Last week we posted the teaser trailer for Sundance audience favorite Dope and those of us jonsing for more didn’t have to wait long. I can’t yet fully articulate why this looks so fresh and fun to me (maybe it’s just that simple: all the fun freshness), but I know the more I see the more I like. Dope drops into theaters June 19th.
I only go there to see what Mark Harris is complaining about.
funny, Wesley Morris only comes to AD to see what I’m complaining about. Like 10 times a day.
Yeah, I just found out he’s at Grantland — I only go there to see what Mark Harris is complaining about.
wesley morris is president of black film critics now that armond white got impeached.
Who is “wesley morris”? This trailer makes this motion picture like something I ought to see in theaters.
ahaha, that’s the way I play ‘damning reactions’
Sorry if Wesley Morris is not part of that target and sorry if he feels left out.
Girl what you so apologetic about?
Sounds to me like the entire thematic purpose of the intentionally ‘retro’ aspects of the film and how this may relate to a clever interplay of kids being permitted to define their own identity in a tangle of racial and social norms flew right over the head of Wesley Morris. Sounds like he missed the joke and missed the point.
I tend to trust the street cred of a black director, black producers (Forest Whitaker, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs) and female cinematographer… um, gay female cinematographer… to know how to deftly avoid clinches about the “limits” of minority experience in Inglewood rather than put too much stock in the voice of one grumpy critic. Not to put too fine a point on it, but looking down one’s nose at vibrant playful films created by black and gay and female filmmakers “is what white guys expect” of mainstream film critics so Morris might want to check his, well, you know.
🙂
I ran this trailer past my black college-age roommate and one of his classmates to test its admittedly tricky tonal acrobatics, and I’ve never seen them laugh so much or be so curious about how soon they can see a movie. Looks like Dope is hitting home with all the targets it cares about. Sorry if Wesley Morris is not part of that target and sorry if he feels left out.
If the film had nothing more going for it than the bold sly cinematography I’m seeing here with my own eyes from Rachel Morrison, it would be enough to interest me in buying a ticket. Knowing that she also shot Fruitvale Station and Cake is just icing on the, well, you know.
I don’t want to suggest that Wesley Morris needs to loosen up, but he’s not doing much to help expand the “limits” of minority filmmakers if he gets imperious whenever a team of prestigious black collaborators steers for a comedy angle that veers outside his own proscribed sense of humor.
wesley morris hated this film, said it was retrograde and limiting about black life and said this is what white people expected of black people. havent seen the film so i cant comment, but that was a pretty damning reaction from him.
Okay, I shouldn’t be the first person to comment on how great this trailer is, and how good this movie looks. But since I am…
I’ve had this one one my Must See list since I first heard of it. I hope this is okay to compare to, but I got that “Dear White People” vibe from the trailer. It’s way more that than “Straight Outta Compton”. But anyway, I am STILL really excited for it. It took me a second to realize that was Tony Revolori.
I’m in with this one.