iTunes Exclusive Episode BlacKkKlansman

What's up Empire member and or members?
It's Rob, the executive producer of the Clubhouse podcast.
I'm glad that you check us out on your favorite podcast app.
Your one stop shop for all things pop culture.
We do a weekly show plus we do these little things that we also like to call attoons exclusives.
But we take some time and we review stuff and this is one of those.
This is the 411th one of these that we've done.
And I really can't wait to talk to y'all about this one.
So let's just go around the dais.
For me is my co-host and a man who I'm fairly sure is fairly interested because he didn't
get to see this movie.
So he's going to be fairly interested in this particular episode.
He is Chad.
Welcome sir.
I am definitely intrigued.
And the official fact checker of this show is also sitting across from me and a man
who's ready to talk about this movie just as much as I am.
You may know him as fun, don't go, but his mama name I'm done for, I'm going to call
him down for it.
What's going on brother?
Let's get her going.
I know.
Alright.
Whatever we do one of these, it is to review something.
This is no exception.
It's likely his back and it's called Black Clansman.
For some soul thing?
Yes sir.
No thank you.
No thank you.
No thank you.
No thank you.
No thank you.
We love our vendors.
They let us see movies in advance and we saw this one way in advance.
I mean you're talking about a month before release.
So we're ready to start talking about this film with you guys because it's going to be
when you hear this it's going to be available for you to see.
It's on a true story which I've got the feeling that most people are going to see this
and spend a lot of time going.
This really happened.
This really happened.
This does start John David Washington who you know from Ballers who is also the son
of one Denzel Washington but he's kind of carved out a nice career for himself.
He actually played Malcolm X's son when Denzel played Malcolm years and years ago with Spikely
and John David Washington plays Ron Stallworth.
Denzel worth is a guy that lives in Colorado Springs, Colorado and he decides he's going
to join the local police force and he does and they put him in the record room.
Not a lot.
This takes place in the late 70s early 80s.
Yeah.
They kind of give you some framework.
Yeah.
They saved 79.
Right.
Right in that area.
Yeah.
And so probably not you know living in Colorado as an African American young man doesn't
get a whole lot of the respect he deserves.
Probably not.
But he wants to work undercover.
So one day he gets the call up from his chief chief, where he just played it by Robert
John Burke.
He's that guy and that thing.
He was in a rescue me for years played Dennis Larry's brother.
He was also a member when on SVU when Benson dated the guy from internal affairs vaguely,
the older guy.
Yeah.
That's him.
Okay.
So he says here's what we need you to do.
There's a there's a speaker coming to town and he's going to be representing the local
college African American student union.
And it is Kwame Torrey, who is the converted name of one of the founders of Black Panthers.
And we need you to go undercover to this rally and just kind of report back to us.
We're going to wire you.
We want you.
We want to hear what's going on there.
So he goes there does his job meets the local president of that chapter played by Laura
Harrier and she plays Patrice Dumas and he starts to listen to what they're saying and
is he just kind of starts to make a little bit of sense to him and it kind of this speech
kind of stays with him.
Even though he doesn't really, he's not one of these people that really takes a side
in the issue.
If you know what I mean, he's just kind of there.
He gets it.
But he's sitting at his desk one day and he's reading the newspaper and he sees an ad
for the local chapter of the KKK.
So he decides he's going to pick up the phone and try to get calls him and he gets a guy
on the phone and they invite him to join because the voice he uses on the phone, they assume
that he is not who he is.
But when they go to meet, there's a problem.
So his partner is Flip Zimmerman, played by Adam Driver and so he has to teach Adam Driver's
character Flip how to talk like he talks because in person, it's Flip but on the phone, it's
still Ron Stullwer.
Okay.
All right.
I was wondering how to pull that off.
So there's this constant juggling back and forth while he's trying to, you know, he's
trying to get with Patrice Dumas and listen to what she has to say on her side of it while
he's also in this undercover operation.
She doesn't know he's a cop.
So there's that part of it too.
And I mean, this thing also has an Alec Baldwin has a very small role in this.
You have Tofer Grace is in this as well and you probably know who he plays at this point
but if you don't, I don't want to ruin it for you because we didn't have it ruined
for us when we went to the screening and when he announced this, who he is, the entire
theater went, okay, this is a thing.
I'm not even going to bury the lead here, sir.
Best work spikes done in over 20 years.
That's that's say in some and I am not exaggerating.
This movie is that good, but what did you share with your dealer?
I see that Demaris Lewis is in this.
Oh, Dadda.
Mm-hmm.
Demaris was very, very close with my leader.
With your leader?
Yes.
Okay, probably has the, and we're going to talk about your leader because your leader has
a bit of a role in this as well.
But let me tell you who else is in this because one of my newer favorite actors in this
Paul Walter Hauser, he played Galulie's buddy in Itanya, just so I was thinking.
Oh, you got to, he plays the same kind of role in this that he plays in that and he's
just good.
He's just good.
He knows that role and he knows it well.
This is a very rich story again.
I spent a lot of time, and I know Don and I were actually sitting right next to each other
in this.
Yes.
We both spent a lot of time in this film going, dude, this really happened.
Dude, this really happened and I can't find fault in this film in any way, shape or form.
I can't.
I'm just going through the castle of, I guess, people playing smaller roles that are really
jumping out at me.
There's a lot of that in this film.
Spike shoots it amazingly well.
He lets the story tell itself.
He doesn't do because, you know, Spike tends to get artistic with some of the shots that
he uses.
Reference, Mo better blues.
Also hot garbage.
That way does it look like, does it come off like a period piece?
I mean, it's right there where it needs to be from that standpoint, but Spike kind
of lets the thing handle itself.
He doesn't, he doesn't Spike leave the thing.
I mean, it's the only way I can describe it.
And oddly enough, I know exactly what you're talking about, you know, there's a couple
of shots in there that you can go, okay, that's a Spike Lee shot.
But from a visual standpoint, there's not a lot of trick to this because this story is
so strong, it stands on its own.
And there's, you know, not knowing the whole story going in, which I'm glad I didn't
do the research on this.
There were moments in this film where my blood pressure went up.
We're all just like, oh, oh, okay, okay, okay, okay, okay.
And the other thing about this, if you notice the last name of Adam Driver's character,
Zimmerman, and what connotates that comes with that tending to, so he has his own issues
that he has to deal with when it comes to the clan as well.
I would imagine every person in this film is amazing.
There's nobody in this film, even bit players, that I was like, and I know one in specific
that Don talked about in his written review currently located at www.theclubhousepodcast.com.
That's our website.
There it goes, didn't do it the first time.
And I'm going to let him talk, and I think, you know, where I'm going with this.
There's somebody that he gave a shout out to in this that, because I don't want to bury
his lead either, that is really impressive on a level like this individual, I will say
actress, so Don knows where I'm going with this, turns the creepy up to 11.
Yeah, Atkinson, she plays the wife of one of Ashley Atkinson.
Yeah, she is married to the house's character, and I got to give it a house or two.
He plays like the redneck guy who is paranoid beyond belief.
He has that, I'm with the clan, but we're letting somebody in, I have to do 50 background
checks on him, and I'm going to give him, you know, this kind of background check,
and this kind of background check.
She's not married to Paul, but her house is a character, okay, okay, I was wrong on
that.
She's married to Jasper, Pacconin's character, yeah, Pacconin, yeah, Pacconin, I'm sorry,
yeah, he's super creepy, yes, yeah, that's what I mean, I got this too mixed up.
Yeah, he plays like a guy who's just on the edge who trusts nobody to extents where
they give certain kind of tests that will make you laugh.
You're like, what?
No.
Even like other guys in the chapter are like, dude, you really, you're going to do this?
Yeah.
I mean, okay, but you're really going to do this, yeah, and he and driver I thought worked
really, really well together, because he's like drama saying, no, you trust me or you
don't.
Yeah.
Do what you got to do, but it got to the point of that where it got dance on that, Ashley
Adkinson.
She plays that son of a lady, yeah, she has a, she's kind of a lady with, who's a big
statured, and she plays that seven lady married to the red neck guy, she loves her husband
and buys everything he sells, apparently Spike likes working with her, because she was
an inside man as well.
She is really like to the, like there were moments where in this, where Don and I looked
each other like, again, this is real.
Yeah, she could be that evil spine of a racist who will go out and probably shoot somebody
that wasn't in her mentality, but then come in and say, here's some pie for you guys
aren't here.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, it's, it's the creepy factors at 11, but she's so good in this.
Yeah.
She plays, I mean, this movie is just one of those, and there's the, now again, by the time
you hear this, you're going to be able to see it, but there's people will be talking,
because there's a lot, there's going to be a lot of controversy that comes out of this,
but I hope it's healthy controversy, where we can talk about these things openly.
That's my hope for this thing.
In my mistake, also, Hauser is, Hauser is the guy who is the, he's the same guy he is
in itanya.
He's the same exact guy.
He plays that red neck who's as smart as a, as a bag of rocks.
Yeah.
That's one way to put it.
I make him look smart when it comes to English, but okay, am I lying?
No, I'm not going to, I'm not even going to weigh in on that, because there's no, there's
no, there's no.
There's no answer to that, that doesn't just explode, so I'm just going to leave it
well, the heck alone.
Yeah, when he plays that, so the red neck, it loves the alcohol too much, and gets, yeah,
he plays Billy Bob.
He's great.
Yeah, then she's calling it Billy Bob.
I'm telling you, everybody in this cast, they know the lane they're supposed to be
in, and they stay in it, and it's, it makes the film a better experience.
Now there is one part of this that Don and I disagree on, and we don't want to go into
it, but what I'll say, then just follow me with this, it's the last five minutes, okay,
and all I will tell you is Spike drives home the message of those who do not learn from
history are doomed to repeat it, okay, and that's all I think we want to say about it,
because I think people not knowing it, it will take, I don't want to say it's going
to take the impact out of it.
Let me sit in spoiler free.
The last five minutes, I don't think we're needed, that's for you and I disagree, and that's
for you and I disagree.
No, no, absolutely.
Absolutely, so spoiler free.
No, please, yes.
Is this was a story about Ron Stahlworth and his thing of trying to get into the clan
and all that, and I think that's where they should have ended it right there, not put
that last five minutes in.
I think the last five minutes was too political that did not need to be in there.
But do you see my point of view on it?
I see why, I'm not saying whether I agree with it or not, but I understand why.
I see your point of view, and hopefully you see my point of view.
No, I totally do.
That's what I'm saying.
I'm not saying either way, I understand why it's there, and that to me is why it's
there.
Yeah.
I was saying, hey, this is a good movie about this, this, this, and this, and now here's
five minutes of Spike trying to think, be Spike Lee is the best way to put it.
But I really like once we get to the end credits, yeah, because as has been advertised
and chat is patiently waiting for this to happen, there is an album coming out, a piano
on a microphone, is that what's called?
Piano on a microphone in 1983, and it's a rehearsal for the Purple Rain Tour, and Spike
being as close to Princess, he was, reached out to him, and reached out to the family,
reached out to the estate.
That's what I meant to say.
That's it.
It's been a long few days for us, but he ain't dead good, but it's, it's, it's almost
haunting.
I'm not that sick.
It's Prince Singing Mary Don't You Wheat.
I've got I'm doing that in several live shows and I will tell you, I, because you know
me, I say, until the end credits all the way through, I'm notorious for it.
There were people that were walking out of the theatre and when they realized it was
prints it stopped them in their tracks really true story you know I know it's
I know it's an audio medium but I want you to see what spike wart at the
premiere okay all right spike is wearing a print t-shirt and a
print skull cap is that the it's from the symbol album okay yeah that's from
that's from the symbol okay okay now I mean this this film I do want to say
that the film really showed Colorado 1979 very well it had to feel like you
were watching something from 1979 or in that time that's what I was at yeah there's
not there's not a grindhouse look okay it's a clean yeah it's it's it was
historically correct beyond belief and I really liked it now I did read up on
some and there were some yeah some liberties retained yeah some I think
they kind of overdid um there are some scenes that I think that maybe he tried
to get the point too long or build the story too much a little bit but that's
what he does yeah and honestly I think maybe 15 minutes could have been cut out
not a ton but there are a few things I thought this was paced very very well
yeah that's just my especially as you work towards in the comedy I looked I've
there was so much comedy when he makes that first call to the clans man yes and
and it's even on the first call and the last call yeah the very last call I think
is probably my favorite one yeah I mean there's ones where he's talking to
somebody of importance as I'm gonna say yep yep yep I want to go see this right and he just like
and I and I'm telling you as as you build see because there's there's almost
multiple climaxes in this film as you build to one of them as as Harry Belafonte
has a very small role and I'm telling you it was another moment where my
blood pressure just shot through the roof because I was like because I don't know
the story how it's just gonna go and it's just so well then I will tell you the other moment
that's very spiky is during the speech in the beginning your as the speech goes on you're
gonna see some camera tricks and stuff you're like okay if I didn't know this is a spiky movie
it's a spiky movie but it didn't take me out of it okay yeah I like how this is a crazy storyline
in a good way and there's a comedy in there um there are some adult scenes there's some
violence yeah um again spiky yeah yeah so this is not right in our because they were bored yeah
and this is 2 15 that sales really so it really does watch test watch gauge oh jeez
watch me sorry probably 40 minutes in 40 minutes yeah which is above average yeah not not the
record but it's it's it's it's it's up there it's in the middle right I thought there was a
couple tad things that drug but not too bad but I mean the bill the emotion everything on this I
really liked it and I will say for the first time because I've always seen John David Washington
as his own man because the first feats like when I watch ballers I didn't know he was Denzel's
kid until somebody told me yeah me too I wouldn't have guessed that yeah but this film I would have
guessed it this film for the first time and maybe it's just because he's working with spike in this
for the first time there were certain things he did then I'm like yeah that's Denzel's kid
now at no point he did he say I guarantee King Kong yeah nothing on me I'm so have you ever
seen that YouTube clip so many just every time he said the words I guarantee and put him and put
him into a montage on YouTube that's his kid phrase I guess it is okay but I mean I and to say that
I see him as his daddy's son that's not an insult like because it doesn't seem like he goes out but
there's just certain mannerisms or certain things he says like if you didn't know now you know
because he's really really really good in this and he's I mean I've always thought that he could
stand on his own regardless but he's really good in this and I'm gonna say it now don't be shocked
if there's not discussion of this at the end of the year I kind of on a on a on a bigger scale than
this studio yeah I kind of figured that's because when it debuted and if I remember correctly let
me go forward into the trivia a six-minute standing ovation at the can film festival wow
man did they not do this it's and he did shoot this on film the first the first time since old
boy that he shot on film did they not do this at Sundance I don't think they needed to because
they were going to can with it I know but Sundance is in Colorado let me let me take a look see if
I can find that that to me that almost would have been a no brain it only did the Sydney film festival
the Jerusalem film festival and the Locarno International Film Festival that sides can that's a
missed opportunity and it did win the grand jury prize it won the prize of the ecumenical jury and
it was nominated nominated for the Palm Dio I mean I'm so in on this I I don't know if I could
possibly be anymore and believe it or not has nothing to do with Prince being played on credit it's
it's that fascinating this movie is that good just watch every time I see a shot of Washington and
driver together I'm like I can't wait to see how they oh and their chemistry is great too that's
what I'm most intrigued because there's that you know when they first meet there's that and what
one of my favorite moments in the film and I'll tell you off air okay but it happens right after
the first phone call okay that's all I'm gonna say and I'll tell you off air yeah we ready to get
the final analysis yeah all right let's hop at the final analysis we're not gonna give you thumbs
up thumbs down we're not gonna give you letter grades numbers anything like that we're gonna go
straight to two questions question number one is Wooddon and I see this film again the answers no
were done here good luck with that happening if the answer is yes it will be then we're gonna ask
how far we're willing to go to see it again from the best of the best of the worst of the best
here's how it works full price at a theater down to a twilight show down to a matinee down to
early morning on a weekend down the second one at the dollar theater red box Netflix cable done
yeah would you see black clansmen again let me think on that yes how well how far you
will you see it I because of that last five minutes it shot it down from the coveted I can't
do the coveted okay twilight and afternoon to twilight fair enough I would see this again
I'm keeping it to full this movie is that good even if the last five minutes of this crawled
near spine and die the rest of this film makes up for it it's that good and I said it before
and I'll say it again best work Spike Lee has done in at least two decades if not more I'd say
I'd say since I'd say since inside man be personally inside man inside man was good but man this
is just this is the whole thing it's yeah but it's two different film but yeah it's my favorite
him since inside so it is black clansmen for me it's the whole thing yes I think Julian
her band's life box our vendors let us see movies early so we can talk to you guys about them
and we love our vendors so much that being said let's do the plugs for ourselves shall we
visit our websites we mentioned it a couple times you can find what Don and I's written reviews
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