Brandy Movies
If there's one word that can best describe Brandy, it's synergy. Dominating pop charts wasn't enough for the young R&B singer, so she followed in the footsteps of Madonna, Charo, and many a one-named diva and began to take more acting and modeling gigs.Brandy was born in McComb, MS, on February 11, 1979, but grew up in Carson, CA, with her parents and younger brother Ray-J, another aspiring musician. She declared precociously at age four that she would sing professionally and drew attention performing with youth groups in her middle-class neighborhood.
Brandy made her acting debut in 1993 with a supporting role on ABC's short-lived television series Thea. Shortly after Thea's demise in 1994, the uniquely pretty 15-year-old released her self-titled first album, which went triple-platinum and featured hit singles like "I Wanna Be Down" and "Baby."
But interestingly enough, music sat on the back burner while Brandy pursued her acting career. She won the title role in UPN's family drama Moesha in 1996 and starred a year later as Cinderella in ABC's star-studded TV-movie version of the fairy tale.
During breaks from these and other projects, she recorded Never S-A-Y Never, the eagerly awaited follow-up to her first album. Powered by "The Boy Is Mine," her duet with fellow teen star Monica, the 1998 album sold extraordinarily well and also produced the hits "Have You Ever" and "Almost Doesn't Count."
1998 and 1999 were busy years for her. In addition to Moesha, she starred in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer with Jennifer Love Hewitt and starred and executive produced Double Platinum, a TV-movie feature with Diana Ross. Brandy also spent time touring in support of her album, performed on VH1's Divas Live, and became a spokesmodel for Cover Girl cosmetics. It's a wonder she had time to go to the prom with future basketball star and good friend Kobe Bryant.
But it was all due to catch up to her. In November 1999, amid rumors that she was addicted to diet pills and squabbling with producers on her TV show, Brandy collapsed and was hospitalized three days for dehydration. Since then, she's slowed down a little. Moesha ended its run in 2001 and Brandy focused her energies on attending classes at Pepperdine University and spending time with boyfriend Wanya Morris of Boyz II Men.
She didn't totally given up showbiz for the academic life, though -- she voiced a character in Osmosis Jones, the 2001 Farrelly brothers' Innerspace-esque comedy. ~ Stephanie M. Kuenn, Rovi
- 2011
- PG13
A lonely highway patrolman teams up with a gorgeous librarian to find the owner of a verbose parrot, and together the pair embarks on a most unusual adventure in this romantic comedy based on Joe Coomer's breezy New York Times 1993 Book of the Year, The Loop. Kindhearted Lyman (Jackson Hurst) spends most of his nights helping people on the highway. As a result, he's found it difficult to establish any real lasting relationships. Just when it starts to look as if Lyman is destined to spend the rest of his life alone, however, a wayward parrot swoops into his home and starts talking up a storm. Convinced that he can reunite the rare bird with its owners with the right help, Lyman recruits inquisitive librarian Fiona (Rachel Nichols) to help search for clues. Meanwhile, as the unlikely duo ventures far out of their comfort zones, casual conversations lead to an intimate connection and unexpected romance. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Rachel Nichols, Jackson Hurst, (more)
- 2005
Legendary jazz musician John Henry Giles (Harry Lennix) collapses during a recording session. After Giles' own doctor Marty Hamilton (David Conrad) diagnoses the dread disease ALS, the musician hastily signs a "do not resuscitate" form. Naturally, House (Hugh Laurie) ignores this document, and as a result ends up in court--just as Giles begins to exhibit inexplicable signs of recovery! Meanwhile, Dr. Hamilton tries to persuade his former pupil Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps) to leave New Jersey and join him in a lucrative West Coast partnership. Pop star Brandy appears as herself. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Cher, Brandy, and Faith Hill top the bill for this concert special staged by VH1 which pays tribute to the women of pop music. LeAnn Rhimes, Mary J. Blige, Chaka Khan, and diva-for-a-night Elton John make guest appearances; the set list includes such hits as Simply The Best, I Will Always Love You, If I Could Turn Back Time, How Do I Live Without You, and I'm Every Woman. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
Two generations of R&B superstars -- legendary Motown diva Diana Ross and teen hitmaker (and star of the TV series Moesha) Brandy -- share top billing in this made-for-TV drama about the troubled relationship between a mother and daughter. Olivia King (played by Diana Ross) is an aspiring vocalist who gives up her only child in the pursuit of her career. Years later, Olivia is a major star in pop music, and the daughter she left behind, Kayla (Brandy), is a gifted young singer on the rise. Can Olivia win back the daughter she left behind years ago, and can Kayla find it in her heart to forgive her mother? The supporting cast includes Allen Payne, Christine Ebersole and former Yo! MTV Raps host Ed Lover. Produced for ABC Television, Double Platinum was first aired in May of 1999, and was released on home video two months later. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Diana Ross, Brandy, (more)
- 1998
- R
- Add I Still Know What You Did Last Summer to QueueAdd I Still Know What You Did Last Summer to top of Queue
I Know What You Did Last Summer was one of the two teenaged horror movies responsible for bringing the horror genre into the 90's (the other being Wes Craven's Scream). Both of those films came from the pen of screenwriter Kevin Williamson, and both of them generated sequels. I Still Know What You Did Last Summer is the continuation of Julie James (Jennifer Love Hewitt), a tortured college co-ed who accidentally almost killed a man and left him for dead one night. One year later, that man, named Ben Willis, came back to kill all of Julie's friends. Now, another year later, she still suffers from nightmares over the horrible incidents. When Julie's roommate Kate (Brandy) wins an all-expenses paid trip to the Bahamas on a radio promotion by guessing the capital of Brazil, she decides to take her roommate Julie, her boyfriend (Mekhi Phifer), and their new friend (Matthew Settle) on the retreat. Once there, they discover that besides being the rainy season, they were also followed by Julie's nemesis who is still seeking revenge. Slowly the islanders turn up murdered, leaving Julie no choice but to explain her past actions to her friends and fight to stay alive. It will entail the final showdown between her and Ben Willis once and for all. ~ Chris Gore, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze, Jr., (more)
- 1997
- G
- Add Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella to QueueAdd Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella to top of Queue
Seen on ABC's Wonderful World of Disney, this $12-million production is the only musical Rodgers and Hammerstein wrote for television. The CBS-TV original, with 21-year-old Julie Andrews in the title role and Edie Adams as the Fairy Godmother, played on live television March 31, 1957 to TV's largest audience ever to that date (107-million viewers). That historic production, captured on kinescope, can still be seen today on library monitors at the Museum of Television & Radio in New York and Los Angeles. Hammerstein died in 1960 and did not get to see 18-year-old Lesley Ann Warren as Cinderella in the February 22, 1965 restaged production, repeated annually on CBS until 1977 and later made available on videotape from CBS/Fox Video and Facets Multimedia. Added to the 1965 show was "Loneliness of Evening", a song actually written for South Pacific but cut before the Broadway opening.
Running a half-hour longer, this third interpretation premiered November 2, 1997. Filmed over a 28-day period, it stars Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, with Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen (wearing $60 million worth of borrowed Harry Winston jewelry), Paolo Montalban as the Prince, and Jason Alexander as the Prince's steward, Lionel. Scripter Robert L. Freedman provided a rewrite of the original Oscar Hammerstein book, and three other Richard Rodgers songs were added to the existing score: "There's Music in You" (from the 1953 movie musical Main Street to Broadway), "The Sweetest Sounds" (a Brandy/Montalban duet), and "Falling in Love with Love". Originally set in motion as a follow-up to the highly successful TV Gypsy (1993) with Bette Midler, this 1997 multicultural version (sometimes referred to as the "rainbow Cinderella") was years in the making, since it was initiated in 1994 when Houston joined executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (the team responsible for the TV Gypsy). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
Running a half-hour longer, this third interpretation premiered November 2, 1997. Filmed over a 28-day period, it stars Brandy Norwood as Cinderella and Whitney Houston as the Fairy Godmother, with Bernadette Peters as the Stepmother, Whoopi Goldberg as the Queen (wearing $60 million worth of borrowed Harry Winston jewelry), Paolo Montalban as the Prince, and Jason Alexander as the Prince's steward, Lionel. Scripter Robert L. Freedman provided a rewrite of the original Oscar Hammerstein book, and three other Richard Rodgers songs were added to the existing score: "There's Music in You" (from the 1953 movie musical Main Street to Broadway), "The Sweetest Sounds" (a Brandy/Montalban duet), and "Falling in Love with Love". Originally set in motion as a follow-up to the highly successful TV Gypsy (1993) with Bette Midler, this 1997 multicultural version (sometimes referred to as the "rainbow Cinderella") was years in the making, since it was initiated in 1994 when Houston joined executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron (the team responsible for the TV Gypsy). ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Whitney Houston, Brandy, (more)
Referring to the fear of spiders, Arachnophobia features a particularly deadly species of spider that manages to make its way from the Venezuelan rain forest to a small California town, thanks to the many oversights of entomologist Julian Sands. Yuppie doctor Jeff Daniels, fed up with the dangers inherent in big-city living, has resettled in this town on the assumption that nothing untoward could ever happen here to himself and his family. Before long, however, Daniels is trying to make sense of a series of sudden deaths-and to figure out why each of the corpses has been drained of blood. The audience, of course, knows that the culprits are those pesky South American spiders, which grow larger with each kill. To make matters worse, Jeff Daniels suffers from a profound case of arachnophobia. John Goodman supports the cast as a slovenly exterminator, and Frank Marshall, longtime producer of Steven Spielberg's films, makes his directorial debut in Arachnophobia. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
- Starring:
- Jeff Daniels, Harley Jane Kozak, (more)
