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Taye Diggs
The disappearance of a military leader and the death of four of his men leads two investigators to wade through a morass of deceptions and half-truths in search of the facts in this thriller. Sgt. Nathan West (Samuel L. Jackson) is the leader of an elite team of U.S. Army Special Forces operatives known as the Army Rangers; West is known as a highly effective officer, but one with a short temper and aggressive attitude who is not well liked by his soldiers. During a seemingly routine training exercise in Panama, a hurricane sweeps in, and four of West's six men are dead, while West himself seems to have vanished. Eager to get the facts behind what happened, Col. Bill Styles (Tim Daly) assigns Capt. Julia Osborne (Connie Nielsen) to investigate. However, Osborne is having a hard time getting the two survivors to talk, so Styles brings in Tom Hardy (John Travolta), a former Army Ranger who served under West and became a first-class interrogator; Hardy later became a DEA agent, but left law enforcement after allegations of corruption. Hardy interviews Dunbar (Brian Van Holt), who claims that the four soldiers had been murdered, and West was killed in retaliation. Kendall (Giovanni Ribisi), the other survivor (whose father is a powerful officer) has a very different story of how the five men turned up dead, and it's up to Hardy and Osborne to determine who is telling the truth -- or if anyone is saying exactly what happened. Basic marked the first time John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson appeared in the same film together since their breakthrough roles in Pulp Fiction. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, (more)
A woman wonders if it's just friendship or real love she feels when a close male friend announces he's tying the knot in this romantic comedy. Dre (Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) became best friends when they were ten years old -- the same time that both first became aware of the first rumblings of the Hip Hop revolution in New York City. Today, Dre runs a successful record label, and Sidney is a respected music journalist; both have managed to turn their love for the music into careers, and both are still close friends. Close enough, in fact, that many of their pals wonder why they've never become boyfriend and girlfriend. While both have always denied their attraction to one another, Sidney begins to have second thoughts when Dre proposes to his girlfriend Reese (Nicole Ari Parker), a lawyer. Even though Sidney has a relationship of her own with professional basketball player Kelby (Boris Kodjoe), as Dre's wedding draws closer, Sidney begins to suspect that her longtime best friend is actually the love of her life. Brown Sugar features supporting performances form real life Hip Hop stars Mos Def and Queen Latifah; former basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson served as executive producer. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taye Diggs, Sanaa Lathan, (more)
A single and freewheeling travel writer finds that adapting to the nine-to-five lifestyle isn't as easy as it looks when her ailing father hires her to take control of his successful bridal magazine in this marriage-minded comedy starring Heather Graham, David Sutcliffe, Sandra Oh, and Taye Diggs. Upon returning to her hometown to once again be a bridesmaid in yet another wedding, jet-lagged, gin-soaked travel writer Pippa McGee (raham) soon learns that her tyrannical publishing magnate father has been hospitalized after suffering a serious heart attack. As Pippa rushes to his bedside and the ailing mogul asks her to take editorial control of one of his most popular magazines, her excitement soon turns sour upon learning that the magazine in question is not a political or travel magazine, but the one and only Wedding Bells monthly. Determined to succeed despite the constant reminders of just how single she truly is, Pippa is horrified to learn that the man her father has chosen as her publishing mentor is the same man that she drunkenly came on to at her close friend's recent wedding. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Heather Graham, David Sutcliffe, (more)
The surrealistic ABC cop drama Day Break was aptly characterized by most observers as "24 Meets Groundhog Day." Taye Diggs starred as police detective Brett Hopper, whom when first we met him had just endured the worst day of his life, culminating in his arrest for the murder of Assistant District Attorney Alberto Garza. Although he had an airtight alibi, Hopper was unable to convince anyone of his innocence, suggesting that his arrest was part of a conspiratorial frame-up. While being aggressively grilled by homicide detectives Spivak (Mitch Pileggi) and Choi (Ian Anthony Dale), Hopper suddenly lost consciousness, awakening in an other-worldly hideaway presided over by a sinister shadowy figure (Jonathan Banks) -- who "entertained" the protagonist by showing a tape in which Hopper's girlfriend Rita Shelten (Moon Bloodgood) died horribly.
At this point, Hopper was whisked back in time to the morning of his "worst day," only to find that he was condemned to live that same day over and over again until he was able to change its outcome. Alas, no matter how hard he tried to alter events, the day ended inexorably with his being arrested for murder and his witnessing of Rita's demise. Moreover, when the day started over again, Hopper found that the decisions he made during his previous "reliving" had had profound and disturbing consequences. In each episode, Hopper (the only person who knew that he and everyone around was trapped within the same ever-repeating time arc) was armed with knowledge he hadn't previously possessed, along with vital clues as to why all this was happening to him. Other players in this déjà vu nightmare were Hopper's partner, Andrea Battle (Victoria Pratt), who may or may not have been in on the conspiracy; his ex-partner (and Rita's ex-husband) Chad Shelten (Adam Baldwin), head of Internal Affairs and apparently a man with more than his share of dark secrets; Hopper's sister, Jennifer (Meta Golding), whose miserable domestic life weighed heavily on the plotline; and alleged gang leader Damien Ortiz (Ramon Rodriguez), who turned out to be even more a victim of circumstance than the hero. Created by Paul Zbyszewski, Day Break first aired on November 15, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
At this point, Hopper was whisked back in time to the morning of his "worst day," only to find that he was condemned to live that same day over and over again until he was able to change its outcome. Alas, no matter how hard he tried to alter events, the day ended inexorably with his being arrested for murder and his witnessing of Rita's demise. Moreover, when the day started over again, Hopper found that the decisions he made during his previous "reliving" had had profound and disturbing consequences. In each episode, Hopper (the only person who knew that he and everyone around was trapped within the same ever-repeating time arc) was armed with knowledge he hadn't previously possessed, along with vital clues as to why all this was happening to him. Other players in this déjà vu nightmare were Hopper's partner, Andrea Battle (Victoria Pratt), who may or may not have been in on the conspiracy; his ex-partner (and Rita's ex-husband) Chad Shelten (Adam Baldwin), head of Internal Affairs and apparently a man with more than his share of dark secrets; Hopper's sister, Jennifer (Meta Golding), whose miserable domestic life weighed heavily on the plotline; and alleged gang leader Damien Ortiz (Ramon Rodriguez), who turned out to be even more a victim of circumstance than the hero. Created by Paul Zbyszewski, Day Break first aired on November 15, 2006. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Taye Diggs, Ramon Rodríguez, (more)
A man who dares to feel finds his life in danger in this cautionary science fiction drama. In the future, after a Third World War has decimated much of the Earth's population, a new nation known as Libria rises up under the unquestioned leadership of Dupont (Angus MacFadyen). Believing human emotions and their expression were to blame for the failings of past societies, The Father has decreed that all citizens must take a daily dose of Prozia II, a drug which levels out the emotional landscape, and that all forms of creative expression are against the law; violating either regulation can be punished by death. John Preston (Christian Bale) is a Grammaton, an elite law enforcement officer who tracks down and punishes "sense offenders." One day, Preston accidentally fails to take his Prozia II, and for the first time begins experiencing emotions himself. Preston becomes aware of an underground of rebels who refuse to take their medication and have embraced art and literature, and he finds himself becoming infatuated with one of their number, Mary O'Brian (Emily Watson). Equilibrium is the second feature-length directorial effort from Kurt Wimmer, whose screenwriting credits include The Thomas Crown Affair and Sphere. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Christian Bale, Emily Watson, (more)
Director/cinematographer Doug Liman's third feature links together three edgy stories, all beginning in the same Los Angeles supermarket with an interconnected group of characters. Ronna (Sarah Polley) is a down-on-her-luck checkout girl who is sweet talked into taking an extra shift from her friend Simon (Desmond Askew) so he can go to Las Vegas. Ronna is then approached by two good-looking actors, Adam (Scott Wolf) and Zack (Jay Mohr), who want to buy drugs. Ronna, who needs money, plans to act as a go-between between the actors and a dealer friend of Simon's, Todd (Timothy Olyphant), until a cop named Burke (William Fichtner) enters the picture. Meanwhile, Simon is living it up in Vegas; in the course of a very wild night on the town, he manages to bed two women, accidentally steal a car with his good friend Marcus (Taye Diggs), and get thrown out of the best strip club in town, with more than a few people after him, especially when he leaves behind a credit card he borrowed from Todd. Once again back at the supermarket, Adam and Zack turn out to not be quite what they seemed, and their relationship with Burke and his wife Irene (Jane Krakowski) takes an unexpected turn as their evening becomes very, very complicated. Go, Liman's long-awaited follow-up to his indie hit Swingers, received its World Premiere at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sarah Polley, Desmond Askew, (more)
- 2007
In the first episode of a two-part story, Addison (Kate Walsh) heads to LA for a reunion old medical-school friends, blissfully unprepared for what it is in store for her. Meredith's stepmom Susan (Mare Winningham) is brought in with a truly bad case of hiccups, just as Meredith (Ellen Pompeo) thinks she has come to terms with their relationship. "Jane Doe" (Elizabeth Reaser) has been identified as "Ava", and Alex (Justin Chambers) is happy with her by any name. And Cristina (Sandra Oh) prepares for her wedding with the dubious input of her own mother (Tsai Chin) and Burke's mom (Diahann Carroll). This episode serves to introduce the future costars of the Grey's Anatomy spinoff Private Practice: Tim Daly (Pete), Amy Brennerman (Violet), Taye Diggs (Sam), Chris Lowell (Dell) and Paul Adelstein (Cooper) (the character of Naomi, here played by Merrin Dungey, would be taken over by Audra McDonald in Private Practice). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this remake of William Castle's campy 1958 classic, an eccentric millionaire named Steven Price invites a diverse group of people to a reputedly haunted mansion that was formerly the site of an insane asylum. Steven offers his guests $1,000,000 each if they can spend the entire night at the old house without fleeing in terror. It sounds simple enough, but when those stories about ghosts haunting the mansion turn out to be true, the guests may no longer opt to stick around. In this version, Steven is played by Geoffrey Rush, and his guests include Jeffrey Combs, Taye Diggs, Peter Gallagher, Chris Kattan, and Bridgette Wilson; Famke Janssen plays Evelyn Price. Sadly, this remake does not feature the original's memorable special-effects gimmick, "Emergo," an inflatable plastic skeleton that rolled on wires through the theater during showings. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Geoffrey Rush, Famke Janssen, (more)
Terry McMillan and Ron Bass wrote this screenplay based on McMillan's semi-autobiographical best-selling novel (over 2,000,000 copies in print before the release of this film). San Francisco stockbroker Stella (Angela Bassett), a 40-year-old divorcee, has a nice Marin County home and an 11-year-old son, Quincy (Michael J. Pagan). With Quincy off to see his dad, Stella and her best friend Delilah (Whoopi Goldberg) vacation in Jamaica, where she meets sexy, good-looking Winston Shakespeare (Taye Diggs). He's the man of her dreams in every way except one -- he's half her age. Even so, a romance develops. Grammy Award-winning songwriters Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis supervised the film's music and produced the R&B-slanted soundtrack album. Shown at the 1998 Urbanworld Film Festival (NY). ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Angela Bassett, Taye Diggs, (more)
They say the heart goes where it will, and six people find theirs following a very complicated road map with a seventh creating some unexpected detours in this dark romantic comedy. Dag (Ron Eldard) is a successful director of television commercials who shares his home with his beautiful girlfriend, Halley (Kyra Sedgwick). Dag, however, has a serious case of roving eye and is given to frequent flings with other women. Halley tries to turn a blind eye to Dag's infidelity, but when she discovers he had a one-night stand with Rebecca (Marley Shelton), a beautiful but troubled dancer who is dating Dag's close friend Peter (Patrick Breen), she decides things have gone too far. Halley gives Dag his walking papers and she soon makes the acquaintance of Andre (Taye Diggs), a very handsome and well-mannered classical musician. Andre, however, is married to Colleen (Sarita Choudhury), a woman with exotic sexual tastes who meets up with Peter, now suddenly without a girlfriend, on an airline flight. Meanwhile, Peter's very angry confrontation with Dag attracts the attention of Paula (Marisa Tomei), a mysterious but very sexy woman who has taken a decidedly carnal interest in Peter. However, as Paula makes her way through Peter's daisy-chained circle of friends, events begin taking a strange turn as her new acquaintances begin dropping like flies. Just a Kiss was the first feature film directed by actor-turned-filmmaker Fisher Stevens. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ron Eldard, Kyra Sedgwick, (more)
- 1996
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
A rich kid who likes to pretend he's from the wrong side of the tracks gets a taste of the real thing in this comedy. Brad Gluckman (Jamie Kennedy) is the son of a wealthy and socially prominent couple (Ryan O'Neal and Bo Derek) and grew up in the lap of luxury in Malibu, CA. However, Brad likes to imagine he's a street-smart gangsta from the mean streets of L.A., and he's been trying to launch a career as a hardcore rapper under the name "B-Rad." Mr. Gluckman is running for Governor of California, and both he and his campaign manager (Blair Underwood) are convinced Brad's antics could have a negative impact on the election, so they come up with a scheme to change his mind about the supposed glamour of street life. Mr. Gluckman hires a pair of African-American actors (Taye Diggs and Anthony Anderson) to impersonate a pair of gang-bangers from Compton who carjack Brad's SUV and take him to the 'hood, where he'll learn just how scary the thug life can be. However, it soon becomes obvious the actors don't know much more about life in Compton than Brad does, and as Brad gets used to his new surroundings, he falls for a girl from the neighborhood (Regina Hall) who has her own plans for moving up in the world. Malibu's Most Wanted was inspired by a character Jamie Kennedy created for his sketch comedy series The Jamie Kennedy Experiment. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jamie Kennedy, Taye Diggs, (more)
Three rich, pretty people befriend their poor, mousy classmate and live to regret it in this teen-centric thriller. Alicia (Mia Kirshner), Hadley (Meredith Monroe), Julianne (Rachel True), and Sydney (Dominique Swain) are four students enrolled in the same sociology class at Colby University, an exclusive and respected college in the Carolinas. Alicia is a local girl born into modest circumstances who struggles to make ends meet and rarely gets a second look from the male students on campus, while Hadley, Julianne, and Sydney are close friends who all come from wealthy families and seem more concerned with partying than their studies. Alicia and Hadley are paired up to work on their semester project for the class, which is to be centered around the theme "Lead, Follow, or Get Out of the Way." As part of the project, Hadley decides to befriend Alicia, and brings her into her social circle. At first, Alicia seems more than grateful for the attention of her new friends, and blooms under the influence of Hadley, Julianne, and Sydney. But it isn't long before Alicia's personality begins to shift; she develops a powerful appetite for drugs and alcohol, and soon begins taking advantage of her new friendships. Things come to a head when Alicia seduces Sydney's boyfriend, Josh (Oliver Hudson), and soon Alicia ends up in the hospital after OD'ing on drugs. Artie Bonner (Taye Diggs), a local sheriff, begins looking into Alicia's case, convinced that her near-fatal accident with drugs was no accident at all. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mia Kirshner, Meredith Monroe, (more)
