Damon D'Oliveira Movies

Released from prison after serving ten years for pummeling his opponent to the point of inflicting severe brain damage, working class pugilist Donnie Rose (Rossif Sutherland) finds his efforts to start life anew complicated by simmering racism and long-suppressed vengeance. In the aftermath of Donnie's notorious bout with aspiring boxer Charlie Carvery (K.C. Collins), racial tensions in Halifax, Nova Scotia sharply divided the community between black and white. During his sentence Donnie not only honed his boxing skills to near perfection, but he also entered into a furtive affair with his black cellmate - a fact which he struggles to keep from his deeply prejudiced brother Keith (Greg Bryk. Though Charlie's vengeful father George (Danny Glover) has long looked forward to the day he will take revenge on the man who destroyed his son's life, the conflicted father discovers that he simply isn't a killer when finally given the opportunity to pull the trigger on Donnie. Subsequently offered $20,000 to step into the ring with fearsome local boxing champion Ossie Paris (Flex Alexander) for a high profile grudge match that will surely spell his doom, Donnie soon finds help coming from the most unlikely of places. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Noted screenwriter Wesley Strick made his directorial debut with this offbeat suspense story. Ted (Anthony Michael Hall) and Eve (Sheryl Lee Diamond) are a couple who've just moved into a beautiful old house, which has an unusual feature in the basement -- a hidden bar room which was used as a "speakeasy" during Prohibition. Eve has for some time wondered if Ted is entirely faithful to her and she gets an answer when she's called to the hospital after Ted's been in a serious auto accident, and discovers his mistress is already at his bedside. Eve discovers Ted has been cheating on her with a variety of women for years and she decides to do something about it. Shortly after Ted is released, he mysteriously disappears and no one has any idea of where he's gone. While she isn't telling, Eve knows the truth about Ted -- she's locked him up in the basement speakeasy, and is keeping him captive so he can't run around on her. While Eve is happy to know where Ted is at all times, Police Detective Grant (Alex Carter) keeps popping by to ask questions, and Eve finds herself tempted by another man while struggling not to let down her guard. Hitched was produced for the USA cable network, where it first aired in 2001. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Two young people struggling to find happiness in the midst of adversity exist side by side with their alter egos, an older and very unhappy married couple, in this offbeat drama. Beatrice (Sarah Polley) is a supermarket checkout girl fascinated by Henry (Brendan Fletcher), an angry and withdrawn young man whose bitterness stems largely from having been diagnosed with a rare, often fatal form of cancer. Beatrice and Henry fall in love, their passion intensified by the possibility of Henry's imminent death, but Henry's life is saved by surgery and they soon marry. In contrast, Bea (Diane Ladd) and Hank (Sean McCann) are a sixtysomething couple whose love burned out long ago. Bea and Hank have first grown bored, and then bitter, their rancor coming to a head when Hank buys a retirement home without consulting Bea, and she gets back at him by incurring financially ruinous construction and decorating expenses. Living near Bea is her old friend Myra (Shirley Douglas), whose husband Stan (Victor Cowie) is dying of cancer, while Beatrice's best friend Myrah (Kristin Thompson) has fallen deeply in love with Stanley (Rob Stefaniuk), a soldier soon to leave for the Gulf War. The Law of Enclosures was based on the well-regarded novel by Dale Peck and was the first non-gay-themed project from director John Greyson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Canadian filmmaker Mary Jane Gomes drew from her family's history and heritage for this film set in Trinidad. A group of Portuguese immigrants from Madeira have settled in the West Indies, where Alvia (Tony Nardi) and his brother Bosie (Christopher Pinheiro) operate a winery and are often at odds with each other. Alvia is an obsessive control freak, while Bosie often steals from the firm's coffers. Carmina (Maurina Gomes), Alvia's wife, is frail, disappointed with her life, and often wishes she could return to Madeira and her mother. One day, Lucio (Damon D'Oliveira), Carmina's cousin, arrives for a visit. Lucio and Carmina were infatuated with each other when they were young and the attraction has not dimmed; it's hard to miss the sparks that fly between them, and Bosie does all he can to encourage their affection as yet another way of hurting Alvia. Angel in a Cage was written and performed in an English patois authentic to Portuguese settlers in Trinidad; while many writers lauded the film for its authenticity in this regard, many of the same critics also noted the accents made the actors rather difficult for most audiences to understand. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper is Back in Action in this likeable testosterone-driven adventure. Piper plays a hard-bitten L.A. detective, whose partner is murdered by drug dealers. To bring the villains to heel, the detective teams up with a martial-arts whiz (Billy Blanks), whose sister has fallen in with the drug lords. After the usual "I don't like you and you don't like me" palaver, Piper and Blanks combine their considerable self-defense skills to kick a lot of LaLa-land butt. It ain't Hamlet, but it's a lot of fun. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The first feature-length Canadian drama to be created by an all-black team of filmmakers, this inner city film from writer-director Clement Virgo tracks the lives and struggles of several urban minorities during one Easter weekend. As the pirate radio disc jockey known as Rude (Sharon M. Lewis) broadcasts throughout a Toronto project, an artist named General (Maurice Dean Witt) arrives at the home of his wife Jessica (Melanie Nicholls-King) after serving several years in jail for drug dealing. He's there to reconcile with Jessica, who is now a police officer, and with the ten-year-old son, Johnny (Ashley Brown), whom he didn't help raise. Impeding his progress is General's brother Reece (Clark Johnson), who covets his brother's wife and still works for the neighborhood's racist white drug lord Yankee (Stephen Shellen) -- who in turn wants General back in charge of the drug trade. Meanwhile, the young boxer Jordan (Richard Chevolleau) reluctantly accompanies his fellow athletes on a testosterone-fueled gay-bashing spree, even though he is beginning to believe that he may be homosexual. As all of this is happening, the heart-broken window dresser Maxine (Rachel Crawford) faces the dissolution of her relationship with her boyfriend after she has an abortion. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

After making a string of social commentaries, Canadian director Deepa Mehta satirizes India's beloved genre in the lighthearted romantic musical Bollywood/Hollywood. Indo-Canadian millionaire Rahul (Rahul Khanna) goes against the wishes of his mother and grandmother to date the Caucasian pop star Kimberly (Jessica Paré); however, she gets killed in an accident and he is left devastated. His mother (Moushumi Chatterjee) seizes the opportunity and announces that he must get engaged to an Indian girl before his sister is allowed to wed. This is complicated by the fact that his sister is already engaged and pregnant. Under pressure, Rahul enlists the help of Sue (supermodel Lisa Ray), a professional escort who agrees to play the part of his Indian fiancée. He thinks she is really Hispanic, and she claims to have no love for traditional Indian men. Throughout his sister's wedding preparations, Sue begins to befriend his entire family, including the tough old grandmother (Dina Pathak). After some random bursts into songs and dances, Sue reveals her true identity and they fall in love. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Fisher Stevens reprises his role of Ben Jahrvi, the co-inventor of the cute robot Number Five, in this sequel to Short Circuit. Since the last film, Ben has moved to the city, where he lives in a truck and sells toy Number Fives as a street vendor. Ben plies his trade until one day luck strikes in the form of Sandy (Cynthia Gibb), a toy buyer in dire straits who offers Ben $50,000 if he can quickly churn out a thousand toy robots. Offering to help the naive Ben is street con man Fred (Michael McKean), who becomes Ben's partner and finances the burgeoning enterprise through a loan shark. Ben and Fred begin to manufacture the toys in a warehouse; unfortunately, they soon find the building also houses the entrance of a tunnel dug by thieves, preparing to rob the bank across the street. With things appearing their bleakest, a crate arrives from Montana. Inside is the new and improved Number Five, who now insists on being called Johnny Five. Johnny Five has even learned to talk in a litany of phrases gleaned from television shows, and now helps Ben get started in the toy business. In the process, Ben and Johnny Five contend with the temptations and corrupt business practices of a big city environment. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide