Kerry Washington

An interracial couple moves into their California dream home, only to find themselves the target of their volatile next-door neighbor -- a racist LAPD officer -- in this tightly wound thriller starring Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington. Newlyweds Chris and Lisa seem like they have the perfect marriage and now, with their new home in the exclusive community Lakeview Terrace, the perfect life as well, but things soon turn ugly in the posh neighborhood when they begin to receive threats from their neighbor Abel, a middle-aged LAPD officer who has obvious objections to the couple's interracial marriage. What starts as an attitude problem soon morphs into full-on harassment, and before long the couple finds that their worries go far beyond their property values -- or the encroaching California wildfire burning in view of their community -- as they begin to fear for their lives. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Actor/comedian Chris Rock directs and stars in this American remake of Eric Rohmer' s classic French comedy Chloe in the Afternoon. Richard Cooper (Rock) is a high-powered investment banker with a beautiful wife and two wonderful children. Though on the surface it would appear that Richard could want nothing more out of life, his thoughts always seem to drift toward sex. Whether it's during his daily commute into the city, his endless barrage of meetings, or even his downtime changing diapers at home, Richard's mind is constantly preoccupied by fantasies about the women he sees on the commuter train, on the city streets, and in the boardroom. Richard's daily life has gradually devolved into a blur of mind-numbing banality, and these days sexual fantasy has become his sole means of escaping the constant pressures of work and fatherhood. Though Richard never had any real intention of cheating on his faithful but preoccupied wife Brenda (Gina Torres), a chance run-in with his old friend Nikki (Kerry Washington) -- a drop-dead gorgeous stunner who appears at his office door one day seeking career advice from the successful banker -- finds his steely resolve fast turning flimsy. It's not long before the smitten Richard and the smoldering Nikki are meeting for clandestine lunches, and temptation begins to turn Richard's once-predictable life upside down. As his uncontrollable fantasies begin to lead him down the dangerous path of infidelity, the man who once kept his libido safely in check finds it increasingly difficult to refrain from acting on his impulses. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Fate brings a childless couple a bundle of joy -- who happens to have a criminal record -- in this comedy directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans. Calvin Simms (Marlon Wayans) is a master criminal who with the help of his friend and sidekick, Percy (Tracy Morgan), plans a daring robbery of a museum where one of the world's largest diamonds is on display. One of reasons Calvin is able to get inside secure areas is his size -- Calvin is dwarf who stands less than two feet tall, and can slip in unnoticed where more conventionally sized people would not. While Calvin is able to get the diamond, he's nearly caught by the police while making his getaway, and stashes the jewel in a bag carried by a passerby. Eager to recover the diamond from the unwitting accomplice, Calvin and Percy figure out a way to get into his house -- they dress Calvin up as a baby, and leave him on the doorstep of the passerby's home. As it happens, the couple who live there (Shawn Wayans and Kerry Washington) have been wanting to have a baby, and they eagerly take the new arrival under their wing, embracing the joys of parenthood while ignoring some of the toddler's unusual behavior. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A handful of heroes become superheroes under unlikely circumstances in this action drama adapted from the long-running Marvel comic book series. Four astronauts are on a mission aboard a new experimental spacecraft when they are unexpectedly exposed to a massive dose of gamma rays. The accident causes strange and unexpected transformations in all four. Reed Richards (Ioan Gruffudd), top scientist and leader of the mission, can now stretch his body like elastic and is dubbed Mr. Fantastic. His partner and sweetheart, Sue Storm (Jessica Alba), develops the ability to become invisible at will, and becomes known as The Invisible Girl. Her younger brother, Johnny Storm (Chris Evans), is renamed The Human Torch for his new talent of being able to summon up fire from his body when he chooses. And Ben Grimm (Michael Chiklis), pilot for the journey, mutates into a monstrous creature with super-human strength and muscles like stone, known as The Thing. Together, the travelers become known as the Fantastic Four, and they set out to use their unusual skills to fight crime, quickly gaining a nemesis in another altered hero who uses his talents for evil, Doctor Doom (Julian McMahon). A long-gestating project that had been talked about by a number of filmmakers since the early '90s, Fantastic Four was previously the basis for a pair of animated television serials, and was made into a feature film in 1994 by producer Roger Corman, though that film was never officially released. (Fantastic Four creator Stan Lee has said the 1994 film was made only so that the producers could hold on to the rights to the characters, and that it was never intended to be distributed to the public.) ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Directed by Taylor Hackford, this biopic profiles the life of legendary musician Ray Charles. Despite humble beginnings and the loss of his eyesight due to glaucoma at the age of six, Charles, depicted by Jamie Foxx, would nonetheless become an icon in both the music industry and the civil rights era. While the film delves into his problems with drugs and women, the bulk of the story details his career; among the highlights of that career are 12 Grammy awards and 11 R&B chart-toppers, such as "Unchain My Heart," "Hit the Road, Jack," "Georgia," "Doin' the Mess Around," and "Hallelujah I Just Love Her So." Also among the cast are Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones, as well as Regina King, Kerry Washington, and Clifton Powell. Charles' son, Ray Charles Jr. helped produce the film. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

Directed by Spike Lee, She Hate Me follows John Henry "Jack" Armstrong (Anthony Mackie), who is fired from a posh job in biotechnology after informing the proper authorities of some sketchy business dealings from within the company. Unemployed and desperate for some quick cash, Jack accepts a strange offer -- his ex-girlfriend Fatima (Kerry Washington) says she will pay him generously if he successfully impregnates her. Once word gets out among the lesbian community, Jack is inundated with requests, and is initially quite happy with his new direction in life. However, things -- as they are wont to do -- get complicated. There's his former employer, who is actively trying to pin the blame for their wrongdoings on his shoulders, for one thing, and it isn't long before the moral implications of his life as a sperm donor come to the forefront. The film co-stars John Turturro, Ellen Barkin, Woody Harrelson, Monica Bellucci, and Q-Tip. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

For his first film since 1998's Twilight, acclaimed director Robert Benton helmed this tense drama written by Fatal Attraction co-scribe Nicholas Meyer and based on the novel of the same name by Philip Roth. Set in the late '90s at the height of the Clinton sex-scandal, The Human Stain stars Anthony Hopkins as Coleman Silk, a respected professor at a New England college who suddenly finds his life unraveling after a comment he makes about some African-American students is misinterpreted as a racial slur. As the scandal heats up, Nathan Zuckerman (Gary Sinise), a writer researching a biography of Silk, begins to dig deeper and deeper into Silk's life. Eventually, matters are made worse when an affair with a young married janitor named Faunia Farley (Nicole Kidman) is exposed. But amid the controversy, Silk must struggle to keep his greatest secret, a secret he's held for the majority of his life, from becoming public. Ed Harris, who previously worked with Benton in 1984's Places in the Heart, also stars. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Produced by Kevin Spacey, The United States of Leland is a psychological drama concerning the aftereffects of a brutal murder. It's also the first big-studio theatrical release for writer/director Matthew Ryan Hoge, whose previous work consists of the independent comedy Self Storage. Ryan Gosling plays Leland, an imprisoned teenager doing time for the stabbing murder of a disabled boy. Prison writing teacher Pearl Madison (Don Cheadle) gets caught up in the story with the intention of making a book out of it, especially when he finds out that Leland's father is the famous novelist Albert Fitzgerald (Spacey). Pearl's investigation uncovers some of the details and effects of the murder for everyone involved, including the victim's parents, Harry (Martin Donovan) and Karen Pollard (Ann Magnuson). Jena Malone plays Becky, the teenage junkie who is both Leland's ex-girlfriend and the victim's sister. The situation also complicates the relationship between Becky's older sister, Jennifer (Michelle Williams), and her sensitive boyfriend, Allen (Chris Klein). The United States of Leland premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Worried about the well-being of his son Theo, Andy (Dennis Franz) considers remarrying his ex-wife Katie (Debra Monk). After breaking up with Mary (Sheeri Rappaport) for good, Danny (Rick Schroder) dedicates himself to keeping Diane (Kim Delaney) out of harm's way -- which Diane deeply resents. And a New York police captain (Richard Brooks), the husband of a woman cop wounded in a shoot-out, endangers the successful prosecution of the case by beating up the suspect. Garcelle Beauvais-Nilon makes her first appearance as new Assistant DA Valerie Heywood. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A thief plans one last heist -- though hardly for the typical reasons -- in this offbeat drama. Neicy (Kerry Washington) is a stylish, well-dressed young woman who maintains an air of intelligent arrogance in her part-time job as a window dresser at an upscale Boston department store. Neicy has a secret to looking good on a window dresser's salary -- she's an expert shoplifter, who has learned how to steal the best outfits for herself and her friends, and occasionally makes a few bucks lifting items she can sell to others (though she charges much less than the market will bear). Neicy's boyfriend Angelo (Eugene Byrd) thinks she ought to get out of shoplifting before she's arrested, but since he makes his living selling marijuana, Neicy doesn't have much respect for his opinions in this area. However, when Neicy discovers she's pregnant, she begins to think that a less risky occupation might be in order after all; her boss at the department store thinks enough of her work to suggest a career in design, and is even willing to give her a better paying job in New York. But Neicy has never gotten much affection from her mother (Lonette McKee) and wants to do something to prove her love; when she sees her mother admiring a beautiful and very expensive necklace, Niecy decides to steal it as a gift for her. However, the jewelry store in question has much better security than the shops Neicy is used to, and she's forced to bring an outside accomplice into the picture -- Christian (Todd Williams), a jewel thief whose demands involve more than just money. The second feature from the writing and directing team of DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter, Lift premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jim McKay follows up on the critical success of his Girls Town (1996) with this sensitively-wrought, finely-etched character study of three teenaged girls living in the Crown Heights section of New York City. Though it is summer, the trio find themselves locked in a demanding rehearsal schedule for their prize-winning marching band. Yet this is one of a sundry responsibilities these girls must shoulder. With their parents over-worked, absent, or in jail, they must take care of all household chores and hold down dreary soul-deadening jobs. To make matters worse, their school is closing down for asbestos removal. Yet the most pressing concern for Maria (Melissa Martinez) is her discovery that she is pregnant, for a second time, after a latex-free tryst with a classmate. She is reluctant to consider an abortion, though the prospect of telling her harried mother seems no less daunting. Her best friend Lanisha (Kerry Washington) is supportive, but Joy (Anna Simpson), the third in the trio, cools to Maria, preferring to retreat into a world of fantasy. This film was screened at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide