Stephanie Biddle Movies
The story of tempestuous Carmen, first told in a short story by Prosper Merimee and made famous in an opera by Georges Bizet, gets a new and striking modern-dress adaptation in this provocative drama with music. Karmen Gei (Jeinaba Diop Gai) is an inmate in a women's prison in Senegal; lusty, impulsive, and looking out for herself at all times, Karmen's uninhibited dancing and sensual demeanor excites the Sapphic passions of Angelique (Stephanie Biddle), the prison's warden, who allows herself to be seduced by the wanton Karmen. Once Angelique falls asleep, Karmen sees the coast is clear and escapes to town, where she is caught by military policeman Col. Lamine Diop (Magaye Adama Niang) after insulting factotums of the nation's military leadership. However, Diop proves no match for Karmen's seductive charms, and after having her way with him, she once again escapes and Diop finds himself behind bars. Karmen arranges for Diop's escape, but it isn't long before he realizes she is using him as a plaything and has little respect for him as a man; however, by this time he's too deeply addicted to Karmen's passions to turn away. While inspired in part by Bizet's opera, Karmen Gai boats an all-new score by David Murray, Julien Jouga, and Doudou Ndiaye Rose that draws on elements of pop, jazz, and Afro-pop for its original themes. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jeinaba Diop Gai, Magaye Niang, (more)
"Christmas Can Be Such a Bitch" was the tasteful advertising tag line for this updated and revised TV-movie adaptation of Dickens' oft-filmed fable A Christmas Carol. This time around, Victorian penny-pincher Ebenezer Scrooge as been transformed into a beautiful, imperious, foul-mouthed pop singer named Ebony (Vanessa L. Williams). Lording it over her staff in general and her long-suffering manager and former boyfriend Bob Cratchett (Brian McNamara) in particular, Ebony intends to callously exploit the Yuletide season by staging a charity Christmas concert "on behalf of the homeless," an act of "generosity" designed mainly to up her popularity and increase her own bank account. Inevitably, on the eve of the concert, the contentious Ebony is visited by a number of spirits who persuade her to change her ways before it's too late. Chilli of TLC is seen as the ghost of Ebony's former singing partner Marli Jacob while Duran Duran's John Taylor shows up as the Spirit of Christmas Present. No better or worse than any other "improved" version of the Dickens original, A Diva's Christmas Carol was filmed in Montréal and telecast over VH1 on December 13, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this black comedy, a criminal discovers a market for murder in the suburbs. After doing time in prison, mobster Jimmy the Tulip (Bruce Willis) moves to a suburban neighborhood. But Jimmy's new neighbors (Rosanna Arquette and Matthew Perry) soon figure out who he is. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Bruce Willis, Matthew Perry, (more)
