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Love him or hate him, most can agree that Spike Lee is one of the most talented, as well as polarizing filmmakers ever. Known for being opinionated both through his work as well as his own voice regarding issues of politics and race, Lee tends to create pieces that usually tend to make the average person think, though the message is either wasted on some, or totally misinterpreted by others sometimes. Anything dubbed "A Spike Lee Joint" can come off as somewhat heavy-handed or preachy, but it's all within the context that's it's viewed.
Throughout the 90s, he made at least one film a year[1]. This didn't carry through into the 00s, however. Twenty Fifth Hour is often cited as one of his best films, but his next film, She Hate Me, is considered one of his worst. His next film, Inside Man, was his biggest hit yet. At that same time, he made the acclaimed documentary When the Levees Broke. Despite this, he still had trouble getting two projects off the ground-a James Brown biopic and a film about the L.A. riots. When he did make another film, WWII tale Miracle at St. Anna, it was a commercial failure and received mixed reviews among critics. Most recently, he has been chosen to direct an English-language remake of the South Korean thriller Oldboy.
He frequently acted in his earlier films. He played the lead role of Mookie in Do the Right Thing and major supporting roles in Malcolm X, Girl 6, and Mo' Better Blues. One character he played, Mars Blackmon from She's Gotta Have It, also appeared in ads for Nike.
Selected Filmography:[]
- Shes Gotta Have It (1986)
- School Daze (1988)
- Do the Right Thing (1989)
- Mo Better Blues (1990)
- Jungle Fever (1991)
- Malcolm X (1992)
- Crooklyn (1994)
- Clockers (1995)
- Girl 6 (1996)
- He Got Game (1998)
- Summer Of Sam (1999)
- Bamboozled (2000)
- The Original Kings of Comedy (2000)
- Twenty Fifth Hour (2002)
- She Hate Me (2004)
- Inside Man (2006)
- Miracle At St Anna (2008)
- ↑ This was because he was disappointed that African-American filmmakers tended to go a long time between films