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Spike Lee returns to Brooklyn for Red Hook Summer, his impartial film that focuses on religion, our economy and a handful of current hot topics that weigh down on our youth of today. Lee’s been out of the mainstream eye for a few years now, but Red Hook Summer is a strong reminder why we’ve all learned to know his name. The film is as hard-hitting and as relevant as Do the Right Thing was back when it saw release in the late 80s, only this time around Lee chooses to focus on an even smaller group of characters as he spreads his film out across one hot Brooklyn summer.

Flik (Jules Brown) goes to visit his grandfather for the first time over his long summer vacation. Up until this point young Flik has only experienced the finer things in life, like his iPad 2 and living in a very nice home.

Fans of Spike Lee, take note! Lee’s “Red Hook Summer” continues his Chronicles of Brooklyn series and will be making its way to Blu-ray and DVD December 21! “Red Hook Summer” stars Clarke Peters (“Endgame,” “Notting Hill”), Nate Parker (“The Great Debaters,” “Arbitrage”), Thomas Jefferson Byrd (“Ray,” “He Got Game”) and introduces both Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith. The release will include a director’s commentary with Lee, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a music video. If you haven’t heard about “Red Hook Summer,” here’s the synopsis: “The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn (which also include She’s Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), [ Read More ]

The post Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer Comes To DVD And Blu-ray December 21 appeared first on Shockya.com.

The limits of faith and temptation are tested in the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer. Image Entertainment's One Village label will release the film on both Blu-ray and DVD on December 21, 2012. Red Hook Summer stars Clarke Peters (Endgame, Notting Hill), Nate Parker (The Great Debaters, Arbitrage), Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Ray, He Got Game) and introduces both Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith. The DVD will include a Director's Commentary with Spike Lee, a behind-the-scenes featurette and a music video.

The latest in Spike Lee's Chronicles of Brooklyn (which also include She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), Red Hook Summer tells the story of Flik Royale, a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, in the housing projects of Red Hook.

All the info you need follows in the press release below... Image Entertainment’S One Village Label Along With 40 Acres And A Mule Filmworks Set To Release Spike Lee’S Red Hook Summer On DVD And Blu-ray Chatsworth, CA – The limits of faith and temptation are tested in the upcoming DVD and Blu-ray release of Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer. Image Entertainment’s One Village label will release the film on both Blu-ray and DVD on December 21, 2012. Red Hook Summer stars Clarke Peters (Endgame, Notting Hill), Nate Parker (The Great Debaters, Arbitrage), Thomas Jeffers on Byrd (Ray, He Got Game) and introduces both Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith. The DVD will...

Remember my Moonrise Kingdom review earlier this summer, in which I confessed that I'd tweeted the fatuous "oh yes oh Wes oh yes yes yes" after seeing the movie?

Oh, Spike Lee. Oh, no. No (sigh).

Red Hook Summer, Lee's latest feature film, disappointed me greatly. To compare it to my reaction to Moonrise Kingdom causes me to worry that I am a privileged hipster elitist who favors the precious over the real. I'm not going to dwell on whether that's accurate and to what degree, but I firmly believe that even if that's true, it's not why I couldn't engage with Red Hook Summer. Lee's movie about teenagers coming of age has structural problems, clunky performances and an excess of speechifying. As someone who is a great fan of Lee's New Orleans documentaries and several of his features, it is a letdown.

The barely-a-teen at the center of Red Hook Summer...

Chicago – “I ain’t pawning my responsibility off as a parent and saying she’s in God’s hands.” What a powerful line. The idea that religion has been used as a crutch, an excuse for communities who preach that God will save their young ones when they need to do their part is a passionate and powerful one. And we all know that Spike Lee does his best work when he’s inspired by powerful ideas. “Red Hook Summer,” the controversial director’s controversial latest features Lee playing with fascinating concepts and working well with setting even if the final result isn’t quite the sum of its parts.

Rating: 3.0/5.0

Flik Royale (newcomer Jules Brown) has been sent from Atlanta to Red Hook, Brooklyn to live with his preacher grandfather Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters of “The Wire”). Flik immediately butts head with his passionate relative, one...

Earlier this month, I was invited to Spike Lee‘s Brooklyn-based 40 Acres and Mule Filmworks, whereat yours truly was able to sit down with the Red Hook Summer director, his co-writer (James McBride), and the film’s main cast (Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, Clarke Peters, and Nate Parker). The whole lot showed a clear passion for telling this specific story in this specific place because, if you were to ask them, the combination is extremely potent.

After gawking at various memorabilia which hangs around the 40 Acres office — signed posters for Apocalypse Now and various Scorsese features stood out amongst the Sal’s Famous delivery box — Lee sat down alongside Brown and Lysaith, though the foremost of those three did a majority of the talking.

Lee credited Edward Robinson, a teacher at Brooklyn’s Ronald Edmonds Learning Center — which he attended as a child — for discovering Brown and Lysaith, both of...

Summer Bummer: Lee Offers Strong Ending for the Devoted

With his first fictional film since 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna, the ever divisive Spike Lee returns with a film he himself personally financed, Red Hook Summer. While it does bear labor of love earmarks, this personal tale that touches on the gentrification of Brooklyn, unfortunately takes an awfully long time to find its voice. With a running time of 130 minutes, the first 90 feel like Lee wants to punish the viewer with a mixture of painfully wooden child actors, and worse, with plenty of unnecessary and wearying church sermons. If you’ve not been to the “good house” for a while, you might feel like you’ve been held hostage to the word by Spike Lee. But if you’ve the patience, Lee has a rewarding payoff in store for you in the film’s final fourth that lessens the load...

Watch an exclusive clip from Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer, starring Jules Brown, Thomas Jefferson Byrd and Toni Lysaith Scripted and helmed by Spike Lee, Red Hook Summer is a drama which follows a middle-class Atlanta boy whose life is changed after spending the summer with his very religiuous grandfather in the Red Hook housing projects of Brooklyn. The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn series (which also include She's Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), Red Hook Summer tells the story of Flik Royale, a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot...

Watch an exclusive clip from Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer, starring Jules Brown, Thomas Jefferson Byrd and Toni Lysaith Scripted and helmed by Spike Lee, Red Hook Summer is a drama which follows a middle-class Atlanta boy whose life is changed after spending the summer with his very religiuous grandfather in the Red Hook housing projects of Brooklyn. The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn series (which also include She's Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), Red Hook Summer tells the story of Flik Royale, a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse, in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot...

In case you haven't noticed, Spike Lee has been making the publicity rounds for his latest feature, "Red Hook Summer," which opened on Friday and took in $42,100 on four screens over the weekend. That may not sound like a lot, but it's decent business for a film with no special effects, no recognizable characters and no big-name stars. And did I mention that it's set in the projects, but doesn't use them to terrify the audience into double-locking their doors to keep the bad guys away? The Red Hook Projects, as seen in their namesake film, are a place of danger, yes, but also real beauty. It's a community of mostly poor people, struggling to find their way just like the rest of us.

The main attraction, then, is Spike. And the fact that he's going back to Brooklyn, to continue the saga he began with "She's Gotta Have It...

It’s hard to pinpoint where, exactly, Spike Lee went wrong in Red Hook Summer, mainly because he takes most of the runtime to even make a truly proper step. If nothing else, his first Brooklyn-set feature since 1998’s He Got Game — and, in some minor way, a follow-up to the director’s 1989 classic, Do the Right Thing — carries a love for the borough which marked Lee’s early career; the area is lovingly, beautifully shot, and a sense of atmosphere manages to permeate even minor scenes of interior discourse. The man still knows Brooklyn like the back of his hand.

That can only go so far, though, when the film’s script doesn’t cohere for the first 90 or so of its (too-long) 120-minute runtime. Worse yet, on a purely formal level, it’s a period in which scenes seemingly start, stop, and are proceeded by sequences cursed with the very same affliction.

by Vadim Rizov

"Gentrification done reared its ugly face and now we in the belly of the beast," Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters) roars at his tiny Brooklyn congregation. Jesus can help with real estate turbulence, Enoch asserts, just as he can be the air conditioner of your soul during record summer heat. The link is pure faith unsupported by any kind of practical plan. Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer interrogates the seeming unassailability of the church in black cultural life, an institution flatly enshrined by Tyler Perry's tediously pious reminders to keep the faith. "My man don't have the domain on religion," Lee told GQ earlier this year. "He's kind of bogarted it now, but it's not his private domain."

13-year-old vegan atheist grandson Flik (Jules Brown) is staying with Enoch for the summer. Raised in sheltered suburban Atlanta ("I don't talk white, I just go to...

Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, 25th Hour) returns next month with Red Hook Summer, his first feature since 2008’s Miracle at St. Anna. The first trailer landed last month, and now Variance Films have released ten new images from the film.

Written and directed by Lee, the film stars newcomer Jules Brown as Flik Royale, alongside Clarke Peters (The Wire), Nate Parker (Red Tails), Toni Lysaith, James Ransone (How to Make it in America), and Thomas Jefferson Byrd (Bamboozled).

“The latest in Spike Lee’s Chronicles of Brooklyn anthology–which also includes “She’s Gotta Have It” (1986), “Do The Right Thing” (1989), “Crooklyn” (1994), “Clockers” (1995), and “He Got Game” (1998)–Red Hook Summer tells the story of Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in the housing projects of Red Hook.

I saw Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer up at Sundance, and I didn't like it. Lee has made some really good movies in his career, but this is not one of them. A trailer has been released for the movie, that follows the story a young boy who goes to live with his preacher grandfather, played by The Wire's Clarke Peters, in Brooklyn for the summer. It just didn't hold my interest, and the acting from the two lead kids in the film was terrible. Maybe die hard fans of the director will like it, but for me it was like sitting through very preachy two hour church sermon. The most interesting part of the movie was the last 10 or 15 minutes, but it wasn't easy getting to the end. You can read my review of the film here. 

Here's the synopsis:

The latest in Spike Lee's Chronicles...

Watch the trailer for Spike Lee’s Red Hook Summer. 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks will partner with New York-based Variance Films for the theatrical release, which will begin August 10 in New York City theaters, expanding to the top 30 markets throughout the month of August.

The latest in his Chronicles of Brooklyn anthology (which also include She’S Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers, and He Got Game), Red Hook Summer tells the story of Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters, The Wire, Treme), in the housing projects of Red Hook.

Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot as Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather’s constant preaching and the culture shock of inner-city life,...

"Red Hook Summer" made a splash at Sundance, and with good reason. The latest installment from director Spike Lee's Chronicles of Brooklyn seems like an innocent, coming-of-age tale at first: A young Atlanta boy, Flik Royale (Jules Brown), goes to stay with his overtly religious, preacher grandfather Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters) in the Red Book projects of Brooklyn for summer vacation. Flik considers the summer to be a waste until he befriends Chazz Morningstar (Toni Lysaith) who opens him up to new experiences.  But the film caused a commotion with a...

If Red Hook Summer has anything going for it, it’s that it’s set in Brooklyn which is always a great start, and that director Spike Lee reprises his role from the 1989 classic Do the Right Thing. Besides that, I can’t say the trailer did anything for me. I enjoyed the music and visuals, Spike Lee usually gets that right. Take a look for yourself and let me know what you think in the comments.

Red Hook Summer opens on August 10.

Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta comes to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in the housing projects of Red Hook. Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather’s constant preaching and the culture shock of inner-city life, Flik’s summer appears to be a disaster...

As we continue through a summer filled with uncomfortable triple digit temperatures, Dunkin Donut Coolatas, and blockbuster releases, director Spike Lee (Malcolm X) is steamrolling toward - what looks to be – a very controversial summer. The trailer for Lee’s latest film Red Hook Summer, courtesy of iTunes Movie Trailers, has finally arrived and can be viewed above.

Apart from the deeply religious tone that you’ll quickly notice upon viewing the trailer, you’ll also notice Lee uses a unique style by inserting various shots that look as if they are direct from old home videos. How these shots will be used during the film remains to be seen.

Red Hook Summer stars rookie actors Jules Brown and Toni Lysaith, as well as Treme alumni Clark Peters and James Ransone. The film will also feature an appearance by Spike’s Mookie character from Do the Right Thing. Lee co-wrote...

Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer premiered at Sundance and to my recollection was met with middling reviews before being picked up by Variance Films. The pic will now see a limited release on August 10 and the first trailer has arrived in preparation for its roll-out. Lee describes the film as a new entry in his "Chronicles of Brooklyn", which also includes She's Gotta Have It, Do the Right Thing, Crookyln, Clockers and He Got Game and centers on Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot as Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather's constant preaching and the culture shock of inner-city life,...

A new trailer for Red Hook Summer has debuted. Spike Lee's latest film continues his 'Chronicles of Brooklyn' series with a story about a boy and his grandfather. Jules Brown stars as Flick Royale, a boy from Atlanta who goes to stay with his preacher grandfather Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters) in the Red Hook housing project for the summer. Torn between his grandfather's religion and the shock of inner city life, it takes the friendship of a young girl (Toni Lysaith) (more)...

There was a lot of buzz surrounding Red Hook Summer in development because director Spike Lee reprises his role from the 1989 classic Do the Right Thing.  There were other elements that bode well for one of the better Spike Lee joints in recent years, including the Brooklyn setting and star Clarke Peters (The Wire).  Red Hook Summer polarized critics at Sundance (Matt gave it an "F"), which could be viewed as another positive sign, given Lee's resume.  Both the good (the music, visual flair) and the bad (poor child actors, drowning in that melodrama) are on display in the first trailer. Jules Brown, Toni Lysaith, Nate Parker, James Ransone, and Thomas Jefferson Byrd star alongside Peters in Red Hook Summer.  Let's you and I wait until it opens on August 10 to make up our minds.  In the meantime, test the waters by watching the trailer after the break. Click to...

It’s been years since the huge flop of Miracle at St. Anna — and those subsequent years were only occupied by various documentary work — but, now, Spike Lee is truly back. Red Hook Summer is the quasi-follow-up to his 1989 classic, Do the Right Thing, telling a story about adolescence, religious power, and the dangers of certain authorities. It’s been getting mixed notices since its Sundance premiere (we liked it), but I’m already there.

The first trailer is a little spotty — like what many say about the actual film, it’s a bit scattered, somewhat misshaped, and looks oddly cheap — though the second half has the kind of raw passion we’ve come to expect from Lee; spread over some 135 minutes, I get the sense Red Hook Summer could really pack a punch. Fingers crossed some of his recent retooling brings the project full circle.

Watch the trailer below...

While the buzz around Spike Lee's "Red Hook Summer" is that it's another chapter in his ongoing Chronicles Of Brooklyn, judging by this first trailer, it's his most hazy, lazy days-of-summer flick since his breakout "Do The Right Thing." Shot digitally and on a low budget, that hasn't prevented the film from popping with color (those reds!) and capturing Brooklyn in all of its summer sun-soaked glory. As for the film, it promises to be another charged outing from Lee.

Earning strong notices when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival -- as well as some controversy thanks to the narrative turns it takes -- "Red Hook Summer" should certainly be a fascinating affair. The picture tells the story of Flik Royale (Jules Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Clarke Peters), in...

Baefore Spike Lee turns his attentions to Old Boy, here's a reminder of more familiar territory. Red Hook Summer is the latest instalment in the director's long-running Brooklyn Chronicles (following She's Gotta Have It, Do The Right Thing, Crooklyn, Clockers and He Got Game), and the trailer has just arrived.As you'll pick up, Red Hook Summer is about Flik (Jules Brown), a boy from the middle class suburbs of Atlanta sent to the Brooklyn projects for a summer to live with his evangelical grandfather Enoch (Clarke Peters). Enoch runs the Lil' Peace Of Heaven Baptist Church Of Red Hook and undertakes something of a mission to bring Flik into the ways of the Lord. Flik is having none of it, and the two butt heads, but Flik's summer starts to improve once he meets local girl Chazz (Toni Lysaith), who teaches him there's more to Brooklyn than gangs and congregations.

It's red and it pops with color. It's the new poster for Spike Lee's upcoming drama, the 6th or 7th (depending on who's counting) installment of his chronicles of Brooklyn series, "Red Hook Summer."

Starring Clarke Peters, Nate Parker, Jules Brown, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Toni Lysaith, James Ransone, De'Adre Azia and many more, "Red Hook Summer" tells the story of Flik Royale (Brown), a sullen young boy from middle-class Atlanta who has come to spend the summer with his deeply religious grandfather, Bishop Enoch Rouse (Peters), in the housing projects of Red Hook. Having never met before, things quickly get off on the wrong foot as Bishop Enoch relentlessly attempts to convert Flik into a follower of Jesus Christ. Between his grandfather’s constant preaching and the culture shock of inner-city life, Flik’s summer appears to be a total disaster--until he meets Chazz Morningstar (Lysaith), a pretty girl his age,...

If there was a film that stirred up the most controversy at Sundance this year, it was certainly the latest from Spike Lee. His low-budget drama Red Hook Summer was received with divisive response during its premiere. We liked it, others despised it and now everyone will finally get the chance to have their own take as Deadline reports that Variance Films have picked it up for an August 10th release. They’ll first release it in Lee’s home city New York and then expand to top 30 markets the rest of the month.

The film follows Flick Royale (Jules Brown), who comes to live with his grandpa Clarke Peters (Lester Freamon from The Wire) in Red Hook, Brooklyn for the summer. On the rocks with his daughter, he’s determined to convince his grandson to find God in his church, Little Heaven. Unfortunately, Flick just wants his school-free summer.

Just outta Sundance, Spike Lee promised in February that his latest effort, "Red Hook Summer" would be arriving in August. And true to his word, it will be.

"Red Hook Summer" has now lined up a distributor with upstart company Variance Films, and the plan is to drop the film in theaters on August 10th in a platform release that will see it roll out to more cities in the weeks that follow. The movie stars newcomer Jules Brown as Flick, a middle class Atlanta teenager sent to stay with his grandfather Enoch ("The Wire" star Clarke Peters), a bishop in the housing projects of Red Hook, Brooklyn. A culture and generation clash occurs between the two characters, but Jules falls into a relationship with Chazz (Toni Lysaith) who shows him a different side the neighborhood.

"Red Hook Summer" caused a lot of buzz when it premiered in Park City,...

'For me, it's Kanye and Jay-z,' the filmmaker tells MTV News of his picks for MTV's 'Hottest MCs in the Game.'

By Rob Markman, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Spike Lee

Photo: MTV News

Filmmaker Spike Lee is on fire. While out at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January, Spike showed his latest film, "Red Hook Summer," and then he and actors Toni Lysaith and Jules Brown discussed a different type of heat: MTV's upcoming "Hottest MCs in the Game" roundtable debate.

At first, Lee tried to dodge the question, deferring to the flick's young castmembers. "You're asking the wrong person," he playfully told MTV News' Josh Horowitz.

Lysaith happily chimed in. The cheery actress who plays Chazz Morningstar quickly ran down a list of rap's heaviest hitters for her "Hottest" picks. "I personally like Drake and Jay-z and Kanye West; that's just me,...

Plot: Thirteen-year-old Flik (Jules Brown) is forced to spend the summer away from his comfortable Atlanta home, with his mother dropping him off at his estranged Grandfather Enoch's (Clarke Peters) cramped apartment in the Red Hook housing project in Brooklyn. Enoch, a fiery Christian Pastor, is determined to make Flik accept Jesus Christ as his Savior, but Flik is more interested in causing a little mischief with a local girl, Chazz (Toni Lysaith). Review: Red Hook Summer has been...

Update #1: Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have picked up Arbitrage and IFC Films has acquired Liberal Arts. Both films are listed at the beginning of Page 3. Update #2: Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Samuel Goldwyn Films are partnering on the U.S. theatrical release of Robot & Frank, which stars Frank Langella, Susan Sarandon, James Marsden, Liv Tyler and Peter Saarsgard. I have also added it to Page 3 along with a look at Langella in the film. Update #3: Magnolia Pictures has picked up the horror collaboration V/H/S bringing directors Adam Wingard, Glenn McQuaid, Radio Silence, David Bruckner, Joe Swanberg and Ti West together for a new horror anthology. I have added a preview for the film to Page 3. Update #4: IFC Films has picked up distribution rights to Simon Killer. Details on the film can be found at the bottom of Page 3. Update #5:...

Spike Lee has never suffered from a lack of ambition and the most remarkable thing about his latest film, Red Hook Summer, is how it finds so many ways to be absolutely terrible.  Every seed of a good idea is smothered under the weight of incompetent directing, horrible pacing, rancid dialogue, and atrocious performances from its lead child actors.  The film vomits up banal editorials, slight commentary on religion, minor observations on modern filmmaking, and a vague sense of community.  Many of the main characters celebrate Jesus, and that carries over to the audience when you thank Christ that the movie is over. Flick (Jules Brown) is uprooted from his comfortable life in Atlanta and forced to stay with his estranged grandfather Enoch (Clarke Peters) over the summer in Red Hook, New York while his mother goes on a trip.  Enoch, a local preacher, makes Flick spend time cleaning up...

Spike Lee is an honest original, warts and all. Over the last two-and-a half decades he’s made the films he’s wanted to make the way he’s wanted to make then. And when he couldn’t get the money to do one project in particular – Malcolm X – his friends and fans came through and helped get the film made.

His last feature was the immensely-flawed war film Miracle at St. Anna, followed by a 4-year hiatus from fiction for the accomplished filmmaker. Now he’s back with Red Hook Summer, doing what he did so well over 20 years with Do The Right Thing: painting a portrait of a neighborhood, and building from there.

This time, instead of Bed-Stuy, it’s Red Hook, an old port town on the very west side of Brooklyn. The small town represents a part-conceptual sequel to Right Thing, part-coming of age tale,...

There's a good movie somewhere in the middle of the 130 minutes comprising Spike Lee's Red Hook Summer. A focused movie. A movie that has a lot to say about the conflict between younger and older generations, faith versus religion, young love and even technology. That movie is in there. Unfortunately, Red Hook Summer as it currently stands at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival is a bulky, dense and meandering film. It is at times thought-provoking and at others just plain confusing. Red Hook Summer refers to the few months a young 13-year-old boy nicknamed Flik (newcomer Jules Brown) spends with his grandfather, Bishop Enoch (The Wire's Clarke Peters), in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, NY. Flik has never met his grandfather and, coming from a privileged Southern upbringing, knows nothing of Enoch's highly religious ways. The two butt heads over it but eventually begin to come to an understanding and develop a stronger bond.

When Spike Lee threw a small fit last night during his Q&A after the premiere of Red Hook Summer, is it because he was angry at Hollywood — or because he sensed that the audience didn’t really like his movie, and he was working off his disappointment by finding a big bad target to hit? My own feeling is that if the film had been better, he might not have been reduced to griping about the movies the Man won’t let him make. For Red Hook Summer isn’t just a letdown. It’s a bit of an ordeal.

Spike Lee’s movie is called Red Hook Summer, but it delivered a few stunning left hooks and right hooks to the audience during its Sunday night debut at the Sundance Film Festival.

Going into the Park City showcase, the film appeared to be a coming-of-age story about an Atlanta boy named Flik, who ends up spending the summer with his preacher grandfather in the Red Hook housing project of Brooklyn. And it is that, for about three quarters of the running time. Flik bristles under the watch of his bible-thumping grandfather (played by The Wire’s Clarke Peters), gets life lessons from Mookie,...

The Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off this weekend, has been known to launch the careers of many a rising talent. The Festival has changed over the decades from a low-profile venue for small-budget, independent creators outside the Hollywood system to a now media extravaganza for the Hollywood industry. One thing that hasn’t changed is the number of great movies which premiere each and every year. This year has one of the best line-ups in recent memory. From niche horror to promising indie debuts, the festival is screening 110 feature-length films from 31 countries, so I’ve decided to narrow it down for everyone. Here are the movies you should keep an eye out for this year.

2 Days In New York

In the follow-up to Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris, 2 Days in New York adds Chris Rock to the cast as the straight-man hipster American boyfriend. Fans of Richard Linklater...