Belly Feels Like A Mixtape With Cameras: Belly (1998)

Belly has a reputation that travels on pure memory: iconic lighting, a hard soundtrack, two hip hop giants on screen, and that feeling you had the first time you saw it. Then you hit play again and realize the real question isn’t “Is it a classic?” It’s “What exactly is this movie trying to be?”

We’re Omari Williams and Jay Richardson, and we go scene by scene on Hype Williams’ 1998 crime drama starring DMX and Nas. We talk about the opening that looks like a million bucks, the “plot vs vibes” debate, and why the editing, pacing, and muddy audio make major moments hard to follow. We also dig into performances, the lack of chemistry between the leads, the late-game minister twist that changes the stakes with barely any runway, and why parts of the film’s portrayal of women clash with the message it wants to land.

To make it concrete, we score Belly across our five categories: plot and writing, acting and casting, production and cinematography, music and sound, and cultural impact. If you’ve ever defended Belly, hated it, or only loved the soundtrack, you’ll have plenty to argue with here.

Listen now, then subscribe, share the episode with a friend who swears Belly is untouchable, and leave a review with your rating: classic, mess, or both?

Transcript

Welcome And Movie Pick

SPEAKER_00 0:30

Hello and welcome to the Real Talk and Banter Podcast, the movie podcast where we discuss and review films that are at least a decade old. I'm Omari Williams.

SPEAKER_03 0:41

And I'm Jay Richardson.

SPEAKER_00 0:44

Today we are discussing Belly, the 1998 crime thriller. Is that what it is?

SPEAKER_03 0:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 0:53

I don't know what I would call it. Crime drama. It's a crime drama.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

It's a chromata.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

Call it. Okay. We could go. Yeah, sure. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Yeah. Is that isn't that acceptable?

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Hey. That makes as much sense as this movie. So we can call it that. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_03 1:09

Okay. Alright.

SPEAKER_00 1:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:11

Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Somebody didn't like it.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Belly was your choice. It was my choice. Well, yeah. And how are you feeling about that decision?

SPEAKER_02 1:20

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:26

I I don't want to lose my blackbird, so I'm gonna just pretend it was the best movie I've ever seen in my life and move on from there.

SPEAKER_00 1:34

But I made a choice. It was the wrong one, but I made it.

SPEAKER_03 1:38

Alright. So when Mela, listen, uh, this is one of the movies that you know it's probably gonna have some our listeners split a little bit. Some people think it's a classic. Some of you, aka Omari, think it's a mess. Um I didn't I didn't hear a denial there. Is you have something to say?

SPEAKER_00 1:59

Oh no. Well, I used to be in the in the camp of it's a classic. Okay, I've seen Belly.

SPEAKER_03 2:04

Oh, you have seen it.

SPEAKER_00 2:06

I I have, but I don't remember it. But in my mind, it's like, oh shit, Belly. Like, yeah, classic. And you ruined that for now, thanks.

SPEAKER_03 2:17

Well, yeah, that's what I'm here to do. Ruin dreams, kids. All right, both of you could be right. I don't know. We're gonna see. Uh, so we're talking about Belly here, as we've repeatedly said. I think we've said the name 50 times. We might get sued, I don't know. Um, but it's directed by Hype Williams, starring our guys DMX, Rest in Power, and Nas, Mr. Queen Bridge himself.

SPEAKER_00 2:42

Come on now.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

I almost started singing Uchi Wawi Wawi, and I don't think that's appropriate. But it's not I don't think anything we talk about here is really appropriate. So anyway, yeah. This is 18 plus podcast, folks.

SPEAKER_00 2:56

I can really feel us avoiding talking about this movie. We keep going all over the place.

SPEAKER_03 3:01

We are okay, okay, okay. I'm gonna get into it. I'm gonna get into it. Okay, I'm pulling into it. Alright, so folks, this

Not A Perfect Movie

SPEAKER_03 3:06

this is not a perfect movie. But at the same time, perfect? I said it's not a perfect movie.

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Yeah, but you skipped great, you skipped good, you skipped decent. Like you went straight to not being perfect.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Okay, it's not a perfect movie. Let's just say no, Amari. It's not a perfect movie, folks, but it is what some might consider, especially in the black culture, a very influential movie. Um that kind of kind of fell off a little bit. I haven't really heard anybody talking about a belly, uh belly, belly in a very long time. Um, it was very big in the 90s, especially when it came out. I mean, you got big be big stars with DMX, uh Nas, Methman is also in there, and then a bunch of other folks. But if you if you came to watch a plot, if you came here for a plot, don't. It don't. This is not this is not a plot worthy uh movie. This is just vibes, visuals, hella great music, and uh and raw energy, I think. So this movie is kind of in its own lane. So, Omari, let's talk about this. You you kind of already hinted on it. So you did I so I actually have not seen Belly, I've never seen it before, or if I did, I must have been like super young and completely unbothered about it. So I don't remember anything about it. So I I I I'm leading more on the side of I've never seen it, but you just said you did. So what what happened there? What what what what made it so great then?

SPEAKER_00 4:37

I don't know. Oh I I really don't know. I I've been racking my brain to try and figure out why in my mind did I have hold this movie in such high esteem. I cannot tell you because I really I don't remember any of these scenes, I don't remember the movie, so I must have been too young or something when I watched it as well. Um I remember I had the DVD, you know, like I I remember having Belly, and I don't know, DMX is fucking awesome, he's so cool, you know. Nas is cool, so maybe it was just that, just the vibes of it.

SPEAKER_03 5:12

But I could see that. I could see that. I could see you probably weren't, especially that young, nine years old, you know, whatever. Probably weren't actually following for the story, but you got two of hip-hop's biggest stars at the time, you know. And the music is great, the visuals are there, so I can see why he's like, oh, this is amazing, and then you watch it again, and you're like, oh, what? Uh so is this? Uh we're in 1999. This is Queens, New York, uh, QB. We have some young street folks. I don't want to say street folks, but they are. That's that's what that's what they say they are. So you got Tommy, aka Buns. Pudlums. I don't know why you would name yourself Buns, but alright, cool, cool, cool.

SPEAKER_00 5:55

No, is that his listen? His name stressed me out in the movie because his introduction was, oh, you have my man Bundy, also known as Buns, Tommy for short. I was like, that's not how fucking names work. And then later on, what somebody called him Dunn. And I'm like, how many fucking names do you have, dude? Like, what is your name? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

I don't know. I don't know what happens there. Alright, so uh we have Tommy Buns Bundy. Uh I think his last name is Bundy, and his middle is uh nickname is Buns, and his first name is Tommy, and that's DMX character, and then you have Sincere, that's all his name is, never says last name, and that's Nas. Nope. AK Sin sometimes. Uh, they have a couple of associates, Mark and Black. And yeah. Uh so the beginning of this movie, visually crazy. There's uh it's like you're in this long ass movie. Uh, I'm sorry, long ass music video, essentially. Fuck.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Fuck um, that is my biggest fucking note on this movie. It's just a bunch of music videos stitched together.

SPEAKER_03 7:07

Yeah, it's like a big music video. I mean, the beginning movie starts out with Back to Life, However Do You Want Me, which is a classic, like you cannot help but to vibe out to the movie.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Awesome way to start a movie.

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Awesome, great for sure. I was like, okay, okay, I was in it. I was in it. Yep. I was hearing it in the background, everything's kind of slow motion, and like, all right. So I was I was there. And then um, yeah, that was that was it. That was about it. That was that was like level exciting.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

That's the first really died off of that. And last good thing I said about the movie, holistically. I said, This song is lit. Good way to start. Yeah, then I was like, why are their eyes glowing like this? And then I wrote, Am I watching a music video? Like, is this movie going to start? Like, I just I got sucked out of it because they they were so leaning and so heavily on how awesome that song is. Yeah, and it took forever to drop, it took forever to drop the beat. Yeah, and then they finally did, and it was just I don't know. I it was just fun fact, you notice blew most of their budget on this opening scene.

SPEAKER_03 8:07

Oh, did they? I didn't see I didn't see that now. That would make sense though.

SPEAKER_00 8:12

That's why it looks so much better than the rest of the movie.

SPEAKER_03 8:13

The rest of the movie. Okay, yeah. The rest of the movie was shot on a Nokia. Okay, it's very obvious. Um, but yeah, the beginning scene was like, oh, okay, I got it. But then we immediately went into what are we watching? It's like holy epilepsy Batman. There's just

Flashing Lights and Darkness

SPEAKER_03 8:30

flashing lights, yes, darkness, there's some kind of robbery happening. I don't know why. I don't know who's getting hit. I don't know who I'm supposed to be rooting for. The entire thing is shot with my eyes closed because I have no idea what is happening for most of the movie. And fucking shaky camera, shaky camera work, the you know, hype Williams said, uh you don't need to see it, just feel it is what he told us. Just feel this shit.

SPEAKER_00 8:57

I it was I I laughed right because when I didn't look at who did the movie after until when I was finished, and so I already had made my comments about this being a music video on so far, and then I look and it says, Oh, yeah, hype Williams. Yeah, he's a big music director, music video director. Yeah. So I'm like, dog, it's not the same, yo. It's not the same.

SPEAKER_03 9:22

Who did it?

SPEAKER_00 9:24

God.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

Um, so Amari already hinted in on it. We had a budget of three million dollars for this. Um, not a big budget, but not bad. Not bad. Um, box office actually came away with 9.6 million, so definitely made his money, uh, you know, threefold on that. Um, like I said, we oh T-Boss is in it.

SPEAKER_02 9:44

That helps you. Yes, T Boss is in there. Yes, you did forget that.

SPEAKER_03 9:47

T Boss is the only one with any sort of brain um for the most part, but that's typically how it goes. Um yeah. Oh my god. So what? Sorry.

SPEAKER_00 10:01

I want to say my other, I think last positive of this was Tyrell Hicks as Keisha. Oh god damn, she's bad. Yeah, she's bad. She's the new hotness. Oh my gosh. I was like, what the hell? She's the new hotness. Thank God she's in here.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

And then I did get distracted because she was super oiled up. She was pretty oily.

SPEAKER_03 10:21

She was very oily. She was glistening because she was sleeping. Yeah, you know. I guess he sleeps with baby oil on her. I don't know. Sure, right. I feel like you just swept through that at the end of the night, but okay. It's very distractive. Yeah. Um, so so yeah, so these guys are obviously just criminals, and they make their money by robbing other people, is what we gather. Um they they get into this, uh, they get into they have a couple guys around them. None of them are very smart, it seems like there's a after they do their first their robbery, they have to tell their one like uh driver dude, hey, ditch the car like 30 times. I'm like, obviously, he's not gonna ditch the car. Like, why do you have people around you like this? Oh my god. Like, I was just, you know how I treated this movie? I was like, if I was a criminal, here's what I would do. And I by the end of the movie, I was like, I feel like I'd be an alright criminal because I would do the opposite of everything you just did. I don't understand anything. It was really bad decisions, driven by ego and just like this weird, um, untouchable. Like he wasn't it, they weren't even on that level yet. It was just like I though, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:28

They were just a bunch of like stick-up boys, kind of like they're not, they don't have some big empire. I didn't get the sense that it has some well, I don't know, because Tommy's house was big as shit.

SPEAKER_03 11:37

Yeah, I don't know how the hell he got that, and it was weird. Yeah, his house.

SPEAKER_00 11:42

If you told me he was just squatting in someone's house, I would believe it. Because I don't understand, like, it was so big, and it doesn't seem like they were successful enough crooks for him to have not only not successful, but not smart enough either to wash his money to have something, an investment like that. Right, like all the artwork was weird on the walls. They were watching what the fuck were they watching on TV? Did you figure that out? Did you look that up?

SPEAKER_03 12:06

No, I did not look up what you know, random, random white kids with their shirts off.

SPEAKER_00 12:11

Like for second, I thought we were about to be in a horror mark.

SPEAKER_03 12:14

What is that? I didn't know what that was.

SPEAKER_00 12:16

And I was like, I was like, Yeah, what is it? And they just kept watching it, no one changed the channel or popped in a different VHS. Listen, I don't know. I got to the eight-minute mark, right? And I said, shit, eight minutes in, and I am worried.

SPEAKER_03 12:30

There's nothing really happening in this seed except for just showing off, I guess.

SPEAKER_00 12:36

Oh, we find out that Tommy is fucking some 16-year-old kid or letting her suck his dick.

SPEAKER_03 12:42

Yeah, yeah. Well, yes, we do we do find that out.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

What was that?

SPEAKER_03 12:46

I don't know what that was. Why was that included? I don't know. I don't know why she had to be 16. But then the way she was talking and smoking, I was like, Are you 16? But I was like, I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Oh no, she's 37 years old, 100%. But I just don't I just don't know why why even include that in there.

SPEAKER_03 13:02

Yeah, I don't know why they gave him an underage.

SPEAKER_00 13:05

She was definitely in her 20s, but yeah. I just what was the point of that?

SPEAKER_03 13:08

Yeah, I don't know I don't know why he gave her on why they gave him an underage side chick. It could have been a regular aged side person because you know.

SPEAKER_00 13:18

Yeah, super weird.

SPEAKER_03 13:19

It was kind of weird. That was weird. I just I kind of skipped over it to be honest, because it would it just didn't make sense. It didn't add to the movie, it just was there, it was just there for shock value, I guess. You know what? I actually do have a note later on that I didn't like the way Pipe Williams portrayed women in this in this movie. Um it's really bad. It's really bad. So I think that kind of turned me off even more. So I just kind of skipped over, I'll be very honest. So while he's in the shower, he overhears MTV News talking about the heroin epidemic. MTV News that shit laid me out. Oh my god. I haven't noted MTV News does drug epidemics. They used to do like music-related stuff, but I guess they decided to. Listen to me.

SPEAKER_00 14:12

I was like, not even in the 90s were people watching MTV for the fucking news. Listen. What? That was so weird.

SPEAKER_03 14:19

And uh gave him the bright idea to uh to move into dope.

SPEAKER_00 14:24

Yeah, so he goes to Sincere's house and Sincere is like, hey, it's 5 a.m. I'm like, whoa, like 5 a.m. the next day or 5 a.m. two hours after he just took his shower and he sent those guys home. Like the

Editing Is Garbage

SPEAKER_00 14:40

pacing and editing of this movie was garbage. It was all over the place. It really was all over the place.

SPEAKER_03 14:46

I assumed it was just two hours later. I assumed it was two hours later.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Same, but then why even do that? That's I don't know. That just was so unrealistic.

SPEAKER_03 14:54

It just showed his lack of real concern, which was a big problem for him. Like it was just his world, and he didn't really care what anybody else had going on. He was like, I have this big idea, you're my right-hand man, you need to know about it now, and come outside. And I'm like, first of all, absolutely not.

SPEAKER_00 15:12

Yeah, no, and then right hand man, like I didn't DMX chemistry in this movie.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

They had zero, zero chemistry. It was like they just met each other. They're like, hey, you're gonna be this guy, you're gonna be that guy, go. Like, there was zero true chemistry. Half the time, I didn't even know what Sincere was doing. I didn't understand his purpose. I was like, No, no, is he even in this movie? He was narrating the movie. He was narrating the movie, yes, but I didn't understand what his purpose was. Uh Buns decides to uh Bun's receives a call or something, and you know, hears that one of the guys is uh you know talking about her or something. I really barely could understand what was happening there. Um and then forces somehow, I don't know how this happens. I missed it even though I was staring at it, but starts forcing one of the men to strip down to his to nothing, bare ass.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Oh I rewinded that scene a bunch.

SPEAKER_03 16:10

Okay, because I'm I don't I don't I don't know how we got from we're accounting to the call to the stripping. Like I know it happened, I saw it, but nothing told me that his reaction was justified. Or when the instructions came, when did it happen?

SPEAKER_00 16:29

I don't know. I don't know. I really don't. That's just I didn't think they took it out. They must have. I like I I rewinded it like three times, I think, and I I'm still confused. And then one of the times I rewinded it because did you peep that when they flipped the table, all the money was still on the table?

SPEAKER_03 16:45

Yeah, it was taped to the fucking table. I was like, what's glued? They must have knocked it off one time and they're like, I'm not picking this shit up again. And they just glued it on there and just kept the bad take it, kept the last take or whatever. They literally flipped the table off and it just stuck to the table. And I was like, It's stuck to the table. That's a nasty ass table. So distractive. Nasty ass table. Um, either way, so Buns makes this man strip down to his clothes, start shooting at his feet and actual shooting. Yeah. I'm like, oh, so I guess no one's gonna call the police, whatever. Um and all I'm all I'm watching, all I'm thinking is all he's doing is creating an enemy right here. Like you can't embarrass a person like that and expect them not to come back for you later. Like, you have to kill him. That's all I was like. I have to kill this guy. If I'm like that concerned, I have to kill him. Because I can't give you the opening that I just gave you. You can't bruise a man's ego like that in front of his friends and then be like, all right, we cool now. Like, it's not happening.

SPEAKER_00 17:42

Put your clothes back on.

SPEAKER_03 17:43

Ah, very good. My bad. Like, you can't do that. Like, all you do is create enemies. Everywhere he went, he was just like creating enemies, and I didn't understand.

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Like, what's his around this point in time? I wrote that this movie is unhinged. It is unhinged. I can't follow what is going on. I couldn't follow it. And so I'm like, okay, I guess the point. Oh fuck. If I'm forced to look at this holistically and try to pinpoint some type of arc for Buns, I guess they were trying to show us like how terrible of a person he was to kind of set up the ending, which yeah, he had a redemption arc at the end.

SPEAKER_03 18:24

It was it was or whatever, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:27

But I don't know. It's just it was not good. It was the what they were doing with DMX uh with Buns, it was so erratic.

SPEAKER_03 18:37

Yeah, uh it was like he was on drugs the whole time, and they were just like, Hey man, the world is yours, and he just ran with it. And I was like, okay, like if that was what it was, I would have liked to see the movie be like they were already on top, and and they were already on top, they already had their stuff going, they already had their empire, and then they like maybe he started getting into heroin, and you know, and then there's and he started taking heroin or or other hardcore drugs, and then that downward spiral of you know, um being uh you know, panicked and being on obviously on drugs, being suspicious of everybody and watching everything kind of um break underneath him. Yeah, I would have watched that. I think I think DMX could have gave us a great part of it. DMX is not a bad actor. Like many of the videos, um videos, many of the oh, don't give me that sigh. Many of the movies he's been in, DMX is a very actor. Like, I don't know what the hell Nas was doing.

SPEAKER_00 19:38

This was his first role. Okay, well that's why I sighed because I was I was grappling with that as well because I'm like I need to re-watch like Cradle to the Grave or something because I'm like this I'm like can DMX not act? And then I didn't realize how many movies DMX is in. He he was doing a lot, yeah, but this was his first role, and I think it's showing. Yeah, it's really funny.

SPEAKER_03 20:02

You know, the bigger drug scene, there's a drug kingpin called Ox. You know, I really I I want a cool, I want a cool nickname, like an ox. I want like a like a horse or like a bison or saber tooth tiger. Horses, what you say? Listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen, listen.

SPEAKER_00 20:18

Why would you lead it a horse?

SPEAKER_03 20:19

Sabertooth tiger. Ollie, ollie, oxen freeze. Yeah, we heard that. Just after you said a horse, man. Listen, I want a cool nickname. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 20:28

All right.

SPEAKER_03 20:28

Well, I guess Omar's not getting it to me, so that's fine. Either way.

SPEAKER_00 20:32

But his name is Lennox. His name is Lennox, aka ox. It got the ox from his name Lennox. So, like let's see. J, Jill, Jelissa, Jelissa, Liz, Liz, Liz, Lizard, Lizard! You're the lizard now. There you go, lizard.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

If I could hang you up, I swear to god I would. I swear to god I would. Fucking lizard. I I can't even I can't even survive for real, for real. Half the year, I'm just dormant. I can't do anything. Ah, you know what?

SPEAKER_00 21:07

Oh shit. Alright. Well, um, I tried.

SPEAKER_03 21:12

I asked for it, so I asked for it. So, so Buns is with Ox trying to kind of broker some kind of deal. He immediately disrespects the man and asks him if he's scared. I'm like, Ox but uh Buns got some some nuts on him because I'm not rolling into no Kingpin's house and tell him he's scared to do business with him. Um, but also they're just as bad as balancing their freaking audio as I am because there's a loud ass soccer game playing at the exact same time over the top of the audio the whole time. I had no idea what was said. I was I did you get it?

SPEAKER_00 21:51

You needed headphones to to or or actual a speaker system to like really like a soundbar or something with your TV to actually know. What was going on, and it's not just that though, because they did it with the music too. There would be scenes where um there's music, and the music would be diegetic to the movie, like the characters can hear the music, but they're you they're it's masking the dialogue on what's going on, and it's like, okay, this is a cool ass song, but again, this is not a music video, so I need to hear the fucking dialogue, the audio. Like, can I hear these people speak? And it happened a lot throughout this movie. You couldn't hear what was being said.

SPEAKER_03 22:30

Yeah, um, I had to turn on my caption, and that's why I kind of like picked up on what was going on. But truthfully, I really just from if I was if I couldn't read for whatever reason, I would have a zero idea of what was going on after the movie. The background music, the background things were just louder than the actual dialogue. I assume Ox eventually said yes because then they started getting into business together. Speaking of songs, let's uh let me ask you this. What songs stood out the most to you in this movie? Where you, you know, either popularity or you just like or or whatever? Is there anyone that really helped to drive the scene for you?

SPEAKER_00 23:07

Um drive the scene. So we talked about the opening song. Like that that's probably the real answer.

SPEAKER_03 23:14

Yeah, mine too. This is I didn't want to say it again, but it really is.

SPEAKER_00 23:18

I know, like that that that opening song was just perfect. Um, there was one other one that stood out to me, and I wish I wrote it, I did not write it down. If it comes back to me, I will tell you.

SPEAKER_03 23:32

Okay. Um, so uh after Buns gets back from talking to Ox, again, uh he's you know, kind of telling the plan to Sincere, which is again Nas's character. Nas is on a in another world, essentially, you know, saying, you know, well, what's our purpose in here? What's our purpose on life? What are we trying to do? You know, DMX or Buns is calling a homo. He's like, What you thinking about the purpose is to get money and die. Like, what are we talking about? And Nas is not on that at all. Um, while they're running around, they're showing another potential enemy, uh, this other, I guess, local drug dealer or whatever called Rico, who doesn't know how to eat a banana for some reason, like all the bananas all over his lips the entire time. I it was distracting. I don't know why they kept that in. Did you notice that? Is that just me being weird? Like, I didn't I don't know why they did that.

SPEAKER_00 24:28

So okay. I did I didn't notice he had the pajamas. I was like, what the fuck is going on here? I don't know. Which is funny because usually in movies, um they'll have them eating like an apple, you know, which is weird. It's just like you've seen it, you've noticed that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, yeah. Um, I have the answer, sorry, for your previous question. It was um Sister Nancy, bam, bam.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

So back to Jamaica. Another great one. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. It was so distracting. Like everything was so distracting, and it was so clunky. And damn it. I said I wanted to be invited to the cookout, and I wasn't gonna be bad on this, but I have to stay true to my art here. Not my art, it's not like I'm some freaking big time director or anything, but like, holy hell.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

Hey man, hey man, you're gonna be big time.

SPEAKER_03 25:17

Thanks. It was bad. Like, all the dialogue was either too soft or clunky as hell. There's just things happening, it doesn't make sense. That there's a girl just dancing in front of them as they're talking, and I'm just staring at the girl. Like, is she part of the is she part of the scene? Is is she supposed to be there? Like, what's the fucking extra? This action just took over the scene and like, well, we don't have the money to take her out. So I guess she just goes stand there. I don't understand.

SPEAKER_00 25:48

Oh my gosh. Oh that was too funny.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Yeah. Um all while this is happening, there's they still have their their their their drug um empire they're trying to build, they're having very broad, very, very uh open conversations over house phones, out in public. And I was like, so none of y'all thought they get a fucking burner phone? Like, why are y'all calming these conversations just out like this? Like, what's happening?

SPEAKER_00 26:17

One dude called, I think it was Keisha when he was looking for the buns and was like, he said, Oh, they probably got your phones, tapped it, da da-da-da-da-da. And I was like, So you think the phones are called her talking about the the crimes you guys have done? It was it was done. So I'm like, is this movie gonna shift into like a um we are like some undercover or like snitching and stuff going on? And then it never really went that direction.

SPEAKER_03 26:44

It did go that direction because somebody the the whole thing started with somebody, which I don't know who that was. I don't know if that was Rico. Yeah, I thought it was sincere for a second. I thought it was uh the knowledge person. I didn't know who the hell it was that called the FBI, ATF, and said, hey, yeah, there's guys running drugs in New York. So like it everything, my my fault, listeners, everything kicked off when somebody, they never say who, calls the FBI and says, hey, they're running drugs, and then within like a day, they had apparently enough evidence to have a widespread uh warrant to attack several of the known places for these people, which it takes a while to collect evidence. It takes a while for a judge to sign off. Like, that's why people don't get pinched all day, every day.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

I was like, You have to build a case. That shit takes m.

unknown 27:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 27:36

Um, yeah, so so so we already said it. Uh Knowledge was kind of like, I guess, the second man in charge there. He tries to get in contact with Tommy. Tommy and I say, Hey, where's my bill money? I need to get out of here.

Where's My Bail Money?

SPEAKER_03 27:50

Tommy says, You're on your own, you know, whatever, whatever. Um, I think he's kind of upset because of the instance where he called Keisha while who's already in trouble, and that kind of what what led them to Keisha and Tommy. So maybe that was kind of like a payback thing for that. But again, you have to know the people you're around, and you can't leave people out in a wind because they have too much information. You are too brazen with your shit. Like, you either have to help him or you have to kill it. Like, you can't leave him and be like, Well, fuck you. Like, that doesn't work in this world. Like, they're horrible criminals. Like, there's criminals.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

He was not good at it. Yeah, he was just not good at it.

SPEAKER_03 28:29

It was just like a horror, it was like begging to be caught. And I was like, why? Why aren't you doing this well? Like, you grew up in this life. You should you should know the the pitfalls and the things to avoid. Like, you didn't just walk in and was like, I got this. So it just didn't again, whatever. Um, so we end up in this scene and we're on this part where Method Man is trying to kill Rico. I guess Rico's on to him because all of a sudden Method Man has double vision. I don't know when he drugged Method Man's drink.

SPEAKER_00 29:04

Oh, I saw it.

SPEAKER_03 29:05

Oh, I missed it. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:07

It was literally, they were literally standing right next to each other um when they're in the club. And he put a shit ton of whatever the fuck was in his vial into his drink.

SPEAKER_03 29:19

Oh, damn. I must have turned away because I did not see that.

SPEAKER_00 29:22

Yeah. It was right because you remember when um he had a drink and he turned to Rico and he said, Is it oh, is this one mine? When he asked for the drink? It happened right before that scene. He just poured. It was a lot of things. Yeah, he was trying to kill him. Damn, that's yeah, but like I'm like, I feel like I would have seen that in my dream. It was right after because I feel like I'd have picked up my glass and what the fuck the smoky shit in here.

unknown 29:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:48

Um DMX goes to jail. Or I'm sorry, Buns goes to jail. Um, Buns is DMX. You're gonna hear me flip back and forth because who cares? Yeah. Um Sincere again is clean in all this. He's just I don't know what he's doing. He's gone most of the time.

SPEAKER_00 30:07

So after this happens, what the confusion with Sincere stuff, this this interaction here chips me up because he gets arrested and Sincere gets a call from the jail, the prison, and it says, you know, would you accept this call a call from Tommy? And he says, Yeah, cool. He answers the phone. Who is this? He's like, he's like, hey, yo, what's up? Oh, this Buns. I don't fuck with you no more. Come on, man. You know you my nigga. Yeah, I got you. I was like, what is going on here? He went from I don't know who this is. So I was like, is he are they are they trying to speak in code? To be like, at first I was like, maybe they're trying to speak in code, and then I was like, no, Mari, this is just a shitty written dialogue. That's all this is. There's nothing smart about this or creative. It just it's dumb. It made no sense. He's I I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 31:08

I did you pick that up too, or no, I did pick that up, but I thought that I thought that they were speaking in code because you know, I guess because Sincer is somehow cleaning all this right now, so I thought maybe they didn't want you know each other to be known that they're they're affiliating.

SPEAKER_00 31:29

But then he straight up said, Can you come bail me out? So it starts off like they're in code, but then they drop the code, I feel like halfway through the conversation.

SPEAKER_03 31:39

That's fair. I you know it could be trash. I'm gonna give them benefit of doubt and say that they were trying to be uh somewhat coded and try to leave him out of it. Because right now everybody else is pinched or dead. I don't know why I keep saying pinched like I'm some fucking 60s gangster, but uh they're either in jail or dead right now, so I I I'm gonna assume they were trying to to keep him out of jail as well, because he's the only person on the outside. Um, but yes, if you take it just if you balloon out and just list it apart, it makes no sense. I don't know who you are, don't I don't fuck with you, but I got you whatever you need. And I'm like, oh, so I do fuck with you because I'm now giving you something that you need. Okay, whatever. Umx is still alive at this point in the movie. Um barely though. They uh they finally decide they finally learned that he's the one who orchestrated Sosa's death, and uh they come for him. Umx is drunk off his ass, I guess. I and then uh I still watching soccer. I'm like, first of all, nobody gets about football that bad, but whatever. Um he's Jamaican, of course he's yeah, I know, but still. Either way, he's drunk off his ass, he happens to fall down and land on his camera thing that sees like several shadowy figures coming towards him, so he gets some kind of automatic weapon, and you guys can see Omari's face right now.

SPEAKER_02 33:15

Oh my god. Um listen, yeah, go for it.

SPEAKER_00 33:21

I I I really I'm like there were like eight to twelve dudes. I think it was like an AK-47 he had, right? Yeah, but there were like 12 dudes sneaking into this man's house. I'm sorry. How are you that bad at sneaking up on someone? I don't care that he has cameras, right? Like right now, you're in your home. We're not giving anyone any ideas, right? But let's if somebody tried to sneak up on me right now, it's over. That's someone. Yeah, a small militia tries to sneak up on me with weapons. I'm done.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 33:55

So the fact that they blew that whole thing was very baffling, and then it kind of felt like they told um, because that was um Rankin, right? Who was who was playing uh ox? It felt like they just said to him, Hey man, speak Jamaican. And like, ain't no way what he was saying was written in the script, yeah, you know, a lot of bombacl. He said bombaclot way too much times. We a lot of bombaclot, fucking pussy hole, and the dan dada, all these things. I was like, okay, yeah, we get it, big dog. You from Jamaica, but I was loving it. I really was loving it. I was like, do your thing, you know. He said, fire the pussy. Hey, listen, I was there for it.

SPEAKER_02 34:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Until Catwoman shows up.

SPEAKER_03 34:49

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_00 34:51

And his mother's got she jumps from there has there's an interior balcony in the house, right? And she jumps from that balcony, like she like fucking like poaches herself and she like wee, like jumps down. Yeah. Lands on my guy on his back. And then he hits the ground and then she cuts his throat and she just walks away. I was like, what the fuck is happening? I don't know. Like, literally, I'm like, what is happening? Like they just screwed up the whole scene. It was like this was turned out to be like, I was like, okay, this is a cool little scene here.

SPEAKER_02 35:30

Was it though?

SPEAKER_00 35:31

And um the whole damn scene was dark, poorly lit.

SPEAKER_02 35:35

They couldn't see shakes.

SPEAKER_00 35:36

It was shaky. I just liked I just like Ox being hella Jamaican in there. That's all I liked about it. Can we end this thing? Like, where are we in the movie? Listen, so this happens, right? Where he gets released.

SPEAKER_01 35:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:49

And so now we're about we're we're pretty much at the part where we

Shadow People

SPEAKER_00 35:52

were just talking about where the feds or the shadowy people approach him. You know that happened an hour into the movie? There was like 27 left minutes left in the movie, and they introduced an entirely new plot point, an entirely new just uh fucking journey for for Tommy to go on. And I'm like, we do not have time for this. You guys should be wrapping up the stuff that you already introduced in the first act of the goddamn movie. How are we wrapping up this movie? And you're like, oh yeah, by the way, do this or else we'll kill you. That stressed me out. I was like, we don't have time for this. This is not gonna end well. You ever watch like I'll be watching like especially these more modern-day TV shows, uh, these like Disney Plus shows that don't end well. And I'll be watching a movie, I'll be watching a show, I mean, and I know things aren't going well when I check how much time is left in the in the show, yeah. Right? Because at a certain point in time, you're like, all right, so coming into this, we had 40 44 minutes to do this. We are at the 32-minute mark, and it's like you still have all these things to talk about and to cover. Ain't no way in hell we're gonna be able to do that. Not realistically, this is gonna have a satisfying end right, you know. So when they introduced that at like an hour and maybe 10 minutes into the movie, with like 20-something minutes left. I was like, all right, let me just buckle in here and see what the fuck they're about to do for the next 20 minutes of this movie. And um, my gosh.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

Yeah, I don't know. I don't know. I don't, yeah, it didn't make sense. I thought it was the feds.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Now you're saying it's a shadowy uh entity or something, just to be clear.

SPEAKER_03 37:42

Wikipedia. I thought it was a feds too. Um, but you know, either one doesn't make any sense.

SPEAKER_00 37:47

But that's that's not how feds operate, though. That's not how that even in a fictional world, like you're not just gonna have federal agents come to you like I don't know, that's just all right.

SPEAKER_03 37:57

I mean, you know, it kind of is 90s, it's kind of crooked, so maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 38:02

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 38:02

Maybe, maybe, maybe, be. But I didn't think that they were asking the him. At first, I thought they were asking him to kill the minister. Um, he said, Who do you want me to blast? Right, he did say that. Oh, well, to this agent. I was like, Oh, so can we get him for um conspiracy to murder right now? Because it looked like he was ready to go for that.

SPEAKER_00 38:23

But yeah, he But then he's didn't he say the words take him out.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

He did. He did say take him out. But then like I said, when he was on the phone with or in the car with him, it sounded like he said, Oh, we need you to plant the drugs. So I was like, Oh, so just want to get him in trouble and like discredit him. Okay, whatever. But then, you know, he showed up with a gun to the man's face.

SPEAKER_00 38:43

I think it was both. I think it was put the drugs that kill him, so it looks like Oh, I mean, it could be both.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

The minister was wrapped up in some drugs and got killed. That's fair, that's fair, that's fair. That's what I think. That's fair, that's fair, that's fair. Um, so we're at the end. Let's just get to the end. So I'll go for it. Yeah. You're gonna say something.

SPEAKER_00 38:58

No, do it.

SPEAKER_03 38:59

So the minister, so we're face to face with the minister. Um, since here and T Boz decided to go to Africa, I guess. So they're out. Um, since uh the Buns is here with the with the minister, he's kind of turning his life around, I guess. I don't know. Um, he has a gun to his face. The minister tells him he was expecting him. Um, but and he sent all his bodyguards away because he wants to have a face-to-face conversation with him. Um Bunns question, I'm sorry, and the minister asks him uh that he if he knows he's part of God's plan, and he tells Bunz that God will overcome all this evil. Um, he asks Bunz to help him protect the greatest resource, which he calls a black woman, which again it bothered me because they treated black

Do You Even Like Black Women?

SPEAKER_03 39:45

women horribly throughout the entire movies. I'm like, oh now you want to be like, oh, that's my greatest asset or or whatever. I'm like, get the fuck out of here, bro. Like, seriously, like I'm gonna talk about it, I'm gonna rant about it real quick.

SPEAKER_00 39:56

Like, do it, do it.

SPEAKER_03 39:59

The women in the film, especially Keisha, especially since she's a darker skinned woman, woman compared to like T-Boz or whatever. They they either put her, like you said, she was oiled up the whole damn time. Like everything was loud, it was flashy, it was sexualized, but there was no actual like understanding of her voice. She got she got thrown in jail too, and men did not go for it. Nobody protected her. T Boz had to come um bail her out. Um, like at the end, she's attacked for uh uh she's attacked for yeah, reasons. Yeah, she's attacked by by Method Man's character, but Method Man first approached T-Baz character, which her name was T. I was like, oh, very, very subtle guys. So her name was T, T Ann, I think, but they called her T.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:45

They they were like six men deep in her house. She's like, get out. They were like, Alright, they left. I was like, oh, okay. They because they were there to question Sincere to see where Buns is. But Sincere wasn't there, T Boss was there, she said get out, they left. No problem, no harm, no foul.

SPEAKER_00 41:01

She did pull it out.

SPEAKER_03 41:02

She did pull a gun on them, but come on. Like she might have clipped one, but she was definitely getting killed if she really, if it was really about to go down. So whatever.

SPEAKER_00 41:10

True.

SPEAKER_03 41:11

Method Man's character decides that they know where Keisha is and they're gonna get it one way or another. So they so Method Man by himself comes to Keisha. Keisha stands up, like, hey, who are you? She doesn't know these people, she's not involved in the life like that. She was just enjoying, you know, being, you know, being having a man who was kind of kingpinish, but has some money, a little flashy stuff, a little, you know, a little a little bit known in the neighborhood, but she's not like that girl, like you would, you know. So um, he immediately she's like, I don't know who you are, and immediately he just close fist, knocks her the fuck out. Like, oh my god, just unnecessarily, like just into a glass, a fucking glass table. Glass. I it felt like it was giving like a sexual assault type of vibes a little bit, like it was giving that a little bit, and I'm like, why?

SPEAKER_00 42:09

Which was randomly. It was like that, none of that that had nothing to do with the DNA of the movie, so why is this happening? I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 42:16

It was just like I just felt like he did women, especially the darker skinned woman on in the show wrong here or the the movie wrong here.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Speak on it, speak on it.

SPEAKER_03 42:25

Uh, and I was very disappointed with that. I like come on, bro. Come on, bro. Like, come on. Um, so yeah, shame on you, hype Williams. Shame on you. But let's get back to the end so we can get the hell out of here. Um, so uh the minister is saying all these things, he wants to stop violence, he wants to choose light over darkness. Um, and uh that's the end of the movie, folks.

SPEAKER_00 42:50

Well, okay, okay, hold on, okay. Okay. You know what? Like you're being funny, but that is practically how abruptly the movie fucking ended. Like you're not even that way off base, right? So and I I two things I want to touch on, right? I want to touch on the minister's speech, and then I have what Bun said, what Tommy said. I I'll read that in a minute. But what the minister was saying, like, did that move you at all? Or

The Minister's Message

SPEAKER_00 43:20

like did it did it work for you, the minister figure, and what he was saying and who's preaching and everything? Yeah, so to Tommy.

SPEAKER_03 43:28

So I think that it was it was impactful. I I didn't put enough, they didn't have enough time, so they didn't put enough energy into who this person was and how they were trying to better the uh the community. But I'm just thinking about the 90s coming out of the 80s, where crack cocaine just devastated especially big uh large uh metropolitan areas like New York, where there's a large amount of black people there. Um, and I'm thinking I'm trying to put myself in that mindset and like why. People are trying to do to try to better the community. So, from that perspective of knowing what is going on, yes, it is move, it is impactful, and is like, okay, I see where he's trying to go with this and trying to like put a vacuum message out there, like, hey, let's stop the violence. But then in the context of the movie, though. Yeah. No, in the context of the movie, he didn't put enough energy into that storyline for it to be really impactful. Yeah. He could have shot him in the face, and I'd be like, oh, okay. Next. Oh wow, he shot that guy. Yeah, it would have done nothing for me.

SPEAKER_00 44:36

So it makes me think of in New Jack City, right? We had the old man who served kind of a similar rule to the pastor in a sense. But the old man showed up in each act of the movie. He had brief roles, brief encounters, but there was a connective through line throughout that entire movie. So that when spoiler alert for New Jack City, but when the old man kills Nino Brown at the end, you're like, wow. You know, like if it felt something. This minister, in a vacuum, yes, everything he said, okay, is powerful stuff, but in the context of the movie, it just didn't make any fucking sense. And because it's like we were watching a 30-minute TV show, a 20-minute, 24-minute TV show. Because this all this started happening in that back end of the movie. So they say to us that um Tommy, you know, he infiltrated, I don't know how you infiltrate a fucking church. You just go to church. Like that's what also confused me. They made me, at first, I thought that homeboy was like another crime lord, you know, masquerading as a priest or something. I was like, no, this is a real priest. So when they said infiltrate, no, he just started going to church, guys. Like, that's not an infiltration.

SPEAKER_03 45:53

Yeah, he wasn't part of like the higher echelon, he wasn't anything. He was just a church goer. Yeah, he just knew where he was that day and went.

SPEAKER_00 46:03

And then it had a powerful impact on Tommy. At least that's what Sincere tells us. And then we do have that coffee shop scene with Sincere and Tommy, which didn't work because it did not feel like two old friends reconnecting and seeing how they've grown and changed over time. And that's what that scene was supposed to do, and it didn't do that, right? So that whole preacher stuff, it was just I had to keep rewinding it because I'm like, dude, like what the f like, what is happening? I'm not feeling this like the way I should. And then so now Tommy has the decision. Tommy says, Once I found out the clock was ticking, it's got the clock. I'ma stick with him nah. Kill him because revenge is all the nigga think about in the end. But I'm going on a binge, brother, to my sins. Fuck y'all niggas. Born by myself, die by myself, place the triggers. And if you don't if you don't know, don't know what it's gonna be in the end. T minus 3, 2, 1. Amen. Outside of being a fire fucking bar, what does that have to do with anything? Who is he seeking revenge on? This minister hasn't wronged Tommy in any way. He doesn't have any ill blood against him. He is doing this, I guess, to survive, but I just and then they ended the movie. After this happened, the movie ended in like 20 seconds. It was like, all right, we're done. Uh since there's oh, by the way, guys, I'm in Africa. Yeah, I don't think they're bullshit. They couldn't even bullshit, put a fucking backdrop of what pissed me out. I forgot to mention this earlier. He kept telling his girl, let's go to Africa, let's go to Africa. Hey, listeners, Africa is not just a place, it is a continent comprised of many countries of varying cultures and ethnicities and just languages and and so forth. So to say you're going to Africa doesn't mean anything. Yeah, really. Yeah. And they never cleared that up. And at the end of the movie, he's like, Yeah, wow. I opened my eyes, wow, it's like I mean, I am in Africa. I can't believe it. Yeah, because you're not, dog.

SPEAKER_03 48:13

Like this, this just it wasn't even a shot of them in some kind of like this is Africa type of shot. They were showing the ball drop in New York City the whole time while he's talking about being in Africa. So I'm like, is New York City Africa?

SPEAKER_00 48:27

Show us show us them at the airport and ensure that the destination is Ghana, Ethiopia, or so they at least give us that. They're right to show that they're about to do the journey. He's just talking about being in Africa while we see people celebrate New Year's in New York. Oh my god, this movie?

SPEAKER_03 48:46

Fuck. Yeah, and uh that's it, folks. That's Belly. Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:55

Can we score this thing? Do you have more?

SPEAKER_03 48:58

Like, I'm all good. I'm all good. Do you know that there was a belly to with the game? Um, it was filled in 2005.

SPEAKER_00 49:08

They created it?

SPEAKER_03 49:09

Yeah, yeah. It's filled in 2005 with the game in there called Millionaire Boys Club. Um, Lionsgate was behind it. Right. So, you know.

SPEAKER_00 49:18

Was it Belly Millionaire Boys Club?

SPEAKER_03 49:22

Or it's called Belly Two uh Poland Millionaire Boys Club.

SPEAKER_00 49:29

Huh. Okay. No, I had no idea. Why was this movie called Belly, by the way?

SPEAKER_02 49:35

Sir? Sir?

SPEAKER_03 49:37

Sir?

SPEAKER_00 49:38

Whose belly are we rubbing in?

SPEAKER_03 49:39

Sir? That's actually one of my questions to you, motherfucker. You took my shit. So what do you think belly actually means?

SPEAKER_00 49:47

I don't fucking know. Um, in the belly of the beast, I guess, is like the only thing in my mind, but it didn't. That's such an artistic name for what was not a very artistic movie. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:02

Like, no. It wasn't. You're just being cute, I didn't think. Yeah, there was nothing tying anything to anything. There was nothing that was very obvious. This is why it's called a belly. This is why, like, if if there was like a a street or a project called the belly, and they were from it or something, and I was like, okay, okay, okay. I see where it's coming. I see where the hunger is coming from. Where is nothing? It was just belly, and I was like, all right. Obviously, this is a belly of the beast type thing. So, okay, we could kind of go there.

SPEAKER_00 50:29

Thematically, even thematically and metaphorically, it still doesn't work for what actually happens in the movie.

SPEAKER_03 50:34

Yeah, no, it doesn't. Like the movie is all about money and like some kind of hunger for power in some way. Um, and killing silencing priests, yeah, do that in the movie. Yeah, the yeah, the priest thing really messed it up. Like, I don't know why they did that. Like, they really should have left that alone and and or focused only on that.

SPEAKER_00 50:55

Focus on that, that would have been a better movie. If this priest is like in the background, yeah, we should have seen him from the beginning of the movie. I like when we do this when we like improve these movies, but like this showed us in the beginning of the movie, and this guy is just going about like a little modern-day MLK doing his thing, and maybe he's like in the background, but he's still there, yeah, you know, and then eventually there is that encounter between them or whatever. I don't know. And then then later on at the end, now we could have him making a choice. I don't know. That that yeah, yeah. You had you had to we don't even know why, yeah. Why did the people, the feds or the organ, whoever, why did they want this guy killed? We don't even know that.

SPEAKER_03 51:38

Yeah, so I'm you know, based this based on the research, it is just there was a beacon of hope within like the black community with this guy and preaching like, hey, we need um to like put down the guns, do the violence, and so need to stop the stop the voice. So it's an MLK yeah, MLK, out sharpton type of vibe, just trying to like we need to kill that noise because people are listening. So like we need to you know either discredit him with the drugs or kill him. So or do both, whatever. Um but yeah, it's a better movie. Yeah, there was there was a there was the movie was split into two and they shoved it together. Either needed to be like uh a Scarface esque, which is I think what they were trying to do, but they never actually got to that level. Started off doing correct, or you need to see like the beginning where they're like the you know, kind of dope boys, and one of them or both of them gets pinched, and they both or one of them infiltrates, you know, somebody that this person or whatever comes and says, Hey, we'll let you out if you do this, and then the whole movie is them literally infiltrating, literally getting to the higher level, the proper echelon and having some kind of influence on this person, and then at the end, when he was like, Hey, choose light over darkness, it would have been more impactful because otherwise nothing he said really should have should have done anything to Tommy, he should have just ignored it because we didn't yo, we didn't see Tommy battle with light versus darkness the whole time.

SPEAKER_00 52:58

We didn't, you know. So, yeah, hey, listen.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

All right, well, if anyone wants to contact us for to write a script from this, you gotta come on. It'll take us six months, but we'll wrap it up for you. No worries.

SPEAKER_00 53:12

All right, all right, let's rate this thing, sir.

Ratings And Final Scores

SPEAKER_00 53:15

Go for it. Oh, for any newcomers, we rate our movies based on five categories: plot and writing, acting, casting, production, cinematography, music and sound, and then cultural impact. Everything is rated on a scale of one to ten. Jill, what do you got for plot and writing?

SPEAKER_03 53:34

Plot and writing, we got a two for this one. Um it's messy, it's rushed, it's bad. I want to give it a one, but I don't want to do that because it's a black movie. I'm gonna be very honest. So I'm gonna do two. Oh shit.

SPEAKER_00 53:45

Don't say that.

SPEAKER_03 53:47

I gotta do what I gotta do.

SPEAKER_00 53:49

Uh I gave it a one.

SPEAKER_03 53:52

Oh. Well, you're here, folks.

SPEAKER_00 53:54

Yeah, that's why I'm like, don't say that because now I look like black people. So now you know. Oh my god. All our other black movies have great ratings for me. I just want to put that. Check out our black history movies. If you go on YouTube, there's a black history, black kings and queens section. Check out those movies.

SPEAKER_03 54:16

I was gonna say that's because both of them have black, uh black, most of them have uh either uh um Denzel Washington or Samuel L. Jackson in them.

SPEAKER_01 54:25

So I know they're highly rated.

SPEAKER_03 54:28

All right, go for it. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_00 54:30

All right. Acting and casting, what do you have there?

SPEAKER_03 54:35

You know, this is difficult because I think this is one of if well, we know you already gave us the info info that this is DMX's first. I think this is Methaband's first. I mean, these are really big Nas is first, yeah. Nas is trash. I'm not even bothering with him. Um because those other two went on to actually do something with their with their acting. So I'm gonna I'm gonna give them credit. Um DMX didn't do a bad job. It's I think I want to put the onus on the director and the onus on the connection between him and Nas, which kind of held him back. I think it could have been more felt from him, but we were just watching the two of them uh arrange marriage that went nowhere. So I don't know. Uh come back to me, come back to me. Let me decide.

SPEAKER_00 55:31

Wow. Okay, so this is actually Method Man's fourth.

SPEAKER_03 55:37

That's his fourth movie. Fourth movie? Third movie. Oh, was How High? Third movie. Was How High First?

SPEAKER_00 55:43

Uh no, he had so there's something called the Great White Hype. But that's I think that was just a cameo, so I'm not counting that one. Okay. But he did the 187. He did 187. Oh, that's that um Samuel Jackson movie. Oh, that's not very good. Do you have you seen it? No, I have not. He's his teacher, yeah. He's his teacher. Um he's teaching like in his poor neighborhood or whatever, like in LA, and then he gets like beat up by some of the students, so he moves elsewhere. It's it's a weird movie, it's very weird. I don't know. Anyway, and then he was also in something called Copland. Looks like Stallone was in that. Okay. So yeah, those both came out in 99. So this is his third movie. Um, so I don't know. For me, for acting and casting, I have a two. I'm thinking about bumping it to a three because of Method Man, but like his role just didn't make it. I I have to be careful that I'm not double dinging, like we talked about before, because of the plot and you know. Um so I'm gonna give it a three because although I did not aren't Method Man's character didn't make sense, he did a good job. I every time he was on the screen, you could tell he was comfortable in his role. Um, and I'll I'll throw a little give a little blind to DMX for his first role ever. So I'm I'm I'm at a three.

SPEAKER_03 57:11

I was at a one, but I think I'm doing exactly what you said. So with that in mind, I've already dinged them for the plot and writing, and I already gave the director he he he fucked that. He fucked that bad. He could have done a lot better. Um, so individually, just looking at their stories, I can give DMX and Method Man and the Jamaican dude who I forgot his name, but that guy, he did good too. Um I can give him a three. I can give him a three as well.

SPEAKER_00 57:39

Okay, okay, okay, cool, cool, cool. Uh production, cinematography, and visuals.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

Yeah, one. It's embarrassing.

SPEAKER_00 57:49

I thought I thought you were gonna score this higher, and I did read that people were like um what they were really excited about the visuals, and I'm like, did we watch the same movie? Because I have a two here, so I was like, what's the thing?

SPEAKER_03 58:06

I understand, yeah. The one. I understand what he was trying to do, but it was too dark. Don't the entire movie was too dark. Most of it was like you had no idea what was happening, you had no idea who was who, and it took away from them. You can't you can't do that, like it takes away from the story. I'm spending too much time trying to figure out who are you and why should I care? Yeah, or or what was that? What just happened? Who did that? Spending too much time doing that, so it just he kills it. So I I you know one on one at one of that. I mean, this is one and done, so you could tell why. So he gets a one from me on that one.

SPEAKER_00 58:43

Okay, what do you have for music and sound?

SPEAKER_03 58:46

I I go high on this because you know it's 90s rap music or hip-hop music, RB music, uh, yeah, and dance hall music. So I I give it an eight for this.

SPEAKER_00 58:57

An eight. Yeah. You know, uh I had a five and then I dropped it to a four. Oh Jesus. And the reason I did that, I the reason I did that is because I just I didn't like how he was using the music. Like I thought the music was being used as a distraction to distract us from what was going on. It really was, or that they didn't have this shit to get it. It really was. And but I'm gonna go back up to my five, I'll leave it at my five. But I the music was amazing, uh, really good soundtrack. It charted five on the billboard, you know, um, when it when it released, and it was certified gold. It's a very good album, good music. Um, I just hated how it was employed in a movie, but I will leave, I'll put it at a five. Yeah, because I think I already the it's so good. I think the reason it's a five is I already drop I already dropped it because of that. So for me to drop it any further is a bit insulting. So I'm gonna put it at a five. Okay. Cultural impact. What do you have?

SPEAKER_03 59:57

Yeah, this one is weird because again, when it came out, yes. I I could I remember it being talked about a lot, even though I I didn't see it, but it's not for at least 10 years, because in college I heard people talking about it too. Oh, okay. Maybe I just wasn't around the right people because I really don't I don't hear anything about it. It's not a Friday, it's not uh it's not a boys in a hood, it's not a Harlan Knights, it's not a that New Jack City, it's not a New Jack City Um, it's not a set it off where you like anybody you tell out that like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:28

Belly is like Oh, I'm about to set it off.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:33

Belly is like I'm sure I'm scoring off the top of my dome because I didn't score. So I'm gonna go with a five because I know it's important, but it's not on that level of like other black movies that are equally or not equally or what we consider like important. So I'll give it a five.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:02

Okay, you gotta think about it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:06

I also I also this was the one category I couldn't score for all the same reasons you you said. Um I mean I'll I'll give it a four.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:19

Here it is, folks. Another bad pick by Jay Richardson.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:25

So this, um hey, listen. All right, so your final score is a 3.8, and mine is a solid three.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:38

That's still higher than fucking red eye, isn't it? Or um or white chicks?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:43

Um yeah, I had fun watching red eye though.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:46

Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Like fun watching this. This is not on that level. I'm I I think the um I think the music really pushed it up because this not it's not above white chicks or red eye for me. But no, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:58

So so okay, so you do have it higher than white chicks because your music you drive you dragged your score. That's 3.8, because white chicks, we both have a 3.6.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:09

Um, yeah, fine. Whatever.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:11

It's fine.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:13

You can adjust it if you want, but yeah, I had and that mine's is only a three because I gave them points for the cultural impact. I'm not even convinced of that four because mine was about to be like a 2.8 or a 2.6 or something. I just felt bad having a black movie rate that low. Um, so yeah, yeah. This is now this is our lowest rated rated movie, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:39

The other thing I didn't give even though the spoken word in the beginning and at the end, it was it was great. It was nice. It just didn't it didn't add anything to the actual movie.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:50

Because weird Nas, Nas and DMX, they both have amazing voices, yeah. You know, like they're great MCs.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:57

And they're great MCs, great writers, like yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

Yeah, so the times when it was just Nas spitting something or or DMX like that that close in line, it was cool, but had nothing to do with what we were we were watching, you know. So it's this was a tough, this was a tough. This is our this is our most my most disappointed movie that we've done. I had high hopes for Belly, and um I feel like before we watched this movie, I would have assumed my score would have been like in the six or like a seven range or something, and it's way below.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Me too. I I thought it was like a I've never seen it, so I thought it was gonna be one of the higher movies, and I'm like trying to be like, okay, don't just rate it high because it's black, like be better. So I was like, all right.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:41

Correct. But yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:43

I'm just I have a note. I just have notes and notes and notes of what is this? What is happening?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:47

So like same, same. There's there was one part where I think it was when the um the feds or whoever were telling Buns what to do, and it was like, Do you understand? And he said, Yeah, I understand. I said, I start typing, I said, No, wait, I don't understand any of this. Like, I really like no, I don't I'm so

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SPEAKER_00 1:04:10

confused. Oh my gosh. All right, well, yeah, that that'll do it for oh that will do it for our real talk and banter on belly to connect with us to give us some feedback or just say hello, email us at real talkbanter at gmail.com. That's r-e-e-l talk banter at gmail.com. Thanks for listening.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:38

T minus one. Damn, it's t minus three two one, ain't it? Amen. Wait, all men, amen. Which would we go? I don't know. I like all men.