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African-American Cinema DVDs

Two Can Play That Game

Sales Rank:9138
List Price: $14.94
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
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Director(s):

Actor(s):

Anthony Anderson
Lee Anthony
Cherise Bangs
Zatella Beatty
Bobby Brown

In reducing the rules of romance to a 10-day plan for repairing a breakup, Two Can Play That Game tickles a few funny bones while "keepin' it real" about heartbreak and human behavior. Our hostess through this marathon of head games is 28-year-old Shanté (Vivica A. Fox--emphasis on the fox), who speaks to the camera so much that critic Roger Ebert nicknamed this movie "Waiting to Inhale." In a film packed with positive stereotypes (no crack-smoking gangstas here, thank you), she's a successful marketing executive, and her straying boyfriend is a high-profile attorney (Morris Chestnut). Their turbulent romance survives Shanté's 10-day power play, but not all viewers will be so lucky, since this movie is alternately charming and aggravating, and there's precious little romance while the lovers are plotting their moves. Still, it's a safe bet that many people will appreciate this movie's endearing lesson--namely, that sincere groveling can save you lots of time and heartache. --Jeff Shannon

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Blue Streak

Sales Rank:14424
List Price: $9.95
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
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DVD-Video
Full Screen
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NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Martin Lawrence
Luke Wilson
Peter Greene
Dave Chappelle
Nicole Ari Parker

Martin Lawrence can certainly talk a blue streak (witness his concert film, You So Crazy), but he tones it down to PG-13 for this by-the-book action comedy. Lawrence stars as Logan, a bank robber and jewel thief (nice role model we're supposed to cheer for) who, just before he is arrested, manages to stash the $20 million diamond he has just heisted at a construction site. When he is released from prison two years later, he returns to the scene of the crime only to find that the completed building houses a police station. To get inside and retrieve the precious gem he secures a fake ID and passes himself off as LAPD's newest, and most unorthodox, detective. As he demonstrated on his TV series, Lawrence has a knack for characterization second to Eddie Murphy. But he's no Beverly Hills Cop. Indulgent sequences where Martin has seemingly been given free reign to ad-lib are the film's weakest. Early on, Logan cases the police station outlandishly disguised as a snaggle-toothed, Geri-curled pizza deliveryman. You'd think the last thing his character would want to do is call attention to himself. Lawrence is at his best in the scenes in which, thanks to all those years of breaking and entering, his formerly lawless character proves to be a natural at cracking burglary cases. Logan is paired with the requisite white partner, Carlson (Luke Wilson), a buttoned-up rookie. Departing from the Lethal Weapon, buddy-movie playbook, they are not antagonists; theirs is more a teacher-mentor relationship. "Don't we need a warrant to do that?" Carlson asks Logan at one point. "We don't even need a key," Logan responds, picking a lock. There is little in Blue that is remotely fresh, but Lawrence fans, who watched him play it straight opposite Murphy in Life, will relish the opportunity to see him get down with his bad self. --Donald Liebenson

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In Too Deep

Sales Rank:11605
List Price: $14.99
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

AC-3
Anamorphic
Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Omar Epps
LL Cool J
Nia Long
Stanley Tucci
Hill Harper

Undercover cop Jeffrey Cole is doing "God's" work, and he is losing his religion. God is Dwayne Gittens, whose neighborhood benevolence masks his thriving Cincinnati (a refreshing change of scenery) drug trade. Cole, a rookie fresh out of the Academy is "ready for the big score" and is charged by his mentor to "bring God and his angels down for good." But the higher Cole rises in Gittens's organization, the deeper he gets. Omar Epps redeems himself after The Mod Squad with a gripping and empathetic performance as the increasingly conflicted Cole. After scoring as the comic relief in Deep Blue Sea, LL Cool J gets down to business as Gittens, the master of his domain who rules with an iron hand (and, in one particularly nasty sequence, a pool cue), but is also capable of compassion and charity. As Cole's concerned superior, Stanley Tucci avoids the bluster usually associated with this stock character. Pam Grier, whose career should have gotten a Viagralike pop from Jackie Brown, makes the most out of her thankless role as a fellow officer who finds herself in a climactic standoff with Cole. In Too Deep briefly loses its focus after Cole is pulled from the case. He takes photography classes and becomes involved with a model (Nia Long). But fans of TV's late, lamented Wiseguy, the unjustly neglected Deep Cover, and Donnie Brasco will find Cole'a anguished odyssey compelling. --Donald Liebenson

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Devil in a Blue Dress

Sales Rank:16763
List Price: $14.94
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Anamorphic
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Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Full Screen
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Denzel Washington
Tom Sizemore
Jennifer Beals
Don Cheadle
Maury Chaykin

Despite rave reviews as one of the most stylish and intelligent detective pictures in a number of years, this 1995 adaptation of Walter Mosley's novel never found a mass audience. Too bad, because Carl Franklin's film is nearly perfect in every way, from its rich, shadowy look to its depiction of life in post-World War II black America (L.A.-style) to the acting of Denzel Washington, Don Cheadle, and others. Washington plays Easy Rawlins, an aircraft factory worker who is laid off only to find his true calling: as a private eye, albeit an unlicensed one. Hired to find a missing woman, he becomes entangled in a complex but satisfying case involving sex, corruption, racism, and of course money. Top-notch from top to bottom--and Cheadle is dangerously funny as Easy's best friend, a killer named Mouse. --Marshall Fine

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A Soldier's Story

Sales Rank:7898
List Price: $14.94
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MPAA Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DVD-Video
Full Screen
Letterboxed
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Howard E. Rollins Jr.
Adolph Caesar
Art Evans
David Alan Grier
David Harris

Director Norman Jewison's (In the Heat of the Night) 1984 adaptation of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores the ramifications of racism and loyalty through the prism of blacks in the military, revealed through a murder mystery set in the 1940s deep South. Howard E. Rollins (Ragtime) plays a military investigator assigned to the murder of a drill instructor (Adolph Caesar) in charge of a black platoon. Under pressure from his superiors to wrap his investigation up quickly, Rollins instead delves deeply into the relationships between the despised drill instructor and his men, uncovering lies and animosity, and confronting the question of what it means to be black in a white man's world. Rollins is a riveting, stoic, and emotional lead, and Denzel Washington makes an early appearance as a soldier with a deep grudge against the drill instructor and a deep mistrust of Rollins' investigator. A powerfully written story that makes the most of its large and impressive ensemble cast, A Soldier's Story is a deeply affecting and worthwhile film. --Robert Lane

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The Queens of Comedy

Sales Rank:13957
List Price: $14.98
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MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Closed-captioned
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DVD-Video
Full Screen
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NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Adele Givens
Laura Hayes
Mo'Nique
Sommore

Four black women profane and brassy bring stand-up to memphiss orpheum theatre. Studio: Paramount Home Video Release Date: 08/24/2004 Starring: Miss Laura Hayes Sommore Run time: 79 minutes Rating: R Director: Steve Purcell

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Disney's Ruby Bridges

Sales Rank:10698
List Price: $14.99
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MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
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Full Screen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

Chaz Monet
Penelope Ann Miller
Kevin Pollak
Michael Beach
Lela Rochon

This well-conceived made-for-television Disney movie brings the pain and difficulty of desegregation to life for a generation of kids to whom the 1960s is ancient history. Young Chaz Monet plays Ruby, who in real life walked up those Southern school steps with armed guards barely shielding her from the hate-filled epithets white adults hurled at her as she single-handedly desegregated the institution. Penelope Ann Miller plays her Yankee teacher--actually a tutor, since no white kids will share her classroom. Kevin Pollak plays the psychiatrist who donates his time to help her deal with the trauma, but won't eat her mother's food. This 89-minute film offers surprisingly complex portraits of many of the adult characters and an admirably frank look at the less-than-positive reaction from her own community. Even her father (Michael Beach) waivers in resolution, especially when his white boss fires him. Superior acting, writing, and production mark this look at one of the uglier periods in American social history and the little girl who helped the country take a giant step in the right direction. Somewhat scary situations and use of racial slurs make parental guidance advisable for young children. (Ages 7 and older) --Kimberly Heinrichs

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The Weather Underground

Sales Rank:10887
List Price: $24.95
Lowest New Price: $13.49
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MPAA Rating: Unrated

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
DVD-Video
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Director(s):

Sam Green (II)
Bill Siegel

Actor(s):

Tse-tung Mao
Walter Mondale
Brian Flanagan (II)
Timothy Leary
Richard Nixon

The key players in the radical movement known as the Weather Underground are skillfully brought to life in this Oscar-nominated documentary. The Weathermen were born of sixties protest, but took their scheme to overthrow the U.S. government to especially violent extremes. Never a well-populated movement, the Underground petered out as its leaders aged during the seventies; by decade's end, weary of hiding, most of them had turned themselves over to the authorities. That journey, by which a fire-breathing revolutionary such as Bernadine Dohrn became a (still fiery) gray-haired wife and mother, is an intriguing one. This film, rich in period footage (and some unnecessary sensationalism) captures the era somewhat broadly. But the present-day interviews with the participants, contrasted with their radical selves, provides an exceptionally detailed look inside the organization itself. It's not a nostalgic look back, and the overall mood is sobering rather than celebratory. Lili Taylor provides the narration. --Robert Horton

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The Search for Robert Johnson

Sales Rank:9629
List Price: $9.98
Lowest New Price: $5.71
Lowest Used Price: $5.00
MPAA Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Format:

Black & White
Color
DVD-Video
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

John Hammond
Miller Carter
Eric Clapton
Wink Clark
Honeyboy Edwards

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Baby Boy

Sales Rank:10991
List Price: $14.94
Lowest New Price: $5.74
Lowest Used Price: $1.49
MPAA Rating: R (Restricted)

Format:

Closed-captioned
Color
Dolby
DTS Surround Sound
Dubbed
DVD-Video
Special Edition
Subtitled
Widescreen
NTSC

Director(s):

Actor(s):

AlexSandra Wright
Tyrese Gibson
Taraji P. Henson
Omar Gooding
Tamara LaSeon Bass

A worthy companion piece to 1991's Boyz N the Hood, John Singleton's Baby Boy expresses compassionate but unforgiving criticism of young, African American black men who lead reckless, irresponsible lives while blithely blaming racism for their chronic disadvantage. That's already enough to make this a provocative and emotionally challenging film, but Singleton injects his drama with such passionate vitality that it never seems inflammatory; instead, in presenting this portrait of a confused and conflicted 20-year-old black man named Jody (Tyrese Gibson), Singleton is both affectionate and accusatory, lending Baby Boy an edgy, timeless wisdom that other, less courageous films could never hope to offer.

Unemployed and living with his 36-year-old mother (A.J. Johnson), Jody has fathered children from two young mothers and seems destined for an early grave. He never knew his father, but his mother's new boyfriend Melvin (played to perfection by Ving Rhames) is an ex-con with streetwise maturity that Jody, in time, will come to recognize and respect. This generational dynamic is the lifeblood of Singleton's central theme; Jody can follow Melvin's example or fall into the trap of lawlessness personified by Rodney (Snoop Dogg), a violent gangsta who arrives to threaten Jody's tenuous chance at a respectable adulthood. Through a wealth of fine performances and blistering dialogue, Baby Boy presents hard questions with no easy answers, and although Singleton is prone to polemical melodrama, his blunt approach serves a noble and ultimately hopeful purpose. --Jeff Shannon

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African-American Cinema DVDs

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