Dana Woods Movies

One of the biggest and most influential sci-fi hits of the 1990s gets raked over the coals in this comic parody of The Matrix. Nuvo (Scott Levy) hangs out with a group of pals who have an inordinate interest in getting high, and like his buddies he's always interested in the next new chemical to come along. Nuvo and his friends Swatch (Brigett Fink), Chad (Dane Moreton), and Theo (Vanilla Ice) have heard about a new drug called the Helix, but while they'd like to give it a try, word on the street is that it has rather unpredictable effects -- used properly, it can give its users deep enlightenment, but a bad trip can literally cause you to lose your mind. Nuvo's interest in the Helix is more philosophical than recreational, and he falls in with two mysterious figures, Infiniti (Samantha Brooke) and Orpheum (Dana Woods), who are searching for The One -- a person who can break through to a new level of understanding while tripping on the Helix. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

New to the cast of Degrassi: The Next Generation as the series enters its third season are Alex Nunez (Deanne Casaluce), a well-meaning student with a checkered past; Jay Hogart (Mike Lobel), a would-be "gangsta" who talks series regular Sean (Daniel Clark) into committing the robbery that will get him expelled; Dylan (John Bregar) , older brother of rape victim Paige (Lauren Collins) and the first "serious" soulmate for the recently uncloseted Marco (Adamo Ruggiero); the mercurial Rick Murray (Ephraim Ellis), who takes advantage of his relationship with the emotionally needy Terri (Christina Schmidt) to display the violent side of his nature; and Chris Sharpe (Daniel Morrison), an up-and-coming teen DJ who seriously considers dumping his steady in favor of Emma (Miriam McDonald). The season begins with the two-part "Father Figure", in which the long-suffering Emma learns the awful truth about her birth father just as her mother Spike (Amanda Stepto) is preparing to deliver her baby--while Spike's new husband Snake (Stefan Brogren) learns that he has leukemia and must undergo chemotherapy. In later episodes, Manny (Cassie Steele) decides to shed her "cute" image for a "hot" one and loses many of her friends in the process; the relationship between Ashley (Melissa McIntyre) and the troubled Craig (Jake Epstein) grows serious, if not entirely monogamous; while serving a detention, Ellie (Stacey Farber) reveals that she has been "cutting" herself out of frustration over her mom's alcoholism; class clown JT (Ryan Cooley) begins making inroads into professional show biz; the unbalanced Rick hits Terri so hard that she lapses into a coma; and Marco and Dylan share their first kiss. Several of the season's most powerful episodes are two-parters. In "Pride", Spinner (Shane Kippel) reacts abominably when he learns his friend Marco is gay. In "Holiday", grown-up DeGrassi Highstalwarts Caitlin (Stacy Mistysyn and Joey (Pat Mastroianni) finally confess their long-held love for one another. And in "Accidents Will Happen", Manny (Cassie Steele) makes a profoundly difficult decision when she finds out she is carrying Craig's baby. Echoing one of the more famous season finales from the original Degrassi series, Season Three of Degrassi: The Next Generation concludes with a fire during a school dance--but this time around, the festivities proceed as planned! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Based on the play Dearly Departed by David Dean Bottrell and Jessie Jones (who also penned this screenplay), this new comedy from the director of Jason's Lyric looks at a family gathering after one of their clan dies of a stroke. In the midst of a sweltering summer, the Slocumb family convenes. They include Charisse (Jada Pinkett Smith), the long-suffering, frustrated wife of philandering Junior (Anthony Anderson); there's also the Bible-spouting Marguerite (Loretta Devine), who prays to save her hard-living son Royce (Darius McCrary) from a life on welfare. Lucille (Vivica A. Fox) is the devoted family peacekeeper who is struggling with a money-grubbing funeral director, and her husband Ray Bud (L.L. Cool J) has major contempt for his family and wishes he were burying them instead. Kingdom Come also features Cedric the Entertainer as an intestinally challenged reverend and Whoopi Goldberg as the family matriarch. ~ Jason Clark, All Movie Guide

A quickly forgotten chapter in United States military history is relived in this harrowing war drama from director Ridley Scott, based on a series of Philadelphia Inquirer articles and subsequent book by reporter Mark Bowden. On October 3rd, 1993, an elite team of more than 100 Delta Force soldiers and Army Rangers, part of a larger United Nations peacekeeping force, are dropped into civil war-torn Mogadishu, Somalia, in an effort to kidnap two of local crime lord Mohamed Farah Aidid's top lieutenants. Among the team: Staff Sgt. Matt Eversmann (Josh Hartnett), Ranger Lt. Col. Danny McKnight (Tom Sizemore), the resourceful Delta Sgt. First Class Jeff Sanderson (William Fichtner), and Ranger Spec. Grimes (Ewan McGregor), a desk-bound clerk getting his first taste of live combat. When two of the mission's Black Hawk helicopters are shot down by enemy forces, the Americans -- committed to recovering every man, dead or alive -- stay in the area too long and are quickly surrounded. The ensuing firefight is a merciless 15-hour ordeal and the longest ground battle involving American soldiers since the Vietnam War. In the end, 70 soldiers are injured and 18 are dead, along with hundreds of Somalians. Black Hawk Down was voted one of the top ten films of the year by the National Board of Review prior to its limited Oscar-qualifying release. On the basis of his work in this film, co-star Eric Bana, a relatively unknown Australian actor playing Delta Sgt. First Class "Hoot" Gibson, won the lead in director Ang Lee's version of The Hulk (2003). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide