Antwone Fisher 2002  PG-13, 117 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: Denzel Washington
Cast: Derek Luke, Joy Bryant, Denzel Washington, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Earl Billings, Kevin Connolly, Viola Davis, Rainoldo Gooding, Novella Nelson, Yolonda Ross, Malcolm David Kelley, Cory Hodges, Leonard Earl Howze, Kente Scott, Leo Nepomuceno
U.S. Navy psychiatrist Jerome Davenport (Denzel Washington) gets to the root of 25-year-old sailor Antwone Fisher's (Derek Luke) anger. Jerome becomes Antwone's surrogate father, encouraging him to search for his biological relatives in order to confront his painful past and, in the process, move forward with his life.
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 Biker Boyz 2003  PG-13, 90 min.
Genre: Action
Director: Reggie Rock Bythewood
Cast: Laurence Fishburne, Derek Luke, Orlando Jones, Djimon Hounsou, Lisa Bonet, Brendan Fehr, Larenz Tate, Kid Rock, Rick Gonzalez, Vanessa Bell Calloway, Meagan Good, Terrence Howard
Biker clubs–mostly composed of affluent African Americans–meet in Fresno, CA, for the annual drag racing championships. Big on noise, little of substance.
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Catch a Fire 2006  PG-13, 101 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Phillip Noyce
Cast: Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, Bonnie Mbuli, Mncedisi Shabangu, Tumisho Masha, Sithembiso Khumalo, Terry Pheto, Michele Burgers, Mpho Lovinga, Mxo, Jessica Anstey, Charlotte Savage
This political thriller is set during the 1980s in South Africa and is based on the true story of oil refinery foreman Patrick Chamusso who is uninvolved politically with the world in which he lives. But, after his refinery is sabotaged by an explosion and Patrick is the chief suspect, he undergoes days of torture as police Colonel Nic Vos (Tim Robbins) interrogates him. Patrick's wife, Precious (Bonnie Mbuli), is also brought in and beaten. Failing to obtain a confession, the police release Patrick and Precious, and Patrick heads to Mozambique where he trains in terrorist tactics with the anti-apartheid African National Congress and makes plans to blow up his old refinery.
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Definitely, Maybe 2008 PG-13, 111 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama / Romance
Director: Adam Brooks
Cast: Ryan Reynolds, Rachel Weisz, Isla Fisher, Derek Luke, Abigail Breslin, Elizabeth Banks, Kevin Kline, Marc Bonan, Kevin Corrigan, Jaime Tierelli, Daniel Eric Gold, Adam Ferrara, Annie Parisse, Liane Balaban, Nestor Serrano
Will Hayes (Ryan Reynolds) is the divorced father of 10-year-old Maya (Abigail Breslin) who has just experienced her first sex-education class at school. One evening, Maya quizzes Will about his sex life and how he met her mother. This leads to a bedtime story told in flashbacks beginning in 1992 about Will's subsequent affairs with Emily (Elizabeth Banks), then with Summer (Rachel Weisz), and finally with April (Isla Fisher). While telling the story, Will changes the real names of the women leaving Maya to guess which one is her mother.
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Friday Night Lights 2004 PG-13, 117 min.
Genre: Drama / Action
Director: Peter Berg, Josh Pate
Cast: Billy Bob Thornton, Lucas Black, Garrett Hedlund, Derek Luke, Jay Hernandez, Lee Jackson, Lee Thompson Young, Tim McGraw, Grover Coulson, Connie Britton, Connie Cooper, Kasey Stevens, Ryanne Duzich, Amber Heard, Morgan Farris
Based on H.D. Bessinger's novel is about the blue-collar town of Odessa, Texas, pinning its hopes on the1988 football season of the Permian High School Panthers, coached by Gary Gaines (Billy Bob Thornton). The story involves hero-worship, economics, and racism in a world where winning or losing affects the entire community.
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 Glory Road 2006 PG, 106 min.
Genre: Drama
Director: James Gartner
Cast: Josh Lucas, Derek Luke, Austin Nichols, Mehcad Brooks, Emily Deschanel, Jon Voight, Damaine Radcliff, Alphonso McAuley, Al Shearer, Red West, Sam Jones III, Evan Jones
When Dan Haskins (Josh Lucas) is hired to coach men's basketball at Texas Western College, he finds that a group of disorderly White players make up the team. Haskins solution: recruit talented Black players. Haskins then leads his team all the way to the 1966 NCAA national championship. Based on a true story.
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 Lions for Lambs 2007  R, 88 min.
Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Robert Redford
Cast: Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise, Michael Pena, Andrew Garfield, Peter Berg, Kevin Dunn, Derek Luke, Larry Bates, Christopher May, David Pease, Heidi Janson, George Back, Kristy Wu
This film cuts to three different locations as it targets politicians, journalists, scholars, and the American public. In Washington, D.C., journalist Janine Roth (Meryl Streep) interviews Sen. Jasper Irving (Tom Cruise) on a planned offensive in the war in a northern Afghan province. The film inter-cuts to a California university where Professor Stephen Malley (Robert Redford) tries to encourage his student, Todd (Andrew Garfield), by telling him about two former students–Ernest Rodriguez (Michael Pena) and Arian Finch (Derek Luke)–who are part of that military offensive discussed by Irving. Now the story moves to the mountains of Afghanistan where Rodriguez and Finch are stranded because of the policy shift discussed by Irving and may never be able to return home to their loved ones.
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Madea Goes to Jail 2009 PG-13, 103 min.
Genre: Comedy / Drama
aka: Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
Director: Tyler Perry
Cast: Tyler Perry, Derek Luke, Keshia Knight Pulliam, Tamela J. Mann, David Mann, RonReaco Lee, Ion Overman, Vanessa Ferlito, Viola Davis, Sofia Vergara, Robin Coleman, Bobbi Baker, Aisha Hinds, Benjamin Benitez, Karan Kendrick
Madea (Tyler Perry) faces a judge after a high-speed chase on the freeway. Her anger management fails her, and she is sent to jail. Meanwhile, prostitute and former drug addict Candace Washington (Keshia Knight Pulliam) has been arrested, and Assistant District Attorney Joshua (Derek Luke) has been assigned to try her case. But, Joshua has past ties to Candace and feels too close to her problems. He asks his fiance Linda Holmes (Ion Overman) to handle the case, and Candace heads to jail. Now in prison, Candace and Madea become friends, and Madea "protects" Candace in Madea's own unique way.
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Miracle at St. Anna 2008  R, 160 min.
Genre: Action / Drama / Thriller
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alfonso, Omar Benson Miller, Pierfrancesco Favino, Valentina Cervi, Matteo Sciabordi, John Turturro, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, John Leguizamo, Kerry Washington, D.B. Sweeney, Omero Antonutti, Robert John Burke, Omari Hardwick
In the 1980s, postal worker Hector Negron (Laz Alfonso) unexpectedly shoots a customer, and now Daily News reporter Tim Boyle (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) searches for the story behind the shooting. Through flashbacks, the story is told about four World War II soldiers–Cpl. Negron, Sgt. Stamps (Derek Luke), Sgt. Cummings (Michael Ealy), and Pfc. Train (Omar Benson Miller)–from the all-Black "Buffalo Soldier" Division who are trapped behind enemy lines. Their fellow soldiers have been killed, and they are the sole survivors, but they find relative safety in an Italian village and relate to some of the residents. As the flashbacks progress, they reveal how Negron's shooting relates to an encounter in that village 40 years ago.
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Notorious 2009 R, 120 min.
Genre: Drama / Musical
Director: George Tillman Jr.
Cast: Jamal Woolard, Angela Bassett, Derek Luke, Naturi Naughton, Dennis L.A. White, Anthony Makie, Antonique Smith, Julia Pace Mitchell, John Ventimiglia, Marc John Jeffries, Christopher Jordan Wallace, Jasper Briggs, Cyrus Farmer, Aunjanue Ellis, Charles Malik Whitfield
Growing up in Brooklyn, young Christopher Wallace (Christopher Jordan Wallace, Jr.) lives with his religious mother Violetta (Angela Bassett). When he reaches his teenage years, Christopher (now played by Jamal Woolard) enters the criminal world of drugs and even serves some time in jail. Along the way, he realizes that he is great at dropping lines, signs a deal with Sean "Diddy" Combs (Derek Luke) to record his rap music, and becomes the phenomenon, Notorious B.I.G., aka Biggie. He lives life out on the edge with women and partying, but fate steps in, and Wallace is murdered in Los Angeles at the young age of 24.
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 Pieces of April 2003 PG-13, 80 min.
Genre: Comedy
Director: Peter Hedges
Cast: Katie Holmes, Patricia Clarkson, Oliver Platt, Derek Luke, Sean Hayes, Alison Pill, John Gallagher Jr., Alice Drummond, Sisqo, Lillias White, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Armando Riesco
It is Thanksgiving Day, her estranged family is driving from Pennsylvania for dinner at April's (Katie Holmes) new apartment on New York's Lower East Side, and she discovers that her oven is not working. After relying on neighbors for help–a comedy of errors–dinner is served, and the family reunites. Patricia Clarkson was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar.
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 Spartan 2004 R, 106 min.
Genre: Action
Director: David Mamet
Cast: Val Kilmer, Derek Luke, William H. Macy, Ed O'Neill, Kristen Bell, Johnny Messner, Alexandra Kerry, Tia Texada, Lionel Mark Smith, Chris LaCentra, Jeremie Campbell, Renato Magno
After the President's daughter (Kristen Bell) is kidnapped, military special-operations officers–Scott (Val Kilmer) and Curtis (Derek Luke)–are called in to rescue her before the press gets wind of what is going on.
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| 1. Antwone Fisher (2002)
2. Biker Boyz (2003)
3. Catch a Fire (2006)
4. Definitely, Maybe (2008)
5. Friday Night Lights (2004)
6. Glory Road (2006)
7. Lions for Lambs (2007)
8. Madea Goes to Jail (2009)
aka: Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail
9. Miracle at St. Anna (2008)
10. Notorious (2009)
11. Pieces of April (2003)
12. Spartan (2004)
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