MovieChat Forums > Candyman (2021) Discussion > Intelligent, well made film

Intelligent, well made film


I went and saw Candyman (2021) today. I thought it was an intelligent, socially conscious horror film that I enjoyed. I thought Nia DaCosta did a very good job directing the film, building on the legacy of the original Candyman and putting her own spin on it. The story was told in a smart and satisfying way. I felt the cast, especially Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Colman Domingo, gave effective and engaging performance For me, this is the 5th best film of the year so far. Highly recommended. My rating is a 9/10.

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i'm off to see it in about 3 hours. i'll report back!

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Enjoy! Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

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hmmph...
i'm going to park my thoughts on this for a bit.
there's a lot to like about it.
it has some truly great, even inspired visuals, i think. see it in a theatre if you can, for sure.
i do think there were a few moments where the story took little jumps, where some connective moments may have been edited out. it's rare that i'll say this, but i actually think this could have been a bit longer.

but...there's some stuff at the end...that...

eh...someone used the word 'didactic' fairly early in this thing. and that's kinda how i feel about the ending.

but i literally just walked out of it, & my thoughts haven't quite fully formed.

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How do you think it compares it to the original one? Personally, I liked this one even better than the original, which I did like a lot.

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i would definitely say i think this is the better film overall. i like the original, but i feel this is much better. like i said above, it has some really great visual flourishes that i absolutely loved. & i liked those animated moments too - i can't remember what you call that when you have cut-outs that are backlit like that, but i thought that was a terrific touch.

right now, i'm sort of on the fence, and i could see myself talking myself into making peace with my feelings on the ending, or talking myself into hating it!

it's rare that i do this, but i think i might actually wade into some reviews on metacritic to see what other people are saying about this...cuz maybe that will help me sort out my own conflicted feelings on the ending.

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IT DIDN'T BOTHER YOU THAT THE CANDYMAN IS BLACK AND ALL THE BADGUYS WERE WHITE,ESPECIALLY THE COPS?🤣

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I didn't notice at first, but now that you mention it, this movie is racist and woke! Justice for the white guys! Go woke, go broke! Cancel the liberals! SJW something something angry nonsense!

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I GENUINELY LIKE YOU.🙂

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Thank you. I genuinely like you too. You are one of the top 4 posters here, in my opinion.

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Pretty sure Allaby was being sarcastic lol.

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ALLABY IS MY SPIRIT ANIMAL.

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What do you mean by "socially conscious"?

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What I mean is that the film is aware of social issues and has something to say about them. The film's story touches upon racism, injustice and police brutality, but does it in an interesting and entertaining way.

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Ah, okay. I'm okay with horror movies highlighting certain issues, so long as I don't feel I'm being preached at. It can be a fine line sometimes.

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Right, I can understand that. No one likes to feel lectured. I thought Candyman did a good job of tackling those issues without lecturing or preaching and telling an effective and enjoyable story.

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Cool đź‘Ť Do they use any of Philip Glass' fantastic score from the original?

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No, I don't believe they use any of the score from the original.

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That's a shame. I kinda feel that Candyman without that wouldn't be Candyman.

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i haven't looked into this yet but here are some score elements that really reminded me of glass.

i haven't watched the original film in years, and i don't remember the score, but i wouldn't be surprised to hear that they incorporated elements of the original score, or possibly mimicked glass's style. because it definitely had that feel in parts.

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Okay, thanks.

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So you're saying it's anti-white. Got it.

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No, not at all. It is ant-racism, not anti-white. I am a white person and I didn't feel attacked or insulted at all and really liked the movie.

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Where are all the movies highlighting racism of blacks against whites? I don't understand why, if anti-racism is the goal, we don't see more movies about the ways that non-whites can be racist. Because I legit can't think of even one movie like that.

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I don't know of any movies like that. They may exist, but I'm not familiar with them. If you really want to see a movie about racism of black characters against white characters, you can go ahead and make a film like that.

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It seems that after a long string of "anti-racism" movies where it's always the white people being racist, we white folk would all realize that it's really about the demonization of white people and not ending racism.

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Nonsense.

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LMAO...WE WHITE FOLK,THOSE BLACKS....THE FIRST ISSUE HERE IS YOUR ENTIRE OUTLOOK.🙄

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Don't look at me, look at films like the ones being discussed and ask yourself who it is that keeps making race a thing.

White people never make movies about race unless it's white liberals trying to exorcise their self-imposed white guilt.

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YOU...RIGHT NOW...OTHER POSTERS OTHER TIMES...NOBODY BESIDES THAT.

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I guess The Birth of a Nation (1915) never existed. Race is a thing in a ton of movies made by white people lol.

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LOL you cited a movie that, by your own admission, is over a hundred years old. Is that really an example of how white people "keep making race a thing" here in the 21st century?

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You mean the extremely famous movie that is credited as the first movie with a modern film structure ever, the first movie that was not basically a filmed play? Yeah, I mentioned it...very weird that you're a supposed film buff and have never heard of it.

I was pointing out your very misinformed statement that white people never make movies about race by pointing out the most famous movie about race ever lol. Catch up.

Never said it had anything to do with race in the 21st century, only pointing out what is considered the most racist film ever, made by a white man and screened at the White House by Woodrow Wilson. This movie is literally credited for the resurgence of the KKK back in the early 20th century. Based on your comment, I assume you've never heard of it and will never see it, but it straight up has white people in black face acting stupid and attacking white women and then the KKK shows up to save the day and are the heroes of the movie. The KKK was dying out at the time and this film helped them make a comeback. I'm only citing the most obvious film because I'm not your personal google but it's very easy to see that white males star are the lead in most US films. How do you think POC feel when they hardly see themselves represented in mainstream media and the rare times when they are represented, white males scream about white pride and how unfair it is that white males aren't represented?

If POC is such a bad thing for white men like us to see, please explain why. Explain why people that had very few representations for decades that are finally getting their fair representation...is a bad thing. Would love to hear your rationalization.

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I watched Birth of a Nation in a film history class about 10 years ago. The keyword there is HISTORY. No one is making a movie like Birth of a Nation today. The only movies about race that white people make now are movies about how evil white people are and how oppressed the poor, poor black folk are.

Meanwhile, black people are also making their own movies about how evil white people.

You claim to be white. If you actually are, you're clearly a self-loathing white leftist who has been conned into believing you should feel ashamed and guilty because Kunta Kinte was a slave 200 fucking years ago.

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Lol yeah not hating black people starring in movies makes me a self-loathing white leftist. Pretty sure having POC in films nowadays is not hurting you in the slightest. You're giving off hardcore white supremacist vibes, dude. Might want to turn off the OANN.

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I would like to challenge you to point out where anyone said that "POC starring in movies" is a problem.

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WHITE MAN'S BURDEN...TRAVOLTA AND BELAFONTE.

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I'm aware of it. Man, that's a long way back you have to go to find such a movie.

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Do the right thing. Boom point debunked.

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Wow, you had to go back over three decades to find something that fit your narrative. And, even then, that film showed white cops unnecessarily killing a black suspect, which therefore provoked the black people's destruction of the white-owned establishment.

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Except you also saw blacks committing crimes against each other. So wrong bud you are just upset that your narrative got challenged. What's funny is not one peep would be heard from your crowd when stars were mainly white men. Also did you see the movie Captain Phillips? Tom Hanks is the hero and he is as white as they come. The villain is Barkhad Abdi who is Somali. So you were saying?

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Does it not make sense that stars will be mainly white in a nation that is majority white?

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Never disputed that. Now however you are mad because people of color are getting more representation than before. White people still get plenty of roles do not play the victim card. There are still plenty of white heroes ongoing in cinema. Honestly it is old and tired hearing people like you moan and groan. Lets flip your argument on it's head though why are blacks locked up more than whites when they are in the minority? Simple answer is they commit more crimes correct?

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Hi Nia.

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It is not intelligent, nor well made.

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Yes, it is because I say it is. 🙂

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You rated this 9/10. Your taste and opinion are not to be taken seriously.

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I have excellent taste and my opinions are always right.

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This is some fine trolling

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I am fine, but I’m not trolling.

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You’re trolling. I’m sure subjectively you liked the movie. But objectively it’s bad because it’s neither intelligent nor well made. In fact, it’s downright stupid and pretentious. Don’t mix up those two concepts.

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anyone who knows allaby knows he doesn't troll.

i troll sometimes, cuz i'm a bit of a dick when it comes to stuff like that. but allaby...well, he's a goddamned angel. good beard, too.

i have my beefs with candyman, especially the last 10 minutes. i think it's strident and didactic and it left me with a bad feeling at the end that's only worsened the more that i've thought about it.

but i wouldn't argue for a sec that it's anything other than very, very well made. it's a very cool, sharp, stylish looking movie.

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but i wouldn't argue for a sec that it's anything other than very, very well made. it's a very cool, sharp, stylish looking movie.


Maybe on a surface level if you’re distracted by shiny objects, but when you dig even a little below the surface you’ll find it’s utterly shallow remake and is poorly written. That seems to be the problem with modern society these days… they can’t see beyond surface level.

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i'll say this:

you're a boring troll. anytime someone says 'oh, you're just like all the rest of those stupid people, like a baby awestruck by car keys' that's automatically an entry point into a boring, pointless conversation.

i'd be happy to discuss the assets and failings of this with someone who actually wants to have a good faith conversation on the merits of the movie.

that's not you.

adieu adieu adieu!

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Straight to personal insults then, I’ll chalk this up as another victory to myself seeing as you bowed out of the conversation. Although I doubt anyone could have meaningful convo if they think this piece of malarkey made by a talentless hack would merit further discussion and is “well made,” lol please.

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This is some fine projection (as usual up on this righty chud troll fest). Objective utter bs.

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Socially conscious? Pass.

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I strongly agree actually. It was socially conscious, but did a very poor job of it imo. I think the movie had some good ideas (visual ideas, thematic ideas), but I think the story itself wasn't very well thought out. I don't think this movie had a vision.

This new film felt like it was trying to come up with a very grounded explanation for all the shit that's happening, but I don't think many of the plot points make any sense. I'm not entirely sure the original Candy makes perfect sense either, but it had this dreamlike quality from beginning to end, and I think it allows it to open to interpretation. I feel like maybe Peele came up with some cool ideas, and the subsequent writers just filled in the blanks to flesh out a plot.

I think the movie is entertaining, and well-filmed, but I think it's trying to be much deeper than what it actually is. It's like the difference between a smart arthouse flick, and a film that's trying to be artsy.

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