Bobby Brown Movies
Bobby Brown's first few acting gigs were roles to be remembered. He made his debut, as part of his 1980s boy band New Edition, in Be Somebody or Be Somebody's Fool!, '80s icon Mr. T's bizarre attempt to instill high self-esteem in the children of the decade. New Edition also had a sizeable role in Krush Groove, a biography of rap producer Russell Simmons that also served as the first rock & roll movie to focus firmly on hip-hop. Brown chose to focus on music after these experiences, although he didn't rule out taking the occasional part in movies down the road. Despite his successes in both of these arts, Brown is probably best known as Whitney Houston's bad-boy husband. Brown was born February 5, 1969, in Boston, MA. He grew up in the Boston area and became friends as a kid with Ralph Tresvant. The pair later formed New Edition with three others, which launched Brown into stardom before he quit the group in 1986.Brown took only two acting roles between 1985 and 1995 -- a cameo in Ghostbusters II (for which he also provided a song) and as one of the Three Blind Mice in Shelly Duvall's Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme. In 1992, he married Houston, providing the tabloids with a never-ending story source. Despite rumors to the contrary, he and Houston stayed together, raising one daughter (Brown has three other children from previous relationships). He returned to acting in 1995 in Panther, Mario and Melvin van Peebles' look at the Black Panther movement. In between sporadic run-ins with the law and the occasional prison sentence, Brown continues to act, taking roles in A Thin Line Between Love and Hate with Martin Lawrence and Go for Broke with Pras, the least-active member of The Fugees. ~ Stephanie M. Kuenn, All Movie Guide
Hot gossip and cool hairdos sit side-by-side in this independent comedy-drama. Nora (Jenifer Lewis) is the owner of her own hair salon in an African-American community in Los Angeles, and she watches over her "family" of employees, as well as an assortment of friends, relatives, and regular customers. Lilleana (Tatyana Ali) is a new employee at the salon who is trapped in an abusive relationship with her husband Bennie (Bobby Brown). Chloe (Tamala Jones) is a hair stylist who has aspirations of making it into show biz. Ming (Lucille Soong) does manicures and isn't very good at minding her temper or hiding her opinions. And Devin (Jean-Claude LaMarre) is a gay man who is feeling uncertain about his relationship with his boyfriend, Delicious (Donn Swaby). Hip-hop stars Lil' Kim and Pras also appear in supporting roles. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jenifer Lewis, Tamala Jones, (more)
It's Young Guns meets Set It Off in this hip-hop take on the time-tested revenge Western. In the placid frontier town of Flatridge, sisters Sally (Licia Shearer) and Rachel (Monica Calhoun) live in relative peace -- until a roving gang of gold-diggers tear up the burgh, looking for buried riches. In their wake, one of them kills Sally, much to the consternation of Rachel, who happens to have once been a member of an infamous, all-femme gang known as The Roses. With her sister six feet under the ground and the town going to hell under the rule of the marauding outlaws, Rachel leaves Flatridge to round up her former compadres, Kim (Stacey Dash), Ming Li (Marie Matiko), Chastity (Lil' Kim), and Marie (LisaRaye). The fivesome return to the lawless town to oust the bad guys once and for all. Gang of Roses premiered in limited theatrical release at the Magic Johnson Theater in Los Angeles before making its way to home video. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monica Calhoun, Stacey Dash, (more)
Jean Claude La Marre directs the urban comedy Go for Broke. Two guys win the New York lottery, then get held up by a robber at a cafe. The woman robbing the place gets caught, taking their winning lottery ticket with her to prison. In order to get the stolen ticket back, the two guys dress in drag to infiltrate a women's prison. Starring Pras, Michael A. Goorjian, and Marjorie Jean. Go for Broke was shown at the Urbanworld Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Pras, Michael A. Goorjian, (more)
Love really is a battlefield in this war of the sexes comedy that marks the directorial debut of Def Jam's How to Be a Player (1997) screenwriter Mark Brown. Vivica A. Fox stars as Shante, a knowledgeable veteran of the dating game who thinks she's found the perfect mate in the handsome Keith (Morris Chestnut). When Keith is spotted stepping out with Shante's arch-rival Conny (Gabrielle Union), the spurned lover institutes what she labels the "ten-day plan," an all-out assault on Keith designed to make him come crawling back to her. Shante's scheme includes sexy lingerie, home cooking, aloofness, and other tactics intended to make Keith regret his errant ways, but Keith is receiving contradictory advice from his allegedly worldly wise buddy Tony (Anthony Anderson). Two Can Play That Game is produced by Doug McHenry, director of Jason's Lyric (1994) and Kingdom Come (2001). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Vivica A. Fox, Lee Anthony, (more)
- 2000
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Over a dozen videos from R&B performer, arranger, songwriter, and producer Babyface are collected on this release. Among the promotional clips on this video are "How Come, How Long", "This Is the Lover In You", "Every Time I Close My Eyes", and "Every Time I Close My Eyes". The DVD release of this collection offers a biography of the performer and a discography. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kenneth Edmonds
- 1996
- R
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Writer-director Martin Lawrence billed this comic drama as his own version of the film Fatal Attraction (1987). Lawrence stars as Darnell, a hopeless male chauvinist. Darnell is a crude-but-smooth talker and lady's man who doesn't take no for an answer. He works for a nightclub called Chocolate City and aspires to be its owner. He trades VIP privileges at the club for favors from women. Though he is an expert at conning women, he sometimes worries about what his childhood sweetheart Mia (Regina King), who is engaged to marry him, thinks of his adventures. When the classy, elegant Brandi (Lynn Whitfield) steps out of a limousine to enter the club, Darnell feels that he's met his ultimate prize. She rejects his come-ons, which only fuels his appetite. He pursues her, showing up with flowers at her real estate office. He finally wins over Brandi, but she becomes obsessed with him, even taking all four wheels off his sports car to ground him from his rounds. Cutting off his engagement to Mia is not enough to satisfy Brandi, who finally administers Darnell's punishment for his misogyny. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Martin Lawrence, Lynn Whitfield, (more)
- 1995
- R
This controversial political drama semi-fictionalizes the history of the radical Black Panther Party, an African-American organization that polarized America from 1966-70. Huey Newton (Marcus Chong) and Bobby Seale (Courtney B. Vance) are a pair of Oakland, California, men who form a new political party dedicated to protecting Blacks from bigoted cops through violent means. Their "Black Panther Party for Self-Protection" serves free lunch to kids, educates the community in African-American awareness, gets drug dealers off the streets, and has gun battles with the Oakland police. Two members of the Panther Party are Tyrone (Bokeem Woodbine) and Judge (Kadeem Hardison). When FBI director J. Edgar Hoover (Richard Dysart) suspects that the Black Panthers' leftist leanings are an indication of communist involvement, Judge, an affable Vietnam vet, agrees to become a double agent, reporting to both the Feds and the Panthers. After the Panthers storm the State Assembly in Sacramento, political paranoia grows, and Hoover conspires with the mafia to flood urban streets with cheap heroin, thus destroying the party. Director Mario Van Peebles, who also appears in the role of Stokely Carmichael, worked from a script written by his father, Melvin Van Peebles, based on his book about his real-life experiences with the Black Panthers. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Kadeem Hardison, Bokeem Woodbine, (more)
- 1992
This 1992 episode of Saturday Night Live is hosted by Nicolas Cage and features musical guest Bobby Brown. ~ Skyler Miller, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nicolas Cage, Bobby Brown, (more)
- 1991
A musical presentation from this female rapper is presented in this collection. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1990
An all-star cast is included on this children's adventure that follows a search for Mother Goose by her son (Dan Gilroy) and Little Bo Peep (Shelley Duvall). ~ John Bush, All Movie Guide
- 1989
- PG
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, (more)
In-between rappin' numbers by groups like Run-DMC and The Fat Boys, an almost unnoticeable plot unfolds as manager Russell (Blair Underwood) desperately looks for funding to press more records for Run-DMC's first hit. This gets him into deep water when he borrows from the wrong man and then is left behind after his performers hit the charts and are off on a better life. But all is not lost, after more rap and rock by everyone, the clan returns with salvation at hand. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Blair Underwood, Joseph Simmons, (more)
- PG
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Ghostbusters
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ghostbusters 2
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson star as a quartet of Manhattan-based "paranormal investigators". When their government grants run out, the former three go into business as The Ghostbusters, later hiring Hudson on. Armed with electronic paraphernalia, the team is spectacularly successful, ridding The Big Apple of dozens of ghoulies, ghosties and long-legged beasties. Tight-lipped bureaucrat William Atherton regards the Ghostbusters as a bunch of charlatans, but is forced to eat his words when New York is besieged by an army of unfriendly spirits, conjured up by a long-dead Babylonian demon and "channelled" through beautiful cellist Sigourney Weaver and nerdish Rick Moranis. The climax is a glorious sendup of every Godzilla movie ever made-and we daresay it cost more than a year's worth of Japanese monster flicks combined. Who'd ever dream that the chubby, cheery Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man would turn out to be the most malevolent threat ever faced by New York City? When the script for Ghostbusters was forged by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis, John Belushi was slated to play the Bill Murray role; Belushi's death in 1982 not only necessitated the hiring of Murray, but also an extensive rewrite. The most expensive comedy made up to 1984, Ghostbusters made money hand over fist, spawning not only a 1989 sequel but also two animated TV series (one of them partially based on an earlier live-action TV weekly, titled The Ghost Busters. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Ghostbusters 2
Ivan Reitman's sequel to the phenomenally successful Ghostbusters is looser and more self-assured than the original. The film opens with a title reading "Five Years Later" and finds the ghostbusters living in hard times. A restraining order has forbidden the boys to partake in paranormal warfare, and as a result they have had to seek other lines of work. Ray (Dan Aykroyd) and Winston (Ernie Hudson) spend their time performing at children's' birthday parties, and Egon (Harold Ramis) is busy conducting experiments investigating the effect of human emotions on the environment, leaving ghostbusting behind. Venkman (Bill Murray) and Dana (Sigourney Weaver) have split up. Venkman now hosts a local cable show called "The World of the Psychic." Dana, now divorced and the mother of a little baby named Oscar, works as an art restorer in a museum -- and this is where the plot kicks in. While Dana is restoring a portrait of a 16th-century tyrant by the name of Vigo the Carpathian, the portrait becomes hexed. The evil Vigo wants to return to life by taking over the body of Dana's little child. Vigo has enlisted Dana's boss, Janosz Poha (Peter MacNicol), to compel Dana to cooperate. Soon dirty sludge and slime flow through the streets of Manhattan, and the ghostbusters have to reunite to save the city from a funky paranormal evil. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
