Tickets, and snacks are too expensive, plus rarely do I ever want to spend 2 more hours sitting down looking at a screen! I mean, I don't even have time to watch TV!
But while I don't really care much for movies and television, I am a major music fan! Music is a much more time efficient form of entertainment for me!
But with the movie about the legendary gangsta rap group NWA in theaters, I just had to watch history in the making!
1) My experience at the theater itself
With real life gun violence at movie theatres and with concerns that the NWA movie Straight Outta Compton would attract gang members, there were rumors that extra security would be needed.
Yes, I saw 2 police officers in the theater, but there wasn't a big army making movie-goers feeling like this was a police state!
The lines waiting for the specific room for Straight Outta Compton was very long, but there was no pandemonium. The only thing the staff was strict about is just telling everyone "make sure you have your ticket stub and your ID when we open the room."
The only commotion inside the room was just people coming in late trying to find empty seats in the dark! Minor stuff!
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As for the previews, it just reminded me how much I lost interest in action movies. When I was a kid, I used to watch the Terminator moives, James Bond movies, 90's era martial arts movies, etc. But as I said, I haven't been to the movies in years. I haven't even seen a single "Fast and Furious" movie!
Even the new previews for upcoming action movies didn't interest me! Whatevers!
2) The movie itself
I loved it! A great story! Great re-enactments. Most of the actors resemble the rappers, except for the guy who portrayed Dr Dre. The actor just wasn't fat like Dre was!
But yeah, it was great to see re-enactments of all the stories I read and interviews I listened to about NWA! It feels much more real acted out than just reading it or just hearing of it in interviews.
It started with Eazy-E's running from a SWAT raid. Time to get a legal gig!
Then with Dre's music obsession and his mom's demand to get a "real job"
Then with Ice Cube on the school bus writing rhymes in his notebook.
The movie showed heavy-handed police tactics.
The movie showed Dre and Yella's time as nightclub DJs. ( I loved the 80s funk that they played in the movie)
The movie showed Eazy-E connecting Ren to Dre, and having all the other guys coming together
The movie showed Eazy-E's 1st attempt to rhyme! (even though he didn't write his rhymes, his songwriters sure knew how to match their rhymes with Eazy-E's personality)
The movie showed Jerry Heller joining the business.
The movie showed the reaction to "F--- the Police"
The movie showed them in concerts. ( I didn't even know they played in NBA arenas)
The movie then showed the conflict with group member's angry at Eazy-E and Jerry Heller's handling of their finances.
The movie showed Ice Cube's anger not just at Heller, but even in his next record label Priority Records. ( I didn't even know about that part! If true, then Ice Cube was doing Suge Knight things before Suge Knight did his famous "Suge Knighitng" of Eazy-E.
The movie showed NWA and Ice Cube 1st listen to each other's insult songs! (the audience laughed when Jerry Heller was so upset at Cube's anti-Jewish insults towards him while ignoring what Cube said about everyone else in the room)
Their response to Rodney King's verdict and the LA riots
Then of course, Dre leaving NWA and starting Death Row!
Dre getting annoyed with the chaos that comes with being around Suge Knight!
Eazy-E trying to reconnect with Dre and Cube!
And of course, the sentimental part -- Eazy-E getting ill and being in the hospital!
I thought the movie was going to end there, but it ended with Dre leaving Death Row Records.
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It was funny to hear Lonzo (Dre and Yella's boss during their DJ days) yelling at NWA that "reality rap" is a waste of time and nobody wants to hear it! It was also funny that when Jerry Heller was trying to convince older white executives to invest in Ruthless, one of them said "let me know when you see the next Bon Jovi". Ha! I like Bon Jovi but I don't think their story would sell $50+ million in tickets in one weekend!
Of course, there's only so much you can put into a 2.5 hour movie (which in itself kinda long for a movie), so there are a whole bunch of complaints about what got left out!
Feminists were upset that movie didn't address Dr Dre beating up Dee Barnes! ( I think he should've gone after the producers/editors of her show. The producers/editors need to seriously and publicly apologize for putting her in that position).
Michelle Maglalang Malkin was mad that the movie didn't address Ice Cube's "Black Korea" song (which came after he left NWA)
There's so many things that could've been placed in "extra scenes" for future DVD releases, which can include not just what was just mentioned but also
- Eazy-E's visit to President George HW Bush's fundraiser
- NWA's response to Tim Dog's "F*** Compton" song
- Dre Day's video and Eazy-E's response
- Eazy's work w/ Bone Thugs N Harmony
- Eazy's plan to work with the Chicano rap community (which according to Heller, was Eazy's next plan)
- Ice Cube and his Westside Connection, and their anti-East Coast battles
Of course, you can only put so much in a 2.5 hour movie, but it would cool to see all that re-enactment in bonus clips available for future DVDs.
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Going back to the feminist response to the movie. It is totally understandable that they were outraged that Dre's attack on Dee Barnes wasn't addressed in the movie even though it happened while he was still in NWA!
But some also claimed the movie only showed women as either nagging moms/girlfriends or groupies. Yes, there were some of that! And yes, they weren't so nice to some of the groupies.
But they also showed ( in the 2nd half of the movie) Ice Cube's loving relationship with his wife, Eazy's wife caring for him when he was dying of AIDS, as well as Dre respecting Nicole (his future wife) wishes to not take their relationship "too fast" when he invited her to his home.
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With all that said, I am glad that I took the time to watch Straight Outta Compton. Anyone interested in pop culture history should watch that movie. It should also be shown in college classes about pop culture and intellectual freedom.
