Reddit reviews The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
We found 15 Reddit comments about The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
I guess you never read Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets or The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood, both by David Simon, creator of The Wire.
Freeway Rick Ross has a book. I haven't read it, so I can't really say how good it is. There is another book you might be interested in called The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood. It's not exactly what you are looking for, but if you are interested in this subject I would highly recommend reading it.
Of these projects, I most enjoyed The Wire. But it's worth evaluating each of these projects in terms of what they were trying to accomplish, since they all had different goals.
This was adapted from Simon's book Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets, but I don't know how much Simon worked on the show day-to-day.
This show is much more of a crime procedural than any of the other works here. And with a few notable exceptions—e.g., Luther Mahoney or Brodie—the near-exclusive default point-of-view is that of the police.
The show was groundbreaking for network TV at the time. For one thing, at least one of the main-cast characters was a cop who was an asshole and basically corrupt. This show also demonstrated that the bosses and their subordinates do not always see eye-to-eye, and not just in the "crusty-but-benign" way described in the movie Network, either. Most cop shows at the time didn't just show cops, but they identified with the cops' perspective. (This is still pretty common today.) This is legitimate, but showing that cops have human foibles which have on-the-job repercussions was taking a chance, especially for a network show at that time. And, like The Wire, it got critical acclaim but relatively small (but devoted!) audiences.
The show's style was very different from that of, say, The Wire. For example, it had a non-diegetic score and camera moves that were more likely to draw attention to themselves. H:LotS also included collaborations with Baltimore native Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana. The latter went on to create HBO's Oz, and you can see plenty of influence there from Homicide.
H:LotS was also able to attract high-level talent throughout its run. Not only was the regular and recurring cast very strong (as you'd likely expect, even without having seen a single episode), but it attracted a number of actors best known for their film work. As just one example, Robin Williams appeared in the second season premiere, playing the husband of a crime victim. Steve Buscemi played an odious racist. Arguably, though, the most memorable guest appearance was Moses Gunn as Risley Tucker, the sole suspect in the homicide of 11-year old Adena Watson. Gunn may not be a household name, but he's been in projects from the original Shaft to Roots to stage performances.
Homicide was also remarkable, especially at the time, in that it shot on location in Baltimore. (For context, consider that Vancouver (almost) never plays itself; typically, a show at the time would be shot in New York or Los Angeles, even it it's set in another city.) It also helped establish some of the vocabulary familiar to those who've watched The Wire: "the box", "the board", etc.
This was a six-part miniseries for HBO based on David Simon's book about real-life addicts and dealers. If Homicide was primarily a show from the perspective of the cops, The Corner introduced what life was really like for those who lived in places like West Baltimore.
For me, Homicide was always more stylized in its aesthetic, but more traditional in the types of stories it tried to tell. It was groundbreaking relative to other cop shows, but it still chose the cops' vantage points as the default. The Corner inverted this.
A lot of the content from The Corner will be familiar to those who've already seen The Wire. (And, conversely, those who've seen The Corner would have some useful frame of reference for the events depicted in The Wire.) One attribute The Corner clearly focused on was authenticity. Homicide was a solid show, but The Corner felt real. Much of the cast of The Corner reappears in The Wire, too. And some of the real-life people whose lives Simon chronicled in his book played minor characters on The Wire. One of the most notable examples was the late DeAndre McCullough, who played Brother Mouzone's assistant Lamar.
Again: a killer cast. A good story, well-told. And, for a change-of-pace: even some Emmy nominations and wins!
I trust you're all familiar with this, right? :)
I think having laid some groundwork with the reporting which underlay Homicide and The Corner, The Wire had the basis to be incredibly ambitious. It told stories from the perspectives of cops and dealers and dope fiends and stevedores and City Hall and newspaper newsrooms. It also had a definite point-of-view, and it was unafraid to advocate for its argument, but by showing and not merely telling. Yes, it's about all the conflict between characters on all sides of the law. But it's also making some very important arguments: the drug war is unwinnable, and the consequences of that gratuitous futility are disastrous for countless people. Deindustrialization of big cities leaves the corner as the only employer in town. Actual reform that will have any kind of substantive effect will require something other than the standard bromides that have typically gotten politicians elected and re-elected. And so on.
This is a seven-part HBO miniseries based on the book Generation Kill: Devil Dogs, Ice Man, Captain America, and the New Face of American War by Evan Wright, documenting those American Marines who were the tip-of-the-spear in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As with The Corner and The Wire, this goes out of its way to convey authenticity, especially in the context of the military jargon. Oh, and you get to see Baltimore native James Ransone, who played Ziggy, as a Marine, too.
This is Simon's love letter to the city of New Orleans, set in the immediate aftermath of Hurrican Katrina. Again: a killer cast, including everyone from Clarke Peters (who played Lester) to Khandi Alexander (who played Fran Boyd on The Corner) to New Orleans native Wendell Pierce (Bunk Moreland) to John Goodman (in damn-near EVERY movie) to Stephen Colbert's bandleader Jon Batiste (as himself).
For me, Treme was solid, but it was less compelling than The Wire. A lot of the goal of Treme was to show the importance and centrality of New Orleans to American culture, in everything from music to food. For me, that case seemed secondary to the lives of the characters themselves. Many of the themes from The Wire are familiar: indifferent institutions, crime and violence, etc. But it also has some ferociously good performances, amazing music performed live, and an important reminder that life for so many in New Orleans still wasn't really "after Katrina" yet, even years after the storm, because of just how much destruction was caused all around.
Oh, and like The Wire (among others), Treme cast a lot of local New Orleans natives who lived through the storm, as well as musicians who hadn't grown up with training as actors.
The title comes from an F. Scott Fitzgerald quote: "show me a hero, and I'll write you a tragedy". Like The Corner, this is another six-part HBO miniseries adapted from a nonfiction book. It's about a huge fight that the city of Yonkers, NY had with federal courts by resisting efforts to remedy housing segregation.
Some of the themes should be familiar: a stellar cast including Oscar Isaac, Winona Ryder (in a role I wouldn't have expected for her), Catherine Keener, Alfred Molina, and Clarke Peters (again). As you might have guessed from the quote, this story doesn't have a happy ending for everyone. The main theme is about how to do the right thing, especially as an elected official, in the face of violent opposition from much of the city, and what cost doing the right thing will entail.
This is a forthcoming David Simon series about the world around Times Square in the 1970s: pornography, just as it was becoming legalized, HIV/AIDS, drug use, and the economic conditions of the city at the time. Even if the whole team totally dropped the ball here, I'm sure this will be better than HBO's 1970s music drama Vinyl, at a minimum.
The cast includes James Franco (playing twins), Maggie Gyllenhaal, Anwan Glover (Slim Charles), Lawrence Gilliard, Jr. (D'Angelo Barksdale), Chris Bauer (Frank Sobotka), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow). Oh, and the pilot is being directed by Michelle MacLaren, whose directing credits include Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Westworld, among others.
Forgive me, this is a repost of a comment I made on the higher-rated comment recommending the wire, but I need to say it here, too, because I think more people need to see this:
If you are a fan of The Wire you absolutely need to check out the HBO 2000 Simon & Burns miniseries, "The Corner" - I felt like I was watching an undiscovered prequel season of The Wire, except in many ways it was even better. It focuses on one Baltimore family and their spiral into the world of drugs. It takes place in the same neighborhoods and same world as The Wire, only about ten years prior.
Experiencing this miniseries is about as fun as being kicked in the gut--completely devestating. You'll recognize a lot of actors who later would work with Simon in The Wire, Treme, etc.
I couldn't find a bona-fide trailer but here's a fan-made one that is decent. http://youtu.be/yaB_FN3j6x0
Edit to add: The thing that emotionally guts me about The Corner is that it's a true story. They take great care to treat the original story faithfully. The people are real, these are their stories, played out in all their shame and ugliness. It's from a book David Simon and Ed Burns wrote together in the 90's by the same name Amazon Link.
Oh - And after you've seen the miniseries, (ONLY AFTER) go to the following pastebin URL and copy the link there, and read the story, it's a follow-up of sorts from David Simon from two years ago. (sorry this is the only way I could think to post it in a non-spoilerey way): http://pastebin.com/7LgGjtkv
My two favorites from recent times are the two books written by David Simon which sparked the HBO show "The Wire".
The Corner: A Year in the life of an Inner-City Neighborhood
Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets
The Corner follows a family, and others, in the streets of Baltimore. It's about drug addiction, the war on drugs, the welfare system, and the lives of families affected by these things.
Homicide is following the detective department of the Baltimore city police. I preferred this one to The Corner, but they are both great. They are both depressing, at times really funny, but always interesting and entertaining. Eye-opening too.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Corner-Year-Inner-City-Neighborhood/dp/0767900316
The crime-infested intersection of West Fayette and Monroe Streets is well-known--and cautiously avoided--by most of Baltimore. But this notorious corner's 24-hour open-air drug market provides the economic fuel for a dying neighborhood. David Simon, an award-winning author and crime reporter, and Edward Burns, a 20-year veteran of the urban drug war, tell the chilling story of this desolate crossroad.
Through the eyes of one broken family--two drug-addicted adults and their smart, vulnerable 15-year-old son, DeAndre McCollough, Simon and Burns examine the sinister realities of inner cities across the country and unflinchingly assess why law enforcement policies, moral crusades, and the welfare system have accomplished so little. This extraordinary book is a crucial look at the price of the drug culture and the poignant scenes of hope, caring, and love that astonishingly rise in the midst of a place America has abandoned."
The Wire is a (fictional) 5-season series from HBO that shows the most realistic depiction of the challenges of inner-city life - drugs, schools, police, political corruption, etc. Written by geniuses that took the time to completely understand every facet, including the sociological aspects as well as the economic. One of the creators, David Simon, was a journalist for the Baltimore Sun and spent many years covering the Baltimore Homicide detectives. He wrote the non-fiction book "Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets" - which the later NBC police-drama "Homicide:Life on the Street" was based. Then, he teamed up with former Homicide Detective Ed Burns (who later retired and actually taught middle school in Baltimore for a while) and they collaborated on a non-fiction book called "The Corner" about the inner-city drug life, the war on drugs, and the ultimate decay of the modern urban center. The Wire was a fictional storyline based upon real characters and events from Simon's and Burns' past. It is often considered the best drama ever created for television.
If reading The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood counts as the Internet, then I guess I did.
I also recently finished The Wire for the first time. Took me about 3 weeks.
Amazing.
Now I'm reading this!
For those with Wire withdrawl I suggest.
No problem, I'm currently reading it now. Its quite Eye-opening. If you like that check out David Simon, author of Homicide a Year on the Killing Streets as well as [The Corner](http://www.amazon.com/The-Corner-Year-Inner-City- Neighborhood/dp/0767900316/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1374081268&sr=8- 5&keywords=a+year+on+the+killing+streets); both provide a sickening view of the urban decay currently facing inner city ghettos. One from the perspective of an Homicide Detective and the other from the actual drug dealers respectively. These together are what formed the backbone for The Wire, which i also suggest.
And then The Corner. Prepare to have your heart broken though.
The Corner
The Corner by David Simon.
Also, it's a slightly different take (bounty hunter in the slums of Newark; more mindset, less about action) but The Seekers.
Very likely The Corner, which was later adapted into a movie and then loosely adapted and expanded into the tv show The Wire
http://www.amazon.com/The-Corner-Year-Inner-City-Neighborhood/dp/0767900316