John Singleton
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Dope (2015)
Directed by Rick Famuyiwa
influenced by Boyz n the Hood (1991), Poetic Justice (1993)
Themes Characters
The movie, a hit at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, remarkably manages to share as much with John Hughes’ teen flicks of the ’80s, including a direct reference to Molly Ringwald, as it does with the “Boyz n the Hood” street dramas of the ’90s.
The film includes numerous references to early 1990s gangsta movies like Boyz N the Hood and Menace II Society , but in spirit it’s closer to Risky Business and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off , 1980s comedies about white teenage boys who go through a crazy adventure in a compressed time frame.
It pays homage to such early '90s hits as "Menace II Society," "Boyz N the Hood" and "Juice," but also strives to upend the stereotypes and tropes of those films.
He’s the soft-spoken virgin nerd straight out of the John Hughes playbook, only he’s curiously obsessed with ’90s hip-hop culture, which explains why he looks like Morris Chestnut circa 1991’s Boyz n the Hood.
You immediately think you’re in for a more technologically advanced take on John Singleton‘s Boyz n the Hood, but as the plot progresses, a sincere coming-of-age story rears its underprivileged head in the most unique way.
The story’s lead trio of misfit friends are “deeply obsessed with ’90s hip-hop,” yet “Dope” owes more to such white-cast teen movies as “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off” and “The Breakfast Club” than to such later, grimmer, youth-skewing “urban” films as “Boyz n the Hood” and “Menace II Society.”
By walking the line between rebellion and justice, Roundtree paved the way for Clint Eastwood and Charles Bronson, who's "Dirty Harry" and "Death Wish" movies respectively owed plenty to "Shaft."
Like "Dirty Harry," Jackson's Shaft is an edgy police officer whose social outrage boils below the surface.
The story's broad outlines are familiar not only from early 1970s black exploitation movies, but also from the early " Dirty Harry " pictures, and when a top cop orders Shaft to get out of his precinct, it's like he's reciting dialogue from the classics.
Like the "Dirty Harry" series of movies by Clint Eastwood, this film walks a tightrope between vigilante vengeance and justice under the law.
With its violence, underage drinking, reckless behavior and profanity, "Abduction" falls in the same corner of the youth market as the "Twilight" movies.
Tackling "Twilight" heartthrob Taylor Lautner's first starring vehicle, "Abduction" director John Singleton knows exactly what he's expected to provide: The film's first reel includes scenes of the star strutting shirtless, winning a kickboxing match, winning a wrestling match and tearing around on a motorcycle.
Admittedly, he should not be judged based on his performance in Twilight and its sequels; those movies have an uncanny ability to suck the life out of even the most talented performers (Kristen Stewart, Dakota Fanning).
Taylor Lautner tries to shed his "Twilight" past in "Abduction".
Straight Outta Compton (2015)
Directed by F. Gary Gray
influenced by Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Visuals Themes
At other times, it evokes an almost meta recreation of '90s dramas like “Boyz N The Hood,” which was shot in the same city with one of this film’s characters.
With the fallout from the Rodney King beatings building in the background, it’s a potent portrait of recent LA history, right up there with the Cube-starring Boyz n the Hood for its electric depiction of urban violence.
Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton was initially due to direct this NWA biopic, and he may have brought a more nuanced edge to the tale of the band’s controversial cultural status.
Boyz n the Hood director John Singleton apparently wanted all of the "black Beatles" to star in his '90s coming-of-age-in-the-ghetto classic, but only Ice Cube took him up on it.
Straight Outta Compton is built on these roles, and though the storytelling may not be fully capable of bearing the weight of so much plot, you’ll want to break out your old N.W.A. albums and re-watch Boyz n the Hood and Friday, especially after Jackson exclaims, “Bye, Felicia!”
The themes of male infantilization and boys without fathers that were deep and powerful in John Singleton’s urban-ghetto drama Baby Boy become a train wreck when hit by Apatow’s comedy shtick and brazen insensitivity.
While blaxploitation movies like "Superfly" and "Foxy Brown" lacked the smooth production values of their contemporaries, they more than made up for it with a confident demeanor that almost went too far.
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood (1996)
Directed by Paris Barclay
influenced by Poetic Justice (1993), Boyz n the Hood (1991)
To understand most of its references, you should know, for example, John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood" and "Poetic Justice," the Hughes brothers' "Menace II Society," Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever" and at least one music video by Dr. Dre or Snoop Doggy Dogg.
To understand most of its references, you should know, for example, John Singleton's "Boyz N the Hood" and "Poetic Justice," the Hughes brothers' "Menace II Society," Spike Lee's "Do the Right Thing" and "Jungle Fever" and at least one music video by Dr. Dre or Snoop Doggy Dogg.
Despite the film’s gangsta trappings (drugs, guns and gangs) the effect is more Boyhood than Boyz n the Hood.
However, there have been very few to show the underbelly of L.A.: Paul Thomas Anderson’s unrivaled Boogie Nights and John Singleton’s rough and tough Boyz N The Hood are the first to come to mind.
Like Spike Lee's " School Daze ," Singleton's "Higher Learning" is idealistic in a way that seems refreshingly dated: He believes the campus should allow students from different races and places to get to know one another, instead of compartmenting them into rigid self-righteousness.
Menace II Society (1993)
Directed by Allen Hughes
influenced by Boyz n the Hood (1991)
Themes Visuals
Unlike "Boyz N the Hood" and "Juice," however, this one is so downbeat and depressing there seems to be little hope for anyone who comes out of these neighborhoods.
Let me say right now that the Hughes brothers are major filmmakers; their work evinces a visual dazzle and dark emotional resonance that owes more to the Martin Scorsese of Mean Streets than to the John Singleton of Boyz N the Hood.
If " Boyz N the Hood " was the story of a young man lucky enough to grow up with parents who cared, and who escapes the dangers of the street culture, "Menace II Society" is, tragically, about many more young men who are not so lucky.
Adding to the mix are wonderful supporting turns from Til Schweiger (as the German renegade “Shaft” figure of the Basterds) and Daniel Bruhl (playing a Nazi war hero smitten with Shoshanna), cameos from Mike Myers and Rod Taylor, and some vocal surprises provided by Samuel L. Jackson and Harvey Keitel.
Rap artist Ice Cube, who offered impressive acting turns in "Boyz N the Hood," `Trespass" and "Higher Learning" has decided to take his movie career into his own hands, co-writing and co-executive producing "Friday."
In some ways, Ice Cube's Craig is the flip side of Doughboy, the character he played in John Singleton's searing "Boyz N the Hood."
Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw (2019)
Directed by David Leitch
influenced by 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Characters
The second movie (the egregiously titled 2 Fast 2 Furious) kept only Paul Walker from the original 2001 flick while adding newcomer Tyrese Gibson into the mix.
While 2 Fast 2 Furious showed O’Conner could survive without Toretto, the reverse has not yet been proven.
Diesel was not impressed by the film , and was replaced in the sequel (“2 Fast 2 Furious”) by Tyrese Gibson and Chris “Ludacris” Bridges.
It’s like Boyz N the Hood , but in Detroit with white and Asian people.
Compared to a film like "Boyz N The Hood," this is cinema activism lite.
Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part One (2023)
Directed by Christopher McQuarrie
influenced by 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)
Visuals
He proves this truism with a daredevil car chase through the streets of Rome that impresses, though not as much as comparable car chases in any number of current Korean action films, which, to me, have cornered the market on vehicular mayhem, 2 Fast 2 Furious notwithstanding.
With the exception of the Samuel L. Jackson’s remake of Shaft and Quentin Tarantino’s Jackie Brown , very few films in this genre have emerged in the last 30 years.
Meanwhile, Singleton paints the individual characters of the neighborhood with the same attention to detail that Spike Lee used in “ Do the Right Thing .”
Trying to blend a Big Show finale with a violent climax cribbed from "Boyz n the Hood," "Step Up" falls completely apart, draining the natural vibrancy of dancing by playing the ending so severely, trying to motivate characters who don't require such a drastic shove.