Queen Latifah

And Ya Don't Stop: Hip Hop's Greatest Videos collects a dozen music videos that all helped define one of the most popular music forms in the last two decades of the twentieth century. Included are such seminal clips as Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," N.W.A.'s "Straight Outta Compton," House of Pain's "Jump Around," and Arrested Development's "Tennesse." ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Kevin Rodney Sullivan steps in to direct the urban comedy sequel Barbershop 2: Back in Business. The whole gang -- Eddie (Cedric the Entertainer), Jimmy James (Sean Patrick Thomas), Terri (Eve), Isaac (Troy Garity), Ricky (Michael Ealy), and Dinka (Leonard Earl Howze) -- are still there in the same old barbershop in the south side of Chicago. Owner Calvin Palmer (Ice Cube) tries to keep his family business alive in order to pass it on to his own son one day. However, the beloved neighborhood barber shop is threatened by a hair salon franchise called Nappy Cuts. This time around, the old friends are joined by Gina (Queen Latifah) from the beauty shop next door. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Brandy: The Videos is a collection of video works from the young artist's career, showcasing her solo hits like "Baby," "Best Friend," and "I Wanna Be Down," as well as collaborative vocal efforts like "The Boy Is Mine" with Monica and "Brokenhearted" with Wanya Morris. The video is a selection of her most popular hits through 1999. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide

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

Adam Shankman's adaptation of the stage musical Hairspray, itself an adaptation of the non-musical John Waters film of the same name, stars Nikki Blonsky as Tracy Turnblad, an overweight high-school student whose only dream is to be on a local Baltimore teen dance program. While her father (Christopher Walken) tells her to follow her dreams, her mother Edna (John Travolta in drag) reminds her that she doesn't look like the girls on that show. After impressing the show's host (James Marsden), Tracy earns a coveted spot on the program, but when she becomes a popular addition to the cast, she earns the wrath of the prettiest girl in school -- a girl whose mother (Michelle Pfeiffer) just happens to operate the local television station. Tracy's visit to detention hall opens her eyes to the racial tension on the show, as does the budding relationship between her best friend (Amanda Bynes) and an African-American boy named Seaweed (Elijah Kelley). Thus empowered, Tracy attempts to integrate the races on her favorite program. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Robin Harris, Christopher Reid's foul-mouthed and irascible father from the original House Party film, died in the interim, but he has a university named after him in this follow-the-dots sequel. Kid (Christopher Reid) has finally made it to college in House Party 2, but not without problems. Sent to Harris University on a scholarship check given to him by his local church congregation, he finds himself broke before he can even buy the books for his college courses. He can thank his old pal Play (Christopher Martin) for his financial straits, since Play borrowed the money to pay a phony music producer named Shelia (Iman), who has headed off to parts unknown. Kid tries to pay for tuition by working in the college cafeteria but is thrown out because he is not considered a student. Problems compound when his girlfriend Sidney (Tisha Campbell) spends more time studying than with him. He also receives lectures on political correctness from her strident roommate Zora (Queen Latifah). Still, Kid's main concern is finding the money for college. Finally Kid agrees to go along with Play's scheme -- to hold a surreptitious late-night pajama party in the faculty hall to raise funds to pay for Kid's education. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Manny (Ray Romano), Sid (John Leguizamo), and Diego (Denis Leary) may have made it through the big freeze, but when the ice begins to melt, the heroic trio must warn the other inhabitants of their peaceful valley of the coming flood in directors Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha's sequel to the computer-animated 2002 hit Ice Age. As the ice age winds to an end, the animals of the Earth have taken warmly to the melting paradise that surrounds them. Despite the false comfort of a lush valley teeming with vegetation, however, great danger looms just over the horizon. When Manny, Sid, and Diego realize that the miles of liquefying ice overlooking their valley will soon turn from a gentle trickle to a violent force of nature capable of destroying anything and everything unfortunate enough to be in its path, they quickly set out to spread the word and get their endangered friends out of harm's way. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Cinematographer Ernest R. Dickerson directed and co-wrote this crime drama about a group of friends who get involved in a robbery. Bishop (Tupac Shakur), Q (Omar Epps), Raheem (Khalil Kain), and Steel (Jermaine Hopkins) are four Harlem friends who spend their days skipping school, getting in fights, and casually shoplifting. The only member of the group who has plans for the future is Q, who dreams of becoming a deejay. But one day Bishop happens to see James Cagney in White Heat and the film inspires him to buy a gun. His plan is to rob a corner store and split the money. Everyone goes along with the plan except for Q, who is competing that night in a deejay contest. At the club, Q is a rousing success, but he spies the stern faces of his friends through the cheering crowd and realizes that he has to go along with the robbery, which goes completely wrong. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

A woman learns to love life when she finds out she won't be around long in this comedy. Georgia Byrd (Queen Latifah) lives in New Orleans, where she works in the cookware department of an upscale gourmet supply shop. While Georgia carries a torch for Sean (LL Cool J), one of her co-workers, she doesn't have the nerve to tell him, and despite her estimable skills in the kitchen, she lives frugally and doesn't put her talent to use. Georgia's good friend Rochelle (Jane Adams) often tells her that life is short and she needs to live a little, but she doesn't pay her much mind until a visit to the doctor reveals that Georgia has a very rare medical condition, and only has three weeks to live. Throwing caution to the wind, Georgia cashes out her life savings and heads to Europe for a last bit of revelry. She checks into a four-star hotel, trades her drab clothes for haute couture, finds herself flirting with a handsome and powerful politician (Giancarlo Esposito), convinces the head of a cooking supplies firm (Timothy Hutton) that she's a high-powered executive from a rival company, and makes friends with a four-star chef (Gérard Depardieu). But when Sean learns the truth about Georgia's condition, he sets out to find her before their chance at romance has passed. Directed by Wayne Wang, Last Holiday is a remake of a 1950 British comedy, which starred Alec Guinness as a salesman with a few weeks to live. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Noted screenwriter Richard LaGravenese made his directorial debut with this dramatic comedy about two unlikely people who find each other while looking for love. Judith Nelson (Holly Hunter) is suddenly single after discovering her husband of fifteen years, a successful doctor (Martin Donovan), has been having an affair with a younger woman. Judith stews, plans, plots and fantasizes, but she can't decide what to do with her life until she goes out to a night club to see singer Liz Bailey (Queen Latifah), who is full of advice on life and love. While out on the town, Judith is suddenly kissed by a total stranger, which opens her eyes to new possibilities ... which is when she notices Pat (Danny De Vito), the elevator operator in her building. Pat's life is in even worse shape than Judith's; his wife has thrown him out for gambling, he's in debt to loan sharks, he's sleeping on the couch of his more successful brother, and his daughter is dying. At first Pat borrows money from Judith, but when the two start talking, they realize they have more in common than they imagined. LaGravenese based his screenplay on a pair of short stories by Anton Chekhov. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Magazine editor Khadijah ($Queen Latifah) continues to preside over the merry mayhem in her crowded Brooklyn brownstone as Living Single enters its second season. After avoiding making a commitment to her erstwhile boyfriend Scooter (Cress Williams), she finally decides that he's stable enough to suit her when he lands a job as a PR man for a big record company; alas, the couple is soon rent asunder when Scooter departs on a six-month promotional tour with a female R&B group, never to be seen again. . .at least until Living Single's final season. Meanwhile, the eternally bickering Max (Erika Alexander) and Kyle (T.C. Carson) try to make sense of their "one-night stand" from the previous season, concluding that they're now in love--or at least that's what they think until they start sniping at one another again. On the professional front, Max survives a series of humiliating temp jobs until she finally lands a good position with the Public Defender's office, where her new boss is her former flame Preston August (played by Phil Morris of Seinfeld fame. Also, Khadijah's impressionable cousin Synclaire (Kim Coles) continues to date Overton (John Henton),even going on lengthy vacations with him; but she refuses to go to bed with her sweetheart, a fact that proves startling to her worldlier roommate Regine (Kim Fields Freeman). Synclaire also manages to secure a few acting assignments in some decidedly off-off-Broadway productions, one of which requires her to appear in the nude. And getting back to Regine, our favorite gold-digger continues to primp and preen in hopes of landing a wealthy husband, but experiences more than a few setbacks in this pursuit, notably when she is forced to undergo breast-reduction surgery to cure her aching back. Although the popularity of Living Single did not hinge upon its guest stars, mention should made of the prominent persons appearing in various Season Two episodes, among them composer Branford Marsalis, New York Mets player Bobby Bonilla and boxer Roberto Duran in "Who's Scooping Who?" Also, Rosie O'Donnell shows up as an old friend of Khadijah who disrupts the equilibrium of Flavor magazine when she is hired as a columnist in the episode "There's No Ship Like Kinship", while a young Will Ferrell appears as the"Roomate from Hell" in "Talk Showdown." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Season Four of Living Single opens with a jam-packed episode which resolves the many crises left unresolved at the end of Season Three: Khadijah (Queen Latifah) is spared the loss of her beloved magazine "Flavor" through the intervention of loyal employee Russell (Shaun Baker); Max (Erika Alexander) survives a vicious smear campaign and wins a local election, with erstwhile boyfriend Kyle (T.C. Carson) as her biggest booster; and Overton (John Henton) finally proposes to Synclair (Kim Coles). Surprisingly, the only person not affected by these crucial plot developments is Regine (Kim Fields Freeman), whose mercenary misadventures usually dictate the direction in which the story is going. As the season progresses, Khadijah finds romance in the form of Dr. Charles Roberts (Isaiah Washington), despite the embarrassing revelation that Roberts had been the anesthesiologist during our heroine's hemmorhoid surgery; Synclaire lands a few more oddball acting jobs, including the role of a clown on a popular daytime show starring a truly repulsive child actor (Adam Wylie); and when the TV soap opera "Palo Alto" is cancelled, Regine loses her job as wardrobe assistant, though she quickly secures new employment as a party coordinator (typically, her first client turns out to be one of the many boyfriends she'd dumped in the past. Season Four ends during the wedding of Overton and Synclaire, during which Kyle receives an offer to start up a new job in London--thereby driving yet another wedge between himself and his off-and-on sweetheart Max. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide