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RED HOOK SUMMERMovie Reviews
Drama about a middle-class boy from Atlanta who spends the summer with his grandfather, a bishop in the housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. Cast:Clarke Peters, Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, Nate Parker, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Heather Alicia Simms, Colman Domingo, James Ransone, Deadre Azziza, Kimberly Hebert Gregory, Steve Henderson, Jonathan Batiste, Spike Lee, Isiah Whitlock JrDirector:Spike LeeRelease Date:August 10, 2012DVD Release:December 21, 2012From:Variance FilmsRating:RLength:2 hr 15 min
Red Hook Summer played in key cities to moderate reviews. • Ann Hornaday wrote in the Washington Post, "When Spike Lee gets out of his own way, he's among the most intuitive and fluent visual storytellers working in the medium today." • And Andrew O'Hehir wrote for Salon, "...a messy film with a constant feeling of experimentation and invention." More Reviews Below...
Red Hook Summer Positive Reviews (30 Reviews, reviews below)
Claudia Puig, USA Today: MODERATE(cg) "...formless drama... feels like several intriguing ideas in search of an over-arching story. It's more of a rambling lecture on poverty, family and religion."(See all of Claudia Puig's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 491 words, 08/24/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Here is Lee at his most spontaneous and sincere, but he could have used another screenplay draft, and perhaps a few more transitional scenes."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 666 words, 08/24/12
Glenn Kenny, MSN Movies: VERY GOOD(cg) "...a definite return to raw, seemingly minimally staged, New York moviemaking, in the mode of Lee's early Brooklyn-shot-and-set feature 'She's Gotta Have It.' "(See all of Glenn Kenny's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 823 words, 08/07/12
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NEW YORK/LOS ANGELES/CHICAGO/TORONTO (9 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...messy... But if 'Red Hook Summer' goes slightly mad and leaves crucial plot threads dangling, it still registers like a flashing sign that cannot be ignored."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 710 words, 08/10/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...some of the diatribes about doing the right thing soar, others thunder with righteous indignation, and some simply fizzle.... when the final shoe is dropped, the film fails us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 968 words, 08/24/12
Kyle Smith, New York Post: POOR(cg) "Spike Lee now seems to be trying to be the world's oldest student filmmaker. Take out the rookie mistakes from 'Red Hook Summer,' and there'd be nothing left."(See all of Kyle Smith's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 419 words, 08/10/12
Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "The melodrama central to the film's key plot development doesn't entirely come off. But some of the scenes really sing, with or without the music."(See all of Michael Phillips's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 468 words, 08/24/12
Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine: GOOD "...while uneven, it's also occasionally glorious.... This is a film made by a wiser man who recognizes that everybody's looking for salvation in their own way."(See all of Bilge Ebiri's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 807 words, 08/10/12
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Here is Lee at his most spontaneous and sincere, but he could have used another screenplay draft, and perhaps a few more transitional scenes."(See all of Roger Ebert's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 666 words, 08/24/12
Nick Schager, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...evocative and lumbering... for every theme that Lee handles through exposition rather than plotting, there's another conveyed through purely aesthetic means..."(See all of Nick Schager's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 797 words, 08/08/12
KEY CITIES (7 Reviews)
Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "When Spike Lee gets out of his own way, he's among the most intuitive and fluent visual storytellers working in the medium today."(See all of Ann Hornaday's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 692 words, 08/24/12
Gary Thompson, Philadelphia Inquirer: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...erratic... On the plus side, Clarke Peters is commanding... late-game revelations raise narrative questions that are left glaringly unanswered."(See all of Gary Thompson's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 438 words, 08/24/12
Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "...sloppy... events happen in seemingly random fashion, including a shattering revelation in the last quarter of the film that alters it."(See all of Bill Goodykoontz's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 629 words, 09/14/12
Stephen Whitty, New Jersey Star-Ledger: VERY GOOD(cg) "...ambitious.... allows Lee to introduce the topics of guilt and sin and possible redemption, all unfolding in a world he knows by heart.... Welcome back, Spike."(See all of Stephen Whitty's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 622 words, 08/10/12
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle: POOR(cg) "...anything new from Spike Lee must be given the benefit of the doubt. But how many doubts can get the benefit?... 'Red Hook Summer' has almost too many to count..."(See all of Mick LaSalle's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 553 words, 08/31/12
Shawn Levy, Portland Oregonian: GOOD (NOT GREAT)(cg) "Lee is, as ever, a gifted image-maker, but his storytelling has gotten so lax over time as to barely register. This isn't the 'Right Thing' in any sense."(See all of Shawn Levy's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 277 words, 09/07/12
Adam Graham, Detroit News: WEAK(cg) "When Spike Lee fails he fails big, and he goes down in flames with 'Red Hook Summer'.... like a car wreck, the movie takes a massive detour..."(See all of Adam Graham's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 309 words, 08/31/12
ALTERNATIVE/INDIE PRESS (6 Reviews)
Nick Schager, Village Voice/LA Weekly: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...evocative and lumbering... for every theme that Lee handles through exposition rather than plotting, there's another conveyed through purely aesthetic means..."(See all of Nick Schager's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 797 words, 08/08/12
Nathan Rabin, AV Club: GOOD(cg) "...borderline amateurish one moment and heartbreaking the next, a god-fearing and god-forsaken mess that could only have come from Lee..."(See all of Nathan Rabin's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 380 words, 01/24/12
Curt Holman, Atlanta Creative Loafing: WEAK(cg) "Lee shot 'Red Hook Summer' in 18 days -- six more than his debut film, 'She's Gotta Have It' -- and it feels like the clock ran out just when it started hitting its stride."(See all of Curt Holman's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 313 words, 08/22/12
HIGHBROW PRESS (6 Reviews)
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...messy... But if 'Red Hook Summer' goes slightly mad and leaves crucial plot threads dangling, it still registers like a flashing sign that cannot be ignored."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 710 words, 08/10/12
David Denby, New Yorker: FAIR "...a clear failure, yet Lee is getting at things that mystify him, and I was touched by parts of the movie. This is a lament for a community that got stuck in time."(See all of David Denby's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 512 words, 08/06/12
Ian Buckwalter, NPR: MODERATE "...the return to risk-taking narrative filmmaking that Lee fans have been demanding... [but] from a storytelling perspective, 'Red Hook Summer' is an absolute mess."(See all of Ian Buckwalter's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 635 words, 08/09/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...some of the diatribes about doing the right thing soar, others thunder with righteous indignation, and some simply fizzle.... when the final shoe is dropped, the film fails us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 968 words, 08/24/12
Dana Stevens, Slate: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...feels like a sketchbook, both in a good and bad sense; it's alive and spontaneous and surprising in some parts, underdeveloped and shapeless in others."(See all of Dana Stevens's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 948 words, 08/10/12
Andrew O'Hehir, Salon: EXCELLENT "...a messy film with a constant feeling of experimentation and invention.... It's also a passionate, painful, tragic, haunting love letter... I found it tremendously moving..."(See all of Andrew O'Hehir's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 613 words, 01/23/12
MOVIE INDUSTRY (4 Reviews)
Peter Debruge, Daily Variety: GOOD "...surprises -- and to some extent delights... a portrait of how modern-day African-Americans get by... at times inelegantly presented, but impossible to ignore."(See all of Peter Debruge's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 870 words, 01/23/12
David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter: WEAK "...rambles through almost two hours of unfocused drama, burdened with endless didactic editorializing, before lurching out of nowhere into ugly revelations and violence."(See all of David Rooney's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 797 words, 01/23/12
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times: MODERATE "...some of the diatribes about doing the right thing soar, others thunder with righteous indignation, and some simply fizzle.... when the final shoe is dropped, the film fails us."(See all of Betsy Sharkey's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 968 words, 08/24/12
Stephen Holden, New York Times: GOOD (NOT GREAT) "...messy... But if 'Red Hook Summer' goes slightly mad and leaves crucial plot threads dangling, it still registers like a flashing sign that cannot be ignored."(See all of Stephen Holden's reviews...)(Read the full review...) 710 words, 08/10/12
17.4 Percentage Points Average Difference Between Reviews (Norm is 18.4pp; <18.4pp = More Consistent; >18.4pp = More Mixed)
Red Hook Summer's reviews are separated by an average 17.4 percentage points. The norm for this measure is 18.4 percentage points. Less than 18.4 indicates more consistent reviews; greater than 18.4 indicates more mixed reviews. In the chart below, each dot represents a review, with the dots at the top more positive than the dots at the bottom. From left to right, the dots represent reviews in big, bigger and biggest publications. Roll over each dot for more detail.
Red Hook Summer (30 reviews) Roll over dots for each review
Coverage:Red Hook Summer's reviews cover 55.5% of potential readers (average is 67.9%). Volume:The film's reviews total 18,469 words involume (average is 20,194 words). Length:The film's reviews average 616 words in length (the norm is 517 words).
Reviews Broke 7 Days Before Release (Norm is 1.2 Release)
Red Hook Summer's reviews on average broke 7 days before opening. Norm for this measure is 1.2 hours before. The chart below shows reviews on opening day and the days before and after opening; the left side is earlier and the right side is later. The red bars extending above the horizontal mid-line represent more positive reviews, and the red bars extending below represent more negative reviews. The white space/red bar in the middle is Red Hook Summer's opening day. Click on any bar for a list of the reviews for that day.
Red Hook Summer (30 reviews, click on bars for reviews)
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