‘Da 5 Bloods’ Film Review: Spike Lee’s Vietnam Epic Finds an Apocalypse Then and Now

Casting close calls are endlessly fascinating. What would have happened if Tom Selleck starred in “Indiana Jones?” Or Will Smith as Neo in “The Matrix?” Film fans love to debate what could have been almost as much as what was.

Even with decades of acclaimed features and a recent Oscar win, Spike Lee still has to fight for his creative vision. And that fight extends to folks like Netflix, a studio notorious for spending large amounts of cash to please its filmmakers.

Also Read: 'Da 5 Bloods' Film Review: Spike Lee's Vietnam Epic Finds an Apocalypse Then and NowThe Samuel Goldwyn film, which is released on digital June 19 and on VOD July 3, oddly opens on George Orwell writing “Animal Farm,” something he did in the mid-1940s, a decade after the events depicted in “Mr.

Jazz Tangcay Artisans EditorCinematographer Newton Thomas Sigel was working on Sam Hargrave’s “Extraction” in Asia when Spike Lee called to ask him to work on “Da 5 Bloods.” Sigel, who is known for his work on such diverse films as “Three Kings,” “The Usual Suspects” and “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and had previously collaborated with Lee only on commercials, was unsure whether he’d have ample time to prep, but he wasn’t going to say no.

the Spike Lee-directed version of Broadway show “David Byrne’s American Utopia.”The film will launch on the premium cable network later this year and comes after Deadline revealed the filmed version of the show in January.The Broadway production, which opened October 2019 and ran through February 16 at the Hudson Theatre, features the Talking Heads cofounder accompanied by 11 musicians from around the world performing songs from Byrne’s 2018 album “American Utopia” as well as hits from his

Peter White Television EditorHBO has landed the Spike Lee-directed version of Broadway show David Byrne’s American Utopia.The film will launch on the premium cable network later this year and comes after Deadline revealed the filmed version of the show in January.The Broadway production, which opened October 2019 and ran through February 16 at the Hudson Theatre, features the Talking Heads cofounder accompanied by 11 musicians from around the world performing songs from Byrne’s 2018 album

the Oscar winner has four black men in their sixties meet up for a happy present-day reunion at a hotel in Ho Chi Minh City.The buds — called the “Bloods” — are back to their former battlefield, we learn, to retrieve the remains of the fifth “Blood,” Stormin’ Norman (“Black Panther” star Chadwick Boseman, in flashback).So, this must be Lee’s reckoning-with-’Nam film, you think.

Few comebacks have been as satisfying as what 2018’s “BlacKkKlansman” wrought. The film netted the esteemed and oft-misunderstood director Spike Lee a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar, reminding many of his potent cinematic eye.

Spike Lee's hyper-stylized, genre-hopping, and stuffed-to-the-gills Netflix original film Da 5 Bloods ended, and after I'd scooped my brains up off the carpet, I was left with the question "is this movie any good?" It's a big swing at 156 minutes; bold and bloody and rife with characters that are justifiably knotted with paradoxes. It jerks between poignancy, action, comedy, and moral discussions, always in fascinating ways.

Peter Debruge Chief Film CriticWith “Da 5 Bloods,” Spike Lee follows his long overdue Oscar win for “BlacKkKlansman” by revealing a side of the Vietnam story that’s seldom told. Through the Trojan horse of a treasure-hunt adventure movie, the director explores the mindset of Black soldiers who fought for their country at a time when African Americans were being oppressed at home.

"My brother, the world has changed," Spike Lee started his conversation with Jimmy Fallon on Monday night's edition of The Tonight Show. Though the Da 5 Bloods filmmaker was referring in the moment to the fact that he and the late-night host were speaking over video chat rather than at The Tonight Show's 30 Rock studios, he could have just as easily been discussing the protests over racist police brutality and systemic racism that have swept the U.S.

Here’s a collection curated by The Associated Press’ entertainment journalists of what’s arriving on TV, streaming services and music platforms this week. MOVIES “Da 5 Bloods”: It’s always the right time for a Spike Lee joint and thankfully Netflix has his latest ready to debut Friday.

Similar to other celebrities in the entertainment industry, Spike Lee, the 63-year-old director, is feeling heavy about the death of George Floyd while in police custody in addition to the subsequent protests regarding police brutality. During a recent conversation with Entertainment Tonight’s Nischelle Turner, in the middle of promoting his new film, Da 5 Bloods, Spike Lee shared his thoughts on the Black Lives Matter protests.

Just like many around the nation, Spike Lee is feeling the heaviness over the recent death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against brutality.

Spike Lee is feeling the heaviness over the recent death of George Floyd and the subsequent protests against brutality.The 63-year-old director is known for speaking up for what he believes in, and stepped out to participate in a protest and vigil for Floyd in New York City this week.

Shortly after the video was released of George Floyd being killed by a police officer and protests began to rise up around the US, Spike Lee released a short clip editing together the videos of Floyd and Eric Garner being killed alongside a similar scene in the director’s own “Do The Right Thing,” asking the question, “When will history stop repeating itself?” In a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, Lee talked about the connection between his 1989 acclaimed film and the recent racist

«Will history stop repeating itself?» Spike Lee asks as much at the start of a minute-and-a-half-long short film he shared on Twitter, which splices clips from his 1989 film,, with footage of the police killings of Eric Garner in 2014 and George Floyd in May.

NEW YORK -- It's not the first time that Spike Lee's “Do the Right Thing” has been freshly urgent, but Lee's 1989 film has again found blistering relevance in the wake of George Floyd's death.