25th Hour Questions (and praise) (1 Viewer)

[BertFalasco]

Searched but unfortunately found no official anything on this, sorry if I missed.

Just watched it, fantastic.

First question : what is the name of the song [and artist] that performs the club techno song [it was also in the theatrical trailer]?

Second question: Is the ending
supposed to have a Usual Suspects twist, or did that ending really occur?


Much appreciation.

Club scene had amazing use of the rears with DJ scratches.



-Bert

 

[Casey L]

(This probably should be moved to the movies forum)

The ending is that Monty goes to prison. I was pretty sure of this when I watched it, but it's clarified on the commentary (Spike Lee's track). Apparently the bridge they are seen driving by in the last shot is the George Washington Bridge, which would have taken them on the path out of the city and into the midwest.

Great movie, I think it's actually been underrated by many who've seen it. I didn't like Bamboozled much at all, so this is a nice recovery for Spike Lee as far as I'm concerned.

Oh and also, I'm not sure which one is the "techno" song you mention, but most of the songs in the club are a funk band called Cymande from the 70's. It's a testament to their music that people (myself included) could mistake it for something much more recent. Other than that, I think there's also a Grandmaster Flash track in there somewhere...

 

[Brian PB]

I watched this on DVD for the first time last week (I missed it in the theater), and thought it was superb. Though I've missed several of his last features, this is the best Spike Lee film that I've seen. Highly recommended.

 

[JustinCleveland]

I thought the story had a few problems, but was overall interesting. Where I had problems with the film, they all stemmed from shoddy-and-jumpy editing which slapped me across the face.

The ending of the film, as mentioned, redeemed the film for me. I was worried they were going to go the "he runs and everything ends happily-ever-after," route, ignoring the fact that this guy was a convicted drug dealer. But Cox's line toward the end of his solliloquy where his tone is predictive, instead of reflective, I appreciated the unconditional love of a father for his son, while taking him away for a long, long time.

That having been said, though it redeemed the end of the film, I don't know that I would revisit it. The aformentioned problems with editing (where things just don't FLOW) and the first half of the film lacking a justification and moving without purpose relegates it to a good rental.

 

[Casey L]

I liked the style of editing, personally. To me it was a way of heightening and extending certain moments as a sort of punctuation, like when he slams the car hood twice or hugs Naturelle 3 times. I wouldn't want every movie to use it, but it certainly didn't diminish anything for me.

 

[Joel C]

I liked this one a lot. For some reason, my brother found the opening credit sequence to be a big turn-off, but I loved it.

I got a chance to interview the writer. If anyone is interested, e-mail me and I'll link you.

 

[Michael Reuben]

The ending of the film was discussed extensively in the Movies forum Official Discussion Thread. As I recall, there's also information there about the music from the trailer and club scene. It's spread throughout the thread, so be sure to read to the end.

M.

 

[BertFalasco]

Snap, thanks fellas.

Great movie.

I too did not enjoy Bamboozled.

-Bert

 

[Garry Cowell]

Great film

 

[BertFalasco]

Sssshhhhhhiiiiiiiiieeeeeet!

 

[Brook K]

25th Hour is the best film I saw last year.

I thought Bamboozled could have been fantastic but the final 20m sinks the film.

 

[Josh C]

25th Hour is an amazing movie, with great writing, cast and director. The song your talking about, I think, is called "Cavern" by Liquid Liquid. That's what it says on my Kazaa. If anyone wants the speech by Monty about all the races in NY, pm me.

 

[Geoff_D]

I wasn't expecting much from 25th Hour, but when I saw it I was totally blown away. Even though the characters are so well-worn I feel I've seen them a million times before (hot-shot banker, repressed school teacher, reformed drug-dealer etc) Lee makes their relationship(s) the core of the film and gives the characters a depth that today's slam-bang action flicks could only hope to achieve. I love the editing style, although I can appreciate how some would be unsettled by it. And I'm sure the scratching is appreciated by anyone with a 5.1 set-up! The downbeat ending rounds off an impressive movie, one of Spike Lee's best for years. My biggest complaint about the movie is the excessive haloing on the dvd transfer, which gets quite intrusive at times. Another great job from Buena Vista!

 

[BertFalasco]

Just finished commentary (Lee).

It was informative but I'm not too taken by his implication of Bush knowing Osama's whereabouts yet not doing anything and poking fun at his accent.

But hey, he's entitled to his opinion.

I think I'll purchase He Got Game next, I missed out on that one.



-Bert

Oh, and Spike confirmed the song is White Lines by Grand Master.

 

[Mark Bendiksen]

{warning: shameless namedropping ahead}

This is a little off-topic but I went to NYC last week and saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in Long Day's Journey Into Night on Broadway. Afterwards I met him and asked him to sign my 25th Hour DVD. He's definitely one of the greatest actors working today, IMHO.

Link Removed

 

[Jeffrey Wiffen]

This is correct. The song you are looking for is Cavern by Liquid Liquid. However, it was re-mixed for the movie. There's a pretty decent version floating around on Kazaa. I'm not sure whether the beats are sampled from White Lines or if White Lines is using samples from Cavern.

 

[Damin J Toell]

This is a little off-topic but I went to NYC last week and saw Philip Seymour Hoffman in Long Day's Journey Into Night on Broadway. Afterwards I met him and asked him to sign my 25th Hour DVD. He's definitely one of the greatest actors working today, IMHO.

Hoffman was one of the most disappointing things about The 25th Hour for me. He seems stuck in a rut of playing the same guy over and over. If someone had told me that his role in The 25th Hour was actually just comprised of CGI-inserted outtakes from a bunch of other recent roles, it wouldn't've surprised me one bit.

DJ

 

[BertFalasco]

Well he was in Twister .

The song you are looking for is Cavern by Liquid Liquid. However, it was re-mixed for the movie.

Sweet!! I was hoping I was wrong and that there was a mix out there specifically made (I was assuming they just took the musical chorus and inserted, short and so sweet makes one want more and more).

Off topic: Just watched Spy Game, good film, didn't like depiction of CIA with the philosophies.

-Bert