and phenomenal women @annareporting ❤️🙋🏽💜👊🏾 #TheDefiantOnes - @drdre #allenhughes #jimmyiovine #TheRitzy @NetflixUK #journolife #mediabuddies (at Ritzy Cinema)

[hay-mansaray]

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Cameraman feeling the vibes at #Brixton red carpet for #TheDefiantOnes - @drdre #allenhughes #jimmyiovine #TheRitzy @NetflixUK #journolife (at Ritzy Cinema)

[hellahomer]

📸: @hughesllsociety #allenhughes #menace2society #deadpresidents