The Carter (2009)

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Blistering performances.

In essence, I think Lil' Wayne is a genius. And an idiot. And by mixing those two elements - sadly by drinking a lot of cough syrup and smoking a lot of weed - Wayne claims to have recorded over a thousand songs, dabbles in all types of genres, his home has been raided by the FBI because of charges that his record company made, he's released mix-tapes into the Internet and made his record label furious... The list goes on. And his music, as this documentary makes clear from the start, does really say all about his life. What's really remarkable about him is that he mostly doesn't care about what other people think, and tries to break out from himself. He goes beyond rap. At the same time, he's entwined with all the stereotypes that make rap what it is; by no coincidence does he state that he never drinks, only to in the next sentence say "Only a champagne now and then", true to all the stereotypes that follow Baby and Cash Money Millionaires. All in all: inspirational, tragic and genial. Definitely worth seeing, and be sure, Wayne will prevail.

This may be one of the most compelling and interesting documentary ever made of such a unique person and artist. It hides nothing showing everything about Wayne and his world. Wayne is such a character that no one has ever seen before in cinema history. Who at times is really crazy and outrageously weird. This shows how original and different Wayne is making the documentary more entertaining because the kind of character being presented. He does and says what he wants when he wants. With originality and talent which does make him the greatest rapper alive right now. If you are not Wayne fan this documentary may be a waste of your time but Wayne fans will really enjoy this beginning to end.

Adam Bhala Lough is a director who's all flash with no substance. I thought "Bomb The System" was empty chop chop chop unoriginal stuff. Now here he is with The Carter and once again the movie is all style, no center. Hip-hop is a culture and music that needs originality, or it will die. Lil' Wayne has brought a little bit of originality to the game in the last couple years. But Bhala Lough can't match him, so what we get is MTV style visuals, making the film feel dated and tired. There's no risk taking and in the end the movie feels deflated, as opposed to energized. I kept waiting for the movie to take a breath and do some thing original, but it never did. I think Bhala Lough would be great in Hollywood making movies like Brett Ratner. He's the next Brett Ratner.

When going into a documentary about Lil' Wayne, one of America's most popular rappers today, it wasn't at all surprising to see that most of the people at the premiere, even though it was at Sundance, were mostly in the age range of about 15-25. And it was probably a good thing too, because if you're not a fan of rap or hip-hop, and you're not really sure who Lil' Wayne is, then this movie is definitely not for you. If you don't like Lil' Wayne then this movie certainly won't change your mind. In fact, it will probably only make you hate him more. But if you do like him, then this is definitely a movie worth seeing.The film basically follows the life of Wayne for several months, capturing concert footage, interviews, recordings, and everything in between. And the everything in between usually includes smoking large quantities of pot and constantly drinking cough syrup mixed with A&W. While I certainly enjoyed the footage of watching him spit, the concerts, and all the good music that goes along with it, it was hard for me to really care about Wayne. Not that this was the fault of the filmmakers, but rather Wayne himself constantly says and does things that are incredibly arrogant, self-centered, and naive. From blaming George Bush for Hurricane Katrina (he suggests that it should be called Hurricane George), to sporting his ridiculous amounts of diamond studded bling, to saying that he doesn't care at all what anyone thinks, to wearing his robe which says "The Greatest Rapper," it's hard to care about someone who seems so wrapped up in himself.But it's hard to deny a lot of the creativity that has earned Wayne his fame. Last year, he recorded over 250 songs. For Wayne, it's a necessity to take his mic with him everywhere, just in case he gets an idea or needs to let a song flow out, he has it with him, as he never writes down his lyrics. He just turns the mic on and starts rapping. The footage of this is great, and the director managed to get a lot of personal insight into Wayne's life. Wayne's daughter also made several appearances in the film, and she was very cute, but it felt like the director was trying to inspire sympathy by adding her in. And none of the footage even showed the two of them together, so we never really get to see if he's actually a good father or not. Wayne is also very contradictory at times, saying that alcohol is bad for you and that he never drinks it, but then openly supports cocaine and ecstasy. The film also tended to get a bit repetitive, but for the most part it was fun to watch. So overall, if you enjoy Lil' Waynes music, then i would recommend seeing this to get some insight into his life, but otherwise the movie might seem like a more in-depth version of MTV Cribs, in which you can either envy or be disgusted by the excesses of Lil' Wayne.