Menace II Society
by Albert Hughes
from New Line Home Video
Tyrin Turner may not have broken out into stardom as was initially expected, but his work in Menace II Society is one of the more powerful cinematic debuts. The film, from the brother writer-director team of Allen and Albert Hughes, chronicles life in the Los Angeles 'hood. Similar territory was covered in the equally commanding Boyz N the Hood, but what makes this cautionary tale stand out is not only the Hughes brothers' forceful story, (written with their friend, Tyger Williams) and direction, but the naturalness of then-newcomer leads Turner as Caine, Larenz Tate as O-Dog, and Jada Pinkett as Ronnie. They are so credible--occasionally frighteningly so--that the repressive universe of violent ghetto life is captured effectively. Life as portrayed here--and no doubt accurately so--is both figuratively and literally narrow. As a very young boy, Caine witnesses his dad murdered over something inconsequential, and his mom OD. His is a world where respect comes from intimidation, power from violence. Despite his understanding of right and wrong (values passed on by a good friend, his kind grandparents, a caring teacher), his life and its entrapments are too much to overcome. --N.F. Mendoza
Directed by twin brothers, Allen and Albert Hughes, this critically acclaimed cinematic masterpiece brilliantly details real life in today's tough inner city. With the powerhouse performances by Tyrin Turner (Deep Cover), Larenz Tate (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air) and Jada Pinkett (A Different World), the film also features dynamite supporting roles by Charles S. Dutton (Roc) and Bill Duke (Predator).
DVD Features:
Interviews
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer
Dead Presidents
by Albert Hughes
from Walt Disney Video
Twin brother codirectors Albert and Alan Hughes planned their first film, the 1991 ghetto crime drama Menace II Society as a response to John Singleton's Boyz N the Hood, which they considered wimpy and moralistic. They set their sights on The Deer Hunter in this ambitious follow-up, and they just about pull it off. Larenz Tate (from Why Do Fools Fall in Love) plays Anthony Curtis, an open-hearted African American teenager who gets shipped out to Vietnam with several of his pals, witnesses unspeakable horrors, and then struggles to readjust to civilian life. The evolving textures of life in a declining inner-city neighborhood over a period of a decade are seamlessly evoked, and there's enough nuanced character development and personal interaction for a seven-hour miniseries. Still in their early 20s, the Hughes brothers are already poised and masterful moviemakers; they cover an enormous amount of historical and emotional ground, and every twist and turn is crystal clear. They betray their inexperience only at the very end, in an elaborately staged heist sequence that, while stunningly executed, feels a bit desperate, as if they were reaching blindly for a big payoff. Chris Tucker (Rush Hour) has a startling supporting role as a kid who becomes junkie during the war, and never quite recovers. --David Chute
Get ready for action with this explosively exciting hit! On the streets they call cash dead presidents. And that's just what a Vietnam veteran (Larenz Tate -- MENACE II SOCIETY) is after when he returns home from the war only to find himself drawn into a life of crime. With the aid of his fellow vets he plans the ultimate heist -- a daring robbery of an armored car filled with unmarked U.S. currency! From the Hughes Brothers, acclaimed directors of the smash hit MENACE II SOCIETY -- you'll love every pulse-pounding second as these bold thieves risk it all for the score of a lifetime!
Love Jones
by Theodore Witcher
from New Line Home Video
Boy meets girl, and boy loses girl--no more and no less than that--in this romantic story of young, upwardly mobile African Americans navigating through Chicago club culture to the perilous shores of a relationship. The film was surprisingly popular at a couple of key film festivals in 1997, but there isn't anything particularly noteworthy about it aside from its rare emphasis on a love affair between black urbanites. Larenz Tate and Nia Long are fine in the leads (Tate makes a convincingly self-centered boy-man), and director Theodore Witcher aims for his small target and hits it squarely. --Tom Keogh
Say hello to Darious Lovehall (Larenz Tate) and Nina Mosley (Nia Long), two confused lovebirds who discover that you can never underestimate the power of a love jones.
DVD Features:
Music Video
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailer
The Postman
from Warner Home Video
Falling from the Oscar-winning glory of Dances with Wolves to the opposite end of the critical and box-office scale, Kevin Costner must have been deeply humbled when this three-hour postapocalyptic tale--his sophomore effort as a director--was greeted with a critical thrashing and tepid audience response. One of the most conspicuous flops of its decade, the 1997 release must have seemed like a sure thing on paper: a kind of futurist Western starring Costner as a charismatic drifter-turned-hero who leads the resistance against a military tyrant (Will Patton) by reviving the long-dormant postal system to reunite isolated communities in their fight for freedom. The movie bombed, but, like many audacious failures, it's got qualities that make it at least partially endearing, and its earnestness (although bordering on corny) keeps it from being entirely silly. Faint praise, perhaps, but Costner's ode to patriotism is occasionally stirring and visually impressive. The dual-layered, widescreen DVD includes a documentary segment about the creation of the film's special effects sequences, featuring a running commentary by the special effects creators. --Jeff Shannon
Ray (Widescreen Edition)
by Taylor Hackford
from Universal Studios
Jamie Foxx's uncannily accurate performance isn't the only good thing about Ray. Riding high on a wave of Oscar buzz, Foxx proved himself worthy of all the hype by portraying blind R&B legend Ray Charles in a warts-and-all performance that Charles approved shortly before his death in June 2004. Despite a few dramatic embellishments of actual incidents (such as the suggestion that the accidental drowning of Charles's younger brother caused all the inner demons that Charles would battle into adulthood), the film does a remarkable job of summarizing Charles's strengths as a musical innovator and his weaknesses as a philandering heroin addict who recorded some of his best songs while flying high as a kite. Foxx seems to be channeling Charles himself, and as he did with the life of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, director Taylor Hackford gets most of the period details absolutely right as he chronicles Ray's rise from "chitlin circuit" performer in the early '50s to his much-deserved elevation to legendary status as one of the all-time great musicians. Foxx expertly lip-syncs to Ray Charles' classic recordings, but you could swear he's the real deal in a film that honors Ray Charles without sanitizing his once-messy life. --Jeff Shannon
More on Ray Charles
 Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (CD) |  The Genius of Ray Charles (CD) |  Ray Charles and Betty Carter--Dedicated to You (CD) |
 Genius & Soul--The 50th Anniversary Collection (CD) |  Ray: A Tribute to the Movie, the Music, and the Man (book) |  More Albums by Ray Charles |
A Man Apart
by F. Gary Gray
from New Line Home Video
Vin Diesel stars as a DEA agent on a deadly vendetta to take down the powerful drug cartel that killed his wife.Running Time: 105 min.System Requirements:Running Time 109 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 794043652523 Manufacturer No: N6525
Buffed-up action star Vin Diesel plays a reckless DEA agent in A Man Apart, which aspires to merge big-budget action fare with a grittier, The French Connection-style procedural drama. When his wife is murdered by a mysterious drug lord called Diablo, Sean Vetter (Diesel) loses his moral bearings and risks the lives of his fellow agents in a quest for revenge. A Man Apart tries to give Diesel the opportunity to demonstrate a greater emotional range, but it's a mess; the supposedly tender scenes are generic and flat, while the action scenes are utterly incomprehensible. Much of the time it's unclear who's a cop and who's a thug, so when people get shot--and a lot of people get shot--it just becomes a bland wash of blood and bullets. --Bret Fetzer
The Inkwell
by Matty Rich
from Walt Disney Video
This sophomore effort by Matty Rich seems surprisingly run-of-the-mill, considering his first film was the low-budget success story Straight Out of Brooklyn.
Set in Martha's Vineyard during the summer of '76, this feels very much like an updated, African American version of Summer of '42. Larenz Tate is the shy teen from New York who, along with his politically radical parents, vacations with wealthy Republican relatives. When not confiding in his wooden doll, he learns a little about life and even more about sex. Inkwell, by the way, is the name of the beach where the African American population of Martha's Vineyard owns homes.
Clumsily written and executed, this is sweet enough on the surface, but too slick to feel genuine. Also released as No Ordinary Summer. --Rochelle O'Gorman
At Inkwell Beach, summer's never been so much fun! It's a time and a place where cool clothes, hot music, and good friends turn a dull family trip into the summetime vacation of a lifetime! Critics everywhere praised THE INKWELL -- the hot, big-screen comedy treat that delivers outrageous summertime fun and good time entertainment, all set to an irresistible soundtrack! Spend some time down at the shore with the funniest folks you're ever going to meet -- summer fun doesn't get any better than this!
Ray (Full Screen Edition)
by Taylor Hackford
from Universal Studios
Jamie Foxx's uncannily accurate performance isn't the only good thing about Ray. Riding high on a wave of Oscar buzz, Foxx proved himself worthy of all the hype by portraying blind R&B legend Ray Charles in a warts-and-all performance that Charles approved shortly before his death in June 2004. Despite a few dramatic embellishments of actual incidents (such as the suggestion that the accidental drowning of Charles's younger brother caused all the inner demons that Charles would battle into adulthood), the film does a remarkable job of summarizing Charles's strengths as a musical innovator and his weaknesses as a philandering heroin addict who recorded some of his best songs while flying high as a kite. Foxx seems to be channeling Charles himself, and as he did with the life of Ritchie Valens in La Bamba, director Taylor Hackford gets most of the period details absolutely right as he chronicles Ray's rise from "chitlin circuit" performer in the early '50s to his much-deserved elevation to legendary status as one of the all-time great musicians. Foxx expertly lip-syncs to Ray Charles' classic recordings, but you could swear he's the real deal in a film that honors Ray Charles without sanitizing his once-messy life. --Jeff Shannon --This text refers to the Theatrical Release edition.
More on Ray Charles
Modern Sounds In Country and Western Music (CD) | The Genius of Ray Charles (CD) | Ray Charles and Betty Carter--Dedicated to You (CD) |
Genius & Soul--The 50th Anniversary Collection (CD) | Ray: A Tribute to the Movie, the Music, and the Man (book) | More Albums by Ray Charles |
Waist Deep (Full Screen)
by Vondie Curtis-Hall
from Universal Studios
Locked and loaded with action Waist Deep is an explosive thrill ride featuring Tyrese Gibson as O2 an ex-con who s trying to go straight. His life takes a deadly turn when his son gets kidnapped in a carjacking and held for ransom by a ruthless drug lord (The Game). With a street-smart hustler (Meagan Good) as his partner and his shady cousin (Larenz Tate) along for the ride O2 races through the streets of Los Angeles in a desperate attempt to outsmart rival gangs and save his son.System Requirements:Running Time: 97 MinutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE Rating: R UPC: 025193121226 Manufacturer No: 62031212
Waist Deep may not be believable from start to finish, but it's a slickly produced and reasonably entertaining entry in the "gangsta noir" genre that includes such previous films as Dead Presidents, Set it Off, and Never Die Alone. In his first leading role since playing a somewhat similar character in 2001's Baby Boy, Tyrese Gibson plays O2 (short for "Oxygen"), who's just emerged from six years in prison and is looking to go legit all the way. That's when his car gets stolen - with his young son Junior still in the backseat - and O2 retaliates by inciting a gang war on the streets of Los Angeles. He recruits his unpredictable pot-head brother Lucky (Larenz Tate) and the reluctant assistance of a hot hustler named Coco (Meagan Good) in a bank-robbing scheme to pay the $100,000 ransom that a brutal machete-wielding thug named Meat (played by rapper The Game) has demanded for Junior's safe return. Director Vondie Curtis-Hall (whose son, H. Hunter Hall, plays Junior) keeps the twisting plot moving at a pulse-quickening pace, and the movie looks great thanks to Shane Hurlbut's widescreen cinematography, but the build-up of improbable (or just plain ludicrous) events becomes a little too much to handle as Waist Deep gets waist deep in its own predictability. On the plus side, Gibson and Good make an appealing action couple, and despite its overly maudlin conclusion, the movie's got some emotional depth that comes as a pleasant surprise amidst its otherwise forgivable shortcomings. --Jeff Shannon
Biker Boyz (Full Screen Edition)
by Reggie Rock Bythewood
from Dreamworks Video
When it's revved up to maximum rpm's, Biker Boyz qualifies as an adequate knockoff of The Fast and the Furious. Both films were inspired by magazine articles about speed-freak outlaws on the streets of California, only this time the nitrous-enhanced "rice rockets" are of the two-wheeled variety, and Smoke (Laurence Fishburne) is the reigning "King of Cali," leading a predominantly African American subculture that schedules illegal motorcycle races with high stakes and potentially lethal outcomes. Kid (Derek Luke, the promising newcomer from Antwone Fisher) is the latest challenger, facing off against Dogg (Kid Rock) and others before coming to terms with his own familial destiny. Following his incisive HBO debut, Dancing in September, director Reggie Rock Bythewood approached Biker Boyz as a modern Western, but it's really just a strutter's ball with polished chrome and tailpipes. Meagan Good, Lisa Bonet, and Vanessa Bell Calloway provide sexy feminine wisdom, badly needed in a movie that's all flash and precious little substance. --Jeff Shannon
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