Giancarlo Esposito Movies

In this first episode of a two-part story, bounty hunters Knoll (Christopher Meloni) and Lichte (Vic Noto) descend upon Baltimore in search of fugitive killer Joe Errico -- and promptly shoot and kill the wrong man. Elsewhere, Al and Mike Giardello (Yaphet Kotto, Giancarlo Esposito) find themselves the reluctant subjects of a human-interest article in Baltimore Magazine; and Gharty (Peter Gerety) drives Munch (Richard Belzer) crazy with his vivid recollections of his war experiences in Vietnam. The episode ends on a cliffhanger, with a car carrying one of the bounty hunters and two of the detectives plowing into a vehicle driven by two senior citizens. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lighthearted science fiction story for the whole family, research scientist Dr. Karol Wasacz has come up with a remarkable new invention -- the "bio-chip," a microprocessor that can give life to inanimate objects. While Karol has envisioned a number of beneficial uses for this new technology, his employers have other ideas, and rather than see his creation fall into evil hands, Dr. Wasacz brings it home, where it's soon installed in the family's vacuum cleaner. Now that the Wasaczs have an all-talking, all-singing, all-dancing carpet sweeper, the good doctor and his 11-year-old son Charlie have to see to it that Stardust the vacuum (and his all-important bio-chip) isn't stolen by those who would use it for sinister purposes. Stardust stars Amanda Donohoe, Giancarlo Esposito, Christopher Berryman, and Olek Krupa. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Rockne S. O'Bannon scripted this two-part TV miniseries adaptation of Peter Benchley's novel, found floating in the wake of his Jaws and The Beast. The origins of the tale's hybrid horror begin in 1972 at a secret Navy base off St. Lucia, where researchers cross a dolphin with a great white shark, creating a monster to generate fear and loathing in Vietnam. The Navy covers up the failed experiment, and 25 years later, cut to the Chase -- namely, scientist Simon Chase (Craig T. Nelson), who moves to the island to research a cancer-shark connection. Chase brings along his scientist ex-wife (Kim Cattrall), his 15-year-old son, Max (Matthew Carey), and their pet sea lion. Naturally, the "creature" resurfaces and gnaws on islanders -- with Chase soon in pursuit. Creature effects by Stan Winston. Filmed in St. Lucia, West Indies and Vancouver, British Columbia. Premiered May 17, 1998 on ABC. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

After holding up a convenience store, African American petty crook Joseph Grange (Giancarlo Esposito) races to his girlfriend's house to give her the money. Confronted by the girl's current bedmate, he gets into a scuffle and accidentally shoots the man. Now the object of a citywide manhunt, the desperate Grange stumbles onto a remote cabin occupied by Clair Ballard (Sharon Lawrence), a white woman. Though terrified at the prospect of being Joseph's hostage, Clair somehow senses that he is more frightened than she. Drawing upon lessons learned in her own troubled past, Clair tries to get at the root of Joseph's problems, not only hoping to defuse the situation but also to help the man come to peace with himself. And in the course of the next five hours, Clair also learns a lot about handling her own crises from her repentant captor. First telecast by NBC on October 5, 1997, Five Desperate Hours was based on a true story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A black student is murdered, and the main suspect claims that she had been previously drugged and raped by the dead man. The parents of the victim insist that the girl is lying and demand that the DA's office prosecute the case to the fullest extent of the law. The outcome hinges upon two mutually dependent "airtight" alibis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Three attractive girl friends in their 20s spend the bulk of this melodrama walking and talking their way through the funky streets of New York City. They have come together to celebrate a 30th birthday. Their favorite topic of discussions include men, their pasts, men, their relationships, and men. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Wayne Wang and screenwriter Paul Auster had enough storylines and characters left over from their charming comedy Smoke to make another film, so they shot Blue In The Face immediately after Smoke was completed. The film once again centers on the Brooklyn Cigar Store and manager Auggie (Harvey Keitel), although most of the other characters are different. The store owner's frustrated wife Dot (Roseanne) is one of them, and one of the plotlines follows her attempts to seduce Auggie. Madonna, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, and Lou Reed (as himself) also put in appearances. Blue In The Face was shot without a complete script and presents a unique combination of distinctive performances, oddball characters, improvisations, and raffish scenes. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide

Near the end of The Usual Suspects, Kevin Spacey, in his Oscar-winning performance as crippled con man Roger "Verbal" Kint, says, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." This may be the key line in this story; the farther along the movie goes, the more one realizes that not everything is quite what it seems, and what began as a conventional whodunit turns into something quite different. A massive explosion rips through a ship in a San Pedro, CA, harbor, leaving 27 men dead, the lone survivor horribly burned, and 91 million dollars' worth of cocaine, believed to be on board, mysteriously missing. Police detective Dave Kujan (Chazz Palminteri) soon brings in the only witness and key suspect, "Verbal" Kint. Kint's nickname stems from his inability to keep his mouth shut, and he recounts the events that led to the disaster. Five days earlier, a truckload of gun parts was hijacked in Queens, NY, and five men were brought in as suspects: Kint, hot-headed hipster thief McManus (Stephen Baldwin), ill-tempered thug Hockney (Kevin Pollak), flashy wise guy Fenster (Benicio Del Toro), and Keaton (Gabriel Byrne), a cop gone bad now trying to go straight in the restaurant business. While in stir, someone suggests that they should pull a job together, and Kint hatches a plan for a simple and lucrative jewel heist. Despite Keaton's misgivings, the five men pull off the robbery without a hitch and fly to Los Angeles to fence the loot. Their customer asks if they'd be interested in pulling a quick job while out West; the men agree, but the robbery goes horribly wrong and they soon find themselves visited by Kobayashi (Pete Postlethwaite), who represents a criminal mastermind named Keyser Soze. Soze's violent reputation is so infamous that he's said to have responded to a threat to murder his family by killing them himself, just to prove that he feared no one. When Kobayashi passes along a heist proposed by Soze that sounds like suicide, the men feel that they have little choice but to agree. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A surprise Hollywood hit, this film is based on the novel of the same name by Terry McMillan and centers on four well-to-do African-American women and their relationships with men and one another. All of them are "holding their breath" until the day they can feel comfortable in a committed relationship with a man. Robin (Lela Rochon) is the long-time mistress of Russell (Leon), who keeps reneging on his promise to leave his wife for her. She dumps him to find a man she can have to herself, but her dates with a reliable but unattractive business partner (Wendell Pierce) and a drug addict (Mykelti Williamson) send her back to Russell. Savannah (Whitney Houston) is a successful television producer who also believes that her married lover Kenneth (Dennis Haysbert) will leave his wife. Bernadine (Angela Bassett) is a wealthy woman who abandoned her own career to raise a family. Her husband is now leaving her to marry a white woman. Gloria (Loretta Devine) is a beauty salon owner and single mother raising a teenage son. After years alone, she falls in love with a new neighbor, Marvin (Gregory Hines). The women share their stories over lunches and conversations at Gloria's salon. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide

A bright young African-American boy attempts to survive life in the city by acting as an errand boy for a drug dealer in this thoughtful, sharply plotted drama. Known as Fresh, the young man must use his delivery jobs to support himself and his troubled sister, receiving nothing from his distant, alcoholic father but the occasional chess lesson. His intelligence and quiet determination serve him well, as he wins the trust of his employer and settles into an unpleasant but survivable routine. Even this small comfort disappears, however, when Fresh accidentally witnesses the killing of a classmate and becomes a potential target himself. Forced into an impossible situation, he puts his experience and strategic ability to good use, developing a tricky plan to protect his own life and defeat the killers. First-time director Boaz Yakin emphasizes restraint and realism, presenting potentially sensationalistic material with a minimum of violence and flash. Instead, attention is placed on the strong, layered performances, particularly Sean Nelson as Fresh and Samuel L. Jackson as his embittered father. While some have questioned the film's treatment of inner city life, the film was generally acclaimed, thanks to its seriousness and complexity. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This short documentary is a meditation on the life and work of the famous public figure from time the American civil rights movement, Malcom X, whose black militancy was at least as electrifying to the people of the day as was his affiliation with the Nation of Islam and his later conversion to mainstream Islam. The film features interviews with the charismatic leader's brother, Wilfred Little and his widow Betty Shabazz. Also interviewed is Spike Lee, who, at the time of these interviews (1992) was just releasing his major feature film entitled Malcom X. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

In the tradition of This Is Spinal Tap, producer/ director/ star Tim Robbins' Bob Roberts is a satire disguised as a documentary. Robbins plays the titular Roberts, a wealthy, well-connected young man running for a senatorial seat in Pennsylvania. On the surface, Roberts is an ingratiating glad-hander, a sincere believer in the restoration of such intangibles as national pride, family values, etc. But the longer Roberts is followed about by documentary filmmaker Brian Murray, the more we become aware that the candidate is a textbook case of cynicism and contempt. Only Giancarlo Esposito, a reporter for an underground newspaper, is willing to dig beneath Roberts' veneer--a habit that leads to the film's ironic conclusion. Several well-known actors make cameo appearances as TV commentators, notably Tim Robbins' longtime partner Susan Sarandon. Bob Roberts started out as a Tim Robbins-directed short subject for the TV series Saturday Night Live, then was expanded into a $4 million feature. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide