Yesterday, I read on Aintitcool.com that Spike Lee was going to direct a film version of “Oldboy.” What is uncertain is whether “Oldboy” is based upon Park Chan-wook’s 2003 movie or the anime “Oldboy” (the basis of the “Oldboy” movie).  Originally Justin Lin (“The Fast And Furious: Tokyo Drift”) was in the running for this project, though he went on to direct “Fast Five,” one of the biggest films of the summer that does not involve robots in disguise (It has earned almost $600 million dollars worldwide).

This is really a good idea, because if “Inside Man,” “25th Hour,” and “Clockers,” proved anything, it’s that Spike Lee excels at gritty, urban drama.

That being said, Spike Lee can sometimes appear self-indulgent, so I hope that he lets the material speak for itself, as opposed to adding unnecessary stylistic flourishes.

The ‘flourish’ that tends to bother me is when he has a character standing still, yet moving, as if they were on a moving sidewalk or something.  The frame-rate tend to be faster as well, which gives a fever-dream look to the scene when it appears.  I have always thought that he did to make a character’s state of mind–be it frenzied, confused or focused, real to the viewer, though for me it takes me out of the movie and feels more irritating–if only because he uses it so consistently–than anything else.