Golden Brooks Movies
The lithe and alluring African-American actress Golden Brooks began life in San Francisco in late 1970, and grew up in both the Bay Area and the City of Angels. As a young woman, she attended the University of California at Berkeley as a sociology major, later earning her master's degree from Sarah Lawrence College. Brooks first broke into films in the mid-'90s, with a small role in Spike Lee's phone sex-themed comedy drama Girl 6 (1996); the 2000 series Girlfriends, however, brought Brooks her first recognition in the American press. This rabidly popular sitcom -- which reeled in critical kudos and maintained a broad fan base -- constituted the pet project of Frasier star Kelsey Grammer and producer Mara Brock Akil. It told of four African-American female friends in the Los Angeles -- all white-collar women -- struggling to balance personal and professional demands. Brooks played an assistant at a legal firm and the only woman in the ensemble with a happy marriage and a growing family. After scattered roles in acclaimed features through the first several years of the new millennium, Brooks made the pivotal decision to join the cast of the Queen Latifah-starrer Beauty Shop, about the colorful proprietors and denizens of an Atlanta-based hair salon. The following year, she also starred in Sanaa Hamri's acclaimed dramedy Something New. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
An unannounced family visit wreaks havoc on the lives of married couple Michael and Sandra (Ruben Studdard, Golden Brooks), who are already experiencing high levels of tension thanks to the stresses of the holiday season. As the expenses mount and chaos reigns, Michael realizes that unconditional love may be the greatest gift a man has to offer. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Ruben Studdard, Golden Brooks, (more)
Amidst claims that the African-American family unit is slowly deteriorating, filmmaker Leslie Small sets out to explore how the role of black women in the family has evolved as the population of black males continues to diminish. Inspired by the musical stage play of the same name, Small's film follows three women as they battle temptation and contend with their personal demons while waging a valiant battle to maintain happy, healthy relationships. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Golden Brooks, Darrin Dewitt Henson, (more)
A woman discovers that when it comes to love, sometimes opposites really do attract in this romantic comedy-drama. Kenya (Sanaa Lathan) is a successful African-American lawyer in her mid-thirties whose personal life is not going as well as her career. While she's attractive and intelligent, Kenya has rather high standards and isn't willing to settle for a man who isn't everything she wants. While attending a party, Kenya is introduced to Brian (Simon Baker), a landscape architect who handles the gardening at her host's mansion. Brian is immediately and obviously attracted to Kenya, through she doesn't feel the same way at all. However, she likes his work and hires him to refurbish her garden; before long, he asks her out on a date, and against her better judgment she accepts. While Kenya and Brian have little in common, in time they hit it off, and a romance begins to blossom between them. However, Brian happens to be white, which ruffles some feathers among Kenya's friends and family, who try to find her a more suitable, African-American suitor. Also starring Mike Epps, Donald Faison, Blair Underwood, and Alfre Woodard, Something New was the first feature film for director Sanaa Hamri, who previously established herself by directing music videos. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Sanaa Lathan, Simon Baker, (more)
While the men of Barbershop and Barbershop 2 have plenty to mouth off about, they may have met their match in the female staff and clientele of a nearby beauty shop. Directed by Bille Woodruff, Beauty Shop revolves around these women led by Gina (Queen Latifah), who opened Beauty Shop to give all the females in the community, from a conservative Southern socialite (Andie MacDowell) to a poetry-reciting stylist, a place to talk about life, love, and the issues of the day, all while getting their hair done. Bryce Wilson puts in a supporting performance, as does Kevin Bacon, who plays the snooty owner of a rival salon. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi
- Starring:
- Queen Latifah
A man is forced to deal with the dire consequences of his actions in this drama. Emery Simms (Shemar Moore) is a guy who seemingly has it all: a successful business, the respect of his friends, and a beautiful wife, Constance (Vivica A. Fox); however, beneath the surface not all is well in Emery's world. He's been cheating on his wife with a woman named Allannah (Golden Brooks), and he's become unwittingly involved in a murder. Between a talkative witness to the killing and Allannah's former boyfriend who holds a grudge, Emery sees his world is starting to fall apart now that he has trouble he can't solve by throwing around some money. Motives also features Joe Torry, Mel Jackson, and Keshia Knight Pulliam. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Shemar Moore, Vivica A. Fox, (more)
This long-delayed science fiction thriller from director Gary Fleder was actually filmed prior to his box-office hit Don't Say a Word (2001), which preceded it in theaters by several months. Based on a 1953 short story by Philip K. Dick, the film shares that schizophrenic author's long-running obsessions with concealed identity and humanity's potential inferiority to alternative life forms. Gary Sinise stars as Spencer John Olham, a respected government scientist in the year 2079 trying to devise a secret weapon that will help his fellow humans win a decade-long war with invading aliens that are cloning human subjects and using the replicas as walking time bombs. Suddenly, Olham is accused of being an alien spy and a nationwide manhunt to capture him ensues. With even his doctor wife (Madeleine Stowe) unsure that she can trust him, Olham must uncover the truth on his own, even as he's relentlessly pursued by Hathaway (Vincent D'Onofrio), a federal agent charged with destroying the clones. Imposter has a complicated history, originally produced in early 2000 as a 30-minute short to be included in an anthology entitled "The Light Years Trilogy," a project that never got off the ground. So impressed was Dimension Films with the completed piece, however, that the footage was incorporated into a new feature version. That film was then shuffled around the release schedule for more than a year as effects were completed, reshoots were ordered, and the film was recut for a PG-13 rating instead of its original R. The R-rated "director's cut" was later released on DVD. ~ Karl Williams, Rovi
- Starring:
- Gary Sinise, Madeleine Stowe, (more)
Director Mike Figgis helmed this ground-breaking experimental feature, filmed with four synchronized digital video cameras in four separate locations. The story, outlined in advance but otherwise improvised, was enacted in a single continuous take, like a stage play, with the unedited images from all four locations presented on the screen at once. Figgis and his crew chose the best single run-through, and the result is the film's final release version. The story focuses on four main characters around the casting sessions for a film called Bitch of Louisiana to be directed by Lester Moore (Richard Edson): Alex Green (Stellan Skarsgard), the studio executive overseeing Moore's project; his wife Emma (Saffron Burrows); gangster Lauren Hathaway (Jeanne Tripplehorn); and her unfaithful lover Rose (Salma Hayek). These characters' paths cross as murder, infidelity, and dirty dealings are interrupted by an earthquake and its aftershocks. Time Code 2000 also features Kyle MacLachlan, Holly Hunter, Julian Sands, Steven Weber, Danny Huston, Viveka Davis, and Laurie Metcalf. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Xander Berkeley, Golden Brooks, (more)
- 1998
This TV comedy-drama series takes place at Linc's, a Washington, D.C., bar and grill where blacks gather to talk about issues they face in a society dominated by whites. Widower Russell A. "Linc" Lincoln (Steven Williams) runs the tavern, host to a diverse Capitol Hill gang of customers. In the one-hour pilot episode, children's rights activist Eleanor Braithwaite Winthrop (Pam Grier), who's married to a white man, and dynamic lobbyist Johnnie B. Goode (Georg Stanford Brown) discuss a bill she's trying to get through Congress, while Linc is startled by some revelations after his Army daughter Rosalee Lincoln (Tisha Campbell) comes home from Fort Bragg. Other regulars include sharp-tongued waitress CeCe Jennings (Golden Brooks); token white Harlan Hubbard IV (Joe Inscoe), who heads a pedophile senator's staff; Nigerian cabdriver Winston Iwelu (Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje); and earthy Eartha (Daphne Maxwell-Reid), a prostitute privy to D.C. dirt when Washington elite unveil secrets in the bedroom. Filmed in Petersburg, Virginia, this series premiered August 1, 1998 on Showtime with a one-hour pilot kicking off the half-hour series. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi
- Starring:
- Pam Grier, Steven Williams, (more)
Spike Lee directed this comedy-drama about a woman who falls into a career in phone sex. An African-American woman (Theresa Randle) who aspires to a career as an actress endures a number of dispiriting jobs (handing out leaflets and working as a coat check girl) before reaching the end of her rope at an audition with Q.T. (Quentin Tarantino), a sleazy movie director. Q.T. claims that he wants to offer her a role in his next film -- but since the role requires nudity, she will have to show him her breasts first. After firing her agent, the actress is strapped for cash and is offered a job enacting sexual fantasies for men over the phone. Dubbed "Girl 6" by her employers, the actress is treated with respect by her boss (Jennifer Lewis) and is well-liked by her co-workers. However, she has a hard time emotionally distancing herself from her work, and she finds herself becoming infatuated with Bob (Peter Berg), one of her regular callers, going so far as to set up a meeting with him. As she deals in other people's fantasies for a living, Girl 6 begins retreating into her own world of make-believe, where she can be a sexy screen siren or a butt-kicking blaxploitation star. Meanwhile, her former fiancé (Isaiah Washington), who scrapes by as a shoplifter, desperately wants her to give him another chance, and her next door neighbor, a baseball card collector named Jimmy (Spike Lee), keeps pestering her that she ought to be doing something more positive with her life. Girl 6's supporting cast includes Madonna as one of Girl 6's supervisors, John Turturro as her agent, and Debi Mazar as one of the other phone-sex girls; the film also features an original song score by Prince. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Theresa Randle, Isaiah Washington, (more)
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