The Reel Rejects - MENACE II SOCIETY (1993) IS F****ING RAW!! MOVIE REACTION! First Time Watching!!

Episode Date: February 11, 2025

INTENSE & POWERFUL!! Visit https://www.liquidiv.com & use Promo Code: REJECTS to get 20% off your first order. Save & Invest In Your Future Today, visit: https://www.acorns.com/rejects Get Your Fanta...stic Four RR Inspired Shirt! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Come see us at MULTICON!! https://shorturl.at/2B9l4 Continuing on our journey for Black History Month, Greg Alba and Coy Jandreau turn their eyes to The Hughes Brothers' Debut Feature Film, "Menace II Society." Directed by Albert & Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents, The Book of Eli, From Hell), this classic from 1993 is a coming -of-age crime drama set in the Watts and Crenshaw neighborhoods of Los Angeles - following the life of Caine Lawson (Tyrin Turner) & his best friend O-Dog (Larenz Tate), two young street hustlers attempting to navigate & possibly escape the rigors and temptations of life in the ghetto. The film also features performances from Jada Pinkett-Smith (Scream 2, The Matrix: Reloaded), Samuel L. Jackson (Pulp Fiction, The Avengers), Bill Duke (Predator, Commando), Khandi Alexander (CSI: Miami), Glenn Plummer (Speed, Strange Days, Saw II), Charles S. Dutton (Alien³), & more. Greg & Coy give their First Time Reaction, Commentary, Analysis, & Review based on all the iconic moments including the Liquor StoreRobbery, Caine Graduates High School, Graduation Party, Harold's Death, The Tape, Swap Meet, O-Dog Shoots Basehead, Caine's Death, & Beyond. Join them once more as they take in another seminal snapshot from '90s cinema & discuss the film's relentlessly evocative style lasting impact from '93 to today. PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects Follow Us On Socials:  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/  Tik-Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thereelrejects?lang=en Twitter: https://x.com/thereelrejects Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ Follow Coy Jandreau:  Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@coyjandreau?l... Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coyjandreau/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/CoyJandreau YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwYH2szDTuU9ImFZ9gBRH8w Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:01:43 Wow. What an interesting perspective to really just have people identify with the character. like because so many movies have a couple things go wrong and then you just get out or like a couple things go wrong and you don't feel trapped this is like you're isolated you're trapped every situation puts you in a tighter corner and then like it's a it's like the ultimate cautionary tail because it never sugarcoats anything and it never gives you the out like it's just said bill dukes his name um bill duke you just sent him sorry i was driving me nothing did you see it yeah okay yeah i literally like scrolled through trying to find his name because i was driving me crazy um man felt like two and a half hours in a positive I'm just exhausted fast yeah
Starting point is 00:02:35 it sounds like an animated movie length but the weight of it is like two and a half hours like it feels not in a like dragging way it just feels so much bigger than it is yeah all right well ladies and gentlemen we just watched
Starting point is 00:02:49 menace to society I can't wait for the spoof I don't know how you spooky. I mean, I guess like what scary movies, how the tension, like you turn tension into laughter, so you make like murder funny. But like this is so heavy. But it plays on like such real world things. Right. Like there aren't as many slashers. But you can see the, um, thematic similarities. So I suppose you can. Yeah. You can do that. And like I've seen like when I was a kid, I saw juice, but I've never seen poetic justice. So I'm glad we're doing that one. But I don't remember juice. I don't remember Jews feeling. actually now it's like the high school take and like the violence is like yeah so I but like I guess it is a genre in it of itself exactly hood black life struggle and like the what's interesting is what it's become since the 90s in that so much of the struggle and this is going to I don't know if this sounds paranoid or what it's going to sound like but I feel like this
Starting point is 00:03:47 genre turned into the Oscar biopic genre of making slavery movies to abate white guilt I get we're going with that. Like, I don't know if that's short-sighted or arrogant, but I do feel like we, it's kind of like turning Martin Luther King photos black and white how like we don't want to acknowledge how recent it was. Like, MLK would still be alive, so we turn the photos black and white. So we're like, it didn't
Starting point is 00:04:09 just happen. And like to me, the Oscar Bate movie feels like, oh, we still make movies about this world. We just make them with fancy. Like, it doesn't feel like this, which feels like, you know, down the street. This feels that it's interesting watching this in Boys in the Hood because there's a lot of thematic similarities,
Starting point is 00:04:24 while being very different in terms of your focus and the way you capture. I felt like John Singleton, the way he shot Boys in the Hood, felt more fly on the wall. Yet, while this was more cinematically, almost like, what was the DeVee Diggs one, where he raps? Blindspotting. One of my favorite movies. There's a hint of like that kind of direction.
Starting point is 00:04:51 Sure. That's like 20, late 2010s, right? or 2020s maybe i don't know but um there's a hint of that in like the kind of direction that this is i i felt like this felt even more even though it's more cinematic and it's editing and camera flourishes it felt a little bit more raw and its portrayal to me this did feel yeah i agree with that like that i i found boys in the hood more comfortable i never got comfortable in this movie there were moments in boys in the hood where i felt like it was just hanging out with people i knew I had to remind myself that I'm watching actors, you know, whereas like boys in the hood, I was always kind of aware.
Starting point is 00:05:29 It also like all those actors are huge. Yeah. So like it's less immersive when you're like, man, Cuba Good and Junior. But you get a sense of the performance, right? And it is interesting to think about a movie like Menace to Society. And I'm sure I've seen like fragments of these kind of movies growing up. And then as I've heard the conversation, I'm no expert. Of course to talk about something like this of how the consistency of these.
Starting point is 00:05:52 kinds of movies has also affected the way society can view black people in black culture because of the amount of like glorification same same way how black people have heard talk about the slavery movie thing of this like black struggle and like a hyper sympathetic thing thing to look at black people a certain way that's what i mean by like removing time from like like if you push it back it doesn't feel as as today yeah well i love you mention blind spotting so i think that is the modern like one of the more recent versions of like that conversation but it's told in a more approachable
Starting point is 00:06:27 like hyper stylistic artistic I love that movie I love that movie I do love it watching this it was that same effect of like because of the point I just brought up about how this is probably that of like the abundance of these kinds of movies while great movies can perhaps
Starting point is 00:06:43 affect a point of view like starting off with educating and showing and allowing the door for more black voices to be shown on screen and be told the camera can perhaps also create a problem over time with quantity and glorification you know and i i'm pointing that out because i hear as first time watching this was like these guys are actors like i found my like the guy who plays kevin like oh i'm really scared of him like oh yeah but he's he's an actor you know i had to remind myself that and perhaps maybe that was like a safety thing for me too
Starting point is 00:07:19 just so i don't have to be like anxious yeah like this is not not a real person, but it's portrayed off of real people. I've seen an American saga, Wutang, show. So there's a show, it's like a long-form narrative, and like Rizza actually produces it to keep it like authentic to the actual story of Wutang and them coming together. And it does a really good job showing the different pockets of violence and then coming together as a community to form the music
Starting point is 00:07:44 and also like the Muslim religion influence and all those things. And I bring it up because it feels like this movie, as far as the intensity of the violence, but it isn't as actually violent. So I found that show very watchable, and this is to compliment this, this was actively hard for me to watch. So what you're saying about the reminding you're actors,
Starting point is 00:08:06 there's something about like the stylized directing that allows the hyperviolence to feel more like it fits. And I wonder how much of a choice was, like even the sound design of like the airplane and like certain style choices, the framing of things, that little extra panache, almost fits how violent a gunshot is like that little extra made it but that also made it and again a compliment really hard to watch because it is terrifying Whereas something like an American saga is about violence and involves violence and it is a true story
Starting point is 00:08:35 But it isn't as violent so I can watch it more casually. I like that this is traumatic because like what you're saying about glorifying violence I don't feel like this glorified by the time we got to the end I was worried for him and we'd gone through so many horrible things with him but it was still like man everyone's in a bad position and I'm still worried and like I do think you bring up Scorsese a lot in this and I do think there are times that Scorsese does glorify the situation
Starting point is 00:09:01 absolutely and like I think this is more important I think that's this different way of baiting you into the world but I often find that the wrong the wrong takeaway I think a lot of people like you watch casino good fellas like everyone for
Starting point is 00:09:15 Wall Street everyone forgets the last half of all all these movies. Scarface the first. Yeah, it's like the same thing to Scarface. Like you forget like he,
Starting point is 00:09:23 you know what happens at the end. No, I just play the first half. They forget the lesson that's told. But this is the whole movie. Yeah, which I liked that it never. It's the last half of all those.
Starting point is 00:09:31 Yeah, this is just the last half. This 90 minutes is the 90 minutes in the four hour world of Wall Street. Yeah, exactly. And I like the, I like the title of it is one that makes you ponder.
Starting point is 00:09:41 Because I think what the movie is illustrating is how, you know, like the idea to latch on to your main character, specifically the Kevin character who's like the scariest one out of everyone in this movie to latch on to him and to have this like empathy challenge
Starting point is 00:09:58 and you're like he is one of the protagonists of this story and then to be pulling back the veil going but what we're doing is we are just capturing how this is not their fault they have become this way because like the community that they're focusing on
Starting point is 00:10:15 when you see the way the world has isolated them into this situation with the oppression, the systematic racism and the overall culture that it breeds. So I thought it was like really cool to show, you know, they are human beings, though. They're still human beings, even with the fact that you are watching criminals. And I like that our main character, Kane, does not ultimately get away and get to have the happy life.
Starting point is 00:10:47 there are consequences still because there is still the path of choice that's what I like about it it doesn't feel black and white it feels like there's a lot of blurry lines in this movie and that makes it so much more
Starting point is 00:10:58 of a human experience because it is easy to go as I'm not saying like yes you understand why they developed into the lifestyle they have and the choices that they made at the same time
Starting point is 00:11:12 there is a thing about fault and responsibility and it is like that's the part where you're focusing on Kane is like it's not his fault he ended up this way it's not his fault this happened but it is his responsibility to choose something different to do and that's where his struggle keeps happening it's like everything keeps every every time it's like i'm taking the responsibility to maybe go down a different path he defaults back to the other things that he's used to like i'm gonna pistol whip this guy
Starting point is 00:11:36 i'm gonna fight this guy be who's confronted me about this is the pregnant sister or cousin right uh so i thought it was like an extremely human portrayal while being very very entertaining it's like i thought it was an entertaining movie you know uh it was it was interesting because it felt like raw gritty uncomfortable um while also being entertaining the whole time because i found its humor and weird parts too yeah yeah the humor came out of nowhere and i'd like find myself laughing like whoa it's like a dark laugh i i really think um you know this i'm i've put an interesting journey to get to a comedy but i think it's been uh that's gonna be the best funny like it's so it's such funny let's just go even deeper like it's just so interesting is usually if we watch like
Starting point is 00:12:17 the MCU leading up to end game. It's like a same genre. But I've never watched. I had seen the things in the genre of scary movie and like disaster movie and stuff. So it's interesting discovering such good films so later like 30 years have gone by. Like this was 93. And this is very much 90s focus. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:12:36 And it's so interesting to watch a comedy that's also going to be 90s focus, but in such a different world. So it's just, I'm so impressed with these two movies back to back. Like see, these are some of the more, you know, we watch. really good stuff here because it's like the cream that's rose to the top right like if a movie gets a big reaction it's either brand new or it's stood the test of time like generally how it works every so often there's a cult following that brings you know a good movie to the surface years later but overall it's usually new or top 20 of the year and it's really interesting to go back 30 years and see these movies that I've somehow just never experienced and just be gut punched by it
Starting point is 00:13:11 and also have some exposure to the concepts in it like it's just this is like I the music I sent you. Like it's so interesting to be running parallel and know of it, but then to experience it a new medium. That is very, that's a very poignant point, actually. Yeah. Because I, I've never seen these things. We were talking beforehand about like how he, you listen to a lot of like 90s hip hop. You're saying a lot of the like two pox songs that I was telling coy that normally when I gravitate towards an artist, I have to like actually sit and read the lyrics. I'm not a good person. I'm not really good at most songs of actually taking in the lyrics unless I'm actually reading them. Yeah, it's a visual learner. And it did happen. Like,
Starting point is 00:13:56 there was a lot of those two box songs you sent me that I've actually heard a lot of them before. And then when I was sitting and reading them or walking out a treadmill, I was like, oh, wow. Yeah, like that I understood what you were saying. But it is different living it in a movie experience. And I love that people can feel seen and hopefully like a movie like this can be. shown so that the movie gets to act as the cautionary tale for the little kid on the big wheel. Like I don't want kids
Starting point is 00:14:23 to see this movie, but at the same time, like it's, I think it'd be, you know, I don't know, I can't fathom what it'd be like to grow up in this environment, but I'm glad something like this exists that someone like the grandpa or someone like, you know, they have this as a tool. It's just so wild to me to watch
Starting point is 00:14:40 both of these movies and, but I think even more, more so this one, because this is all like stories that take place like 20 minutes from where I grew up my whole life I've lived like I said in the I've lived in the same 10 mile radius my whole life and I'm like this is all like 20 minutes away for me and so so it's like even just even if I live closer to there my life could have been so different and I think about like hardships I've had growing up like I've had some hardships you know we lost our house and have gone into foreclosure bankruptcy whatever and then I think about this though I'm like but down the
Starting point is 00:15:15 street. There's like crazier shit happening just because of the color of their skin, you know? And like in your lifetime. Like this is in my lifetime. That's what's so crazy to me is how much we separate the reality of how recent this is. Like how much we separate the geography and the time. But it also magnifies a necessity for movies like this. That's what I mean?
Starting point is 00:15:35 It's so important as an educational tool. Yeah, because I mean, we've heard it said before, but eventually it starts feeling deaf because a lot of times these deaths happen, these incidents happen, and they don't get reported on in the news or anything like that. It's just another day. Yeah, it's a statistic,
Starting point is 00:15:54 not a person and like not a lived in experience. It's numbers or words on a paper. And that's why the music has meant so much to me. It's like I wasn't exposed to anything like this, but there's something to like connecting to the human experience that is so important. I love that there's movies that feel like they're hopefully helping people.
Starting point is 00:16:12 And yeah, when talking about the human experience, that was one of the cool parts of the journey of watching the influence of environment and how that creates dichotomies with morality and the instinct of survival and friendships as well. I thought it was an incredibly gritty film. Criterion collection. Is it? Is it?
Starting point is 00:16:34 It deserves it. I've never seen a frame of this. I literally, when Jada Pinkett Smith showed, I was like, what? Yeah, Samuel Jackson here. Strong. What a twist. Yeah. Yeah, that was really...
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Starting point is 00:20:36 happens at the cycle of violence and poverty. Yeah. Yeah. And then you think about like super bad. But like how different of experience it is for like white suburb boys. Like it's so interesting that like that was movies I was exposed.
Starting point is 00:20:53 Like think just think about like dazed and confused in the 70s. Or super bad in the early 2000s. Like it is so crazy that this is real life and it's just happening in America in a recent enough history. Well I like I would never loses sight of the communal vibe as well it's weird because like the the thing that it exposed me to is the
Starting point is 00:21:12 in my 30 plus years of living my dumb ass just never came to the knowledge of of all with the black people who are killed that a lot of the time it is other black people like black people killing other black people right that was a part of the violence story that I just narrative that I completely forgot I'm not even a narrative like a statistic is probably the more proper choice of words right I forgot where I was talking about before that because I got so caught up and trying to nail down that. Sure. I don't know where you were going.
Starting point is 00:21:42 I had a point that I was like, I'm like, what is the right word? It was a realization. But I wasn't there for the realization. And I completely forgot what the point was that I was seen for there. We were talking about before. You were confused by my bringing up like the white suburban experience. I said super bad and I said, Dazen confused.
Starting point is 00:21:59 And it's just interesting to see like there isn't an equivalent of this with white like growing up because it's not the world that we're exposed to is what I was the point I was making. I'm not sure what epiphany you got from that. I don't remember where I, it's one of those things where I feel that itch on the top of my brain and the edge of my heart. I know it's there still. But why can't I remember what it is?
Starting point is 00:22:19 And I feel like there was weight to what I had to offer. And now I can't recall it. Oh, certainly my pick would help you remember. No, it actually is not helping you remember at all. But watching movies like this is interesting because it caused me to check myself and humble myself. And like I love the realism behind these films and I like how
Starting point is 00:22:37 I like the order we chose to watch it in because this I think captures it in a more realistic vibe especially with the idea of consequences that happen when we are not taking the responsibility for what we're going it's such a gray area of a story that
Starting point is 00:22:53 this decides to tell and I feel like I am more informed by by watching these movies and I love the consistency of the communal vibe that it's like my probably my favorite part about about it is like they are it is just a human when i say they i'm like i feel like it keeps sounding like i'm saying black people um i'm saying like the culture specifically that they
Starting point is 00:23:15 focus on and we're like south central crunch all better is like how we we tend to just stereotype them and it's like no that's not really the case you know and there are a lot of people who are also trying to break free of the binds there and um what they've been told their life has to be like Like some of my favorite moments were when Kane is with the Anthony baby character. Yeah, man. And it's it is so much about trying to break the cycle and the necessity of what happens if you don't break the cycle. Because he's even presented with a choice at the end of the day. Like he's making the choice.
Starting point is 00:23:48 It's just sitting at me right now. Like he's making the choice to, oh, I'm not, I'm going to break the cycle. I'm going to take care of Jada. Pinkett Smith and Ronnie. Right. And Anthony, but no, no, you're not breaking the cycle because you're abandoning your responsibility of the woman who you did impregnated. Yeah. And look how you reacted when confronted with this, you know, both like confronted by her and confronted by the brother or cousin, I forget. And he doesn't, he actually isn't breaking this. He's breaking the cycle in one way. Yeah. But in another way, he's also really not breaking a cycle. And I really like the choice to have him be the narrator because we just assumed he had to live. Yeah, what a great artistic choice to have you not only be in the head of the person, but also when it ends, you're like, oh, that's like, I'm, I went on this journey that ended here. Well, okay, you know, I was thinking. I was like, well, Casino did that with Joe Petty. Sure. But that came out later.
Starting point is 00:24:43 Scorsese is clearly a fan of this genre because there's a lot of Scorsese and like, I really felt. Obviously, he was filmmaking well before 93. I'm just acknowledging there are style choices that feel like an orboros. Well, it feels a little bit more like younger Scorset. I know you haven't seen Mean Streets. No. Or raging bull There's still a little bit of that
Starting point is 00:24:59 You know hyper stylizedness to it But nowhere near to the Because that was like it's one of his first movies So it does kind of show like More of the unappealing sides of it early on Like it doesn't make you want to be a gangster He started making money He's like you know what's cool gangster
Starting point is 00:25:14 Yeah That is kind of the weird thing though right Like can you do that with black culture Can you do that? You know What do you mean? Because before Scorsese There was even the godfather right
Starting point is 00:25:25 We were having this conversation of you know you take the godfather and it's it's literally like a crime family and everyone's like oh it's oh italian culture so cool suits that's like by the end of the day it's like they don't have black skin you know so it seems like you can kind of glorify make it look a little cool and appealing to be a part of can you do that though with i'm not saying you should or want to but could you but even if you wanted to could you get away with it what would they be would Would people generally be as receptive towards it? Or like that that one line in there that really stood out to me.
Starting point is 00:26:04 And it's so quick. But when they're talking about O'Dog and he's saying like O'Dog, it's America's greatest fear, he lists everything about what makes a guy scary. And he just in the middle of that says black. I'm like, oh, yeah, he's probably like the fear of who this guy is is probably amplified just because he's black. Well, I think of all the like the billboards and poster.
Starting point is 00:26:25 Like, I feel like, like, that was a problem in the 90s where there was such a prevalence of fearmongering. Especially, like, that's how I think a lot of people saw L.A. in the 90s is, is like that. That was the pitch of why it's scary. So I definitely think that was the narrative that people were running with. It is wild, huh? I can't imagine what it's like to be black in America. I just really have, I would never be able to possibly ever really understand. That's why I was worried about doing these.
Starting point is 00:26:55 And then I described, like, in Boys in the Hood why I wanted to. But that's why I was so worried because so much of what we were doing is our experience of the experience. And there's such a gap of understanding that I will never know. But at the same time, I really want to appreciate this genre and these filmmakers and the art that comes from that experience. I just don't want to ever seem. Every time I say something knowingly or reference music or reference anything, I always am afraid of someone being like, oh, thinks he understands because I don't. And that has been a big fear of mine in doing this. Because I can't understand it.
Starting point is 00:27:25 It's like slavery was a couple hundred years ago. But it's not like slavery ended and then we just called it quits. Like you see this. Yeah, you see the firefighters are getting paid $2 an hour and like 30% of them are incarcerated. Oh, really? Yeah. Now, today. We voted for slavery in the last election.
Starting point is 00:27:46 There was a thing about stopping that system and got voted to continue. Oh, yeah, yeah. The primary incarceration people. That is today. That's what I mean. Like it's still, it's still here. And so much of the blame happened. And I'm like I can't imagine what it's like to be like we've been talk I've been ever since boys in the hood. I've I've actually had a couple of conversations. I'm like as much as I love talking with you call. I'm like I should probably talk with a couple of black people. Probably you know, going to get more of the experience with information. Although here's some music I like. But no. I mean it's it's it has been interesting like like because you start to realize just the way how you form things or things that you just don't even think about of like how might what this the struggle like would never pop.
Starting point is 00:28:25 possibly understand of are people aware when I walk into a room that I'm black and just this constant like think that I'm saying that I'm trying to like repeat sort of what I've had people tell me but the the idea too like yeah from slavery to then the segregation that carried on in America to the to the underlying segregation in places where the segregation is not supposed to be there you know and then the prison system and the amount of blame that happens and a lot of pawning off I I can never imagine what it is like to be a black person in America or, I mean, I don't know what's like in the rest of the world, but just primarily America, I could never possibly fathom the inherent struggle. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:29:07 And an image wrapping your head around and hyper awareness you have to have in order to just be a person. Like it's a lot of times. And like there's a guard that has to be up that I can't fathom. And then people being like, oh, standoffishness and like you're just existing. I can't. Yeah. Cannot imagine. And, like, it's still a, a talking point for both political parties to, like, use when they're not that.
Starting point is 00:29:35 Like, I feel like there are so many white people that use it through political agenda. And it's gross. Like, like, the, the Nancy Pelosi African garb kneeling. And then, like, it just, it freaks me out that every political part, anyone would leverage that freaks me out. Well, and it's like at the same time. that what we're talking about I'm talking about the you know things that have been communicated to be conveyed about black struggle at the same time to my understanding I don't know a group of people that would want to be looked at as the struggling people no you know and then be looked at with sympathetic that's what I'm saying with both parties like a thing that is like did you know like the overcompensating you know like you don't want to do that either and then people have I was so worried about watching these Greg No, I know. I understand. I understand. But to me, I'm saying like, that's where as much, as much empathy as I could have, I could never really understand what it's like.
Starting point is 00:30:36 Yeah. I just never, I never can. So I think being encouraged by it is important because I just want to be informed without having to ask because it's no one's responsibility to educate me. And if there's something like this that exists, it can educate me without me having to put someone in a position to feel like they have to. And I love that. Yeah. This is a third party without me being like, hey, so without that, but also without me not being informed enough to at least have the experience told to me. Yeah. I'm not ignoring it, nor am I asking someone to be obliged to explain it. Yeah, yeah. That's very true.
Starting point is 00:31:11 And I think that's the importance of movies for new generations to have, like, I would never want someone to feel obliged to explain anything culturally to me. If they want to, I'm stoked. Like, I love to learn, but I don't want anyone to feel that. And then you can have some of that with a narrative that feels authentic. I've been having fun talking with my black friends about what it's like to be black. Thanks to these movies and the journey to the comedy we're going to watch. I'm just, like, not really concerned myself with the fact that I'm like, oh, you know what?
Starting point is 00:31:44 I should actually open up this door. And I like, I'm like, oh, I never knew that. I never knew. And my mind is more in light. I've, like, of course, had conversations before. I just, uh, I, I'm with the friends that I do have that are black. I've never actually just decided to be like, I'm going to actively like talk about some stuff, you know. And yeah, it's, it has been.
Starting point is 00:32:06 And so I feel like this, this has kind of been life changing for me in a matter of a week because I've been having more conversations already. Yeah. And I feel like that's kind of what the movies wanted to do, right? They wanted you to have a conversation, not yell on Twitter about like what's wrong with the world and not do shit. but I think it does start with being able to have conversations. Yeah. And having a dialogue is important. And it's,
Starting point is 00:32:27 if the more you self-educate yourself, then the better, instead of just like to focus you on educating others, usually when you self-educate, naturally the education towards others happens via conversation. Right. You know, um,
Starting point is 00:32:39 anyway, Menace of Society is a good movie with great acting and great directing and great writing. That was a pretty cool movie. The only part and I, that I was getting concerned about was I thought like his redemption was going to be happening too quick like it started feeling like okay this is such a hollywood maneuver that's not true there were two parts what the dog the dog the only part you were worried wasn't about his redemption it was about the dog no i mean in terms of not liking uh a choice no i know but i saw you be like
Starting point is 00:33:09 i'm going to turn this movie off oh yeah dog gets hurt if he was out the door i would greg would believe it he's like no redemption i saw zero chance of me i know i was a hope for this character yeah yeah no man you killed that you murdered a dog we watched uh i don't know if their reactions up by the time this is up but we watched book of eli and something happens in the opening five minutes and i was like maybe not for me like oh really they hurt a cat they kill a cat in the opening of book of ely and it's dinsel that does it oh what the lead and i was like this movie better be amazing or i'm just going to be done from the jump like i i'm out so like i felt you just be like maybe we don't watch minutes but yeah this is amazing i i definitely
Starting point is 00:33:52 And I love, I agree, I love movies opening up, like your mind and options and experience out making it someone else's problem. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Have some conversations, people. Yeah, yeah. Don't be afraid to admit where your shortcomings are. So watch Blindspotting. I love the blind spotting name drop.
Starting point is 00:34:08 I love that movie so much and not let people talk about it. David Diggs and Rafa Kassel made some art. I admittedly didn't really, like that's what I mean. I remember the time when I watched it. I wasn't as anywhere near as educated as I am now. I don't know, blue it, you can borrow it. I watch it all the time. I think, like, the lead-up into Black Lives Matter,
Starting point is 00:34:27 um, I, I was starting to get really, the Black Lives on our movement when it was, like, really predominant during pandemic. That's when I was really starting to actually get informed. And then that, that movement happened. So I was like, it's happened at the right time for me to feel like I didn't contribute something. Having the right time for Gregory Alba. Don't I look good in the Black Lives Matter movement? Look at my search history.
Starting point is 00:34:49 Look at me. Yes. No actual real struggle I could identify with it. This is the whitest ending to a reaction of men as to society you can hope for. Greg's going to pop his cardigan real quick. My other cardigan, hey, old Navy had a Chris after Christmas sale. Looks great. It was surprisingly really cheap.
Starting point is 00:35:11 Won't say the prize, but I'll let you know he got to bark it. It was a great, it was like 50% option. That's amazing. It was great. It was cold in New York. And then I didn't. And then I didn't go with a warm jacket. I went, ooh, look at this fancy cart.
Starting point is 00:35:24 You've never been in New York, right? That was your first. And I've been in New, I've never lived New York. Like, I've, like, stayed in New York, but I've never stayed in the city. I'd only, like, pop into the city a couple times. I think that is as important as any, like, I think traveling and living in a city for more than, like, five days. Because you're just a tourist for, like, three. But going to cities and, like, breathing it in and living it is such a vital.
Starting point is 00:35:47 Like, yeah, do that. Or I could just watch movies that safe place. You know? Scorsese's got a bunch out here. What do you guys think? Leave your thoughts down below. See you, Reject Nation. Wait, you're not a Hotels.com member?
Starting point is 00:36:05 So you're choosing to pay full price. Did you not hear the song? How could you not be a member and save up to 20%? That's less than 50%. But it's more than 0%. See, the math is mathing. Save up to 20% on hundreds of thousands of hotels with Hotels.com.

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