One of the great virtues of a movie such as "Straight Outta Compton" is that it deals with a past not too far gone. Films that try too hard to capture the current moment can feel forced (see under: Middle East action dramas circa the mid-2000s), while movies that go too far back can come off as dusty, especially those with a pop-culture spin.
But a movie such as "Straight Outta Compton" -- which, of course, primarily tells the story of a young N.W.A and its members Dr. Dre, Ice Cube and Eazy-E in the Los Angeles of a quarter-century ago -- strikes a better balance.