Touches You

Just what I expected

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

Coming off a well receptive original run from 411 BC Greece, Aristophanes' play lives on because of the universal themes it projects. Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) leads the women of Chicago from with holding sex from men until the gang wars stop and the men surrender their arms. They take over the National Guard Armory similar to the take over of the Acropolis in the original tale. Spike Lee maintained the idea of the divided chorus, but his version had more differences than similarities.In this film two gangs are at war: Trojans who wear orange lead by Cyclops (Wesley Snipes). They are fighting against the Spartans who wear purple and are lead by Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon). John Cusack plays a preacher/priest in the community. The dialogue is mostly poetic, much in a rap style. The issues go deep and is supportive of Black Lives Matter, painting everyone in South Carolina as racists. It is also anti-NRA and the politics of the film is the cause for both the love and the hate. Most of the politics is presented in a funeral eulogy delivered by John Cusack who wasn't poetic. Drugs are alluded to, but are not considered a major problem.Samuel L. Jackson plays Dolmedes who narrates the story and gives us the Greek background. Spike Lee has managed to find clothes that don't look good on Jackson as well as poetry he can't master. Lee also uses numerous Greek names in the film, including the gang names that were not in the original play. For instance Oedipus (Wade F. Wilson) describes an unhealthy relationship with his mother.Certainly worth a view for liberals. Conservatives will most likely be less enthusiastic.Guide: F-bomb, sex, nudity. Adult themes and language throughout.

I expected the movie to be more serious. The comedy and rhyming lines over powered the film. The storyline stopped focusing on the gun violence in Chicago and started focusing more on the idea that if women stopped having sex with the men that they would stop gang banging in return. Really cheesy movie with great potential it just focused to much on sex and not the real issues in Chiraq which is the gun violence.

The movie is very empowering to women.It shows girls can be as powerful as boys. It's has a encouraging message of if people come together they can make a change. I think it's cool one of the actors talks directly to the audience. It really helps the audience get a real understanding of what's happening in the movie. The rhyming can be sort of confusing to some people, but it's pretty easy to keep up. I personally don't really like it because it gets annoying after a while. The actors are really good. My favorite actor is Father Mike. He was the best in my opinion. There is a lot of violence in the movie, but it does somewhat accurately describe Chicago. Bless.

Chi-Raq (2015) *** 2hr.07min.Spike lee is one of the most talented and provocative directors in the past 30 years who has continuously makes films that are not only important but also the most joyous of filmmakers with a distinct vision and has made film are challenging, visually and intellectually stimulating filmmaker. Spike Lee has been given a bad rap by the media that is too outspoken for his own good, for Lee has had a difficult time recently getting his films made. He was able to get" Chi-Raq" made but Lee had to deal with a lot of controversy surrounding the film. The mayor of Chicago Emmanuel has said the naming of the film "Chi-Raq" makes Chicago look bad and makes light of the tragedy of street violence in Chicago. I will go on record, to say that the film does not make light of the black on black violence. It is a satire, but Lee is such a good filmmaker that he can be topical, irrelevant without being offensive. The film stars Teyonah Paris as Lysistrata who at the beginning of the movie is making love to her boyfriend Chi-Raq Dupree (Nick Cannon) that is until they hear gun shots. Fearing for her life she moves in with Chiraq mother Helen (Angela Bassett) they talk about her son and how can they make the city of Chicago be a worth wile city again. Helen also hates her son's choice of profession and wonders if he will ever make better choices in his life. Later, a 7 year old girl is shot down and no one wants to come forward and to tell what happened to her. The girls' Mother (Jennifer Hudson) demands justice for her child and pleads to anyone if they can find it in their hearts to come forward and have sympathy for her and for her dead child. Lysistrata has a solution, she and along with a bunch of her girlfriends decide to abstain sex for their men and encourages many black women to do the same publicly. These black women truly feel that they can stop the violence of black on black crime. To stop the persistent shooting within their city. Soon the word get out and is spreads like wildfire not only in the city of Chicago but to other foreign countries such as India, Brazil, Japan and France—yes even France of all places. The men in their lives have a meeting to denounce their significant others to resist their lustful charms and believe that the women will come to their scenes and come back to them no questions asks.Several powerful scenes come to mind. One being Father Mike Corridan (John Cusack) who chastises those people who will not come forward in finding justice for that 7 year old girl and her mother and how can we sit by and not stand up for what's happen to their great city. How the city has become a city of cowards. The community is only looking out for themselves. Another scene that is quite topical is when Lysistrata entices and older white guy, who is a lover of the south and the confederate flag to have sex with him and to tie him up and blind fold him. Only to discover that all of his friends are tried up and that they are the ones that are enslaved and not the women they enslaved hundreds of years ago. Bassett has an effective scene with an insurance agent who wants her to buy insurance for her son. Bassett is disgusted by the request. They are many good performances in the movie, especially Hudson and Bassett as the e women who are pained to see what has happened to their great city of Chicago. Samuel L. Jackson is the narrator of the story and he gives a charismatic and dramatic energy to his scenes. The main problem of the movie is that it spends a little too much time with topical humor and not enough with the character of Chiraq. We don't really get to know him on personal level. There's not real story given to him as why he chose a life of crime. However, I do recommend the movie because this film deals with issues that are important to society and asks the audience to find a solution to a problem that still goes on in not only Chicago but in America as an whole as well.