Art Evans Movies

An incarcerated father is forced to stand by and watch as his two young sons struggle to survive on the streets in a gritty urban drama starring Clifton Powell and Sean Blakemore. Ali Dean is a failed father, and now he will bear witness as his failure threatens to turn into an endless cycle of violence and poor decision making. Though Ali's son Tariq shows much promise as an emerging pugilist, Cesar falls on the wrong side of the law after becoming involved with the local drug trade. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Michael Apted (Gorillas in the Mist) directed this Walter Mosley script adaptation of Mosley's short story collection, Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned. Ex-con Socrates Fortlow (Laurence Fishburne) returns to L.A., looks for work, becomes friends with Right Burke (Bill Cobbs), is told he's too old for a construction job, helps youngster Darryl (Daniel Williams), and romances cafe-owner Iula Brown (Natalie Cole). Socrates provides a moral uplift to the neighborhood, while Burke's voiceover narration has a Sunset Boulevard twist. The TV movie premiered March 21, 1998 on HBO. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

Boxing is more than just a sport -- it's also a business and a con game in this satirical comedy. Rev. Fred Sultan (Samuel L. Jackson) is a shrewd boxing promoter and manager whose meal ticket is heavyweight champion James "The Grim Reaper" Roper (Damon Wayans), a fighter whose skill and confidence significantly outstrips his intelligence. While the top-ranked contender for Roper's title is Marvin Shabazz (Michael Jace), Sultan isn't too keen on the idea of Shabazz fighting Roper -- it seems that both fighters are black, and Sultan's figures show that mixed race matches stir up a lot more media attention and pay-per-view customers. Eager to find a white challenger for Roper, Sultan digs up Terry Conklin (Peter Berg), who won a Golden Gloves fight against Roper many years ago but is now out of the game and fronting a rock band called Massive Head Wound. Thanks to a few bribes and a couple of fixed fights, Sultan is able to arrange for Conklin to be next in line to battle "The Grim Reaper." However, Conklin is taking his renewed career as a boxer quite seriously, while Roper, convinced that Conklin doesn't stand a chance, has let himself go and gained a lot of weight. Suddenly Sultan realizes that Roper might just lose the piece-of-cake fight he's so carefully arranged, while journalist Mitchell Kane (Jeff Goldblum) smells a rat in Conklin's sudden rise to ranking status. Jon Lovitz, Cheech Marin, and Corbin Bernsen highlight the supporting cast, while members of the well-regarded alternative rock band Local H appear as Massive Head Wound. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Boyz N the Hood meets Tales from the Crypt in this alternately horrific, funny, and socially conscious anthology film. The four grim vignettes are framed by the tale of three street hoods who break into Mr. Simm's inner-city funeral home to find a stash of drugs. The mortician puts them off, by telling them a few eerie stories about his "patrons." ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Comedian Chris Rock stars in this scattershot satire of rap music in the vein of This Is Spinal Tap. This film within a film begins with A. White (Chris Elliot) screening a rough cut of a documentary he has made of the notorious CB4 rap group -- consisting of group leader Albert, also know as MC Gusto (Chris Rock); Otis, also known as Stab Master Arson (Deezer D); and Euripides, also know as Dead Mike (Allen Payne). White charts the course of CB4's success, their superstar status a result of the fact that they are the only gangsta rap group who are, in fact, actual gangsters, coming direct from rap sheets to rap music. They are considered so bad that they even give rapper Ice-T pause: "I thought I was hardcore. But these guys are serious! What am I supposed to do now?" Unfortunately, at the height of their fame, their gangster pose is revealed to be a sham. Albert, Otis, and Euripides turn out to be a bunch of middle-class blacks striking a gangsta facade to look cool. But now they are in trouble. The real Gusto (Charlie Murphy), a neighborhood thug who went to prison on a drug bust, has broken out of jail and is coming for CB4. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi

Paul (Paul Reiser) completes a filmed documentary about Yankee Stadium (including the obligatory profile of the peanut vendor) for PBS. Meanwhile, Jamie (Helen Hunt) goes after a big ad account. She succeeds, and a party is thrown in her honor; alas, PBS turns thumbs-down on Paul ("Let 'em keep their lousy tote bag!"), virtually guaranteeing that the air will be mighty thick during the festivities. This episode marks the first appearance of Ryan (Spencer Klein), the son of Fran and Mark Devanow (Leila Kenzle, Richard Kind). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Maverick director Walter Hill, who had a big hit with 48 Hrs., indulges his customary yen for violent and disturbing scenes in this overlooked action film, which was also released under the name Looters. Set in the economically-depressed town of East St. Louis, IL, the film's release was delayed several months because its riot scenes were too similar to those that actually took place in the summer of 1992 in L.A. Bill Paxton plays Vince and Bill Sadler plays Don. They are a couple of good-old-boy firefighters who are tipped off that some stolen gold treasures have been hidden in an old warehouse. They find and enter the building but witness a brutal murder. The gangland killing is part of a turf battle between two rival drug lords. When one of them finds out that the firemen have seen the execution, he orders the witnesses murdered. But they have found the treasure and have kidnapped one gang leader's brother. An elaborate and violent series of skirmishes and chases ensue. Rapper-actors Ice-T and Ice Cube have roles as leading gang members. ~ Michael Betzold, Rovi

"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, Rovi

Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a notoriously elusive criminal who has become a folk hero to the locals. Despite various political pressures -- and the fact that he and Maubee were childhood friends-Quinn vows to solve the murder, and, if necessary, bring Maubee to justice. A mess of merry plot twists distinguish this diverting fox-and-hound caper. Filmed entirely on location, The Mighty Quinn was based on Finding Maubee, a novel by A.H.Z. Carr. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When suburban police officer Alex Kearney (Anthony Edwards) angers a wealthy, influential citizen by stopping him for a traffic violation, he finds himself transferred to the city's worst precinct. Struggling to adapt to his new inner-city surroundings, Kearney must deal with his gruff new partner, Dennis Curren (Forest Whitaker), as the two attempt to break up a crime ring. ~ Iotis Erlewine, Rovi

A stylish take on the woman in jeopardy and mad killer genres, White of the Eye poses the question, What would you do if you suspected your loving husband to be a serial killer? Arizonan Paul White (David Keith) is an expert at installing high-end stereo systems in the homes of wealthy citizens. He has been married to Joan (Cathy Moriarty) for ten years, having seduced her away from a violent criminal, Mike DeSantos (Alan Rosenberg). A series of brutal murders of well-to-do women has citizens of Paul and Joan's town on edge. When evidence at the scene of the second murder points to Paul, Joan tries to fend off the suspicions of police detective Charles Mendoza (Art J. Evans), even as she begins to see signs of violence in her husband that confirm the accusation. Director Donald Cammell, who co-wrote the script with his wife China, offers a fragmented narrative characterized by quick cutting; subjective, handheld camera work; and optical tricks that suggest the unraveling of Paul's mind. ~ Tom Wiener, Rovi

Previously filmed in Argentina in 1951, black author Richard Wright's powerful race-conscious novel Native Son was remade in this barely released 1986 version. The story involves Bigger Thomas (Victor Love), an angry Depression-era Chicago black who hopes to elevate himself through his chauffeur's job with a prosperous white Gold Coast family. The family's daughter (Elizabeth McGovern) takes advantage of Bigger's servile status by ordering him to drive her to a rendezvous with her communist-activist lover (Matt Dillon). Their "parlor liberal" attitude both pleases and confuses Bigger, as do the girl's apparent sexual advances toward him. One evening, Bigger drives the girl home after she's gotten herself drunk. She flirts harmlessly with him in her bedroom; when her blind mother (Carroll Baker) stumbles onto the scene, the terrified Bigger, certain that he'll be accused of rape, tries to muffle the girl so she can't talk. He accidentally kills her, whereupon the panicky Bigger hides the body and tries to pin the girl's "kidnapping" on her lover. Tragedy piles upon tragedy before Bigger's climactic murder trial and execution; throughout, we are given the impression that this sorry state of affairs would never have taken place without the black-white tensions and divisiveness that existed in 1930s, and which still exist to this day. During the trial scene, TV talk host Oprah Winfrey makes a heavily-made-up cameo appearance as Bigger's mother. The whole scene has the earmarks of an "Oscar clip," but Oprah's excessive histrionics pale in comparison to her brilliant, well-modulated performance in the earlier The Color Purple. The 1986 version of Native Son was co-produced by PBS' American Playhouse. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi