Lawrence B. Adisa
On the eve of his biggest audition to date, an unfocused actor enlists the aid of his show-business buddies in getting his act together and landing the role that could finally launch him into the big time. T.O. (Lawrence Adisa) may be a working actor, but now the all night partying and constant distractions are beginning to take their toll on the once-promising star. Later, T.O. will seek some helpful guidance from good friends Regina King and French Stewart. When all hope seems lost, it begins to appear that the only thing keeping T.O. on his toes is the prospect of losing a potentially lucrative role from longtime nemesis Morris (Sam Sarpong). ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lawrence B. Adisa, Regina King, (more)
- 2001
John Clark Jr. (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) risks incurring the wrath of precinct skipper Rodriguez (Esai Morales) when John's badge is stolen from his car. Led by Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz), the rest of the squad tries to cover up for John -- a task that becomes difficult when the badge is used in a string of robberies committed by a crook posing as a cop. In hopes of recovering John's badge and saving his job, fellow officer Connie McDowell (Charlotte Ross) adopts a most unusual disguise. And elsewhere, Connie is assigned a case that leads her to consider contacting the daughter whom she gave up for adoption 16 years ago. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Henry Simmons
- 1999
Alan Alda makes the first of several guest appearances as crusty attending physician Dr. Gable Lawrence, an old friend and mentor of Kerry Weaver (Laura Innes). Lawrence's pomposities -- to say nothing of his eccentricities -- do nothing toward endearing himself to Greene (Anthony Edwards). Meanwhile, the ER is the scene of a brief shoot-out; Kovac (Goran Visnjic) and Lucy (Kellie Martin) try to persuade a woman patient to get out of an abusive spousal relationship; Carter (Noah Wyle) is there for comfort and reassurance as his former sister-in-law, Elaine (Rebecca De Mornay), undergoes a mastectomy; and Jeanie (Gloria Reuben) is given temporary custody of an HIV-positive baby. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Detective Jean Martin (Linda Hamilton, in her first TV movie) isn't happy at the LAPD sex crimes unit and gets a transfer to robbery/homicide, where she's partnered with Dan Collins (Jeff Fahey) and Lt. Gil Suggs (Coolio). As a single mom, Martin tries to raise her young son (Tim Redwine) and engage in a few fleeting moments of romance, while simultaneously tracking down violence-prone, death-dealing teen bank robbers. Filmed in LA, this TV movie premiered January 15, 1998. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Linda Hamilton, Jeff Fahey, (more)
- 1996
An inner-city basketball game, held in memory of a slain teenager, ends in a gang-related bloodbath. As members of the media look on, the organizer of the event, activist Brother Kwasi (Tom Wright), exchanges heated words with Detective Andy Sipowicz (Dennis Franz). A bad situation is made worse when Andy lets slip a racial slur -- placing 15th Precinct commander Lt. Fancy (James McDaniel) in an embarrassingly controversial position. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Based on Richard Price's grim best-seller, and directed by Spike Lee from a screenplay co-written with Price, Clockers takes the structure of a police procedural to build a chilling portrait of despair, hope, and the unanswered problem of black-on-black crime in an urban housing project. The film's haunting themes are vividly visualized during the opening credits, which run over police photos of dead young black men, shot and sprawled on sidewalks, in streets, and hanging over fences. Strike (Mekhi Phifer) is a 19-year-old African-American "clocker" -- the lowest link on the drug dealing chain -- who hangs around park benches and street corners selling small amounts of druges at all hours of the day. Strike drinks chocolate milk to soothe an ulcer and plays with model trains in his apartment, dreaming of a way out of his dead-end life. Drug kingpin Rodney (Delroy Lindo) asks Strike to kill another clocker, Darryl, for skimming money, saying that this will be Strike's ticket to a higher post in Rodney's organization. Darryl is indeed shot, and suspicion immediately falls on Strike, but a weary cop named Rocco Klein (Harvey Keitel) thinks there's more to the case. ~ Don Kaye, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, (more)
