Shaft Review

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the latest and greatest in movies with MWIRE.

But I'll never let you down. Now, what's my name?

Remember me? Refresh my memory. In this precinct.

For what? That? You ain't even a pig no more.

You think that makes me less dangerous? Or more

dangerous? What is a bad mother? I'm done my

share He's a complicated man, but no one understands

and welcome to Movie Week in Review episode 114.

I am your host, TFJR Mike, and joining me is

Doug Abel from Talking About My Generation. Hello.

Hello, sir. How are you? I am good. This is the

second to last episode of MWIRE for 2014, and

it's only because of La La Land Records sending

me the score. for the 2000 Samuel L. Jackson

starring Shaft movie that we are doing this.

We're gonna be talking about the Samuel L. Jackson

version of Shaft, the film from 2000, but for

those of you who don't know, Richard Roundtree

was the original John Shaft and he starred in

many, well, not many, three different Shaft movies

in the 70s. In 71, we had Shaft. We in 72, we

had Shaft's big score. And in 73, we had Shaft

in Africa. I have not seen any of these there

before my time. Yeah, I've seen bits and pieces

of the original shaft. That's about it. I know

that Richard Rowntree was in it and he had a

huge ass fro. That's about all I remember from

the original. There were There was a television

series which roundtree also starred in from 73

to 74 There were apparently seven 90 -minute

movies part of the new CBS Tuesday night movies

rotating with Hawkins, which also stars James

Stewart Oh Man seriously boo to you Jackson Okay,

so I know we usually do this on MWIRE at the

end of the show, but I'm just looking through

the core, because I looked up the actual character

John Shaft on Wikipedia. It was just easier than

to try to find all the various different films.

And according to Wikipedia, again, take with

a grain of salt, Premont Pictures is negotiating

a deal with John Singleton to make another Shaft

movie to star Richard Roundtree as Samuel Jackson

has stated he no longer has interest in making

another Shaft film. After the release of the

2000 sequel, Singleton planned a sequel where

Shaft would battle drug lords in Jamaica, but

Jackson's disappointment with the film prevented

a sequel from being made. Roundtree has signed

on to do three Shaft sequels, the first two which

will be filmed back to back, and has the option

to write and direct the third. So it's interesting.

I still think that I and I understand Samuel

Jackson wants to move on and you know grow is

you know as an actor and stuff like that I don't

care. I still love him in this movie. Oh, he

was great He was solid in this movie. I could

dig him. Yeah This is just so awesome, so I assume

since I brought this up this is the first time

you had seen this right? You know actually yes,

I had seen the movie previews for the fort when

it was out in theaters I wanted to go see it

my dad was like he goes. Yeah, let's go see it,

and then it just fell apart We never actually

did And I remember and I'm gonna bring this up

because it was something if I can ever find it

I will have to send it to you. I died laughing

on What was it the Today Show they had both Samuel

L Jackson and Richard Roundtree And Bryant Gumbel

is interviewing them. Oh my god. Okay now Gumbel

says to him he goes so Has anybody you know has

anybody made any comparisons on your shafts?

I Shit you know I heard it on air and I went

what? And both Samuel L Jackson and Richard Roundtree

looked at each other they go No, no, we're good.

We're good. We know where we stand. Oh, my God.

And I just kind of have to wonder if, you know,

Bryant Gumbel knew what he was saying, if he

just, you know, let it slip or if it was something

completely intentional. I don't know. I think

that. See. It just. That's just one of those

things where you just don't know, man. Yeah,

and and you know you telling me this it makes

me think of that and I know Brian Gumbel Isn't

this but it makes me think that Brian Gumbel

and today's show were once what Fox News is now

yes But no I mean because of this here I actually

you know that was one of the things that kind

of said okay I need to see this movie, and I

thought that it was going to be a bomb and when

I saw it I was kind of like Wow, this is a lot

better than I expected it to be and when I saw

a lot of the actors in it I'm kind of going wow.

This is this is kind of a It's kind of a decent.

You know decent vehicle for all these guys getting

out there and getting their names out there I

Really I really actually did like it for what

it was yeah So this is one of John Singleton's

action crime films Obviously, as we said, starring

Samuel Jackson, Jeffrey Wright, Batman, Christian

Bale, Commissioner Gordon, Pat Hingle, wait,

what is this? Pat Hingle was the judge. Tony

Collette, Busta Rhymes, Vanessa L. Williams,

and Makai Pfeiffer. It is not a remake, it is

a sequel to the original films. And basically

what happens is Christian Bale plays a rich kid

who is pretty much a bad guy and he's pretty

much a racist for the most part. And until I,

I haven't, ladies and gentlemen, I have not seen

this movie since 2002 maybe. Or, you know, I

just, I haven't seen it in a long time. I love

it, I just haven't watched it in a long time.

And going back... And watching it for this episode

of MWIRE, I'm like, hey, what's Batman doing

in a Samuel L. Jackson movie? What's going on

here? Oh, see, my first thought was, wow, this

is like American Psycho all over again. Yeah.

You know, that's what I thought. Yeah, yeah.

And I still love this movie. This movie has a

good opening. It has a good story. It has a great...

A lot of action scenes. Shaft, you know, actually

pistol whips a gang banger at one point in the

beginning. Yeah. What's my name? I don't know.

What's my name? Shaft, John Shaft. Oh, that was

that was great. And of course, the woman is like,

well, that boy down there, man, he'd been bringing

my son in and. Oh, man. And I love his line.

He's like when he walks back He walks back to

I believe her name is Carmen like I said I haven't

scrolled down to look at the cast But I think

Vanessa Williams character is called Carmen He

says anyone wishing to remain employed by the

NYPD better leave now. Yes I was watching that

my wife walks in she goes what's about to happen.

I said some bad shits about to go down Carmen

Vasquez is her name. So this whole thing, the

general plot is Walter Wade Jr. is at this bar,

restaurant, whatever it is, and this African

-American gentleman by the name of Makai Pfeiffer,

he plays Trey Howard in this movie. Trey walks

in with his Caucasian friends. This prompts Walter

to be the obtuse jackass that he is. He starts

talking in a... I'm going to say this term, and

I hope people don't get pissed at me for this,

but he starts talking in a wigger accent. Yup.

You know, and he starts taunting Trey and taunting

Trey, and we don't actually see... I don't remember,

because I've only... I've seen the movie. But

I don't think we ever actually see the beating.

Do we? We do at the very end. At the very end,

that's right. Towards the end, once we see Diane

Palmieri and she discusses everything. That's

right. That's right. OK. In the beginning, we

don't actually see the beating because the whole

point of this movie is once that happens, Walter

is basically on the run. He comes back two years

later and you know shaft and everybody, you know

shaft is is pissed, you know, they gave him bail

You know the Carmen San Diego chief is crying

her eyes out Because it was her son Yes, you

like that do you yes, yes But, uh, you know,

so she's crying her eyes out. They're not going

to give him bail. So they are going to give him

bail. So it isn't justice in the eyes of Shaft.

And, and he comes back and the same thing kind

of happens. And he basically throws his badge

at the judge, like literally like three centimeters

away from the judge's face and it lands in the,

in the wall of the back of the courthouse. He's

like, fuck it. I'll get him my own way. And that's

when, yeah, I quit. And that's when we start

seeing All the little mishaps and everything

else going on all these like two little side

street rolls, you know, we have We have Jack

Russell and Jimmy Groves who are the two cops

who play along with Carmen in the beginning when

when Shaft comes back and And they eventually

go on and become people's little bitches until

they end up getting killed. So they're trying

to find the witness Diane Palmeri. So is Shaft.

And they're like, oh hey, well, we'll just have

him lead us to her. And in the midst of all this,

Walter Wade has come back. He needs money. He

wants the witness found and taken care of. all

this and all that and that happens uh... in the

process he gets robbed yeah forty two thousand

dollars because they set up the two cops who

are who have gone crooked basically uh... with

the forty two thousand dollars uh... you know

he eventually does catch up uh... his uh... he

does originally catch up with dianne and he's

doing so and trying to save her and get her into

the car well first of all her dumbass brothers

come along and one of them ends up getting killed

those two guys just I kept watching him and all

I could think was oh my god these guys look like

they came straight off of you know straight out

of Braintree or something like that you know

the the they're Southies is what they look like

yeah yeah that and and they kind of if you look

at them side by side their two facial expressions,

both their faces. They remind me of fat versions

of Hans and Franz from Saturday Night Live. So

one of her brothers, Mikey, gets killed. And

the other brother goes along with Shaft and Buster

Rhymes to Buster Rhymes' house, which is just

nasty. I'm trying to think what am I trying to

say. Oh, so he he gets Diane they go back to

the safe house and and You know, she eventually

does tell him the story And the fact that you

know, she got a call later that night and somebody

paid her off and Which was at Wade's father that

paid her off In the midst of this rescue scene

though people's his brother gets shot by shaft

Wasn't I honestly don't think shaft was trying

to shoot? The brother because the brother was

just in the car with people's he wasn't you know

He wasn't out there shooting everybody else.

He wasn't even driving. I think I think he was

no Yeah, he was in the back passenger seat So

You know by the time the movie ends we have You

know, we have Shaft and people's insinuates that

he's been working for Wade and obviously Shaft

kills him. Wade Jr's trial finally arrives, but

before it can begin, however, he is gunned down

by Trey's mother. I thought that was a nice twist.

Yep. The police station shaft reiterates to Carmen

that he prefers to be a private detective a woman

arrives asking for shaft to help her calming

Claiming to have an abusive boyfriend shaft initially

is reluctant, but when he sees her injury He

decides to help her anyway shaft along with his

uncle Richard played by Richard roundtree go

together to face the victim I Thought that was

a nice touch having work Richard showing back

up in the series. Yeah absolutely I love this

movie this movie is simply amazing David Arnold

did an amazing job with the music and the score

it's it's just so relaxing like I've listened

to this score already from from all in records

and the music in this even without the movie

without all the gun battles and everything else

it's just so cool I don't think I've ever heard

this cool of a music for a movie score, ever.

It just has that Shaft kind of vibe to it, because

obviously it's made for him and for his movie,

but it's just one of my favorite scores of all

time at this point. It really is. It was a great

set of music I mean, you know you obviously they

had to have the theme song from Shaft from the

original and they put that in there and I just

kept listening to it and my wife was looking

at me because I'm Grooving, you know, I'm grooving

to the music and everything. She's like, what's

wrong with you? I'm like yeah that's Shaft. That's

the man And the coolest thing about the theme

song Isaac motherfucking A's yes Yeah, chef himself,

yeah, that's right Absolutely love this movie

the cast members, you know, you've got tons of

of Of cast in here. I mean Samuel and Jackson

will be here all night talking about him, you

know From you know Zeus in and die hard with

a vengeance to Mace Windu to Nick Fury now. He's

just been all over the place. Oh, and my favorite,

my favorite role that he's had was in The Incredibles

as Frozone. Frozone. Honey, where is my super

suit? Yep, absolutely. Love that. Did you know

that... Richard round trees first film was what

do you say to a naked lady in 1970? I'd be afraid

of that title The last thing according to Wikipedia

that he did was Being married Jane in 2012 doesn't

look like on Wikipedia doesn't look like he hasn't

done much recently But again, I'm I haven't looked

at his IMDB. So I'm sure there's probably other

stuff that they haven't credited as for there

He was in something that like in the last 10

15 years Like it had to have been after Oh No,

I know what it was. Yeah. Yeah, he had a guest

role as One of the characters father's in the

Knight Rider reboot. Oh God No, it was cool because

I remembered him from this movie and I'm like,

hey, wait a second. I know that guy. Where do

I? Holy shit, it's Richard Roundtree. They got

Richard Roundtree in the NBC 2008 reboot of Knight

Rider. He wasn't in there very long. He was in

one episode where Carrie, one of the government

agents, got hurt. But still. Still. Interesting

I mean Christian Bale this has got to be I'll

say this right now This is probably the first

movie that I ever saw him in now that I know

that it's hit you like is when I originally saw

this I didn't know who the hell this guy was

Obviously now that he's been Batman. Well, my

everybody knows Yeah, I mean my first experience

with him was American Psycho, which god helped

me. I don't know why I watched that film It's

you want to talk about a horror film. That's

right up there and oh, yeah, you know, so I'll

just kind of leave it at that but You know seeing

him going from that to some of the other roles

that he's done with with Batman obviously being

the big one. I You know, I like him I and I thought

he was great in this considering that he was

playing an American redneck asshole in a sense,

you know a rich a rich redneck racist asshole

yep um he's uh he was in this year's uh exodus

gods and kings so he was in that he was in american

hustle last year out of the furnace last year

obviously two years ago the dark knight rises

um apparently supposedly he's gonna be in Jungle

book origins in 2016. I don't even want to know

I Just don't even want to know Well Andy circus

is directing it so who knows no, thank you. Yeah

Anyone else on the cast you want to bring up

You know the only other one I can really think

of obviously we've got God what's his name? I?

Like Tony Collette I kept looking at her and

I kept thinking man. She looks familiar who the

hell is that? And then my wife goes hey isn't

that the chick who was on United States of Terror?

And I'm like oh shit. It is totally Tony Collette

Her and Dan Hedaya, I just did I remember him

being the dad in Clueless and It was also Tully

in the Adams family. Yes And those are the two

big things that I remember him from and obviously

Lynn Thigpen as you mentioned being She from

where in the world is Carmen San Diego game show

Yeah, I mean those are the those are the big

ones really that I wanted to recognize And of

course Jeffrey Wright I Went to see over Thanksgiving

my wife dragged me to go see Mockingjay Mm -hmm,

and I watching it. I'm going man that guy looks

familiar, and I kept thinking is that David Alan

Greer, and I kept thinking is that him no That's

not him, and then when I saw this movie like

holy shit. I've seen this guy before where have

I seen him and then it dawned on me He was in

Hunger Games Mockingjay Again great role he played

I loved him playing, you know this Puerto Rican

Mobster basically and just did a great job in

this film. Yeah Hedaya actually was in something

recent that we probably saw he was in the spirit

of the goat episode of Gotham. He played detective

dicks Dix not D I C K S But I've always liked

him as an actor I mean not just because of you

know being shares dad and clueless or be I just

I don't know It's just something about him that

I've always liked I Mean he's he's kind of likable,

but at the same time you kind of you kind of

get this feeling like he's to this Sleazy slimy

type of character with what he plays And I mean

I know that he's done other things that he's

not that role obviously but you know when he

was When he was the lawyer and you know his family.

Hello. He was a lawyer You know When he was Claire's

dad, I Think he was a lawyer again in that What

is with him and lawyers? But yeah, no, I mean

you're right he is he's a great actor and he's

actually got a lot to him So he does he does

I really, really enjoy him as an actor. Vanessa

L. Williams, she's been in plenty of stuff. She's

always been one of those interesting ones where

she shows up, because I think it's her that shows

up in a racer, of all places. She's the one that

he's trying to... Protect yeah, dr. Lee calling

an eraser from 90 that was 96 though Since then

she had temptation confessions of a marriage

counselor last year She has done From 2006 to

2010 she was an ugly Betty. She was on desperate

housewives for two years She was a flight attendant

on Phineas and firm But she's pretty much at

this point gone back to Broadway. I think with

plays and musicals and stuff Yeah, which is all

well good and fine But shaft overall Absolutely

love the movie Anyone should at least give it

one watch and see what you think Great story

great acting So I think Think of that's gonna

do it. What would you give it on a zero to five

star scale? I would probably give it a four out

of five The only reason I'm not giving it a five

is just because it There were a couple of things

that just seemed to be kind of flat I mean when

he was messing with the other guys and the fact

that it just seemed to be this whole huge Black

rights type thing, you know, are you are you

black or are you blue? Which one are you shaft?

You know, it was kind of I kind of got the feeling

like that was not needed But well, yeah, I mean,

but this is 2000 though when this was made when

this came out and I'm not saying it's not any

less relevant today, but That was just kind of

the thing. I guess with the character that because

he was you know Yeah And maybe some of that was

throwback from the original 71 version when they

were doing a lot of black exploitation You know

that was the one thing that just kind of bothered

me it was kind of like okay, and That's that's

the only reason why I can say four out of five

Yeah, so You know I wasn't sure what it was gonna

be doing You know as far as the film goes I just

wasn't really that sure and I absolutely love

it I really, really do. It's got great music

in it. It's got great action in it. You know,

all around. I mean, it's a great, wonderful soundtrack

and action film. It's an action film that kind

of makes you think with the way that they present

the story to you. Because they don't give you

all the answers right away, which is a good thing

that they don't do that Yeah, I mean you're kind

of led you're kind of led to see what it's building

on and you're learning some of the things like

you know Diane taking money from the dad Kind

of like okay, so she's not exactly pure of heart

as everybody thinks that she is right You know

lots of lots of little things like that that

I I did I liked those little twists that were

there. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. For me, I'm

going to give it five stars. I still love this

movie. It's just so amazing. It really, really

is. So I think that's going to do it for us here

on MWIRE. What do you got going on over at Generation?

Well, over on Talk About My Generation, we've

got some things coming up here. I know that we've

had we've actually had you on the show here a

couple times obviously you're you know being

a co -host here for us uh we just got done covering

uh rank in bass for kind of our christmas episode

uh we're getting ready to do a 30 year anniversary

for things from 1984 as a close out for the year

uh we're getting ready to go oh we're gonna jump

into a delorean at some time in 2015 Yeah We've

got We've got a James Bond January that we've

got coming up Looking forward to definitely looking

forward to that. We're gonna talk, you know Pierce

Brosnan and Daniel Craig a little bit So I'm

looking forward to that If you guys want to go

out and visit us you can go over to talking about

my generation on Facebook You can visit us at

my generation podcast comm check us out Alright

folks, well episode 115 will be the final episode

of Movie Week in Review for 2014. It will be

our kind of a Christmas episode or a Christmas

present to you guys for 2014. Episode 115 is

going to be myself, Steve Megatron, and Mike

with Ninja Powers talking about the fartians

of the galaxy. Yep, they're farting all over

the galaxy. No, we're gonna be talking about

Rocket, Groot, Drax, and Star -Lord and all those

good people from Guardians of the Galaxy in episode

115 of M -Wire. So until then, keep those film

rails rolling. You still determined to be a private

eye? I think you're making a mistake. I don't.

Why don't you come in with us? I like what I

do. Yeah, right. You Detective Shaft? Used to

be. I need to file me an assault charge against

my boyfriend. People say I should talk to you.

This is Detective Vasquez. She's... She's unavailable

at the moment. You see that guy on the phone

over there? When he's done, he'll help us. They

said I should talk to you. I don't work here

anymore. Just have a seat over there. When he's

done, you'll help. Write the asshole's name where

I can find it. You can't do that. One for the

road. All right. Why don't you get that looked

at? I'll see what I can do. Now what? I guess

I gotta pull this asshole's coat. Wanna back

me up? Back you up? What's the deal, sir? The

deal is my life is fucked, man. You know what

I mean? I ain't got no car. I ain't got no business.

I can't eat. You done came by the apartment and

shot up the whole fucking building. Landlady

want to put me in the street. Calm down, man.

It ain't that bad. What? It ain't all that. Fuck

both of y 'all in. It's my motherfucking life

you're talking about, man. Right side, right

side. Shut up. Here. What you giving me that

for? This is for me? This is my shit? You know,

I won't do no hardcore detective work. I just

want to be one of them cats who gets to take

pictures of the broads cheating on their huggies.

I just want to hold a camera, dawg. All you be

holding is the steering wheel. Yeah, brother.

Yeah. We off into the sunset, brother. Who's

the black private dick that's a sex machine,

dawg? Chips. Remote Control is the new TV podcast

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