Posts Tagged ‘african-american’
Monster’s Ball (2001)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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Hank Grotowski is a prison guard. He works with his son, Sonny, and lives at home with his racist father, Buck. Lawrence Musgrove has just been executed and a horrible tragedy has happened at home. Now, Hank has just met Leticia, a young black woman struggling to make ends meet and they quickly fall in love to ease each other’s pains. If only he knew that Leticia is Musgrove’s widow… |
Underclassman (2005)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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Hoodlum (1997)Thursday, February 18th, 2010 |
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The film focuses on the war of two gangs in 1930s Harlem for the control of illegal gaming – one headed by black strategic godfather Bumpy Johnson and another by white ruthless hothead Dutch Schultz. Negotiations proposed by white syndicate boss Lucky Luciano never get under way, blood flows and Johnson gets jailed. When Johnson is paroled, he gets the work of enforcer for mighty Stephanie “The Queen” St. Clair. She is also jailed for racketeering and when she leaves she makes him promise “no violence”. |
Coming to America (1988)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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It is the 21st birthday of Prince Akeem of Zamunda and he is to marry a woman he never saw before. Now the prince breaks with tradition and travels to America to look for the love of his life. |
Crash (2004)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Several stories interweave during two days in Los Angeles involving a collection of inter-related characters, a black police detective with a drugged out mother and a thieving younger brother, two car thieves who are constantly theorizing on society and race, the distracted district attorney and his irritated and pampered wife, a racist veteran cop (caring for a sick father at home) who disgusts his more idealistic younger partner, a successful black Hollywood director and his wife who must deal with racist cop, a Persian-immigrant father who buys a gun to protect his shop, a Hispanic locksmith and his young daughter who is afraid of bullets, and more. |
Guess Who (2005)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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A sarcastic father (Mac) has plenty to say about his daughter wanting to marry a white boy (Kutcher). |
Civil Brand (2002)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Women prisoners strike up a friendship with a young law student who works as a part-time prison guard. Together they discover that a corporation funds and is profitting from the plantation-like work environment they are forced to work under. In a botched attempt to organize a protest against their “slave labor”, the women take over the prison – A rare glimpse of the effects of the prison industrial complex on female inmates. |
Friday Night Lights (2004)Wednesday, February 17th, 2010 |
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Odessa, Texas, is a small, town in Texas. Racially divided and economically dying, there is one night that gives the town something to live for: Friday Night. The Permian Panthers have a big winning tradition in Texas high school football, led by QB Mike Winchell and superstar tailback Boobie Miles, but all is not well, as Boobie suffers a career-ending injury in the first game of the season. Hope is lost among citizens in Odessa, and for the team, but Coach Gary Gaines, who believes that “Perfection is being able to look your friends in the eye and know you did everything you could not to let them down”, is somehow able to help the team rise up from the ashes and make a huge season comeback. Now on their way to state, the Panthers must go out and be perfect, because they may never matter this much for the rest of their lives. |
Snow Dogs (2002)Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 |
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When Miami dentist Ted Brooks (Cuba Gooding, Jr.) learns that his birth mother has passed away and that he was named in her will, he travels to Alaska to claim his inheritance. Rather than the large chunk of change that many people would expect, Ted instead receives his mother’s pack of rowdy sled dogs and her property. Although the dogs seemingly have it in for Ted, he decides to keep the dogs and race them in the local race, the Arctic Challenge, spiting a mountain man (played by James Coburn) who wants the dogs. What follows is a comedy detailing Ted’s adventures in learning to run the sled dogs. |
What’s the Worst That Could Happen? (2001)Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 |
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Thief Kevin Caffery attempts to rob from the home of rich businessman Max Fairbanks. But Fairbanks catches him and steals his cherished ring that his girlfriend gave him. Caffery is then bent on revenge and getting his ring back with the help of his partners. |
Barbershop (2002)Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 |
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A smart comedy about a day in the life of a barbershop on the south side of Chicago. Calvin (Cube), who inherited the struggling business from his deceased father, views the shop as nothing but a burden and waste of his time. After selling the shop to a local loan shark, Calvin slowly begins to see his father’s vision and legacy and struggles with the notion that he just sold it out. Calvin’s barbershop is filled with an eclectic and hilarious cast of characters that share their stories, jokes, trials and tribulations. In the shop we find Eddie (the Entertainer), an old barber with strong opinions and no customers. Jimmy (Thomas) is a highly educated barber with a superiority complex who can’t stand Isaac (Garity), the new, white barber who just wants a shot at cutting some hair. Ricky is an ex-con with two strikes against him and is desperately trying to stay straight. Terri (Eve) is a hard-edged woman who can’t seem to leave her two-timing boyfriend. And lastly there’s Dinka, a fellow barber who is madly in love with Terri but doesn’t get the time of day. |
Drumline (2002)Tuesday, February 16th, 2010 |
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A fish-out-of-water comedy about a talented street drummer from Harlem who enrolls in a Southern university, expecting to lead its marching band’s drumline to victory. He initially flounders in his new world, before realizing that it takes more than talent to reach the top. |
Waist Deep (2006)Saturday, July 11th, 2009 |
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“I’ll always come back for you,” single father O2 tells his young son Junior. This parental promise is put to the test when O2 is suddenly plunged into a do-or-die situation; trying to go straight for Junior’s sake, this recently paroled ex-con is forced to go back outside the law after his son is kidnapped in a carjacking. The resulting chase and shootout have left Junior in the hands of Meat, the vicious leader of the Outlaw Syndicate. O2’s shady cousin Lucky tries to mediate, but is caught between criminal and family loyalties. The only person who can or will help O2 get his son back is wily street-smart hustler Coco, whose path fatefully crossed O2’s just moments before the kidnapping. When Lucky gets word to O2 that Meat expects $100,000 for Junior’s freedom, O2 and Coco seize the opportunity to pit rival elements of the South Los Angeles underworld against each other. “It’s either all or nothing,” realizes O2. With the clock ticking down, the heat between O2 and Coco rises as they become a lawbreaking couple, on an tear through a range of Los Angeles neighborhoods. Can they outwit the underworld and save Junior and themselves? Search keywords |
Night of the Living Dead (1968)Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 |
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Chaos descends upon the world as the brains of the recently deceased become inexplicably reanimated, causing the dead to rise and feed on human flesh. Speculation rests on a radiation-covered NASA satellite returning from Venus, but it only remains a speculation. Anyone who dies during the crisis of causes unrelated to brain trauma will return as a flesh-eating zombie, including anyone who has been bitten by a zombie. The only way to destroy the zombies is to destroy the brain. As the catastrophe unfolds, a young woman visiting her father’s grave takes refuge in a nearby farmhouse, where she is met by a man who protects her and barricades them inside. They both later discover people hiding in the basement, and they each attempt to cope with the situation. Their only hope rests on getting some gasoline from a nearby pump into a truck that is running on empty, but this requires braving the hordes of ravenous walking corpses outside. When they finally put their plans into action, panic and personal tensions only add to the terror as they try to survive. |
The Color Purple (1985)Wednesday, June 10th, 2009 |
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This film follows the life of Celie, a young black girl growing up in the early 1900’s. The first time we see Celie, she is 14 – and pregnant – by her father. We stay with her for the next 30 years of her tough life… |
Finding Forrester (2000)Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 |
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Jamal Wallace is an inner-city kid from the Bronx who has an aptness at basketball and a genius at writing. While always a C student, Jamal comes to the attention of a prestigious New York prep school when he scores highly on his standardized tests. While Jamal is given a heavy load at his new school, both he and the school know that the real reason they took him on is for his prowess on the court. Befriended by fellow student Claire and helped along by Pulitzer-prize winning author and recluse William Forrester, Jamal pursues his dreams both on and off the court while overcoming obstacles placed by his bitter literature teacher. As Jamal is shaped by Forrester, he finds that he is changing the old writer as well, forcing him to confront his past…and his future. Search keywords |
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967)Tuesday, May 19th, 2009 |
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Joey Drayton brings her fiancé, Dr. John Prentice, home to sunny San Francisco to meet her affluent parents. Their liberal persuasions are now put to the test, for although the young man is an ideal choice (he’s highly and internationally respected in the medical field, and he’s impeccably mannered, handsome, well dressed and of a respectable California family), he’s black. The film, which covers one busy day in the Drayton home, is essentially a drawing-room comedy, a series of cross-conversations between the young doctor and the girl’s parents, and finally between all sets of parents and offspring. A simple dinner is extended to include the doctor’s parents, who fly up from Los Angeles for the evening, and the crusty but benevolent old Irish priest, a friend of the family. Thus, the title of the film . . . Search keywords |
The Family That Preys (2008)Monday, May 18th, 2009 |
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Alice Pratt, a hard working religious woman, raised her two daughters while managing a simple bar of her own. Her snobbish and arrogant daughter Andrea graduated in Economic Science and works in a construction corporation while her sister Pam stayed with Alice and worked in the bar. Andrea is married to construction worker Chris, who works in the same corporation as his wife but dreams of starting up his own business. However she is being unfaithful to him – with their boss William Cartwright. William is the son of Alice’s best friend, the wealthy Charlotte Cartwright. While Alice travels with Charlotte on a road trip, the ambition and infidelity of William triggers a series of events that will affect relationships in both families. |
Serpico (1973)Friday, April 24th, 2009 |
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Frank Serpico is a young, inexperienced cop who starts out on patrol. Later, he starts to work as an undercover cop who busts all sorts of criminals, but mostly drug dealers and pushers. Since Serpico is a young man living in the 70’s, he lives as one. His image, based on how others look on him, shows him as just a ‘hippie’ and the criminals he busts have no idea he is really an undercover officer. Everything is working out well, except the money situation. Serpico refuses to accept money, as the other officers do. He feels this isn’t right, and wants to expose the situation. Who he thought were his friends now turn into his enemies when Serpico takes the stand on a grand jury investigation. He continues to work undercover, and his life is placed into jeopardy at the hands of his colleagues. |
Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009 |
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It is 1948 in LA and Ezikeal “Easy” Rawlins, an African-American World War II veteran, is looking for work. At his friend’s bar, he is introduced to a white man, DeWitt Albright, who is looking for someone to help him find a missing white woman assumed to be hiding somewhere in LA’s Black community. This woman, Daphane Monet, happens to be the fiancée of a wealthy “blue blood,” Todd Carter, who is currently the favorite in the city’s mayoralty race. Daphane Monet is known to frequent the Black jazz clubs in LA. Easy, innocently, accepts Albright’s offer; however, he quickly finds himself amidst murder, crooked cops, ruthless politicians, and brutalizing hoodlums. This is a Chandler-esque “who-done-it” with an African-American theme. |



















