Vondie Curtis-Hall Movies
A longtime actor turned director whose memorable turn as a suicidal drag queen endeared him to viewers of ER in the mid-'90s, Vondie Curtis-Hall would subsequently essay a role on the other side of the doctor-patient relationship as Dr. Dennis Hancock on ER rival series Chicago Hope. Though he would later step behind the camera, Curtis-Hall remained a recognizable fixture on both film and television with appearances in such high-profile films as Die Hard 2 (1990) and William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet (1996).A native of Detroit, Curtis-Hall made his television debut in the short-lived Spenser: For Hire spin-off A Man Called Hawk. Though he had only a vocal role in the 1988 actioner Shakedown, his proper film debut came with a minor role in 1988's Coming to America, followed shortly thereafter with an appearance in director Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train (1989). A series of minor film roles, as well as an appearance in the short-lived television police musical Cop Rock followed, and through the mid-'90s Curtis-Hall's film roles were mostly of supporting status. Shortly after his sympathetic turn as troubled transvestite Roger McGrath on ER, he embarked on a four-year stint as a doctor on Chicago Hope. Simultaneously appearing in supporting roles in Broken Arrow and Heaven's Prisoners (both 1996), his eagerness to get on the other side of the camera would soon get the best of the struggling actor.
Though Curtis-Hall had warmed to the role of director by helming an episode of ER, he was soon putting pen to paper to write a gritty addiction comedy drama about two addicts attempting to kick heroin. A scathing attack on America's healthcare system, Gridlock'd (1997) offered solid performances by Tim Roth and Tupac Shakur and a smart script, but the film was ultimately relegated to obscurity due largely to the fact that its innovative story line proved extremely difficult to market. Though Gridlock'd didn't fare well at the box office, it would prove nowhere near as disastrous as Curtis-Hall's sophomore effort, the Mariah Carey vanity project Glitter (2001). Tanking immediately as it took unrelenting blows from critics and audiences alike, the film's flogging did little to help singer Carey's fragile mental state, let alone boost Curtis-Hall's fledgling directorial career. Undaunted by the failure of Glitter, he nevertheless soldiered on to helm an episode of the short-lived sci-fi television series Firefly the following year.
Back in front of the cameras, the tireless actor/director was in very high demand, and in addition to directing a pair of ER episodes in 2001, Hall made a notable impression as sympathetic transvestite on the long-running medical series. Additional roles on such shows as The Sopranos, Soul Food, LAX, and Law & Order proved that even when his directorial career was on shaky ground, he could always find firm footing on the small screen. In the years that followed it wouldn't appear that Curtis-Hall would be having too many concerns about either aspect of his career though, and after directing Oscar-winner Jamie Foxx in the role of Crips founding father Stan "Tookie" Williams in Redemption: The Stan Tookie Williams story in 2004, the increasingly strong director turned his lens towards the action genre with Waist Deep two short years later. An urban Bonnie and Clyde tale for the gangster set, Waist Deep told the tale of an ex-con who, along with his girlfriend, sets out to get his kidnapped son back from a vicious gangster while simultaneously sparking a street war that will seriously diminish the ranks of the ruthless kingpin. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
In this complicated crime drama, Roland Dalton (Peter Weller) is an attorney who must defend a drug dealer who claims he killed in self defense. His worthy opponent is his former flame Susan Cantrell (Patricia Charbonneau), now an effective career-minded prosecuting attorney. Richie Marks (Sam Elliott) is the detective who anticipates that legal prosecution will finally close the book on this case. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Peter Weller, Sam Elliott, (more)
Coming to America casts comedian Eddie Murphy as pampered African prince Akeem, who rebels against an arranged marriage and heads to America to find a new bride. Murphy's regal father (James Earl Jones) agrees to allow the prince 40 days to roam the U.S., sending the prince's faithful retainer Semmi (Arsenio Hall) along to make sure nothing untoward happens. To avoid fortune hunters, Prince Akeem conceals his true identity and gets a "Joe job" at a fast-food restaurant. Murphy and Hall play multiple roles, and there are innumerable celebrity cameos peppered throughout the proceedings -- including the Duke Brothers (Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy) from Trading Places. Coming to America made further headlines when humorist Art Buchwald sued the film's producers for plagiarizing one of his works. Buchwald carried the case to trial, where he won a sizeable judgement against the film's producers. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall, (more)
Under scrutiny by his superiors for allegedly dipping into confiscated drug money, New York vice cop Michael Douglas can expect no sympathy from his ex-wife, who is gouging him for alimony. Douglas gets a chance to redeem himself when he is assigned to escort Japanese mob boss Yusaku Matsuda back to his own country to stand trial. Upon arriving in Osaka, Douglas and his partner Andy Garcia are tricked into releasing their prisoner. Now on the outs with both the American and Japanese police authorities, Douglas is forced to deal with the Yakuza-the Japanese equivalent of the Mafia-to retrieve the elusive Matsuda. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Andy Garcia, (more)
Written and directed by the ever-unpredictable Jim Jarmusch, Mystery Train is comprised of three short anecdotes involving foreign tourists in Tennessee. Each story is set in a fleabag Memphis hotel which has been redressed as a "tribute" to Elvis Presley. Story #1 involves two Japanese tourists whose devotion to '50s American rock music blinds them to everything around them. Story #2 finds eternal victim Nicoletta Braschi sharing a room with stone-broke Elizabeth Bracco and having her problems solved by a spectral vision of The King. And story #3 offers the further misadventures of Bracco, her no-good boyfriend and her dysfunctional family. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Masatoshi Nagase, Youki Kudoh, (more)
Set during the Watts riots of the mid-'60s, the made-for-cable Heat Wave follows the story of Los Angeles Times reporter Robert Richardson (Blair Underwood), who was the only journalist on staff able to cover the story, since White reporters were unable to gain access to the area and the rioters. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blair Underwood, Cicely Tyson, (more)
"Another basement, another elevator...how can the same thing happen to the same guy twice?" asks John McClane (Bruce Willis), in what is doubtless the key question of this film. A year after foiling the terrorist takeover of a high-rise office building in the first movie, McClane is waiting to pick up his wife, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia), at Dulles International Airport just outside Washington, D.C., on Christmas Eve. Scheduled to arrive the same evening is Ramon Esperanza (Franco Nero), a South American political figure who is being brought to the United States to stand trial for his role in a drug-smuggling ring. However, a group of terrorists, led by renegade American military officer Col. Stuart (William Sadler), take control of the airport, scuttling radio transmissions and placing their own men in the control tower. Stuart and his men ensure that Esperanza's plane lands safely, and then demand that Stuart and his men be given a fully-fueled 747 and free passage wherever they choose to go. Otherwise, they will guide the many circling jets waiting for landing instructions into definite crash landings, killing the many passengers on board. Not willing to stand aside as terrorists once again threaten his wife's life, the wise-cracking McClane once again leaps into action to foil Stuart's plans and bring the passenger jets safely to the ground. William Atherton, John Amos, Dennis Franz, and John Leguizamo highlight the supporting cast. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Bonnie Bedelia, (more)
Robert Urich stars as a self-involved computer executive who becomes inadvertently involved in a crime. He witnesses the kidnapping of a 3 year old girl, an event that shakes him out of his aloofness and insensitivity. Feeling partially responsible, Urich determines to aid in the rescue of the child, working together with the victim's mother (Megan Gallagher). Even though we can see the happy ending a mile off, Urich's conscience-stricken performance sustains audience involvement in this superior entry. And Then She Was Gone was first telecast September 29, 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
An honest man struggles to do the right thing, even if it means breaking the law, in this drama. Artie Lewis (Michael Keaton) is a scrupulously ethical cop who believes in his work, loves his wife Rita (Rene Russo), and stands by his partner Stevie Diroma (Anthony LaPaglia). Stevie is a single parent, and when he's shot and killed on duty, his three daughters (Grace Johnston, Rhea Silver-Smith, and Blair Swanson) are left with nowhere to go. Artie and Rita want to adopt Stevie's girls, but Child Welfare Services decides that their apartment is too small for three children. Artie needs to buy a house, which would require a $25,000 down payment that he doesn't have. Desperate, Artie grabs his gun and robs Beniamino (Tony Plana), a particularly scummy drug dealer who was peripherally involved in Stevie's death. Artie uses most of the take to buy the house, and he gives the rest to Father Wills (Vondie Curtis-Hall), who runs a local orphanage. However, what Artie doesn't know is that Beniamino's girlfriend Grace (Rachel Ticotin) is actually an undercover cop who won't stand by as Artie plays Robin Hood. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Keaton, Rene Russo, (more)
With his trademark emphasis on character development and dialogue, writer/director John Sayles tells the story of May-Alice Culhane (Mary McDonnell), a New York soap opera actress left paralyzed by a car accident. As the film opens, she lies in a hospital bed, confused and scared, watching her own show on TV and shrieking, "That was supposed to be my closeup!" With no other options, she returns to her family's old and empty Southern home, where she drinks hard, offends every caregiver, and wallows in self-pity. Her outlook begins to changes with the arrival of Chantelle (Alfre Woodard), a nurse with her own life problems. The two gradually find a heartfelt connection with one another, and, as a result, their lives subtly change. McDonnell's work in Passion Fish earned her an Oscar nomination as Best Actress. ~ Norm Schrager, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, (more)
New York art dealer Arne Glimcher took his first crack at film directing with this florid, high-energy romance about two brothers who flee Cuba in the early 1950s to make it as musicians in the United States. Cynthia Cidre wrote the literate screenplay adapted from Oscar Hijuelos's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love. Cesar (Armand Assante) and Nestor Castillo (Antonio Banderas) are popular musicians on Havana's club circuit, but when they make enemies of the wrong people, they are forced to leave for New York City, the moody Nestor leaving behind his true love. In New York, the brothers work as meat-cutters during the day as Cesar tries to organize a band and make inroads into the lively New York music scene. Soon, as The Mambo Kings, they get club bookings and Cesar falls in love with a sharp-tongued cigarette girl, Lanna Lake (Cathy Moriarty), and Nestor with the beautiful Delores Fuentes (Maruschka Detmers), who wants to be a teacher. Cesar concentrates on singing and managing the band, while Nestor plays the trumpet and writes emotional songs of love. All seems to be going well until Cesar antagonizes the moneymen on the Latin nightclub circuit and they finds themselves playing bar mitzvahs. But after they're discovered by Desi Arnaz (Desi Arnaz Jr.), the group is prominently featured on I Love Lucy. Their popularity soars and they cut a successful album called "Mambo Kings Play Songs of Love." Cesar is glorying in his success, but Nestor is disappointed and longs to return to Cuba. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Armand Assante, Antonio Banderas, (more)
- 1992
- Add Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story to QueueAdd Murder Without Motive: The Edmund Perry Story to top of Queue
Adapted from Robert Sam Anson's fact-based book Best Intentions, Murder without Motive stars Curtis McClarin as Harlem teenager Edmund Perry. A brilliant student, Perry is transferred from the inner city to an exclusive prep school principally attended by whites. Ten days after graduating with honors, the 17-year-old Perry is killed by a white undercover policeman, who claims he was attacked by Perry and his younger brother Jonah (Guy Killum). Though unsparing in its indictment of racism and police brutality, the Murder without Motive attempts to be fair to both sides, showing the many external pressures which led both killer and victim to their fatal meeting in the spring of 1985. This made-for-TV film was first shown January 6, 1992. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1992
When a district attorney starts an investigation into corruption that leads her back to her own family--rife with police officers--she finds some decisions hard to make. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Valerie Bertinelli, George Dzundza, (more)
- 1993
This a locally-made documentary of the explorations of inner-city youths into the area ravaged by a riot in 1992. The youngsters were guided through the filmmaking process by civic-minded filmmakers, and were assisted by a professional cameraman and director. Engaging mostly their own relatives and friends, they ask questions of those affected by the riots. A great deal of time is spent exploring how the residents of South Central L.A. regard the police, and how they regard their fellow residents in the area. The jazz soundtrack was provided by Delfeayo Marsalis, one of the less well known of the musical siblings from that clan. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1993
The second volume in this film noir style TV-anthology series, this collection of short stories revolves around the dark world of detectives and police officers. Called to look into a murder, an investigator (Gary Oldman) discovers that the victim of the crime is none other than his estranged wife (Gabrielle Anwar) in "Dead End for Delia." When an attractive woman captures the attention of a detective, he ends up entangled in mob business in "I'll Be Waiting." In "The Quiet Room," the underhanded plans of two unscrupulous officers go amok ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1993
Cybill Shepherd stars in this heart-tugging drama as a mother whose baby was abducted out of his bed. Fifteen years pass and she is working as a middle-school teacher in a different town. One of her students is a defiant 15-year-old. Despite the trouble he gives, there is something about the boy that draws her to him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Cybill Shepherd, John Heard, (more)
It's just not William Foster's (Michael Douglas) day. Laid off from his defense job, Foster gets stuck in the middle of the mother of all traffic jams. Desirous of attending his daughter's birthday party at the home of his ex-wife (Barbara Hershey), Foster abandons his car and begins walking, encountering one urban humiliation after another (the Korean shopkeeper who obstinately refuses to give change is the worst of the batch). He also slowly unravels mentally, finally snapping at a fast-food restaurant that refuses to serve him breakfast because it's "too late." Running amok with an arsenal of weapons at the ready, Foster -- also known as "D-FENS" because of his vanity license plate -- rapidly becomes a source of terror to some, a folk hero to others. It's up to reluctant cop Prendergast (Robert Duvall), on the eve of his retirement, to bring D-FENS down. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Robert Duvall, (more)
- 1994
Cvetic (John Terry) is growing more and more contemptuous of his patients, leading to some bizarre behavior on his part. Carol (Julianna Margulies) is caught on the horns of a dilemma when she is bound by ethics not to reveal details of an accident imparted in confidence by a patient. Ross (George Clooney) grows restless in his relationship with Linda (Andrea Parker). And Carter (Noah Wyle) learns a few more valuable life lessons as he treats transvestite patient Henry (Vondie Curtis-Hall). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Wesley Snipes and Michael Wright play druglord brothers who have a mob-like crime empire in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. Through flashbacks, we see how Roemello Skuggs (Snipes) and Raynathan Skuggs (Wright) entered the drug culture, with Raynathan helping his mother inject heroin. She died when the boys were young, but their father A.R. Skuggs (Clarence Williams III) survived, remaining a hopeless and frightful heroin addict. Roemello has grown up to be an educated, culturally pretentious businessman who stays away from his own merchandise, wears expensive cashmere coats and other colorful clothes, and lives in a beautiful uptown apartment, while being plagued by guilt. Raynathan, however, is losing his battle with drug addiction and spiraling downward. Roemello runs the family drug business with the help of an old-fashioned mob boss, Gus Molino (Abe Vigoda), whose grocery is a front for the dealing. To fuel his doubts, Roemello becomes involved with a beautiful aspiring actress, Melissa (Theresa Randle), and she urges him to get out of the drug business. But a rival dealer, Lolly Jonas (Ernie Hudson), cuts into Roemello territory, there is a brutally violent turf war, and Roemello must decide whether to defend or abandon his livelihood. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wesley Snipes, Michael Wright, (more)
This is the third film based on Tom Clancy's high-tech espionage potboilers starring CIA deputy director Jack Ryan. Harrison Ford, returning to the Ryan role after his first go-round in 1992's Patriot Games, is assigned to a delicate anti-drug investigation after a close friend of the President (a Reaganesque Donald Moffat) is murdered by a Colombian drug cartel. When Ryan discovers that the President's wealthy friend was in league with the cartel, the President's devious national security adviser (Harris Yulin) and an ambitious CIA deputy director (Henry Czerny) send a secret paramilitary force into Colombia to wipe out the drug lords. The force is captured and then abandoned by the President's lackeys. It falls to Ryan to enter Colombia and rescue them, aided only by a renegade operative named Clark (Willem Dafoe), with both his life and career on the line. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harrison Ford, Willem Dafoe, (more)
Spike Lee and his siblings Cinque Lee and Joie Lee co-wrote this nostalgic but unglamorized look at a family growing up in Brooklyn in the 1970s, inspired by their own childhood. Woody Carmichael (Delroy Lindo) is a jazz musician whose career is in a slump; he once made a good living as a session musician, but he has moved away from it to devote himself to more serious music, a choice that has not worked out well from a financial standpoint. His wife Carolyn (Alfre Woodard) works as a school teacher to keep food on the table. The Carmichaels have five children, a bright and introspective daughter named Troy (Zelda Harris) and four sons with a habit of causing trouble, and they all share an apartment in a brownstone in Brooklyn. Crooklyn follows the Carmichaels as the kids learn the funny and painful lessons of growing up, Mom and Dad balance their love for each other against the financial and personal difficulties of the creative life, and they all try to get along with the often eccentric neighbors on their block. Crooklyn's soundtrack is enlivened by classic 70s R&B hits, including selections by Sly and the Family Stone, The Jackson Five, Curtis Mayfield, The Staple Singers, and The Chambers Brothers. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alfre Woodard, Delroy Lindo, (more)
- 1994
In this politically- and racially-themed satire, Bruford Jackson Jr. (Eriq LaSalle) is an African-American advertising man working for a major agency who has been assigned to campaigns selling Mumblin' Jack Malt Liquor and General Otis' Fried Chicken (complete with the Confederate flag on the bucket) to the black community. Bruford swallows his misgivings and goes along with his employer's wishes for the sake of his high-paying job. One day, Bruford is visited by the D.R.O.P. Squad (D.R.O.P. standing for "Deprogramming and Restoration Of Pride"). The Squad leader, Rocky Seavers (Vondie Curtis-Hall), uses extreme but non-violent psychological methods to teach African-Americans who are helping to destroy their community the error of their ways. However, his partner Garvey (Ving Rhames) has started to wonder if non-violence is really the best way to deal with the enemies of the Black community. Drop Squad was executive produced by Spike Lee, who also makes a cameo appearance endorsing the new "Gospel-Pak" of General Otis' Fried Chicken (complete with bible verses on the napkins). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Eriq La Salle, Vondie Curtis-Hall, (more)
- 1996
- PG13
- Add William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet to QueueAdd William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet to top of Queue
The classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy is updated by director Baz Luhrmann to a post-modern Verona Beach where swords are merely a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets share a page from the Jets and Sharks of West Side Story when they form rival gangs. Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) is aloof toward the goings-on of his Montague cousins, but after he realizes that Juliet (Claire Danes) is a Capulet at the end of one very wild party, the enmity between the two clans becomes the root of his angst. He relies heavily -- and with serious consequences -- on his rebel gender-bender of a friend, Mercutio (Harold Perrineau Jr.), and Father (not Friar) Lawrence (Pete Postlethwaite) for protection and support. Romeo is, of course, exiled, and it looks like Juliet will be forced into an arranged marriage with the bland Paris (Paul Rudd). It ends, as Romeo and Juliet must, when Romeo hears a tragic piece of misinformation and brings his suicide wish to what was meant to be Juliet 's temporary tomb. This time, though, the turf and the weapon of choice have taken a turn toward the surreal. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, (more)
Hong Kong director John Woo's second U.S. film (his first was Hard Target) delivers a number of exciting action sequences but is let down by a credibility-straining plot. John Travolta plays Vic Deakins, an Air Force pilot on what is supposed to be a routine night flight mission with his co-pilot, the younger Riley Hale (Christian Slater), whom Deakins constantly kids for lacking the "will to win." Deakins is actually a traitor who crashlands their Stealth Bomber in Death Valley so that he can steal two nuclear warheads onboard and sell them to terrorists who plan to blackmail the government. Deakins meets up with his cohorts, who have been waiting in the park, while Hale survives and teams up with a young, attractive park ranger (Samantha Mathis) to foil Deakins's plans. Plenty of action ensues, with car chases, collapsing mine shafts, fights on burning trains, and even the underground detonation of a nuclear device. Despite the script's implausibilities and inconsistencies, Woo amply displays the expertise with action sequences and man-to-man conflict that has made his Hong Kong films cult favorites. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Christian Slater, (more)
An ex-cop trying to stay away from trouble finds it literally crashing into his backyard in this crime thriller. Dave Robicheaux (Alec Baldwin) is a former New Orleans police detective who, after kicking an addiction to alcohol and confronting some serious problems with his partners, has left law enforcement behind to run a bait shop in a small Louisiana bayou town. One day, Dave and his wife Annie (Kelly Lynch) see a small plane plummet from the sky and crash into the swamp; the pilot dies, but Dave is able to rescue a young Hispanic girl from the wreckage. Dave and Annie take the child in, but as they try to find out more about the plane crash and who the little girl might be, they discover that she's actually an illegal alien from Salvador and that the pilot was involved with a local drug ring. Dave, constitutionally unable to let a mystery go unsolved, begins asking enough questions and making enough trouble that he finds himself on the bad side of his old High School friend Bubba Rocque (Eric Roberts). Bubba is a local crime boss who controls the area's drug traffic, keeps a boxing ring in his front yard, and has a wife Claudette (Teri Hatcher) who enjoys greeting her guests naked. Dave's inquiries eventually become too much for Bubba and his henchmen, and in the midst of a violent raid on their home, Annie is killed. Dave becomes obsessed with bringing Bubba and his men to justice and gets some unexpected help from Robin Gaddis (Mary Stuart Masterson), an exotic dancer with a heart of gold. While it was originally scheduled for release in 1994, Heaven's Prisoners didn't arrive on theater screens until two years later, by which time Teri Hatcher had risen to stardom on the TV series Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alec Baldwin, Kelly Lynch, (more)
