Broken Arrow 1996 R, 110 min. Genre: Action / Adventure / Thriller
Director: John Woo Cast: John Travolta, Christian Slater, Samantha Mathis, Delroy Lindo, Bob Gunton, Frank Whaley, Howie Long, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Jack Thompson, Kurtwood Smith, Casey Biggs, Shaun Toub, Vyto Ruginis, Qusaun Elam, Joey Box
Vic Deakins (John Travolta) and Riley Hale (Christian Slater) are pilots on a "Stealth" bomber packed with nuclear weaponry. On a routine patrol, Deakins knocks out copilot Hale, crashes the plane, and takes off with the weapons. He then threatens to detonate them if the Pentagon doesn't give him money. The chase is on as a recovered Hale and park ranger Terry Carmichael (Samantha Mathis) set out to track down Deakins.
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Crooklyn 1994 R, 123 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Spike Lee Cast: Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, Zelda Harris, Carlton Williams, Joie Lee, David Patrick Kelly, Spike Lee, Isaiah Washington, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Frances Foster
This film takes a look at the 1970s through the eyes of young Troy (Zelda Harris), and the struggles of an African American family are told.
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Don King: Only in America 1997 R, 118 min. Genre: Drama
Director: John Herzfeld Cast: Ving Rhames, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Jeremy Piven, Darius McCrary, Keith David, Gabriel Casseus, Loretta Devine, Brent Jennings, Lahmard J. Tate, Danny Johnson, Bernie Mac
This made-for-HBO biography of the famous fight promoter Don King stars Ving Rhames in the title role. It follows King's rise from small-time street racketeer to jail time for murder to his innovative ideas for promoting the sport of boxing.
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Eve's Bayou 1997 R, 109 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Kasi Lemmons Cast: Jurnee Smollett, Meagan Good, Samuel L. Jackson, Lynn Whitfield, Debbi Morgan, Jake Smollett, Ethel Ayler, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Diahann Carroll, Lisa Nicole Carson
Ten-year-old Eve Batiste (Jurnee Smollett) who adores her father, Louis (Samuel L. Jackson). During the summer of 1962 she watches as her father makes love to a married woman, and she confides her secret to her older sister, Cisely (Meagan Good). This leads to a series of lies through which Cisely tries to sort out truth.
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Freedom Song 2000 TV, 150 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Phil Alden Robinson Cast: Danny Glover, Vicellous Reon Shannon, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Loretta Devine, Glynn Turman, Stan Shaw, Michael Jai White, John Beasley, Jason Weaver, David Strathairn
In the 1960s, Mississippi's segregation days were about to end; this film's focus is on the efforts of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee). The lead role is that of Owen Walker (Vicellous Reon Shannon) who learns what his father, Will (Danny Glover), already knows: the trials and tribulations of organizing local Blacks to combat segregation.
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Glitter 2001 PG-13, 102 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall Cast: Mariah Carey, Max Beesley, Da Brat, Tia Texada, Valarie Pettiford, Ann Magnuson, Terrence Howard, Dorian Harewood, Grant Nickalls, Eric Benet
Pop music's Mariah Carey gets her first film role as aspiring singer Billie Franklin who joins forces with a DJ, Julian Dice (Max Beesley). He serves as her producer as well as lover; together they set off on a precarious journey that ends in superstardom.
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Gridlock'd 1997 R, 91 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall Cast: Tupac Shakur, Tim Roth, Thandie Newton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Charles Fleischer, Howard Hesseman, Lucy Liu, James Pickens Jr., John Sayles, Tom Towles
After admitting Spoon's (Tupac Shakur) girlfriend, Cookie (Thandie Newton), to the hospital following her drug overdose, musicians Spoon and his friend Stretch (Tim Roth) search for a rehab center for themselves and encounter a myriad of absurd bureaucratic barriers standing in the way of help for their problem.
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Heaven's Prisoners 1996 R, 132 min. Genre: Mystery
Director: Phil Joanou Cast: Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, Eric Roberts, Mary Stuart Masterson, Teri Hatcher, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Badja Djola, Don Stark
Based on James Lee Burke's detective series, this film features Alec Baldwin as ex-cop Dave Robicheaux who, with his wife (Kelly Lynch), looks into the mystery behind a plane crash and does not come up empty-handed.
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Honeydripper 2007 PG-13, 122 min. Genre: Drama / Musical
Director: John Sayles Cast: Danny Glover, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Yaya DaCosta, Charles S. Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Gary Clark Jr., Mabel John, Stacy Keach, Nagee Clay, Absalom Adams, Arthur Lee Williams, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Davenia McFadden, Daryl Edwards, Sean Patrick Thomas
This story takes place in Harmony, Alabama, during 1950 and revolves around the efforts of Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis (Danny Glover) to avoid bankruptcy. Pine Top's bar and blues club, the Honeydipper Lounge, is failing, and he hires popular "Guitar Sam" to perform a one-night-only show as a way to draw in customers who, in turn, will bring in enough money to save the club. But, "Guitar Sam" fails to appear, and now Pine Top has to find someone to impersonate "Guitar Sam" in order to save the club. The answer to his dilemma is itinerant guitarist Sonny Blake (Gary Clark Jr.) who will impersonate "Guitar Sam." But, will the ruse work, and will Pine Top be able to save his club?
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The Mambo Kings 1992 R, 101 min. Genre: Musical / Drama
Director: Arne Glimcher Cast: Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, Cathy Moriarty, Maruschka Detmers, Desi Arnaz Jr., Celia Cruz, Roscoe Lee Browne, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Tito Puente, Talisa Soto, Joe Petruzzi, Anh Duong
Brothers Cesar and Nestor Castillo (Armand Assante and Antonio Banderas) leave Cuba and travel to the U.S. in the early 1950s to pursue their dream of making names for themselves on the Latin music scene. They succeed as The Mambo Kings but encounter more than a few problems in the process. The film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song ("Beautiful Maria of My Soul").
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Passion Fish 1992 R, 138 min. Genre: Drama
Director: John Sayles Cast: Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, David Strathairn, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Angela Bassett, Lenore Banks, Maggie Renzi, Sheila Kelley, Tom Wright
May-Alice (Mary McDonnell) had been a television star before she was hit and paralyzed by a New York cab. Depressed and drowning her sorrows in alcohol, she returns home to Louisiana where the friendship with her nurse Chantelle (Alfre Woodard) changes both women's lives. McDonnell was nominated for an Oscar.
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Redemption 2004 TV, 95 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall Cast: Jamie Foxx, Lynn Whitfield, CCH Pounder, Brenden Jefferson, Lee Thompson Young, Brenda Bazinet, Wes Williams, Greg Ellwand, Tom Barnett, Barbara Barnes-Hopkins
Stan "Tookie" Williams (Jamie Foxx) founded the notorious L.A. street gang, the Crips, and, in 1981, was convicted of murdering four people. While sentenced to death row, he takes on a new role of writing children's books that encourage anti-violence. One year after this movie was shot, Williams was executed.
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Romeo + Juliet 1996 PG-13, 120 min. Genre: Drama / Romance aka: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet Romeo and Juliet
Director: Baz Luhrmann Cast: Claire Danes, Brian Dennehy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jamie Kennedy, Vincent Laresca, John Leguizamo, Pete Postlethwaite, Paul Sorvino, M. Emmet Walsh, Harold Perrineau, Miriam Margolyes, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Paul Rudd, Jesse Bradford, Dash Mihok
The story of Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes) is updated to the 20th century where they encounter sex, drugs, and pop music as members of opposing gangs (the Montagues and the Capulets). Romeo and Juliet meet at a party and fall in love. Although they try to hide their love from their warring families, obstacles lie ahead in the form of Tybalt (John Leguizamo) and Mercutio (Harold Perrineau) contributing to the problems of the "star-crossed lovers."
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Sugar Hill 1994 R, 123 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Leon Ichaso Cast: Wesley Snipes, Michael Wright, Theresa Randle, Abe Vigoda, Clarence Williams III, Ernie Hudson, Raymond Serra, Joe Dallesandro, Leslie Uggams, Vondie Curtis-Hall
On the surface, Roemello Skuggs (Wesley Snipes) has it all –girls, car, penthouse. However, he is haunted by his past and tries to fight the influences of Italian drug dealers.
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Talk to Me 2007 R, 118 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Kasi Lemmons Cast: Don Cheadle, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Cedric the Entertainer, Mike Epps, Martin Sheen, Taraji P. Henson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Peter MacNeill, Adam Gaudreau, J. Miles Dale, Sean MacMahon, Richard Chevolleau, Martin Randez, Todd Schroeder, Bruce McFee
Based on the true life story of Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green Jr., this story really begins when ex-con Petey Green (Don Cheadle) lands a job as the morning host on the WOL-AM radio station in Washington, D.C., during the 1960s. Petey forms a friendship with program director Dewey Hughes (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who had offered him the job while visiting his own brother (Mike Epps) at Petey's prison. Dewey runs interference for Petey when dealing with station owner E.G. Sonderling (Martin Sheen) who is often dismayed by Petey's anti-establishment comments. But Petey plays a key role instilling hope in a generation of listeners as he addresses the Black community during the turbulence of the anti-Vietnam War and pro-Civil Rights era.
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Turn It Up 2000 R, 85 min. Genre: Drama
Director: Robert Adetuyi Cast: Pras, Ja Rule, Jason Statham, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Tamala Jones, John Ralston, Chris Messina, Eugene Clark, Patrice Goodman, Derwin Jordan
Rap musician Diamond (Pras) and his manager, Gage (Ja Rule), run drugs for Mr. "B" to pay for Diamond's hoped-for demo tape. When Diamond runs into a string of personal problems, Gage tries to help by pulling off a heist of $10,000. The problem: he didn't know that the stolen money belonged to Mr. "B."
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Waist Deep 2006 R, 97 min. Genre: Drama / Thriller
Director: Vondie Curtis-Hall Cast: Tyrese Gibson, Meagan Good, Larenz Tate, The Game, Shawn Parr, Henry Hunter Hall, Johnny C. Pruitt, Darris Love, William Duffy, Kimora Lee, Wade Allain-Marcus
Contemporary Los Angeles is the setting for O2's (Tyrese Gibson) trials and tribulations, which take place after he realizes that his son, Junior (Henry Hunter Hall), has been kidnapped during a carjacking and is now in the hands of the Outlaw Syndicate, which is run by Meat (The Game). O2 forces street hustler Coco (Meagan Good) to help, and the duo sets out through Los Angeles neighborhoods using any means possible to obtain the $100,000 ransom needed to get Junior's freedom.
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| 1. Broken Arrow (1996)
2. Crooklyn (1994)
3. Don King: Only in America (1997)
4. Eve's Bayou (1997)
5. Freedom Song (2000)
6. Glitter (2001)
7. Gridlock'd (1997)
8. Heaven's Prisoners (1996)
9. Honeydripper (2007)
10. The Mambo Kings (1992)
11. Passion Fish (1992)
12. Redemption (2004)
13. Romeo + Juliet (1996) aka: William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet aka: Romeo and Juliet
14. Sugar Hill (1994)
15. Talk to Me (2007)
16. Turn It Up (2000)
17. Waist Deep (2006)
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