juancorrea503 So I have to place a disclaimer: I probably only watched 30 minutes or so. I loved a lot of the footage, so, I'm sure if someone is a fan of these artists, it's going to be interesting, regardless.There were several reasons why I shut this film off: 1) Don't do an ambush interview when you're trying to get an honest portrayal of these artists; it was excruciating to watch, and the Biggies mom interview - the camera work is awful, where she's over exposed and has heavy shadows on her face. 2) Talk to these interviewees and don't stick your big microphone in their face.It just made me feel this director didn't care one bit about the story of these two very important artists. He had all the right people and he ruined it. I'll never watch one of his films again. My two words to describe this film: excruciatingly painful

Dr. Gore *SPOILER ALERT* *SPOILER ALERT*Nick Broomfield decides to get to the bottom of the Tupac Shakur-Notorious B.I.G. murders. He has a strong ally in Voletta Wallace, Biggie's mom. She is a big reason this movie is as succesful as it is. Through her cooperation, many former friends of Biggie open up to Broomfield. Another big score for Broomfield is Russell Poole, a former L.A. cop who wants to tell Broomfield all about his feelings toward Death Row records and the LAPD. They're not good.This is the third documentary I've seen of Broomfield's after "Heidi Fleiss" and "Kurt and Courtney". He's got a soft spoken style which encourages a lot of people to open up to him. You may think this documentary is about "Biggie and Tupac" but it's really about what all of his documentaries are about: Nick Broomfield. Each one is set up as an adventure in interviewing. Will he be able to score an interview with this or that important person? What hoops will Broomfield have to go through to get to THE TRUTH? Once again, Broomfield bags his big game interview in the end. He is tenacious and scores a trophy for his wall.I enjoy Broomfield's style of interviewing. "Biggie and Tupac" didn't really have his normal interviewing tactic of talking nice to someone and then increasing the pressure on them to expose THE TRUTH. In "Kurt and Courtney" he did it to Courtney's relative, "Why? Why do you care?" and in "Heidi Fleiss" he put the pressure on Heidi's boyfriend to cough up some truth about their relationship. "Biggie and Tupac" was a more relaxed approach to the subject. Early on in the flick, he says Miss Wallace asked him not to be so abrasive. I think he listened.

davideo-2 STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsThe 'thug lifestyle' surrounding hardcore rap music is thankfully just an image thing with the majority of it's singers.Sadly,a gunman didn't seem to feel that way of the titular duo.This is the sad true story of Biggie Smalls and Tupac (or 2Pac) Shakur,two of gangsta raps most famous icons who both met tragic untimely deaths at the hands of gunmen (or just one gunman?),and all in a relatively short time-frame of each other.No,rap and what it preached was not just business to these two individuals.....it meant life.Nick Broomfield's documentary charts how the East-Coast/West-Coast rivalry came about,and how the one time two best friends allowed fame and money to corrupt them and turn them pretty much into sworn enemies.Digging up archive footage and mixing it with interviews,it inevitably drags in parts,but for the most part it's very engrossing stuff and certainly evokes many thoughts and opinions on what really went on.***

Matt-513 Having read numerous books on Tupac, from Kathy Scott's first book, to the Vibe Hardback interviews and Frank Alexander's accounts, I thought there wouldn't be much more this docu-film could tell me about the murders of Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.) and Tupac Shakur. I was wrong. Nick Broomfield is endlessly persistent in his attempts to interview all the leading figures to do with the case. The main coups are the two former cops who he interviews. One, a former member of the FBI undoubtadely puts his own life at risk as he talks about Documents that could prove the guilt of certain members of the LAPD involved in the Biggie murder, as well as the inevitable storm it would cause and the demand from the public for a full internal investigation. Not to mention completely stripping the LAPD, Las Vegas Inforcement and FBI of their credibility. He mentions being offered $250,000 for the documents, but as Broomfield cleverly fires the questions in, each recepient keeps their cards close to their chest and each take care in their answers. None more so than the guy in the Prison (forgot his name!) who is incarcerated for impersonating a Lawyer, and was involved in transferring funds from Phoenix for Suge Knight and various members of LAPD who worked "off duty" for the Death Row Records CEO. He is interview in his cell, with his lawyer present and is constantly reminded that he only has constitutional immunity, but not state. Even still he admits to carrying the "blood money". Both murders were well planned hits, orchestrated by Suge Knight. The motive? Money. Suge owed Tupac $10 million in record sales. Suge was a gangster in real terms, not just his media persona (drug trafficking, crooked cops and FBI, you name it). He panicked when he found out Tupac wanted to Audit Death Row for the money, and that Tupac wanted out of Death Row and had other offers. Cops killed Tupac in Las Vegas on Sept 7th 1996 in a smooth professional style hit organised by Knight. To take the heat off, he then organised the Biggie hit 6 months later. It was simply a smokescreen, and capitalised on a feud orchestrated by Knight some 12 months prior at a Music Awards Ceremony. Tupac had been convinced (wrongly) in Jail that Biggie had set up the hit in 1994 on Tupac. In fact, Tupac, while in Jail after the first attempt on his life, had been set up by undercover FBI agents in Jail, who filled his head with nonsense about Bad Boy. Biggie, in contrast was mild mannered. As was Puffy. They are not gangsters. They never will be, they never have been. Biggie's rapping about hardship when growing up was his media image, in fact it was rather more middle class, as described by his mother Valetta Wallace, who was interviewed on numerous occasions during the film. I really could go on, but if you watch the film then you'll find out. There is some good rare footage of Pac in his prime. He still remains to me one of the all time talented people ever to walk the planet (actor, rapper, poet), and Biggie was just a good guy who made some excellent music. If you know Pac's lyrics, you'll know they are quite brilliant even when "riding on his enemies". His public image was of a ghetto thug, and his upbringing certainly should have moulded him that way. But in actual fact he was articulate, hugely talented and sensitive. Something you just don't see. So go see the film, and the very interesting visit to Yule Creek Pen to see Suge (how they managed it I'll never know!) Nick Broomfield is excellent, although you wonder how he gets so much info for a little white British guy doing his own film, particularly when lives could be at stake. One other good moment is when he visits Biggie's bodyguard (who is about 6ft 7) and he identifies the murderer. And yes I will stop now. GO SEE!