Keith David Movies
Actor, singer, and voice actor Keith David has spent much of his career on the stage, but also frequently works in feature films and on television. A native of New York City, David first performed as a child, singing in the All Borough Chorus and later attended the prestigious High School of Performing Arts. Shortly after graduating from Juilliard, where he studied voice and theater, David landed a role in a production of Coriolanus at Joseph Papp's Public Theater. He starred opposite Christopher Walken. David made his Broadway debut in Albee's The Lady From Dubuque (1980) and, two years later, had his first film role in John Carpenter's The Thing. He would not appear in another feature film until he played King in Oliver Stone's Platoon (1986). In between, David alternated between stage and television work. He appeared in five films in 1988, including Clint Eastwood's Bird, where he gave a memorable performance as jazz sax player Buster Franklin. In 1992, David showed his considerable skill as a singer and dancer and won a Tony nomination for starring in the musical Jelly's Last Jam, opposite Gregory Hines. David's film career really picked up in the mid-'90s, with roles ranging from a gunslinger in Sam Raimi's The Quick and the Dead to a New York cop in Spike Lee's Clockers to an amputee who owns a pool parlor in Dead Presidents (all 1995). In 1998, David had a brief but memorable role as Cameron Diaz's boisterous stepfather in the Farrelly brother's zany Something About Mary. In one of the film's funniest scenes, David tries to help Diaz's prom date, Ben Stiller, extricate himself from an embarrassingly sticky situation. He is also well known to animation fans for his voice work in, among other projects, Disney's Gargoyles, HBO's Spawn, and the English-dubbed version of the Japanese-animated film Princess Mononoke. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 2001
The strangled body of a woman is found in the Bronx. The victim had an abundant supply of Ecstasy in her handbag, a clue which leads the detectives to a drug dealer named Paz (Peter Greene). As the investigation proceeds, a past murder case is reopened -- whereupon the D.A.'s office comes to the disturbing conclusion that an innocent man may have been convicted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 2001
In the tradition of his previous "living histories" The Civil War and Baseball, documentary filmmaker Ken Burns assembled this fascinating two-part miniseries devoted to the life and career of legendary American humorist Samuel Langhorne Clemens (1835-1910), better known as Mark Twain. The first two-hour episode chronicled Twain's life from his humble childhood in Hannibal, MO, through a variety of fascinating adventures and professions, climaxing with worldwide renown as an author, lecturer, and social commentator, and wealth and fame beyond imagination as the creator of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1885. Part Two detailed Twain's often tragic final decades, festooned with financial failures, disillusionment, and the deaths of those nearest and dearest to him. Keith David narrated, while Kevin Conway was heard as the voice of Mark Twain. The carefully chosen visuals were complemented with contemporary observations by such notables as William Styron, Russell Banks, Dick Gregory, and -- perhaps inevitably -- Hal Holbrook, who rose to stardom portraying Twain in the classic one-man show Mark Twain Tonight! (1967). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kevin Conway, Keith David, (more)
- 2001
- PG13
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The first feature-length motion picture to use computer-generated imagery to create not only effects, props, and environments but also the human cast members themselves, this lavish science-fiction adventure follows closely on the heels of another video game-based film, Tomb Raider (2001). Ming-Na provides the voice of Dr. Aki Ross, a female scientist in the year 2065, a time when Earth has been overrun by extraterrestrial phantoms borne of a crashed meteor. Humans have been pushed back to cities protected by barriers that keep the marauding space monsters away, but time is running out. Fatally infected by one of the ghostly beasts, Ross seeks information about their purpose and physiology, assisted by her mentor Dr. Sid (voice of Donald Sutherland) and the Deep Eyes military squad of courageous Captain Gray Edwards (voice of Alec Baldwin). Tension develops between Aki's quest to stop the alien onslaught through study and the more extreme solution favored by the vengeful, saber-rattling General Hein (voice of James Woods), who would destroy both the aliens and the Earth itself. Aki ultimately comes to realize that the key to unlocking the mystery of the invaders lies within her own dreams. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ming-Na Wen, Alec Baldwin, (more)
- 2001
The newest project from the master of documentaries deals with the life of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of America's most beloved writers and historical characters from the 19th century. Ken Burns worked for nearly three years and drew from 100 hours of filmed material and hundreds of photos to complete the two-part, four-hour PBS series. Part two deals with Twain's twilight years, which were mired with dwindling success, impending bankruptcy and the deaths of his youngest daughter and his wife. Burns' documentary takes a look at Twain's darkest novel The Mysterious Stranger, and delves into his riff with President Theodore Roosevelt over America's politics of imperialism. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2001
The newest project from the master of documentaries deals with the life of author Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), one of America's most beloved writers and historical characters from the 19th century. Ken Burns worked for nearly three years and drew from 100 hours of filmed material and hundreds of photos to complete the two-part, four-hour PBS series. In part one, Twain's life is profiled from his birth to age 50. Burns explores his dual personality (the rich, sometimes greedy Clemens and the down-home and humorous Twain) and looks at the effect Twain's masterpiece Huckleberry Finn had on American literature. The era in which Twain flourished is captured through photographs of Twain's New York, and footage of the grand Mississippi River. Novelist Russell Banks and playwright Arthur Miller give insightful commentary. ~ All Movie Guide
In this darkly comic film noir from writer/director David Atkins, Steve Martin revisits dentistry -- an occupation he'd explored 15 years prior, in the camp musical Little Shop of Horrors. Novocaine casts Martin as a much more mild-mannered D.D.S., Dr. Frank Sangster. Engaged to a prim and delicate hygienist, Jean (Laura Dern), Sangster leads a placid, upper-middle class existence, save for the occasional visit from his deadbeat artist brother Harlan (Elias Koteas). But Sangster finds his life turned inside out from the moment the alluring Susan (Helena Bonham Carter) plops down in his reclining vinyl chair: Complaining about her molars, she's really more interested in the refrigerator of narcotics the good dentist keeps on hand for his patients in pain. Once they manage to get Sangster's guard down, Susan and her brother (Scott Caan) rob him blind -- and worse yet, frame him for the theft. When a dead body turns up in Sangster's sleek suburban home, he finds that clearing his name will be a difficult proposition indeed. Novocaine marks the directorial debut of screenwriter Atkins, who first made his mark with the script for Emir Kusturica's oddball cult favorite Arizona Dream (1993). ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Steve Martin, Helena Bonham Carter, (more)
The 1987 National Football League players' strike inspired this sports-themed comedy. The Washington Sentinels are one of the strongest teams in pro football -- until contract negotiations break down and the Sentinels go on strike. Determined to play the team's schedule, owner Edward O'Neil (Jack Warden) recruits a ragtag band of scab players, to be headed up and whipped into shape by the retired veteran coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman). At the top of the recruitment list is quarterback Shane Falco (Keanu Reeves), a promising athlete until a catastrophic defeat in the Sugar Bowl dashed his confidence. Joining Falco on the team are Clifford Franklin (Orlando Jones), a receiver who can't catch the ball; Nigel Gruff (Rhys Ifans), a chain-smoking Welsh soccer player; Bateman (Jon Favreau), a former cop with anger management problems; Fumiko (Ace Yonamine), a sumo wrestler new to football; and Wilkinson (Michael Jace), a convict on parole to the Sentinels. Can McGinty mold his new squad of misfits and no-hopers (who truly love the game) into a winning team? Brooke Langton plays Annabelle, head of the Sentinels' cheerleading squad (who has to contend with replacements of her own), and football commentators John Madden and Pat Summerall appear as themselves. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Keanu Reeves, Gene Hackman, (more)
Pregnant 17-year-old Novalee Nation (Natalie Portman) runs away from her Tennessee home toward the bright lights of California, accompanied by her boyfriend, Willy Jack Pickins (Dylan Bruno). But Willy gets cold feet and abandons her at a Wal-Mart in Sequoyah, OK. Novalee's life savings amount to $5.55, so she moves into the Wal-Mart, sleeping there at night and venturing out during the day. With the help of the eccentric Sister Husband (Stockard Channing), and Lexie Coop (Ashley Judd), a nurses' aide, Novalee tries to get her life in order for the sake of her expected child, Americus Nation. Based on a novel by Billie Letts, Where the Heart Is also features Keith David, Joan Cusack, Richard Nance, and Heather Kafka. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Natalie Portman, Ashley Judd, (more)
- 2000
This Japanese anime series tells the story of Pai, the sole survivor of a race of immortal three-eyed beings known as the Sanjiyan Unkara who temporarily assumes the form of a human girl in a quest to recover an ancient artifact which will make her human attributes permanent. She eventually befriends young Yakumo Fuji, the son of an archaeologist who has become an expert on Sanjiyan lore. Together they set out to recover the mystical object, embarking on an adventure beyond the boundaries of life and death. The journey takes on a whole new meaning for Yakumo when he is killed in a supernatural battle and resurrected as Pai's spiritual sidekick. ~ Cavett Binion, All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode five of Ken Burns' series deals with jazz during the increasingly bleak Great Depression from 1935 to 1937. Swing music is now the most popular music of the time. Young fans flock to dance halls to swing their troubles away. Bandleaders such as Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Jimmie Lunceford, and Artie Shaw are worshipped by their fans like matinee idols. Then Goodman, risking his career, forms the first racially integrated jazz group with the brilliant pianist Teddy Wilson. Meanwhile, Billie Holiday emerges from a rough childhood and is soon heralded as one of the greatest jazz vocalists ever. As 1937 comes to an end, Goodman heads to the Savoy Ballroom for what is billed as "The Music Battle of the Century" -- a musical face-off with Chick Webb's big band. Despite the tough competition, it's obvious to the many dancers on the floor who is the true "King of Swing." ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode six of Ken Burns's series -- covering 1937 to 1939 -- finds swing fans decrying the commercialization of big band jazz. Soon, an exciting new swing sound, infused with the blues and centered around improvisation, is reinvigorating jazz audiences and musicians alike. The focal point of this movement is Kansas City, and Count Basie's band leads the charge of the "Territory Bands" -- so-called because of their mid-western roots. Kansas City swing enters the spotlight in 1938 when Basie's band performs alongside Benny Goodman's at Carnegie Hall. Soon after the set, the group travels uptown to the Savoy Ballroom and a legendary battle of the bands with Chick Webb. By the end of the '30s, Basie's lead saxophonist Lester Young has risen to the forefront of jazz and with a laid-back, mellow approach that will influence such later jazz luminaries as Miles Davis. Young also pairs with Billie Holiday who eventually records the incendiary anti-lynching ballad "Strange Fruit". By the decade's end, Chick Webb similarly garners fame and fortune with a young singer named Ella Fitzgerald, and as war breaks out in Europe, Coleman Hawkins records the ballad "Body and Soul" in such a way that prefigures the sound of jazz to come. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
The seventh part of Ken Burns' series covers the years 1940 to 1945 and finds jazz at the center of battles at home and abroad during World War II. Glenn Miller and Artie Shaw enlist in the armed forces and take their bands overseas to entertain the troops. Hitler bans jazz in Germany despite -- or rather, because of -- its underground popularity with "swing kids." Yet, as jazz serves as a symbol of American democracy in Europe, many black Americans still aren't allowed to hear freedom swing. The Savoy Ballroom is closed down to keep white servicemen from its integrated swing dances, and riots ensue. Despite the hypocrisy of the era, Duke Ellington sells war bonds and pairs with a brilliant young composer named Billy Strayhorn to write some of the most compelling work of his career. Meanwhile, a cadre of young musicians gathering nightly at a Harlem club discover a new way to play jazz: As the war comes to an end and the recording ban is lifted, trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie and saxophonist Charlie Parker record the song "Ko Ko" based on the chords to "Cherokee." Thus, "bebop" takes Americans by surprise and propels jazz in a whole new direction. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode eight -- 1945 to 1955 -- of Ken Burns' series finds jazz musicians reflecting the prosperity and tension of the postwar years in their music. Charlie "Bird" Parker garners legions of devoted followers who imitate not only his brilliant soloing, but also his heroin addiction -- a problem that will plague jazz through the 1950s. As the big bands fade, small-group jazz becomes de rigeur: dancing is out and experimentation is in. Dizzy Gillespie infuses bebop with Latin rhythms, employing congero Chano Pozo. And pianist Thelonious Monk creates angular and percussive jazz all his own. Despite this surge in creativity, most people prefer the new, simpler, dance-oriented rhythm & blues of artists like Louis Jordan. Meanwhile, in California, jazz musicians influence a mellow album featuring the arrangements of Gil Evans and the trumpet of Miles Davis, creating what is soon called "cool" jazz. Dave Brubeck helps lead the charge by recording his million-selling album "Time Out". But as the '50s wear on, Davis moves away from cool jazz and begins his own creative journey as the "pied piper" of jazz. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode nine of Ken Burns' series -- covering 1956 to 1960 -- deals with a period of immense popularity and transition for jazz music. The same year that Elvis Presley tops the pop charts, Duke Ellington records a live album at the Newport Jazz Festival that outsells all his others. Other aging artists' careers soon burn out as a result of drugs, as well as competition from young virtuosos such as Sonny Rollins and Art Blakey and his Jazz Messengers. Yet these progressive young musicians remain silent as Louis Armstrong -- whom they unfairly label an "Uncle Tom" -- condemns the government's failure to act against racism in Little Rock, AK. Still the leading visionary of jazz with his minimalist approach, Miles Davis continues to put together different groups throughout the late '50s. But as the '60s approach it is one of Davis' sidemen, saxophonist John Coltrane, who envisions the future of jazz with his provocative version of "My Favorite Things." ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
The final installment of Ken Burns' acclaimed series -- canvassing 1960 to the present -- finds jazz searching for relevance. Despite Louis Armstrong outselling the Beatles with Hello Dolly, most jazz musicians are scuffling to find work, let alone be heard. Most young people listen to rock music. The "free jazz" of artists such as John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman takes the music in increasingly avant-garde -- and non-commercial -- directions. Musicians and critics alike begin to debate the future and tradition of jazz. In typical fashion, Miles Davis at once illuminates and compounds the issue with Bitches Brew, his landmark fusion album. Toward the end of the 1970s, the deaths of both Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington seemed to mark the end of the development of jazz. But, the prodigal return of saxophonist Dexter Gordon from Europe incited a new generation to revisit the jazz of the past and rejuvenate the music. Soon a virtuosic young trumpeter, proficient in both classical and jazz music, is leading the movement to bring the tradition of jazz full circle. Wynton Marsalis, a native of New Orleans -- the birthplace of jazz music -- takes it into the next century. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode two of Ken Burns's exhaustive series explores the haughtiness of the "Jazz Age" -- 1917 to 1924. During this time when jazz flourished, unparalleled prosperity across the country created an atmosphere ripe for flappers, gangsters, speakeasies, and all-around good times. Burns introduces viewers to the most important figure in jazz, Louis Armstrong. After surviving a fatherless childhood in the roughest part of New Orleans, Armstrong grew up to become the first true jazz soloist and influence the course of jazz for decades to come. Burns also moves the focus of his documentary from New Orleans to Chicago, where Armstrong joins his mentor King Oliver and the two artists influence a new generation of musicians, white and black alike. Viewers get to know the young Duke Ellington as he heads for Harlem, the brilliant arranger Fletcher Henderson, and the most popular bandleader of the day, Paul Whiteman, who created the first truly commercial version of jazz. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
In a similar fashion to his other documentaries, The Civil War and Baseball, Ken Burns uses historical fact and personal accounts to illuminate the story of jazz and how it coincided with the maturation of America. Jazz roots itself in New Orleans for its first installment, Gumbo. One of the 19th century's most progressive cities, the "wide open" town was filled with gambling, prostitution, crime -- and music. Burns shows how African-American musicians combined Caribbean rhythms, opera, minstrel shows, and (most importantly) marching bands with ragtime and the blues to produce a music that would soon be called "jass," and later "jazz." The viewer is introduced to such legendary innovators of the music as Buddy Bolden -- the trumpet player who, although never recorded, is mythically touted as the first true jazz musician -- and pianist Jelly Roll Morton, who flamboyantly claimed to have invented jazz (he was the first to notate the music on paper). It is also made apparent how race played a large factor in the development of the music. In 1917, a group of white musicians calling themselves the Original Dixieland Jazz Band recorded the first jazz record and quickly became a huge success -- at once polarizing black musicians and ringing in the "Jazz Age." ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode four of Ken Burns's acclaimed series -- covering 1929 to 1934 -- finds jazz musicians facing the collapse of the American economy during the Great Depression. While a quarter of the nation's workforce is without work, jazz musicians thrive. The advent of a new dance called the Lindy Hop brings audiences to legendary dance halls like the Savoy Ballroom to swing with Chick Webb's big band. Fats Waller and Art Tatum take solo piano to new heights of virtuosity and Duke Ellington, now being compared to Stravinsky, transcends racial stereotypes while touring the country. Then, at the Palomar Ballroom in Los Angeles, a struggling and brilliant clarinetist leads his band on stage and starts up a Fletcher Henderson arrangement. It is at this moment that Benny Goodman's swinging sound finally breaks through to a generation kicking off the Swing Era. ~ All Movie Guide
- 2000
Episode three of Ken Burns' comprehensive series -- which covers 1924 to 1929 -- shows how jazz reflected the atmosphere of the country just before the Depression. We meet Bessie Smith, the first influential female vocalist who helped forge new roads for black record labels by performing the blues. There is also the tragic story of the first great white jazz musician, cornetist Bix Beiderbecke, who would create some of the most poignant and melodic solos of his day and then die at age 28, from complications arising from his alcoholism. Burns touches on the Harlem Renaissance's connection with the development of jazz, relating the career of Duke Ellington at Harlem's white-patrons-only Cotton Club and his influence on Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw. The episode culminates with a meditation on Louis Armstrong's brilliant recording "West End Blues" and how it captured the tumultuous atmosphere of America right before the stock market crash. ~ All Movie Guide
Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr., this gritty drama concerns four people trapped by their addictions. Harry (Jared Leto), and his best friend Tyrone (Marlon Wayans) are impoverished heroin addicts living in Coney Island, NY, while Harry's girlfriend Marion (Jennifer Connelly) is a fellow addict trying to distance herself from her wealthy father. Harry dreams of scoring a pound of smack, from which he could make enough money to open a clothing boutique with Marion, but so far he and his friends can barely scrape by supporting their own habits. Meanwhile, Harry's mother Sara (Ellen Burstyn), who spends her days watching television, is told she has the opportunity to appear on her favorite game show; wanting to lose enough weight to fit into her favorite red dress, she visits a sleazy doctor who gives her a prescription for amphetamines. Soon Sara has a drug habit of her own that is spiraling out of control. Requiem for a Dream was directed by Darren Aronofsky, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Selby; it was Aronofsky's second feature, following his acclaimed independent film Pi. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, (more)
