Notorious (Single-Disc Edition) |  | Director: George Tillman Jr.
Actors: Jamal Woolard, Anthony Mackie, Derek Luke, Mohamed Dione, Dennis L.A. White
Studio: Twentieth Century Fox
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy Used: $1.24
as of 2/10/2010 05:07 EST details
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Seller: Pre-Viewed New Releases
Rating:  31 reviews
Sales Rank: 3354
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Region: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Number Of Discs: 1
Running Time: 122 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.4 x 5.3 x 0.6
MPN: 2258064
UPC: 024543580645
EAN: 0024543580645
ASIN: B001TUZGPO
Theatrical Release Date: 2009
Release Date: April 21, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
THE LIFE AND DEATH STORY OF NOTORIOUS B.I.G. (A.K.A. CHRISTOPHER WALLACE), WHO CAME STRAIGHT OUT OF BROOKLYN TO TAKE THE WORLD OF RAP MUSIC BY STORM.
Amazon.com
In music terms, Brooklyn’s Christopher "Biggie Smalls" Wallace was a hip-hop superstar to rival Oakland’s Tupac Shakur. In movie terms, however, 2Pac has long overshadowed B.I.G. with the films he made as an actor and the documentaries that followed in the wake of his similarly-unsolved murder. George Tillman Jr. (Soul Food, Men of Honor) aims to correct that imbalance with Notorious, the authorized biography of the larger-than-life New York rapper. Produced by his mother, Voletta Wallace (played by Angela Bassett), and record producer Sean "Puffy" Combs (Derek Luke), Tillman presents Biggie as a bright child who grew up to be a drug dealer before finding his true calling on stage, only to be cut down in the prime of life. In his feature-film debut, Jamal "Gravy" Woolard captures Biggie's complexity--the loyalty to his crew, the disloyalty to his ladies (including Lil' Kim and Faith Evans)--but struggles to make him as sympathetic as the figure that emerges in Nick Broomfield's Biggie & Tupac, simply because the script relies too heavily on the usual musical-bio clichés. Fortunately, several bright spots elevate the scenario, such as Anthony Mackie as Pac, Christopher Wallace Jr. as young Biggie, and Woolard's rapping, which segues seamlessly into B.I.G.'s (the soundtrack mixes original tracks with remakes). If Notorious isn't a failure, it isn't a triumph either, but Tillman has crafted it with love and respect, and only a stone could remain unmoved by the real-life funeral footage at the end. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Stills from Notorious (Click for larger image)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
 Sicka Than Your Average Poppa February 2, 2010
Sky (New York)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Wow. Talk about a guy born to play a role....Did Jamal Woolard absolutely nail the part of The Notorious B.I.G. or what?!? Watching Woolard in Notorious was like looking into a magic window that let you see Biggie Smalls back in the days of his rise to fame and ultimate untimely death.
Unfortunately, while Woolard shined in his role of Christopher Wallace, a.k.a Biggie Smalls, a.k.a The Notorious B.I.G., the rest of the cast was fair to good at best, and the story was a bit one-sided and breezed over or just plain skipped a lot of details.
Instead of focusing on Biggie's music and the infamous East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry of the mid-nineties, the movie focused mostly on Biggie's personal life and how what was going on around him affected him mentally--giving only snippets of the stories and leaving much of the detail out of what was going on around him. And the telling of these stories was, in my opinion, extremely one-sided and sketchy.
My guess is that the producers of Notorious decided that the movie was to be a tribute to Biggie--making him out to be somewhat of a saint--and not a documentary that would not only have made Biggie look a bit thuggish, but also would have needed to do the same with others in the East-West rivalry. It would have been a very difficult movie to make if more detail were included on "the why" and "the how" of the rivalry versus just the personal affect it had on Biggie. No, I can't imagine the producers wanted to start portraying Biggie as a cause of his own death any more than they would have wanted to directly point the finger at an individual (like Suge Knight) or group like the LA gangs.
So what you get with Notorious is a relatively soft view into the story of the East-West coast rivalry. You also get only a limited look at Biggie's music and the making of it. But you get a heavy dose of a kinder-gentler Biggie and that part of his personal life.
If you like The Notorious B.I.G. and / or have any awareness of the East-West rivalry thing, and you want a one-sided view of how it all went down, you should enjoy as I did this interesting movie. Rent it or see it on cable.
an entertaining movie January 30, 2010
Edubb (Richmond, Va)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This movie is definitely for hip hop fans. The movie was a excellent tribute to one of this genre of nusic's favorite artist. Although all was not revealed about Biggie's death, the message was clear, Biggie and Pac did not have to die to be lehends cause they were always legends.
 Very Happy with Results January 27, 2010
D. Amos (Sacramento, Ca)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
The DVD was in excellect condition and I will continue to purchase from this company.
Notorious January 7, 2010
Arnita D. Brown (USA)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
In just a few short years, Notorious B.I.G. rose from the streets of Brooklyn to become one of the most influential hip hop artists of all time. B.I.G. was a gifted storyteller; his narratives about violent life on the streets were told with a gritty, objective realism that won him enormous respect and credibility. His stories were universal and gave a voice to his generation. A complex and involving biopic about the Notorious B.I.G. that never quite gives the full picture of its enigmatic central figure, but a good movie in many ways.
 A disappointing portrayal of an amazing talent. December 28, 2009
F. Greer (Chicago, IL)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When this movie first came out, I was so excited to see a biography of such a talented artist. Boy, was I disappointed.
The movie was quite obviously engineered and manipulated by Puffy and Bad Boy Records. Throughout the film, Puffy was portrayed as a virtual saint--always "saving the day" with his words of wisdom and innocence. He was never shown doing drugs (despite nearly everyone else smoking blunts throughout the whole movie), participating in the sex-filled music scene, or doing anything that would shed even a hint of a shadow upon him. It was quite sickening how saintly he is portrayed, especially when we all know better.
Tupac's portrayal was also hard to believe. His character made odd appearances throughout the film, always appearing as a paranoid, hyper-acting, shallow punk. As a huge Tupac fan, I was quite offended by the way he is portrayed.
The east/west feud was knocked down to a simple misunderstanding fueled by Tupac's baseless paranoia and the media. Biggie was portrayed as a victim of the feud. He just couldn't understand why Tupac would suddenly turn on him, since they had always been friends. (Poor little B.I.G.) All responsibility for fighting and fueling the feud was put on the media and Tupac. None was put onto Biggie or the saintly Puffy. They were helpless victims in the whole thing.
Biggie and Faith Evan's relationship was poorly developed. The movie seemed to focus more on Big and Kim's relationship than his and Faith's marriage. It was quite confusing.
Big's first child with his high school girlfriend was ill-developed and just plain confusing. His girlfriend was not even introduced until she showed up to tell him she was pregnant. Then, she was virtually dropped, making minor appearances from then on. The best way I can describe it is just plain weird.
Throughout the movie, song lyrics were dropped in as dialogue, such as "mo money, mo problems" and "to change the world, you have to change yourself." It seemed fake and engineered--a real eye-roller.
Though the movie was quite long, it was difficult to understand. Characters were abruptly introduced and had sudden major roles, but I couldn't figure out who they were. I actually had to review Biggie's biography while watching the movie to figure out exactly what was going on.
The film did have some positive notes. Some of the casting was wonderful. Lil' Kim and Biggie were both spot-on believable--the way they spoke, their mannerisms and their rapping. And the music was, of course, fantastic.
Maybe Shug will now produce a rival, west-coast rendition of Tupac's life. :-P
I'm sure if he does, it will have the nerve and gumption that Notorious does not.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 31
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