Gina Ravera Movies

The crime drama's fourth season continues to track detective Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) as she utilizes her sly interrogation techniques to close L.A.-area crimes and finally takes her romance with FBI man Fritz Howard (Jon Tenney) to the next level. A red-hot case opens the season when Brenda smokes out a pyromaniacal nutcase after fires threaten vast swaths of L.A. In other prime-crime events, Brenda and her Priority Homicide Division (later renamed the Major Crimes Division after a moniker overhaul) scrutinize the suicide of a high-school girl in a case that spins around a hotheaded sheriff (Daniel Baldwin). The team also probes the vanishing of a troubled tween boy; sleuths when two Tijuana cops are murdered; investigates the death of a teen involved in an explosive bombing scheme; and tangles with a known sex offender and his sly and slimy attorney. It also gets hairy in Hollywood when a TV-show hairstylist is found slain, prompting Brenda to comb for clues. On the fringe and complicating matters is pesky journalist Ricardo Ramos (Stephen Martines), whose vitriolic column puts the team on the defensive. The year proves to be a difficult one for Det. Sanchez (Raymond Cruz): Not only is his brother shot, but he's shot as well. It's also rough going for gruff yet lovable Provenza (G.W. Bailey) when he loses crucial evidence gained from a sting operation. And wedding bells might ring for a Southern belle: Brenda prepares for her upcoming nuptials with Fritz, but the ceremony could give new meaning to "shotgun wedding" when they both grow obsessed with solving two separate crimes on their big day. At least Brenda's parents (Frances Sternhagen, Barry Corbin) and Fritz's colorful psychic sister (Amy Sedaris) are in town to keep the wedding plans moving-but it won't be a piece of cake. ~ Dean Maurer, All Movie Guide

Drawing inspiration from the true story of a temperamental debate coach who molded the students of a small East Texas college into a formidable team that gave even Harvard's elite squad a run for their money, Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters features the director himself as the ambitious educator, and Forest Whitaker as the resentful father of a student whose loyalties now lie almost exclusively with his coach. Melvin B. Tolson (Washington) is the kind of educator who truly recognizes the remarkable power of knowledge. An outspoken Wiley College professor who boldly challenged the discriminatory Jim Crow laws of the 1930s, Tolson's recognizes that his young debate students possess the spark of a new generation. Convinced that they could invoke great change if given the confidence and tools needed to do so, the tireless educator implores his students to take responsibility for the future while furtively attempting to protect them from his clandestine role as an organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Chief among Tolson's promising young students is a 14-year-old prodigy named James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Farmer's father, James Sr. (Forest Whitaker), is a renowned scholar and an important presence in the emerging student's life. Yet despite his formidable reputation, James Sr. has not yet learned how to truly harness the power of knowledge through action and assertion. James Jr. has seen the raving effects of racism all around him, and longs to live in a future where no one must be in fear simply because of the color of their skin. Other talented debaters on Tolson's team include fiercely independent student Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), and Samantha Brooke (Jurnee Smollett) -- the first ever female ever to join the Wiley College debate team. While most educators may not have recognized the remarkable potential of assembling such a disparate team, Tolson's unique vision truly set him apart from the pack as the team begins to experience a series of consecutive victories on their road to challenging Harvard at the National Championships. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

No sooner has transplanted Atlantan Brenda Johnson (Kyra Sedgwick) arrived in Los Angeles to assume her duties as deputy police chief of the LAPD's Priority Homicide Division that she is plunged into a bizarre murder case--which, like all those that will follow, is embarrassingly high-profile. Season One of The Closer also establishes that there is no love lost between the abrasive, temperamental Brenda and her coworkers, who don't so much resent her for being a woman than for the infuriating fact that her brash behavior and unorthodox methods always yield results. The season's remaining twelve episodes include "About Face", in which the murder of a supermodel brings Brenda literally face-to-face with the Hollywood scene, phony tinsel and all. In "The Big Picture", the victim is a Russian call girl with a list of celebrity clients. Latino gang members are apparently being picked off one by one by a well-trained military sniper in "Show Yourself". "Flashpoint" involves a murder motived by corporate intrigue in the pharamaceutical industry, but Brenda finds that media scrutiny of her checkered past is more troublesome than the case at hand. In "Fantasy Date", Brenda's team embarks upon an odyssey into the seamy underworld of S&M to find the rapist-killer of a congressman's daughter. The only witness to the murder of a much-despised judge is the victim's autistic son in "Batter Up". In "The Butler Did It", Brenda faces the double whammy of a wealthy and fatally dysfunctional family, and an apparent deliberately freeze-out by her own superiors. In "Good Housekeeping", Brenda's zeal to bring a murderer to justice threatens to cost her her job, while I "LA Woman", Brenda's romance with FBI agent Fritz (Jon Tenney) is jeopardized when they both probe the deaTH of an Iranian businessman. The plot complications "Fatal Retraction" include the premature release of a convicted murderer, a victim whose identity is a mystery, and the possibility of evidence tampering within Brenda's own department. And finally, in "Standards and Practices", an unknown antagonist sabotages Brenda's career as she tracks down clues in the murder of a film producer. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A remake of the popular 1960s TV series of the same name (which had previously spawned a smash-hit 1993 theatrical feature), CBS' The Fugitive stakes out the old familiar ground. This time out, former Wings star Timothy Daly is cast as Dr. Richard Kimble, who was falsely accused of murdering his wife. Despite his protestations that he'd seen a "one-armed man" fleeing the murder scene, and apparently lacking the financial wherewithal to hire a lawyer like Alan Dershowitz or Johnny Cochran, Kimble was found guilty and sentenced to the electric chair. En route to prison, Kimble managed to escape during a train wreck, and he spends the rest of the series traveling from town to town, adopting a variety of aliases and professions, and helping those whose lives he touches. All the while, Kimble pursues the elusive One-Armed Man (Stephen Lang), even as he himself is being pursued by dogged, single-minded Police Lieutenant Gerard (played by Mykelti Williamson, best known as Bubba Blue in the 1994 Oscar-winner Forrest Gump). Infinitely more expensive and special-effects-laden than its TV predecessor, this "retro" series makes up in energy and high-tech visuals what it lacks in originality. The Fugitive revival began (literally) running on October 6, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This thriller is adapted from the 1995 novel by James Patterson about a serial killer prowling a Southern university. Washington, D.C., forensic psychologist Dr. Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) is also a best-selling author. After his niece Naomi (Gina Ravera) is reported missing, he heads his Porsche for Durham, North Carolina, where eight young women have been reported missing. Bodies are found by local policemen (Cary Elwes and Alex McArthur), along with the killer's signature, "Casanova." Casanova is a "collector" of strong-willed women who are forced to submit to his demands. Soon, local doctor Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd) is abducted from her home and taken to a dungeon -- where other women are imprisoned in underground chambers. After McTiernan succeeds in escaping, she joins Cross and other detectives in the search for Casanova -- a trail that leads to Los Angeles, where similar crimes are being committed by someone known as "The Gentleman Caller." Are these two criminals in competition with each other or are they working together? ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

In the erotic thriller Illegal in Blue, Chris Morgan (Dan Gauthier) is a young policeman who confronts the harsh reality that he must compromise his ideals to get along in a world of moral ambiguity. When police officers split a large sum of confiscated illegal gambling money among themselves, Morgan reports it to Internal Affairs. He starts receiving death threats, and the police department suspends him without pay. Morgan begins a steamy love affair with a stunning nightclub singer, Kari Truitt (Stacey Dash), whose husband is found murdered. Morgan's suspension is lifted, and he goes back to the police department to face open hostility from officers who want him to soften his testimony against the policemen who split the gambling money. He also gets caught up in the murder investigation, where his new lover is the prime suspect, and he soon finds that he must make some difficult choices. A well-integrated musical score, moody shots of the city at night, and lyrical love scenes help to make Illegal in Blue somewhat better than many similar low-budget efforts. ~ All Movie Guide

In the conclusion of a two-part story (originally telecast as a single one hour special), Will (Will Smith) and the Banks family continue shopping at the mall in preparation for a Halloween party. Along the way, Will and Carlton (Alfonso Ribeiro) compete for the attentions of a toothsome lass named Melinda (Paris Vaughn), with Will trying to impress the girl by listing all the "celebrities" he's met in his lifetime (most of whom appear as themselves in a highly fanciful series of flashbacks). Meanwhile, Vivian (Janet Hubert-Whitten) enjoys a brief moment in the spotlight as a mall singer; gadget-happy Philip (James Avery) threatens to buy out an entire electronics store; and Ashley (Tatyana M. Ali) is falsely accused of shoplifting. Things come full circle when Melinda shows up for the party--along with two unexpected "guests." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide