oneguyrambling So a few weeks back I spent some time writing up the Outkast acting vehicle Idlewild, it was great. Probably the finest film review in the history of the world, paragraphs and everything!So in between that and scheduling the article's posting (VERBS!) the thing got lost. Gone. Skedaddled, and I of course had killed off the word doc as I thought it was saved to wordpress.(ITALICS!)Now I simply can't be bothered rewriting a fresh review for Idlewild, so in honour of Tenacious D the following is an abbreviated tribute to the greatest review in the world.Idlewild is set in the prohibition era in the Deep South, only a hip-hop prohibition era… if that makes any sense.It is basically an attempt to "break" (indulge?) the boys from the hip-hop group Outkast in the cinematic arena.Big Boi plays a guy who runs a whorehouse entertainment venue and Andre 3000 plays the son of a mortician who has the hots for a singer in the whorehouse ahem, nightclub.Shennanigans ensue.The film itself wasn't bad but it had some serious flaws that made it in truth a little boring. There seemed to be no consensus as to what the main plot was supposed to be, so Big Boi and Dre's stories kept going on and on, making the film a good 30 minutes too long and forcing them to abbreviate several songs.I did mention Idlewild was a musical right? No? Well I did a few weeks back… Remember all the VERBS and PARAGRAPHS!?!My other main issue was that Outkast are a million and a half times better than almost EVERYONE in the game from the 90s, 2000s or present day, yet they only took songs from the underwhelming double album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below. The best song in the film actually plays over the credits, (Morris Brown).If you like hip-hop and quote-unquote urban films then you'll find Idlewild OK, and in the interest of disclosure I would say "yes" to both, if you are more a casual fan or worse not a fan you would find Idlewild overlong and unfocused.Final Rating – 6 / 10. An OK film, Like Michael Jordan trying baseball it is disappointing when someone at the pinnacle of their industry settles for par elsewhere.Now I'll spend a couple minutes writing about something exceptionally important.If you call yourself a hip-hop fan (I do) and you admire the work of any of the following… Sean Paul Soulja Boy Nelly Lil Wayne (Anyone "Lil" actually. Also anyone "Young" for that matter. Prove me wrong!) 50 Cent Ludicrous The Game Obie Trice Jay Z Eminem Jamie Foxxx T.I. Kanye West Ja Rule Will-I-Am since Fergie joined BEP. (He got lazy!) P Diddy The NeptunesAnd I am not saying that any of the above never made a good song or two, Kanye has one (Gold Digger), Eminem a couple (Lose Yourself, Stan) and Will-I-Am had some great early stuff (Damn you Fergie for enabling the sell-out!). What I am saying is that in the main the greater part of their resume is mediocre or flat out sucks. Real fans actually buy albums and listen to them from song 1 to song 22(hip-hop albums are always too long), even hanging around and putting up with the inevitable skits! Having 85%+ as filler is just not good enough, so lucking out with a radio friendly song shouldn't provide you with a career, I'm talking directly to Kanye on that one. Stick to producing and banging coked up starlets.Between their debut in 1994 and Stankonia in 2001 Outkast put together a stretch of albums that could only be challenged by Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and De La Soul, and I'd still give Outkast the edge on all of them.So in a long winded way my message is don't bother too much with Idlewild, if you want to see what Outkast is about buy any of the following; Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik Atliens Aquemini StankoniaDo that for me and I'll go back to concentrating on not losing my reviews.

Janai P Canada (Sidadressage) I found this film actually by at a local library. I simply thought that it would be some kind of gangster' Rapper type drama, with a little music. But as Terence Howard is one of my favorite actors, I thought I'd give it a try. WOW! What a complete musical, with humor and even at the end a little sadness. See it for yourself and and make the decision. A Rodgers and Hammerstein musical? No, but JUST as good and well made for the current times. This was a fun piece. The cinematography was well done, the costumes were superb and all the acting was superb. I actually thought that the lead female was Alicia Keys. Patty Labelle looked wonderful and as I said Mr. Howard was quite a joy. JPC

finding-something This film is simply outrageously bad. It's major failing point; it knows not what it is. Is it a syrupy gangster movie or a modern day musical experiment in the vein of Moulin Rouge? Songs are thrown in rather haphazardly, and only once does a song advance the plot at all. In the meantime, the story drags and is essentially tired and uninteresting. The acting is not over the top, but it's not subtle either, but just bad. Like watching a high school production but without any of the fun of knowing the people on the stage.On the musical side of things, despite the musical group Outkast in charge of the music, the duo never did perform a song together. Perhaps this is the major failing of the story. It lacked intricacy. The love story was simple, the bootlegging problems were simple, the dynamics between characters was like watching a bunch of strangers thrown together for the first time. Everything going on was pretty obvious to the viewer, but then the movie had to explain it extremely slowly.I really can't think of a single thing I enjoyed about this movie. I wish the duo would try again sometime. I think someone had a good idea, but most ideas need to be developed.

harrin30 Does anyone realize that there is a place in Michiga called "Idlewild"? It can still be found just off of highway 10 which runs from east to west connecting Bay City to Ludington. For many years it was considered a ghost town, rumor has it that the mayor of Detroit is trying to revive it as resort community again. In it's day it was a famous resort for middle and upper class blacks before World War 2? Many well known blues and jazz musicians were hired to perform there for the entertainment of the vacationers. I find it disappointing that the movie is set in the South when it has been given "Idlewild" as a title. It's a shame that the name of a true historical place with all that history attached to it is being inaccurately portrayed.