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African-American Cinema DVDs

New Jack City (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Sales Rank:9472
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $7.49
Lowest Used Price: $6.97
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

AC-3
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Special Edition
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

John Aprea
Nick Ashford
Bill Cobbs
Anthony DeSando
Flavor Flav

Some pundits called it a flawed, exploitative action film that glamorized drug dealing and the luxury of a lucrative criminal lifestyle, spawning a trend of films that attracted youth gangs and provoked violence in theaters. Others hailed it as a breakthrough movie that depicted drug dealers as ruthless, corrupt, and evil, leading dead-end lives that no rational youth would want to emulate. However you interpret it, New Jack City is still one of the first and best films of the 1990s to crack open the underworld of cocaine and peer inside with its eyes wide open. It's also the film that established Wesley Snipes as an actor to watch, with enough charisma to bring an insidious quality of seduction to his role as coke-lord Nino Brown, and enough intelligence to portray a character deluded by his own sense of indestructible power. Director Mario Van Peebles stretched his otherwise-limited talent to bring vivid authenticity and urgency to this crime story, and subplots involving a pair of tenacious cops (Ice-T, Judd Nelson) and a recovering coke addict (Chris Rock) provide additional dramatic tension. Although some critics may hesitate to admit it, New Jack City deserves mention in any serious discussion about African American filmmakers and influential films. --Jeff Shannon

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What's Cooking?

Sales Rank:24392
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $4.18
Lowest Used Price: $4.14
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Joan Chen
Julianna Margulies
Mercedes Ruehl
Victor Rivers
Douglas Spain

At first glance, What's Cooking? looks like it was dreamed up by some politically correct screenwriting committee: a series of overlapping stories that intercut among four families (one Hispanic, one Vietnamese, one African American, one Jewish) all preparing for Thanksgiving dinner. But what could be toothless and smarmy is made gripping and genuinely affecting by a mixture of observant writing, fluid direction, and a truly superb ensemble of actors, including Mercedes Ruehl, Alfre Woodard, Joan Chen, Julianna Margulies, Kyra Sedgewick, Dennis Haysbert, and a host of less well known but just as capable others. The script is a marvel of orchestration: small annoyances blossom into fierce conflicts, secrets are deftly revealed, and sanctimoniousness is subtly punctured. The acute but sympathetic portrait of family stress and tension is layered with quiet observations about race and class, as well as the capacity for tolerance and forgiveness. It's recently become a cliché to have characters express themselves through food (examples include Soul Food, Big Night, and Eat Drink Man Woman), but What's Cooking? turns food into a witty exploration of culture as everyone prepares their turkeys in entertainingly different ways--this is not a movie to watch on an empty stomach. Warm without false sentiment, What's Cooking? is deeply enjoyable. --Bret Fetzer

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Do the Right Thing

Sales Rank:9560
List Price: $19.98
Lowest New Price: $6.74
Lowest Used Price: $5.75
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Letterboxed
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Danny Aiello
Rick Aiello
Paul Benjamin
Ossie Davis
Ruby Dee

Spike Lee's incendiary look at race relations in America, circa 1989, is so colorful and exuberant for its first three-quarters that you can almost forget the terrible confrontation that the movie inexorably builds toward. Do the Right Thing is a joyful, tumultuous masterpiece--maybe the best film ever made about race in America, revealing racial prejudices and stereotypes in all their guises and demonstrating how a deadly riot can erupt out of a series of small misunderstandings. Set on one block in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer, the movie shows the whole spectrum of life in this neighborhood and then leaves it up to us to decide if, in the end, anybody actually does the "right thing." Featuring Danny Aiello as Sal, the pizza parlor owner; Lee himself as Mookie, the lazy pizza-delivery guy; John Turturro and Richard Edson as Sal's sons; Lee's sister Joie as Mookie's sister Jade; Rosie Perez as Mookie's girlfriend Tina; Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee as the block elders, Da Mayor and Mother Sister; Giancarlo Esposito as Mookie's hot-headed friend Buggin' Out; Bill Nunn as the boom-box toting Radio Raheem; and Samuel L. Jackson as deejay Mister Señor Love Daddy. A rich and nuanced film to watch, treasure, and learn from--over and over again. --Jim Emerson

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Def Comedy Jam: All 11 Episodes

Sales Rank:8044
List Price: $19.98
Lowest New Price: $9.98
Lowest Used Price: $11.84
MPAA Rating: Unrated

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

It's the show that launched superstars Dave Chappelle, Steve Harvey, Bernie Mac, Chris Tucker, Cedric the Entertainer and Martin Lawrence, and after a ten year hiatus, Russell Simmons' Def Comedy Jam is back! The hilarious episodes break ground with an all-star lineup from the fresh to the familiar, and are hosted by hot comic/actor Mike Epps (The Honeymooners and Inappropriate Behavior).

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In His Father's Shoes

Sales Rank:15152
List Price: $6.99
Lowest New Price: $3.70
Lowest Used Price: $2.99
MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Full Screen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Emmy Award Winner for Outstanding Children's Special & Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special, Robert Ri'chard

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Dead Presidents

Sales Rank:7144
List Price: $14.99
Lowest New Price: $6.86
Lowest Used Price: $5.94
MPAA Rating: NC-17

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Letterboxed
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Albert Hughes
Allen Hughes

Actor(s):

Larenz Tate
Keith David
Chris Tucker
Freddy Rodríguez
Rose Jackson

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

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Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in The Hood (Unrated Miramax Collector's Edition)

Sales Rank:6580
List Price: $14.99
Lowest New Price: $6.83
Lowest Used Price: $4.99
MPAA Rating: Unrated

Format:

Closed-captioned
Collector's Edition
Color
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Shawn Wayans
Marlon Wayans
Keenen Ivory Wayans
Tracey Cherelle Jones
Chris Spencer

This wants desperately to be an Airplane-like parody of inner-city African American gangsta movies. Instead, it offers us more turkey than we would find at any Thanksgiving spread. Unfunny, stereotypical, stupid, and crass, it was cowritten by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, both of whom should have known better. The two fare better as actors than writers, as they are almost amusing as hardened, dimwitted homeboys. As Ashtray, Shawn returns to his 'hood and hooks up with his best buddy (Marlon) before the two embark on a series of oh-so-wacky adventures. Siblings Keenen Ivory, Kim, and Craig Wayans also make appearances. If you really want a laugh, watch Booty Call. --Rochelle O'Gorman

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Ray (Widescreen Edition)

Sales Rank:7680
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $0.50
Lowest Used Price: $0.24
MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

AC-3
Color
Dolby
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Jamie Foxx
Regina King
Kerry Washington
Clifton Powell
Harry Lennix

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Boyz 'N the Hood

Sales Rank:6320
List Price: $14.94
Lowest New Price: $7.95
Lowest Used Price: $5.64
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Full Screen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Hudhail Al-Amir
Lloyd Avery II
Angela Bassett
Mia Bell
Lexie Bigham

John Singleton, at the age of 23, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for his debut film, Boyz N the Hood. The film stars Laurence Fishburne, Angela Basset, Ice Cube, and Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in his first starring role in a feature film. Gooding plays Tre Styles, a teenager growing up in South Central Los Angeles. His father, Furious (Fishburne), is divorced and living away from Tre and his mother (Basset), but he's still involved in Tre's upbringing, teaching him the values of right and wrong and responsibility. Meanwhile, Tre's childhood buddies Ricky (Morris Chestnut) and Doughboy (Ice Cube) are living their lives in terms of the epidemic of violence and poverty that has plagued their neighborhood. Ricky, a talented football player, strives to get a full athletic scholarship to college. If only his SAT scores were higher. Doughboy lives a life full of crime but still remains true to his friends. The obstacles that these three young men come across result in dire consequences, devastatingly avoidable and inevitable at the same time. Boyz N the Hood is a landmark film beyond its commercial success, presenting a portrait of South Central in the late '80s and early '90s as painted by Singleton (who grew up in that neighborhood), achieving accuracy and dramatic resonance in this story of at-risk youth. --Shannon Gee

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Chris Rock - Bigger and Blacker

Sales Rank:10005
List Price: $14.98
Lowest New Price: $7.59
Lowest Used Price: $3.20
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Chris Rock
Monteria Ivey
Doug E. Fresh
D. Life
Slick Rick

Comedian Chris Rock makes a raucous return to his stand-up roots in this HBO special filmed at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theater. Despite his manic and profane delivery, Rock's comedy is often rooted in traditional subjects for comedians: family relationships, misunderstandings between men and women, and observations on how childhood has changed. But he takes his material right to the edge, proving himself to be a sharp-eyed satirist. Serious and timely issues, such as school shootings or children being neglected by partying parents, are tackled by Rock, who's not afraid to slip in a serious point while being hysterically funny. His defense of President Clinton against his accusers is a good example of how Rock's material is almost always bound to offend someone: he slices through the self-righteous rhetoric of the impeachment spectacle, but even the behavior he defends comes in for ridicule with jokes that are extremely funny as well as extremely coarse. The pace of this one-hour show is uneven, and some viewers will no doubt find Rock's penchant for using profanity as punctuation tiresome. But those who like intelligent comedy with a hard edge will find much to laugh at in Chris Rock: Bigger and Blacker. -- Robert J. McNamara

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African-American Cinema DVDs

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