movie critic
Added 3/30/2009
I believe it showed Tupac and Janet's acting abilities. It depicts the reality of life in the hood. Cons:Could have been a better ending, the whole movies is kind of predictable too.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Poetic Justice
Added 3/13/2009
The Movie was great and I got it in no time and will refer you to a friend
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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I thoght it was just alright it could been better.
Added 7/24/2008
I thought that janet jackson part in the movie didn't really give a strong plot really at all. I felt that Tupac acting was better than Janet and the part with Regins King.If your bored at home it's worth watching if nothing else is on tv. Bring back the 90's feel .
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Beautiful
Added 3/29/2008
This movie is highly under-rated. It is a "love conquers all" story that is beautifully written. The film is a surprise which covers the break-up of a seemingly cute-and-cuddly couple Iesha and Chicago and the coming together of the mis-matched Lucky (2pac) and Justice (Janet Jackson). While many love stories are unrealistic, this story speaks the truth and includes many heart-breaks,deaths, arguments, and hurdles along the path to happiness. Additionally, this film speaks to the true talent of the late Tupac Shakur. Some of the background story lines (such as the focus on the salon owner, Jesse) are a bit lame, distracting, and a waste of time, but if you forget them and focus just on the 4 main characters you'll see how powerful this movie is.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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Pathetic Junkstice!
Added 2/7/2008
This movie was one of the worst wastes of film and time that I have ever seen.
Back in 1993, it may have seen like a good idea to put then-pop princess Janet Jackson with rapper on the rise 2pac Shakur on a story loosely centered around South Central LA (one scene shows the devastation of the then-recent riots). Sadly, this film is a great mess of nothing, showing the fluke of "Boyz in the Hood's" success.
First of all, Miss Jackson is no actress and much of the film doesn't even make sense. It is never clear why she is so sad and angry. Characters and situations come and go without rhyme or reason, no one in the film (unless you are among the cult of Tupac worshippers) is remotely sympathetic. Janet spouts Maya Angelou's (who appears in a cameo) poetry (trust me, no "Still I Rise" here-this sounds like stuff taken out of her trash can) and goes to Oakland from LA with a motley crew of ignorant, screaming, cursing characters. Incidentally, the Last Poets (the true fathers of rap) make a cameo, but we don't get to hear them!
When I saw this at a theater in Columbia, SC upon its release, the teen and twentysomething audience booed, cursed, and loudly demanded their money back at the end. Wise kids. If you have the stomach to do so, you'll see why.
"Poetic Justice?" Pathetic Junkstice is more like it.
1 out of 7 people found this helpful.
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very happy
Added 4/26/2009
Product came quickly in the mail and in excellent condition. very happy with this movie
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Above the rim
Added 11/17/2008
This was a good movie when it came out. I don't own it I just saw it back in the day so, I don't know why Amazon asks me to review it. Maybe they know I keep it real on the reviews. Anyway, it's a good movie, I'd pick it up if I were considering it. It's got 2 Pac in it and that dude Dwayne Martin. Enjoy...NEOSOUL06
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Kinda Generic
Added 10/4/2006
"Above the Rim" is about the city game of basketball, played on asphalt in a rough, physical style, where the rewards are status and glory in the neighborhood. It was shot on location in Harlem, and especially at Rucker's Playground, a legendary court where, in the 1970s, visiting stars like Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving would drop by to play with the local heroes.
The movie moves the action up to the present and tells the story of a high school basketball whiz named Kyle (Duane Martin) who has attracted the attention of top college scouts. A Georgetown recruiter has been in the stands for several games. Kyle dreams of someday playing in the NBA and waits anxiously for a letter of intent from Georgetown, which doesn't come - maybe because, in an attempt to impress the scout, he's been hogging the ball and taking unwise shots.
Parallel to high school basketball, but in a world of its own, is the neighborhood Shoot-Out, a tournament held at Rucker's Playground with teams sponsored by local merchants, including drug dealers. Kyle plans to play for a team run by his school coach. But then his best friend, Bugaloo (Marlon Wayans), talks him into visiting a club run by the sinister Birdie (Tupac Shakur), and the kid is seduced by its shabby glamor into agreeing to play for Birdie's team.
This is not a wise move. Birdie is a drug dealer, and that's a fact well-known to the tall, silent Shep (Leon), a former Rucker's star who moved out of town but is now back as a security guard at the high school. Shep was once friendly with Kyle's mother (Tonya Pinkins), and now, as they begin to see each other again, he tries to guide Kyle in the direction of college, and away from the superficial glories of the Shoot-Out.
The movie climaxes, of course, with the big Shoot-Out game, and with a violent surprise that I found less than likely. But that's not really what it's about. It's more about the dreams of poor black kids to use their basketball skills as a ticket out of the inner city.
This is an elusive dream, as the brilliant Chicago-based documentary "Hoop Dreams" demonstrates. Only a tiny percentage of high school stars ever play in college, let alone in the NBA. But kids like Kyle can't help hoping. And both Shep and his mother point out that education, not the NBA ticket, is the real reason to go to school.
The movie lives easily on the streets where it is shot, and the performances - especially by Martin, Shakur and Pinkins - are convincing. We get a sense of the daily rhythm of the character's lives, and for a drama, the movie finds room for a surprising amount of humor, especially in the dialogue.
The movie, directed by Jeff Pollack, was co-written by Pollack and Barry Michael Cooper, who wrote the poetic and evocative Wesley Snipes drama "Sugar Hill." In both films Cooper has a strong interest in family, in how extended support networks can fill some of the gaps left by the disintegration of the traditional family unit.
Here Kyle is a kid in a lot of potential trouble, but also with a lot of good support.
My complaint about the movie is that the plot goes on automatic pilot in creating the character of Birdie. The neighborhood drug dealer is such a standard cliche by now that it's almost as if they plugged him into the movie as a shortcut to a villain. Shakur plays him well, and he makes a satisfactory bad guy, but the subliminal message is that drugs are where the money is. The movie could have come up with more original choices.
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