Director's Spotlight: Spike Lee

Spike Lee is one of the most underappreciated filmmakers of the past 30 years, I think. We take him for granted. He swings for the fences every time, and even when he doesn't hit a home run (and he's struck out plenty), he's never boring. He makes movies that are at once mainstream and subversive. His best movies are among the best movies ever made, and he's still going strong today, his newest film BlackkKlansman won an award at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year, and is getting him some of the best reviews and buzz on a project in many years.

He has amassed an amazing array of actors he's worked with, from Denzel Washington and Sam Jackson to Ed Norton, Christopher Plummer, Jodie Foster, Angela Bassett, Adam Driver, Josh Brolin, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Wesley Snipes. So many more than that, but let's not just make this a list of actors.

His movies always feel vibrant to me, both in their tremendous use of color and the life contained within them (he reminds me of almost an American Pedro Almodovar in that way). They're always expertly shot and edited and Lee seemingly always has something to say. Now, outside of his movies he always has something to say as well and can sometimes sound like everything from a misguided idiot to a brilliant social conscience, but I don't care about that, I wanna look at his art. So let's do that!

My rankings:

1. Do the Right Thing - 10/10
2. Malcolm X - 10/10
3. 4 Little Girls - 10/10
4. When the Levees Broke - 10/10
5. Clockers - 8/10
6. 25th Hour - 8/10
7. Inside Man - 8/10
8. Crooklyn - 8/10
9. Jungle Fever - 7/10
10. He Got Game - 7/10
11. Chi-Raq - 7/10
12. She's Gotta Have It - 7/10
13. School Daze - 6/10
14. Summer of Sam - 6/10
15. The Original Kings of Comedy - 6/10
16. Girl 6 - 4/10
17. Bamboozled - 4/10