Angela Bullock Movies
Danny DeVito steps behind the camera for this darkly funny satire that combines elements of Barney and Friends with the real-life Pee-Wee Herman scandal while recalling the director's previously twisted black comedies Throw Momma From the Train (1987) and The War of the Roses (1989). Robin Williams stars as Randolph Smiley, a popular children's show host known professionally as "Rainbow Randolph." Dismissed from his beloved job when he's caught taking payola, Randolph becomes increasingly mentally unhinged and the target of his delusional revenge fantasies is Sheldon Mopes (Edward Norton), otherwise known as Smoochy, the fuchsia rhino character that has replaced him and soared to national popularity. Randolph soon learns that his ex-girlfriend and network executive Nora Wells (Catherine Keener) is sleeping with Sheldon, so he sets out to kill Smoochy, egged on by an unexpected ally: corporate president Marion Frank Stokes (Jon Stewart), who should be profiting from Smoochy's rise to fame, except for the fact that he and his cronies are unable to control the idealistic Sheldon's on-air agenda. Death to Smoochy (2002) co-stars Harvey Fierstein, Vincent Shiavelli, and Michael Rispoli. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
Writer/director Mike Sargent makes his feature debut with this witty romantic comedy about looking for a lover in the newspaper pages. New York reporter Keith Parker (Malik Yoba) neglects his day job to tend to his two girlfriends. His carefully balanced world comes crashing down when he gets canned from work and dumped by both of his honeys. Keith resolves to get his life back in order by placing some personal ads both under his real name and under his cheesy pen name. Much of the rest of the film details Keith's adventures on the town with a diverse array of women including an angry black militant (Angela Bullock) who denounces Whoopi Goldberg, a depressive poet (Joie Susannah Lee), and a forthright businesswoman who seeks the right man to impregnate her. Personals was screened at the 1999 Chicago Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, Rovi
- Starring:
- Malik Yoba, Stacey Dash, (more)
- 1999
A car dredged out of the Hudson River yields the remains of a human male. This gruesome discovery reopens a 30-year-old murder case involving a campus protestor. The D.A.'s office is met with a great deal of "brass resistance" from the NYPD in prosecuting the case -- perhaps because a security guard named Darryl Grady (Michael Higgins) is one of the key players. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1998
Former documentary filmmaker Rocky Collins made his feature directorial debut with this dark comedy-drama about suburban adultery. After schoolteacher Barry Grogan (Neil Maffin) and first-grade teacher Julie Hammer (Christy Baron) pull off a covert sexual liaison despite possible discovery by nearby students and staff, they go for another risky quickie in a station wagon parked by the school. Julie is married to deputy district attorney Max (Harry O'Reilly), who's hoping to be elected D.A. Barry, with two children, is married to Dierdre (Karen Young), and when he tells her about his affair, she kicks him out of the house. When Julie tells Max, he wants to stay together to work it out. Julie agrees to stay for three months, but nevertheless continues to visit Barry, who's staying at a motel. Max loses the election, and fraud charges put him in jail. During Thanksgiving dinner, Max tells Julie's parents about Julie's way of life, and other emotional twists follow in this film influenced, according to Collins, by Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life (1959), Max Ophuls' Caught (1948), and Nicholas Ray's Bigger Than Life (1956). Shown at the 1998 LA Independent Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Christy Baron, Harry O'Reilly, (more)
- 1997
Huey Tate (Chris McKinney) is arrested for the double murder of a black-activist congressman and his bodyguard. Subsequent investigation reveals that one of the victims may have been responsible for an innocent person's death. Crucial to the D.A.'s prosecution is the eyewitness testimony of a woman who is an informant for the FBI -- and as such, cannot be allowed to testify. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- 1995
Courtney B. Vance guest stars as Benjamin "Bud" Greer, a highly successful African-American Wall Street broker. The detectives and the D.A.'s office swoop down on Greer when he is suspected of murdering his white mentor. The Defense argues that Greer should be acquitted, using the controversial (and sometimes extremely effective) argument of "black rage." ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
