Apparently, Sherry (Nia Long), the young woman in question--she's as attractive as Big Momma is, well, you know--is none too bright, for she falls for Malcolm's ruse, which of course ostensibly amuses mainly because it's so transparent. She at least has an excuse--she hasn't seen Big Momma in two years--but Big Momma's oblivious friends must be functional morons. Screenwriters Darryl Quarles and Don Rhymer didn't tax themselves very much, as they have Malcolm-as-Big-Momma going through fairly predictable motions--botching a meal and delivering a baby unconventionally (Big Momma's a midwife), but ruling at basketball and self- defense and protecting Sherry while trying vainly not to flirt with her. Paul Giamatti is wasted as Malcolm's partner; director Raja Gosnell's clunky sense of comic rhythm is bewildering, because he used to be an editor (he brought a similar lack of magic to Home Alone 3).

Lawrence won't have anyone forgetting Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot, Dustin Hoffman in Tootsie, or Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire anytime soon. Big Momma's House benefits mainly by being first to the marketplace ahead of Eddie Murphy's The Nutty Professor 2: The Klumps; Murphy's work in prosthetics is far more accomplished, versatile, and funny. --David Kronke
Price=$12.99
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Price=$19.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:27 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/black-5.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/black-5.htm
Shot on the streets of New York, writer-director Larry Cohen captures the bustle and color of the city in this violent, low-budget crime film. Ambitious Tommy Gibbs (a swaggering, self-confident Fred Williamson) has risen from shoeshine boy to Harlem crime lord, but he wants a bigger piece of the pot. With a racist, high-ranking cop (Art Lund) in his pocket, he begins his expansion with a bloody takeover bid but finds himself betrayed from within and the target of both the cops and the mob. Cohen invests this fast-paced tale (partially inspired by the 1930 gangster classic Little Caesar with a touch of Scarface) with colorful characters (notably a hustling religious leader played by D'Urville Martin), high energy, and a scruffy style. Black Caesar is one of the most entertaining movies to come from the 1970s explosion of low-budget black cast genre pictures, more commonly known as "blaxploitation" films. --Sean Axmaker
Price=$12.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:45 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/black-6.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/black-6.htm
Pam Grier in a women-in-prison movie? Why did no one think of this sooner? OK, they did. Several times. But this one is different. Black Mama, White Mama is a bizarre update of The Defiant Ones with a little Cool Hand Luke and Chained Heat thrown in for good measure. Grier stars as Lee Daniels, a pimp-and-drug-lord's moll who's looking for a way to escape both prison and her thug boyfriend. The dynamic Margaret Markov ably backs her as rich-girl-turned-revolutionary Karen Brent. The two meet in the friendliest Third World prison ever (Tickling games in the shower! What girlish fun!), and before you can say catfight they're chained together at the wrist. A quick prison break later, our feisty ladies are being chased all over the undefined tropical island by the police, revolutionaries, and dueling pimps. Director Jonathan Demme shares the story credit for this one, and his craftsmanship shows--Black Mama, White Mama hits every mandatory facet of the genre, including butt kicking, gunfire, an Evil Lesbian Prison Guard, gratuitously scanty clothing, and dressing up as nuns. Absolutely not to be missed. --Ali Davis
Price=$10.49
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Okay, so Booty Call is trashy and often sophomoric. It is still funny. Tommy Davidson and Tamala Jones have been dating for almost two months and are pushed into that big romantic night by best friends Jamie Foxx and Vivica A. Fox (as the hysterically named "Lysterine"). The friends, of course, engage in a verbal war based on instant loathing and mutual attraction. The humor is low-brow and sometimes stereotypical, but this is worth watching just for the scene in which the two guys, concerned about "safe sex," cover themselves in plastic wrap. It pushes the envelope, which is fun, but the clearly homophobic tendencies cause it to lose ground. Still, there is chemistry between the players and plenty of laugh-out-loud scenes. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Price=$6.99
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Critically-acclaimed drama that invokes the glory days of the Harlem Renaissance. As an elderly man, poet Bruce Nugent meets a young black gay artist struggling to find his voice and together they embark on a surreal narrative journey through his inspiring past.
Price=$19.98
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Dwayne and his sister are Vietnamese siblings who were adopted by an African-American couple. Now in their mid-20s, they both have chosen different paths, but when they learn that their biological mother is coming to Los Angeles, they eagerly await the reunion. This drama is both funny and moving in an emotionally rewarding journey through the tapestry of one group of immigrants searching for what it means to call themselves a family.
Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:25:42 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/catfish.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/catfish.htm
Constellation chronicles the lives and loves of an African-American family in the deep South as they are forced to come to terms with a tumultuous past marked by an unrequited interacial affair. The film explores the way in which the family patriarch must confront his demons amidst the changing racial fabric of society and his own family.System Requirements:Run Time: 96 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: PG - 13 UPC: 024543429135 Manufacturer No: 2242913
Price=$10.49
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He had all the right moves to put the ball away...until the cops put him away -- for good. UCLA All-American and NBA Rookie Of The Year Keith Wilkes and Laurence Fishburne III (The Matrix) give spectacular debut performances in this touching...sensitive and gripping movie (Cue) that s guaranteed to take your emotions for a reckless ride (L.A. Herald-Examiner)! Step into the court with Cornbread Earl And Me...you ll be glad you did. Wilkes is Cornbread a promising highschool basketballer who has what it takes to shoot himself right out of the ghetto...until two cops mistake him for a rapist and gun him down in cold blood. But when the police attempts to cover up their mistake strong-arming the community into silence with threats of jail time and violence it s up to Cornbread s 11-year-old brother Wilford (Fishburne) and his pal Earl (Tierre Turner) to find the courage to speak the truth and clear Cornbread s name.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 027616867827 Manufacturer No: 1002581
Price=$12.99
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Spike Lee's semiautobiographical, 1994 film about the good and bad times for a Brooklyn family in the '70s has passion and nostalgic good feeling, but it is also a mess of random reflections and arbitrary storytelling. The centerpiece of the movie is a little girl (Zelda Harris) who views the ups and downs of her parents' experiences (mom and dad are played by Delroy Lindo and Alfre Woodard), and who navigates the life of her neighborhood. Lee tosses in a lot of '70s detail (watching The Partridge Family) and other diversions (Harris's journey through suburbia), but he has no master sensibility controlling the flow of it all. The film is more wearying than anything, although bright spots include Lindo's fine performance as a talented man suffering from irrelevance. --Tom Keogh
Price=$8.49
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Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:19 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/crown.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/crown.htm
The Rodney King riots of April 1992 hang like a keg of dynamite over Dark Blue, a crackling tale of Los Angeles police corruption that gives Kurt Russell one of the best roles of his underrated career. Adapted by Training Day screenwriter David Ayer from a story by L.A. Confidential novelist James Ellroy, the plot finds Russell's rule-bending detective teamed with a promising young partner (Scott Speedman) whose ethics have yet to be tainted. Their boss (Brendan Gleeson) is a lawless maverick, maneuvering the unwitting detectives into covering up a lucrative robbery scam, while L.A.P.D.'s Deputy Chief (Ving Rhames) campaigns to bring them all down. While adhering to familiar cop-thriller formula, director Ron Shelton (Bull Durham) escalates tension with forceful impact, drawing a climactic parallel between the King riots and the fallout from Russell's cynical behavior. It's a powerhouse combination, allowing Russell to find shades of complexity in a character who realizes, almost too late, that he's a devil in the hell of L.A. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$12.99
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Bill Duke (A Rage in Harlem) directed this edgy action yarn that stretches the barriers of the genre. It explores the fine line between good and evil, while testing the resolve of a moral man seduced by an easier, more pleasurable lifestyle. Although the plot eventually becomes too overblown and earnest, Deep Cover proves far more intelligent than the average action pic. Laurence Fishburne is the straight-arrow undercover cop who gets so far into his assumed identity that he has trouble recognizing the good guys from the bad. The characters, all flawed, are fleshed out and believable as they face their decisions with questions and doubt, unlike most in this genre. Jeff Goldblum provides smarmy comic relief as an eccentric mid-level drug dealer/attorney who is probably a psychopath and most definitely paving his path to hell. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Price=$12.99
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Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:00 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-5.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-5.htm
For nine seasons throughout the 1990's Russell Simmons' DEF COMEDY JAM exposed hilarious, predominantly African-American comedians to the public via HBO, and created many new superstars in the process. Unfettered by censors, the show allowed up and coming stars such as Martin Lawrence, D.L. Hughley, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and more to be be as raw and wild as they wanted to be. This all-star episode includes performances by Martin Lawrence, Joe Torry, Cedric the Entertainer, Sommore, J. Anthony Brown, Tony Sculfield, and more!
Price=$19.98
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For nine seasons throughout the 1990's Russell Simmons' DEF COMEDY JAM exposed hilarious, predominantly African-American comedians to the public via HBO, and created many new superstars in the process. Unfettered by censors, the show allowed up and coming stars such as Martin Lawrence, D.L. Hughley, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and more to be be as raw and wild as they wanted to be. This all-star episode includes performances by Martin Lawrence, Steve Harvey, Mo'Nique, Tommy Chunn, Don "D.C." Curry, Montana Curry, and more.
Price=$19.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:31 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-7.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-7.htm
For nine seasons throughout the 1990's Russell Simmons' DEF COMEDY JAM exposed hilarious, predominantly African-American comedians to the public via HBO, and created many new superstars in the process. Unfettered by censors, the show allowed up and coming stars such as Martin Lawrence, D.L. Hughley, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and more to be be as raw and wild as they wanted to be. This all-star episode includes performances by Martin Lawrence, Dave Chappelle, J.B. Smoove, Adele Givens, Lester Barrie, and more!
Price=$17.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:52 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-8.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-8.htm
For nine seasons throughout the 1990's Russell Simmons' DEF COMEDY JAM exposed hilarious, predominantly African-American comedians to the public via HBO, and created many new superstars in the process. Unfettered by censors, the show allowed up and coming stars such as Martin Lawrence, D.L. Hughley, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, Bernie Mac, and more to be be as raw and wild as they wanted to be. This all-star episode includes performances by Martin Lawrence, Cedric the Entertainer, Joe Torry, Bruce Bruce, Robin Montague, and more.
Price=$19.98
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Price=$19.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:19 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-10.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-10.htm Price=$19.98
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Price=$19.00
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:41 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-12.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-12.htm Price=$19.00
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:41 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-13.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-13.htm Price=$17.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:46 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-14.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/def-14.htm
This snappy, cynical cop thriller was marketed as a "blaxploitation" film when released in 1973, but it's really a mixed-cast godson of The French Connection and The Seven Ups set in the racially volatile cauldron of 1970s Detroit. Alex Rocco (Moe Green from The Godfather) stars as a veteran detective on the Detroit police force, a sinus-infected loner who's bitter from constantly being passed over for promotion. Assigned to a political powder keg--the high-profile heist of a black gubernatorial candidate's big money fundraiser--he's paired up with an educated, smart-dressing black hotshot (Hari Rhodes), a fast-rising star in the department. These guys are no Lethal Weapon act; they may earn a grudging mutual respect but never really like or trust one another. The climactic 25-minute chase is edgy and lean and very violent, spiced with big bloody gunshot wounds and victims writhing in tortured death spasms, and the film concludes on an unusually satisfying note of ambiguity and cynicism. Marks went on to direct Friday Foster and J.D.'s Revenge. The title, by the way, refers to the police code for "officer in trouble." Virtually unseen since its premiere, it was rescued by Quentin Tarantino's Rolling Thunder label for a brief theatrical revival and subsequent video release. --Sean Axmaker
Price=$9.49
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:25 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/detroit.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/detroit.htm
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in The Hood 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
Price=$14.99
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Attempting to change her life, a single mother (Woodard) is sent to spend a summer at her family's ancestral home in the Mississippi Delta.
Genre: Feature Film Urban Drama
Rating: PG13
Release Date: 31-MAY-2005
Media Type: DVD
Price=$9.99
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Once you've seen Drumline, halftime shows will become works of art. This formulaic yet surprisingly captivating movie honors the military precision of college football marching bands, those battalions of eager, sternly disciplined brass sections, drummers, and fly girls who turn halftime shows into well-oiled Vegas variety acts on steroids. Devon (played by Will Smith protégé Nick Cannon) is a cocky Brooklyn kid with a snare-drumming scholarship to (fictional) Atlanta A&T University. He can't read music (he lied on his application) and his attitude sucks, but he's the best natural drummer the college has ever had, so he quickly rises through the marching band ranks. The school year brings Devon the obligatory girlfriend (Zoë Saldana, smart and charming); clashes with his old-school band director (Orlando Jones); and well-earned redemption at the championship marching band showdown. No surprises here, but great chemistry all around, and a fantastic, positive role-model showcase for a musical form that has evolved far beyond the main street parades of Smalltown, U.S.A. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$17.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:18 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/drumline-2.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/drumline-2.htm
Once you've seen Drumline, halftime shows will become works of art. This formulaic yet surprisingly captivating movie honors the military precision of college football marching bands, those battalions of eager, sternly disciplined brass sections, drummers, and fly girls who turn halftime shows into well-oiled Vegas variety acts on steroids. Devon (played by Will Smith protégé Nick Cannon) is a cocky Brooklyn kid with a snare-drumming scholarship to (fictional) Atlanta A&T University. He can't read music (he lied on his application) and his attitude sucks, but he's the best natural drummer the college has ever had, so he quickly rises through the marching band ranks. The school year brings Devon the obligatory girlfriend (Zoë Saldana, smart and charming); clashes with his old-school band director (Orlando Jones); and well-earned redemption at the championship marching band showdown. No surprises here, but great chemistry all around, and a fantastic, positive role-model showcase for a musical form that has evolved far beyond the main street parades of Smalltown, U.S.A. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$14.98
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From acclaimed director Chris Eyre whom People Magazine calls " the preeminent Native American filmmaker of his time" comes this touching and inspirational story about loyalty friendship and courage. New man in town Kenny Williams (James McDaniel) has just accepted a position as an English professor at the Three Nations Reservation in Utah. Finding it hard to fit in with the tight-knit Native American community he decides to take on the challenge of coaching the high school girls' basketball team.System Requirements:Running Time 106 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 758445114928 Manufacturer No: SHO1149D
Price=$9.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:25 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/edge-of.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/edge-of.htm
Actress Kasi Lemmons made an auspicious debut as a writer and director with this delicately handled, wrenchingly emotional drama, hailed by critic Roger Ebert as one of the best films of 1997. Eve's Bayou begins with ominous narration: "The summer I killed my father, I was 10 years old." From that point the story moves backward in time and memory to Louisiana in 1962, when a young girl named Eve (Jurnee Smollett) witnesses a shocking act on the part of her womanizing father (Samuel L. Jackson). But what really happened? And can Eve be certain about what she saw when there is more than one interpretation of the facts? Less a mystery than a study of deeply rooted emotions rising to the surface to affect an entire family, the film has the quality of classic Southern literature, with layers of memory unfolding to reveal a carefully guarded truth. Barely seen during its theatrical release, this lushly photographed film deserves to be rediscovered on digital video disc. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$9.98
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Soul Cinema superstar Pam Grier leads an outta-sight, all-star cast, including Yaphet Kotto (Alien), Eartha Kitt (TV's original Catwoman), Carl Weathers (RockyÂ(r)), Scatman Crothers (The Shining), Ted Lange ("The Love Boat"), Jim Backus ("Gilligan's Island") and Godfrey Cambridge (Cotton Comes to Harlem) in this ultra-slick, pulse-pumping actioner that brings a foxy camerawoman into the focus of danger! When photographer Friday Foster (Grier) unwittingly uncovers a white supremecist plot to knock off all of the country's top black leaders, she andher free-wheelin', trouble-dealin' P.I. friend, Hawkins (Kotto), go on a mission to stomp the killers' plans! From the backstage murders at a righteous fashion show to a pedal-to-the-metal car chase from a funeralin a hearse(!)this shutterbuggin' babe will go anywhere and do anything to expose the corruptiononly this time, the shooting isn't just with a camera!
Price=$12.99
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G. is an engrossing update of The Great Gatsby, set in the Hamptons and starring Richard T. Jones as Summer G., a self-made, millionaire head of a hip-hop label. Having risen from obscurity to make his fortune, Summer pines for just one thing: Sky (Chenoa Maxwell), the woman who dumped him back in college to marry the brutal, philandering Chip (Blair Underwood). Sky's feckless cousin, Tre (Andre Royer), a pop journalist, sets her up in an assignation with Summer, leading to predictable conflicts but with unexpected consequences. Co-written and directed by Christopher Scott Cherot, G. is also an interesting portrait of American wealth, particularly the collision of old and new money in the form of a biracial aristocracy coming to terms with a hip-hop elite. Strong performances alone are enough to recommend this feature. --Tom Keogh
Price=$12.99
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In this once-lost masterpiece of independent horror the blade of an ancient African knife spreads a vampiric contagion to research assistant George (director Bill Gunn) whose bloodlust soon infects Dr. Hess Green (Night of the Living Dead's Duane Jones) as well. When Hess is enraptured by George's beautiful wife Ganja (Enter the Dragon's Marlene Clark) he attempts to conceal his terrible secret... but at a high price.Intended to capitalize on the 1970s market for gothic horror films and blaxploitation this bold striking statement from Bill Gunn - playwright actor multiple threat artist - is an arthouse thriller about addiction culture clashes and moral redemption. Hailed as one of the great artistic achievements of modern American cinema it was the only American film screened during Critics' Week at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival where it won a standing ovation. It was literally ahead of its time--so audacious and unique it was all but buried after being screened for years in a savagely-butchered edition. We are proud to present this exclusive DVD restoration of Bill Gunn's director's cut including 3 minutes of footage missing from previous home video versions.System Requirements:Running Time 113 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: HORROR Rating: NR UPC: 014381351125 Manufacturer No: ADE3511DVD
Price=$21.99
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The heart-stopping story of the first black regiment to fight for the North in the Civil War. Glory stars Matthew Broderick Denzel Washington Cary Elwes and Morgan Freeman. Broderick and Elwes are the idealistic young Bostonians who lead the regiment; Freeman is the inspirational sergeant who unites the troops; and Denzel Washington in an Oscar winning performance (1989 Supporting Actor) is the runaway slave who embodies the indomitable spirit of the 54th Regiment of Massachusetts.System Requirements:Starring: Matthew Broderick Alan North Bob Gunton Denzel Washington Cary Elwes Morgan Freeman Jihmi Kennedy Andre Braugher John Finn Donovan Leitch and John David Cullum. Directed By: Edward Zwick Running Time: 118 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2001 Columbia TriStar Home Video.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396041837 Manufacturer No: 04183
Price=$29.95
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Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn (who won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance) are unforgettable as perplexed parents in this landmark 1967 movie about mixed marriage. Joanna (Katharine Houghton) the beautiful daughter of crusading publisher Matthew Drayton (Tracy) and his patrician wife Christina (Hepburn) returns home with her new fiance John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) a distinguished black doctor. Christina accepts her daughters decision to marry John but Matthew is shocked by this interracial union; the doctors parents are equally dismayed. Both families must sit down face to face and examine each others level of intolerance. In GUESS WHOS COMING TO DINNER director Stanley Kramer has created a masterful study of societys prejudices.System Requirements:Approx. 109 Min. Color StereoFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating:  UPC: 043396054196 Manufacturer No: 05419
Price=$14.94
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Guy Torry's Comedy Tuesdays is back in action with Volume 3 Each DVD showcases four of today's rising stars of comedy, shot live at one of L.A.'s hottest clubs, The Comedy Union. Hosted by Guy Torry, the laughs are non-stop, racy and raw. Phat Comedy Tuesdays is a throw back to the old school tradition of comedy performed in an intimate club setting. Featuring Jay Phillips, Tryf, Edwonda White, and Esau McGraw.
Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:04 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/guy-torry.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/guy-torry.htm
Guy Torry's Comedy Tuesdays is back in action with Volume 2 Each DVD showcases four of today's rising stars of comedy, shot live at one of L.A.'s hottest clubs, The Comedy Union. Hosted by Guy Torry, the laughs are non-stop, racy and raw. Phat Comedy Tuesdays is a throw back to the old school tradition of comedy performed in an intimate club setting. Featuring Eric Schwartz, Rudy Rush, Cocoa Brown, and Todd "T" Rexx.
Price=$14.98
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From the producers of the smash hit SOUL FOOD comes HAV PLENTY, a hilarious look at love and sex in the '90s that charmed audiences and critics alike. For struggling novelist Lee Plenty, the only thing sorrier than his writing career is his love life. That is, until Lee's old college friend, Havilland, invites him to her home to celebrate New Year's Eve. Before long, Lee finds himself surrounded by three gorgeous women: Havilland, her uninhibited best friend, and her affection-starved sister. It looks like Lee's in for a weekend filled with plenty of laughter, love, and surprises. A hit soundtrack featuring Babyface & Des'ree, Erykah Badu, SWV, and Absolute energizes this fresh and funny romp!
Price=$9.99
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Based on Terry McMillan's best-selling novel, How Stella Got Her Groove Back stars Angela Bassett as a 40-year-old, Manhattan stock trader and single mom whose static life gets a jolt during a vacation with her pal (Whoopi Goldberg) in Jamaica. Sparks fly when Bassett meets a 20-year-old stud (Taye Diggs) who has an ambivalent career path but a great body and lots of sexual energy to burn. After some prodding by Goldberg's warm-funny secondary character, Bassett gets it on with the fellow--and proceeds to worry about what she's doing with a man half her age. The film is most enjoyable in its sunny, exotic early scenes and becomes more formulaic once the unlikely couple transports their will-we-stay-together-or-won't-we tensions back to the Big Apple. But director Kevin Rodney Sullivan goes out of his way to make a movie unabashedly thick with fantasy and wish-fulfillment for female audiences (it's Diggs who reveals a lot more flesh than the regal Bassett). This is a Saturday-night movie all around. --Tom Keogh
Price=$10.49
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Hip-hop czar Master P cowrote, executive produced, and stars in I Got the Hook-Up, which is truly one of the more surreal urban comedies ever seen. P plays Black, a small-time hustler who scams a shipment of cell phones. With his partner Blue (A.J. Johnson) and semi-girlfriend Lorraine (Gretchen Palmer), Black snags a bit of cellular service from a large corporation and starts making a bundle from cell-phone sales. Unfortunately, the phones are a bit undependable, and a gangbanger accidentally broadcasts the location of a package of cash over the radio, setting off a treasure hunt. The gangbanger swears vengeance on Black and Blue, the cellular company starts investigating the surge in use, the FBI gets involved--everyone's on the hunt for our heroes. This plot description, however, is much more direct than the way it plays out. I Got the Hook-Up is a bizarre conglomeration of oddball characters and odd, off-the-cuff incidents, such as when a couple of cops get called in for a domestic dispute, only to discover one of the cop's wives, a dwarf, having an affair with a guy in a leather bat suit. Or there's the funeral of a gangster that turns into a brawl; the pleasure palace a TV repairman has in the back of his shop; an FBI interrogation in which the agents tear off Mission: Impossible-style rubber masks--the plot quickly gets lost in the madness. Which is not a bad thing, really. Tall, laconic P and short, excitable Johnson make an appealing Mutt and Jeff comic duo. Featuring cameos by Ice Cube, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and others. --Bret Fetzer
Price=$12.99
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Emmy Award Winner for Outstanding Children's Special & Outstanding Performer in a Children's Special, Robert Ri'chard
Price=$6.99
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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
Price=$12.99
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Spike Lee's 1991 story about an interracial relationship and its consequences on the lives and communities of the lovers (Wesley Snipes, Annabella Sciorra) is one of his most captivating and focused films. Snipes and Sciorra are very good as individuals trying to reach beyond the limits imposed upon them for reasons of race, tradition, sexism, and such. Lee makes an interesting and subtle case that they are driven to one another out of frustration with social obstacles as well as pure attraction--but is that enough for love to survive? John Turturro is featured in a subplot as an Italian American who grows attracted to a black woman and takes heat from his numbskull buddies. --Tom Keogh
Price=$9.99
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Sassy, in-your-face account of an intelligent, flippant Brooklyn girl who lives in the projects and dreams of college. Ariyan Johnson is captivating as the teen with attitude and a brain, but she cannot decide which should guide her. She wants a better life but finds herself taking a very hard road. First-time writer/director Leslie Harris put together a sharp, realistic, very funny account of life for a young black woman. It is rough around the edges, however, and is definitely hampered by the minuscule budget. This may not always be pretty, but it is consistently interesting. --Rochelle O'Gorman
Price=$7.99
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Whoopi Goldberg and LL Cool J lead a strong cast in Kingdom Come, one of those the-whole-family-comes-together comedy-dramas that celebrate the transcendent power of love. When the surly patriarch of the family dies, relatives descend upon his widow (Goldberg): his recovering alcoholic son Ray (Cool J) and his wife Lucille (Vivica Fox from Independence Day), who have been unsuccessfully trying to get pregnant; the incompetent other son Junior (Anthony Anderson, Big Momma's House) and his jealous wife Charisse (Jada Pinkett Smith) and their three rambunctious boys; the over-religious sister (Loretta Devine) and her shiftless son; and assorted other eccentric characters who generally turn the reception and funeral into a series of squabbling indignities--the kids even wrap the hearse in toilet paper. The movie's script is modest at best and loaded with forced plot points--to no one's surprise, all problems are resolved in an orgy of forgiveness--but the cast handles the material with sincerity and grace. Goldberg rises to the top as the stoic Mama Rae, lacing her bland lines with a dry and biting wit. Cedric the Entertainer (The Original Kings of Comedy) and singer Toni Braxton round out the cast. --Bret Fetzer
Price=$12.99
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Can#t get enough of America#s outrageously popular, longest-running urban comedy festival? Jamie Foxx is back for Laffapalooza! #3. More fresh faces... more laughs... and even more bang for your buck! The Superstars: D.L. Hughley (Robots, Cloud Nine, Soul Plane), Dick Gregory (internationally known political activist/comedian). The Players: Chris Spencer (Road Dogs, Significant Others), Sheryl Underwood (Getting Played, Holla), Aries Spears (LaLa Wood, Mad TV), Kenny Howell (Russell Simmons# Def Comedy Jam Tour), Jamie Foxx: Redemption: The Tookie Williams Story, Collateral, Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Story and The Sexpert; recent critical acclaim in the hit films Ali and Any Given Sunday.
Price=$12.99
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Taken together, Richard Pryor's concert films, the essential Live in Concert, the virtuoso Live on the Sunset Strip, and even the lesser Here and Now, provide a more incisive autobiographical portrait of the groundbreaking comedian than the fictionalized Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling. In Sunset Strip, Pryor relates two life-changing experiences. The first is his trip to "the motherland," Africa. As funny as is the routine in which Pryor gives voice to a couple of cheetahs poised to prey on unsuspecting gazelles, he brings the audience up short with a moving revelation that leads him to forswear ever again calling another black person the "N-word." The second, of course, is his near-fatal freebasing accident, which Pryor at first jokingly passes off as an accident involving milk and cookies. Then, he takes the audience step by harrowing step through his growing cocaine addiction (abetted by his untrustworthy pipe which speaks to him in reassuring tones), alienation from friends, including the formidable Jim Brown ("Whatcha gonna do?"), the explosion that resulted in third-degree burns over the upper half of his body, and finally, the agonizing rehab. It is even more unflinching and savagely funny than his Live in Concert routine about his heart attack. Other memorable bits include his experiences as a 19-year-old stand-up comedian working at a Mafia-owned club, a monologue from one of his signature characters, Mudbone, and his visit to a penitentiary while filming Stir Crazy. Sunset Strip captures Pryor's triumphant return to the stage. He is a survivor, unbowed, winning this round over the demons that plagued him throughout his career. --Donald Liebenson
Price=$12.99
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In 1981 in L.A. Monica moves in next door to Quincy. They're 11 and both want to play in the NBA just like Quincy's dad. Their love-hate relationship lasts into high school with Monica's edge and Quincy's top-dog attitude separating them except when Quincy's parents argue and he climbs through Monica's window to sleep on the floor. As high school ends they come together as a couple but within a year with both of them playing ball at USC Quincy's relationship with his father takes an ugly turn and it leads to a break up with Monica. Some years later their pro careers at a crossroads they meet again. It's time for a final game of one-on-one with high stakes.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/LOVE & ROMANCE UPC: 794043113369 Manufacturer No: 1000037064
Price=$17.98
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Just as Do the Right Thing was the capstone of Spike Lee's earlier career, Malcolm X marked the next milestone in the filmmaker's artistic maturity. It seemed everything Lee had done up to that point was to prepare him for this epic biography of America's fiery civil-rights leader, who is superbly played by Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington, from his early days as a zoot-suited hustler known as "Detroit Red" to his spiritual maturity after his pilgrimage to Mecca, as a Black Muslim by the name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Do the Right Thing climaxed with the photographic images of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King engulfed by flames of rage; Malcolm X explores the genesis and evolution of that rage over Malcolm's lifetime, and how these two great figures--held up to the public as polar-opposites within the African American human rights movement (King for nonviolent civil disobedience, Malcolm for achieving equality "by any means necessary")--were each essential to the agenda of the other. Lee careens from the hedonistic ebullience of Malcolm's early days to the stark despair of prison, from his life-changing conversion to Islam to his emergence as a dynamic political leader--all with an epic sweep and vitality that illuminates personal details as well as political ideology. Angela Bassett is also terrific as Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz. --Jim Emerson
Price=$6.49
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Price=$9.99
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Mandela & De Klerk was filmed in South Africa. Most of the locations are those where the actual events took place, and the dramatized sequences are augmented with newsreel footage to ensure the most accurate portrayal possible of recent historical events.
Price=$7.98
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The story of Carl Brashear, the first African American, then also the first amputee, US Navy diver.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 2-SEP-2003
Media Type: DVD
Price=$12.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:54 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/men-of-3.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/men-of-3.htm
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: MEN OF HONOR
Title: MEN OF HONOR
Street Release Date: 05/22/2007
Domestic
Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE
Price=$12.99
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Academy Award-winning actor Denzel Washington gives a riveting performance in Spike Lee's breathtaking film on music and love. Talented trumpeter Bleek Gilliam (Washington) is obsessed by his music and indecisiveness about his girlfriends Indigo (Joie Lee) and Clarke (Cynda Williams). But when he is forced to come to the aid of his manager and childhood friend (Spike Lee), Bleek finds his world more fragile that he ever imagined. Stunning cinematography, a rousing score and superlative performances come together in this unforgettable feast for the senses.
Price=$9.99
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No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: DVD
Artist: PAYNE/ROCK/ICE T/NELSON
Title: NEW JACK CITY
Street Release Date: 08/29/2006
Domestic
Genre: ACTION / ADVENTURE
Price=$12.99
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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
Price=$14.98
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After seeing Odds Against Tomorrow, it's hard to understand why Harry Belafonte made so few movies. He's superb as Johnny Ingram, a nightclub singer with a bad gambling debt. To pay it off, he agrees to take part in a bank heist with an ex-cop (the great character actor Ed Begley) and a racist ex-con named Earl Slater, played with consummate bitterness by Robert Ryan. But this isn't a standard crime caper--the movie carefully explores the pressures each man is under. Ingram's debts have begun to threaten his ex-wife and child, while Slater's pride has been eaten away by age and failure; Slater finally has a relationship that matters to him (with Shelley Winters, in one of her wonderful, desperate performances), but not as much as proving himself. As the plan slowly falls into place, the tensions between the men get more extreme until everything falls apart. Gloria Grahame, one of the great B movie femme fatales, has a small but memorable role. Director Robert Wise's long and wildly varied career includes The Haunting, The Sound of Music, and Star Trek: The Motion Picture, but Odds Against Tomorrow is one of his best. This bleak, powerful movie is considered by many critics and film historians to be the last true film noir, and it's a fitting close to the genre. --Bret Fetzer
Price=$12.99
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Superstar comedienne Mo'Nique is "hilarious" (San Francisco Chronicle) as a sassy plus-sized fashion designer who's tired of taking no for an answer in this "delightful" (Boston Globe) comedy about living life to the fullest. Jazmin Biltmore (Mo'Nique) has big plans for large ladies she's designed a sexy line of clothes for curvaceous women like herself. But when she can't get funding for her designs or meet a man who appreciates her unique physique Jazmin's patience starts running thin. That is until she wins an all-expense-paid trip to a resort in Palms Springs where she just might just meet the man of her dreams.System Requirements:Running Time: 99 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: PG-13 UPC: 024543254928 Manufacturer No: 2235492
Price=$9.99
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A mismatched pair pushed together on a road trip from South Central L.A. to Oakland Justice and Lucky have only one thing in common: they can't stand each other. But as their friends Lesha and Chicago fight - and make up - in the back of the van Justice and Lucky find themselves reluctantly drawn together. After a surprising detour toward romance the two travelers are confronted once again by the shocking violence they thought they'd left behind. Featuring the music of Naughty by Nature and Tony! Toni! And the poetry of Maya Angelou POETIC JUSTIC is every bit as intense original and unforgettable as Boyz N the Hood.System Requirements:Starring: Maya Angelou Tyra Ferrell Janet Jackson Regina King Tupac Shakur and Joe Torry. Directed By: John Singleton. Running Time: 110 Min. Color. This film is presented in both "Widescreen" and "Standard" formats. Copyright 2002 Columbia TriStar.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 043396523999 Manufacturer No: 52399
Price=$10.49
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Mario Van Peebles directed as well as starred in this ham-fisted, 1993 Western with a predominantly African American cast. The story finds a posse of black shooters (with one white member, played by Stephen Baldwin) taking on a racist sheriff and military man, but Van Peebles's effort at mixing convention with hip credentials gets pretty grating. (Tone Loc makes the worst cowboy in film history.) The film is also incredibly sexist, going well beyond the usual frontier-floozy clichés and lapsing into the sort of blatant exploitation one found at that time in rap-music videos. There are lots of cameo appearances from familiar folks willing to support Van Peebles on a project that probably sounded like a mix of experiment and event--Pam Grier, Isaac Hayes, Woody Strode, and the director's father, Melvin Van Peebles. But even they can't help. --Tom Keogh
Price=$12.99
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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

Price=$12.99
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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

Price=$17.98
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Watching Pryor go from imitating a drinking deer to a woman debating about going in the woods gives just a hint of the comedic genius of the man. Crude, foul, and real, this is the first and best of his concert films. Pryor does dead-on impersonations of the respective races, cussing, trying to act tough, getting kicked in personal spots. But it's his imagination that elevates him to a different level. He gives his impressions of what animals think, from his own animals (a monkey, a Doberman) to police dogs, and it seems so exact, so prescient. Not to mention the fact that he is self-deprecating in the extreme, and has as much fun skewering himself as any other subject. Still vibrant, still funny. --Keith Simanton
Price=$24.98
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A shameful chapter in American history is powerfully dramatized in Rosewood, but moviegoers in 1997 may not have been ready for the African American equivalent of Schindler's List. And while the massacre that occurred in the nearly all-black town of Rosewood, Florida, in 1922 cannot compare in scale to the Nazi holocaust, it potently illustrates the same issues of racism and inherited intolerance that percolate at every level of human existence. An estimated 40 to 150 blacks were killed in Rosewood by an all-white lynch mob from the neighboring town of Sumner, where a white woman falsely claimed she'd been assaulted by a black man. The resulting mayhem ignited a tinderbox of resentment toward the flourishing citizens of Rosewood, and those few who survived were so traumatized that they remained silent until the truth was revealed by an investigative journalist in 1982.

The film is blessed with richly authentic production design, lush cinematography, and a subtly effective John Williams score, and director John Singleton and screenwriter Gregory Poirier embellish the truth of Rosewood with a fictional hero named Mann (Ving Rhames), who arrives to buy a five-acre plot coveted by Rosewood's white grocer (John Voight). The emerging trust between these two characters--and the fate of an extended family led by a defiant father (Don Cheadle)--gives shape to the movie's devastating depiction of racism and the courage of those who opposed the lynch mob's brutality. Singleton and Poirier fall prey to some bad dialogue and a broadly unbalanced depiction of bloodthirsty hayseeds, but the film's passion is maintained by its superb cast and the timeless echoes of history. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$14.96
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Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:18 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/russell.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/russell.htm
Even when it misses a dramatic opportunity in favor of generic action, Set It Off benefits from a sharp understanding of its well-drawn central characters. They're a quartet of young African American women in Los Angeles (Jada Pinkett, Queen Latifah, Vivica A. Fox, Kimberly Elise), all struggling against a system that seems designed to prevent them from realizing their dreams. The movie establishes their plight with credible attention to emotional detail, making their decision to rob banks believable enough to give the ensuing plot its inevitably tragic momentum. Cowritten by the screenwriter of What's Love Got to Do With It?, the film conveys genuine compassion for its characters, and the ensemble cast is uniformly strong--especially Queen Latifah as a brash lesbian whose fate is as certain as her forceful attitude.

Set It Off expresses a real sense that these women have been close friends for years, and that gives the film additional impact, even when their transition to crime and violence feels somewhat forced and superficial. A romantic subplot involving Pinkett and a social-climbing banker (Blair Underwood) is too contrived to be convincing, and director F. Gary Gray (Friday) tries too hard to combine hard-hitting action with social relevance (a weakness shared by Gray's following film, The Negotiator). Still, Set It Off effectively avoids passing judgment; its emotional complexity transcends simple notions of right and wrong, injecting vitality--and a kind of renegade integrity--into the traditions of a familiar plot. --Jeff Shannon
Price=$7.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:26:02 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/set-it.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/set-it.htm
Pam Grier combines big guns and fantastic '70s outfits in Sheba, Baby. After roughly 4,000 establishing shots of Chicago in the opening credits, private eye Sheba Shayne (Grier) immediately heads to Louisville, where thugs are leaning on her father's business, trying to get him to sell out. The police, alas, are no help, but never fear--Sheba is the kind of private dick who doesn't shy away from dunking a man's face in toxic chemicals to get the information she needs. She soon finds herself going head-to-head with a crime lord named Pilot, and the butt kicking begins. Sheba, Baby offers giant ties, big guns, and a firefight on speedboats, and yes, of course there's a catfight. Mandatory viewing. --Ali Davis
Price=$9.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:26:28 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/sheba.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/sheba.htm
A beleaguered family feverishly tries to get out intact from New York's notorious Red Hook projects in this micro-budget debut film from writer-director-star Matty Rich. The director deserves attention for simply getting this unrelentingly bleak movie created and then released (as has been well documented, the then-19-year-old Rich had to gather the thinnest of shoestring budgets from friends and various grants); but the genuine passion behind this gangland drama can't disguise the fact that what's being presented here isn't particularly new or innovative. (A much more facile treatment of a similar subject can be found in Boaz Yakin's stunning Fresh.) Despite the impressively gritty locations, honestly pessimistic worldview, and George T. Odom's raw performance as a haplessly abusive patriarch, one can't quite shake the unfortunate feeling that this is a film more notable for its backstory than what actually made it up onto the screen. Rich would later go on to make the considerably more polished, Disney-funded coming-of-age story The Inkwell. --Andrew Wright
Price=$9.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:08 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/straight.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/straight.htm
The Original Kings of Comedy achieves the seemingly impossible task of capturing the rollicking and sly comedy routines of stand-up and sitcom vets Steve Harvey, D.L. Hughley, Cedric the Entertainer, and Bernie Mac and the magic of experiencing a live concert show. Director Spike Lee and his crew plant a multitude of cameras in a packed stadium and onstage (as well as backstage, as they follow the comedians) to catch the vivid immediacy of the show, which is as much about the audience as it is about the jokes. And the jokes are funny.

All four riff fast and furiously (and with much swearing) on the world in terms of race, family, sex, and in one routine, outer space. Hughley takes comedic aim at extreme sports and eating disorders, while Cedric harks back to the day when gang fights meant calling opponents out onto the dance floor. Bernie Mac, the self-confessed id comedian of the group, presents a routine that is simultaneously offensive and hilarious--an apt reminder that comedy can and should be vicious if we are ever to learn to laugh at ourselves and hopefully be the better for it. Harvey, who acts as the MC for the show, has some transcendent moments with the crowd (a '70s slow jam sing-along, anyone?) that have to be seen to be believed. There's no doubt as to why Kings was a hit with concert and movie audiences; the laughs keep coming, in the tradition of Richard Pryor and Eddie Murphy, with a sharp eye on the nuances of today's racially affected culture. --Shannon Gee
Price=$6.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:25:45 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-24.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-24.htm
This true story of the black flyers who broke the color barrier in the U.S. Air Force during World War II is a well-intentioned film highlighted by an excellent cast. Proud, solemn, Iowa-born Laurence Fishburne and city-kid hipster Cuba Gooding Jr. are among the hopefuls who meet en route to Tuskegee Air Force Base, where they are among the recruits for an "experimental" program to "prove" the abilities of the black man in the U.S. armed services. Fighting prejudice from racist officers and government officials and held to a consistently higher level of performance than their white counterparts, these men prove themselves in training and in combat, many of them dying for their country in the process. Andre Braugher costars as a West Point graduate who takes charge of the unit in Africa and in Italy (where it's christened the 332nd). The film is rousing, if slow starting and episodic, but it's periodically grounded by a host of war movie clichés, notably the calculated demise of practically every trainee introduced in the opening scenes (ironic given the 332nd's real-life combat record--high casualties for the enemy, low casualties among themselves, and no losses among the bombers they escorted). Ultimately the Emmy-nominated performances by moral backbone Fishburne and the dedicated Braugher and the energy and cocky confidence of Gooding give their battles both on and off the battlefield the sweet taste of victory. --Sean Axmaker
Price=$5.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:25:59 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-26.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-26.htm
Steven Spielberg, proving he's one of the few modern filmmakers who has the visual fluency to be capable of making a great silent film, took a melodramatic, D.W. Griffith-inspired approach to filming Alice Walker's novel. His tactics made the film controversial, but also a popular hit. You can argue with the appropriateness of Spielberg's decision, but his astonishing facility with images is undeniable--from the exhilarating and eye-popping opening shots of children playing in paradisiacal purple fields to the way he conveys the brutality of a rape by showing hanging leather belts banging against the head of the shaking bed. In a way it's a shame that Whoopi Goldberg, a stage monologist who made her screen debut in this movie, went on to become so famous, because it was, in part, her unfamiliarity that made her understated performance as Celie so effective. (This may be the first and last time that the adjective understated can be applied to Goldberg.) Nominated for 11 Academy Awards, including best picture and actress (supporting players Oprah Winfrey and Margaret Avery were also nominated), it was quite a scandal--and a crushing blow to Spielberg--when it won none. The digital video disc requires flipping to play the whole movie. --Jim Emerson
Price=$19.96
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:26:23 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-color.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-color.htm
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
Price=$14.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:35 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-30.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-30.htm
The Breaks is a hip-hop hilarious comedy in the tradition of Friday and Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice In The Hood. Mitch Mullany plays Derrick -- an Irish white boy who thinks he's black facing a day in the hood when everything goes wrong. The luck of the Irish doesn't quite seem to work in the hood. With special appearances by basketball great Gary Payton and funk legend George Clinton. Features: 2.0 Digital StereoTrailer Digitally MasteredScene AccessCast and Crew InformationInteractive MenusProduction NotesSystem Requirements:Approx. Feature Running Time 86 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY Rating: R UPC: 012236607403 Manufacturer No: 60740
Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:05 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-31.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-31.htm

Price=$24.95
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:21 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-black-3.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/the-black-3.htm

Price=$12.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:24 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/trick.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/trick.htm

Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:32:16 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/trouble-2.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/trouble-2.htm
After he sang the praises of a certain black private dick named Shaft (but before he started slinging hash in the little town of South Park), mega-baritone crooner Isaac Hayes got a chance to personally bust some heads in this little known but ultra-cool blaxploitation classic. Hayes (who would later spoof his rock-solid performance in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka) is the titular ex-linebacker and bounty hunter who's determined to clean up the savage streets--with extreme prejudice. A sadly neglected, primo slice of '70s guilty pleasure that boasts a dream supporting cast including Scatman Crothers, Yaphet Kotto as an evil crime boss named Harvard Blue, and Trek's Nichelle Nichols as a very un-Uhura-like, foul-mouthed lady of the evening. Fans who can't get enough of Isaac should also check out his riotous turn as the villain in Escape from New York. --Andrew Wright
Price=$12.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:14 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/truck.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/truck.htm
We always tell our children not to talk to strangers. And never, ever let them into the house. Too bad Howard didn't listen.

Debbie and Howard are celebrating their wedding anniversary. Or so Debbie thought. A special night together turns into a nightmare when Howard lets a man into the house to use the phone. Who is the smooth stranger who immediately takes to Debbie? And what does he really want? Debbie and Howard soon find out the answer to the question, and when they do, their lives will never be the same again. Be careful who you let into the house. Especially the Uninvited Guest.

Price=$12.99
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:45 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/uninvited.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/uninvited.htm
Based on a novel by Terry McMillan, this weepy melodrama about four African American women and the men who wronged them became an instant cultural phenomenon when it was released back in 1995. It's easy to see why Exhale struck a nerve: the movie boasts an attractive cast of African American actresses and personalities, including Whitney Houston, Angela Bassett, and Lela Rochon. Unfortunately, though, Exhale sags under the weight of its soapy, crisis of the week plotting and relentlessly cheery "you go, girl!" optimism. And African American men, cast here as insensitive lovers and pigheaded materialists, get the very short end of the feminist stick. Perhaps moviegoers were simply responding to the brilliant soundtrack by R&B superstar Babyface, who provided the movie's only real groove. --Ethan Brown
Price=$9.98
Buy ]]> Thu, 18 Sep 2008 17:33:47 -0400 http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/waiting-2.htm http://www.cinemaxtudela.com/products/african-american/waiting-2.htm