William L. Johnson Movies
A pair of best pals with no money, no home, and no future prospects gets a break from a sympathetic cousin before risking it all to live their dreams in this buddy comedy from director Trey Haley. The future's not looking too bright for Jamal and Kenny until one day when Jamal's cousin Lisa offers the freewheeling pair a cozy spot to spend the summer. When Jamal and Kenny hatch a seemingly perfect plan to finally live out their dreams, their shot for glory doesn't come without a price tag. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
The courts of Englewood are as far removed from the hollowed halls of justice as a street ball player can imagine, but when a pickup game ends in death, the quest for revenge proves that even on the street there's a code of honor. Reggie's best friend is dead, and the pain of his loss leads the hardened player on a quest to ensure that the killer pays for his crime. Upon tracking the killer to a gym, Reggie enters, gun in hand and ready to avenge his friend's death. As the other players declare that no one will die on their court without a fair trial, they listen to both sides of the story to determine if justice will be served with a bullet, or whether the suspected killer will live to play another game. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
- Starring:
- Charles Malik Whitfield, Sticky Fingaz, (more)
Winner of the Grand Jury Prize for Best Director at the 2001 Urbanworld Film Festival, Blue Hill Avenue focuses on the rise of the drug trade in Boston, as seen through the eyes of three childhood friends. The time is the late '70s, and Tristan (Allen Payne), Money (Aaron D. Spears), E-Bone (William Johnson), and Simon (Michael Taliferro) are all high-school pals and petty thieves on the mean streets of the city's South Side. Their antics bring them to the attention of Benny (Clarence Williams III), a charismatic drug dealer who takes the four friends under his wing. The most straight-and-narrow of the bunch, Tristan manages to keep his nefarious trade under the radar of his parents. As the years pass, however, the dealers introduce crack to their line of narcotics, and Tristan's sense of guilt over his neighborhood's demise leads to an inevitable betrayal of Benny, followed by a grisly showdown. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- Allen Payne, William Forsythe, (more)
A rag-tag group of con artists and ex-cons team up for the heist to end all heists in this high-profile remake of the 1960 Rat Pack favorite. As with its predecessor, Ocean's Eleven opens with its titular hero Danny Ocean (George Clooney stepping into the Frank Sinatra role) eager for a new challenge. The similarities to the original end there, as Ocean conspires with his old pal Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to rob 150 million dollars from an underground vault that serves three of Las Vegas' biggest casinos. Between the two of them, they recruit nine other men, each with his own criminal specialty, to assist in the mission: moneyman Reuben Tishkoff (Elliot Gould), card dealer Frank (Bernie Mac), pickpocket Linus (Matt Damon), aging con artist Saul (Carl Reiner), British explosives pro Basher (Don Cheadle), techie Dell (Eddie Jemison), rude-boy brothers Virgil (Casey Affleck) and Turk (Scott Caan), and professional acrobat Yen (Shaobo Qin). What Ocean doesn't tell the group is that there's another reason he's coordinating the heist: the three casinos they're robbing are all owned by ruthless gambling mogul Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia), who just happens to be married to Ocean's former love Tess (Julia Roberts). Ocean's Eleven was updated by scribe Ted Griffin and marked the third feature shot by director Steven Soderbergh under the alias Peter Andrews. ~ Michael Hastings, Rovi
- Starring:
- George Clooney, Brad Pitt, (more)
A high school student learns some tough lessons about love, sex, and honesty in this independent drama. Nikita (Essence Atkins) is a 17-year-old girl whose mother (Roz Ryan) has turned to religion in the wake of her husband's death. Nikita, however, is having a bit of trouble navigating the moral and ethical roadways of her own life. While Nikita has an after-school job at a clothing store, she supplements her income by lifting merchandise from the shop and selling it to her classmates, and when she finds herself falling for a boy at school, it turns out to be Mr. Jackson (Kenney Lee), her English teacher, who is not only older but engaged to marry the vice principal (Mari Morrow). As Nikita comes to a crossroads where she has to decide if she's going to take the high road or the low road in life, her friend J-Smooth (William L. Johnson) finds himself in a similar position, as he struggles to leave behind his past as a petty thief without alienating his longtime friends who are still steeped in the street life. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Essence Atkins, Kenney Lee, (more)
A lot of kids think clowns are scary, but a bunch of adults discover just how frightening the wrong kind of clown can be in this horror opus. After the girl he loves is stolen away by a thuggish gang member, a young man uses the forces of evil to bring to life Killjoy (Angel Vargas), a clown doll he owned as a child. The young man is killed before the spell can fully take effect, but Killjoy soon comes to life to wreak a horrible revenge on the people who killed his master. Killjoy also stars William L. Johnson, Vera Yell, and Napiera Danielle Groves. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi
- Starring:
- Angel Vargas
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