Angie Stone Movies

As helmed by a series of avant-garde performance artists and provocateurs, the seven-episode omnibus picture Destricted both pays homage to classic porn and deconstructs the concepts of obscenity and voyeurism, with a series of extreme tonal variations on the sexual act. The premier episode, artist Matthew Barney's "Hoist" (which is laced with transsexual metaphors) depicts a bizarre mating ritual between a man with a giant cucumber for a penis and a 50-ton deforesting Caterpillar truck. For the second go-round, House Call, notorious still photographer Richard Prince (best known for "re-photographing" the Garry Gross nudes of Brooke Shields) re-shoots to the point of graininess (and re-dubs) images from a "classic" hardcore sequence involving an encounter between a stud (John Saint John) and a chesty woman (Kora Reed), and their kinky games with a thermometer. Commercial veteran Marco Brambilla authored the third episode, "Sync" - a kind of "teaser" - by splicing together thousands of split-second sequences from sex scenes in both hardcore and mainsteam features, and "matching up" the action (creating a sequence with it of the various film segments), from foreplay to climax. Controversial director Larry Clark (Kids, Ken Park) authored the fourth (and longest, at 38 minutes) segment, entitled "Impaled"; it begins with a series of spontaneous, one-on-one interviews with adolescent boys, where Clark asks them intimate questions about their sexual fantasies and sexual desires, and indicates that he plans to select one to undergo an unsimulated, hardcore sex scene with an actual porno actress. The film then cuts to the "act" itself, which proves ironically mechanical and untitillating for its male participant. Sam Taylor-Wood' "Death Valley" constitutes the fifth segment and offers an extended (voyeuristic) glimpse of a man in the desert who masturbates to ejaculation. The sixth segment, Marina Abramovic's much-acclaimed "Balkan Erotic Epic," provides a riotous parody of ethnic sexual rituals, in which women expose their breasts and "mate" with the ground, and men fertilize gardens with their semen. And Gaspar Noe's closer, "We Fuck Alone," combines the influence of Tamaño Natural and Flicker by depicting copulation between a man and an inflatable sex doll - as filmed beneath an alienating strobe light. As a measure of U.S. society's love-it-or-hate-it conservatism, this picture ran at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival but skipped U.S. arthouse distribution (to say nothing of a mainstream American release). It did, however, receive a European theatrical run. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi

Director Jonathan Lynn followed up the surprise hit The Whole Nine Yards with this musical comedy starring Academy Award winner Cuba Gooding Jr. Gooding plays Darrin, a shallow New York advertising executive, who travels to a small town in the deep south upon receiving word that his aunt has passed away and left him a sizable inheritance. But once Darrin gets into town, he is informed that he will only receive the money if he successfully leads a local gospel group to victory at an upcoming competition. Reluctant but strapped for cash, Darrin takes on the task of finding the best singers in town and shaping the group up. Along the way, he becomes acclimated to the town with the help of his cousin Lucius (Mike Epps) and meets Lilly (Beyoncé Knowles), a single mother who not only possesses an incredible voice but also the ability to warm Darrin's cold heart. Along with Knowles, the supporting cast features a number of other real musicians, including Faith Evans, Melba Moore, Angie Stone, Montell Jordan, and The O'Jays. ~ Matthew Tobey, Rovi

A carefree young woman wakes up to discover her greatest nightmare is a reality -- she's become trapped in the body of Rob Schneider -- in this shape-shifting comedy. Jessica (Rachel McAdams) is a beautiful teenager whose life would be the envy of any high school student -- she's head of the cheerleading squad, her boyfriend, Billy (Matthew Lawrence), is the quarterback of the football team, and she's pretty and popular enough to get nearly anyone to do what she wants. However, Jessica is soon to find out how the other half lives, in more ways than she counted upon; she shoplifts a pair of earrings from an shop specializing in African curios run by Mambuza (Angie Stone), unaware that they carry the curse of Princess Nawa. Thanks to the curse, the next morning Jessica awakes to find that her spirit has entered the body of Clive (Rob Schneider), a sweaty and hirsute small-time crook. As Jessica tries to figure out how she can return to her old body, she has to lead the cheerleading squad to victory and attend her senior prom while looking like a less-than-handsome 30-year-old man. Billy is understandably puzzled by the changes in Jessica, while her best friend, April (Anna Faris), finds her feelings about Jessica change a bit once she volunteers to be her prom date. The Hot Chick is the first theatrical feature for director Tom Brady; Brady co-wrote an earlier Schneider vehicle, The Animal, and was on the writing staff for his television series Men Behaving Badly. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi