Eric Norris Movies

The long-running Namco video game series makes the leap to the big screen with this tale of a young warrior who enters a highly exclusive fight tournament in order to avenge his mother's death. The year is 2039: the World Wars have left the Earth a desolate graveyard. From the ashes of governments have risen powerful corporations, and the most formidable of them all is Tekken. Presided over by a ruling elite whose sole purpose is to lull the masses into submission, Tekken stages a massive sporting event called the Fist Tournament, in which post-apocalyptic gladiators fight to the death for wealth and celebrity. Jin Kazama is one such combatant, but Jin isn't fighting for fame or money. His mother was killed by malevolent Tekken chairman Heihachi Mishima, and the only way Jin can get close enough to Mishima to kill him is by battling his way to the championship round. In order to get there, Jin trains under Lucas, a former Fist champion who knows what it takes to rise through the ranks. But with each new victory Jin uncovers another secret about his own dark past, and learns the apocalyptic truth about the vicious tournament that could bring about the downfall of humanity. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Drawing inspiration from the true story of a temperamental debate coach who molded the students of a small East Texas college into a formidable team that gave even Harvard's elite squad a run for their money, Denzel Washington's The Great Debaters features the director himself as the ambitious educator, and Forest Whitaker as the resentful father of a student whose loyalties now lie almost exclusively with his coach. Melvin B. Tolson (Washington) is the kind of educator who truly recognizes the remarkable power of knowledge. An outspoken Wiley College professor who boldly challenged the discriminatory Jim Crow laws of the 1930s, Tolson's recognizes that his young debate students possess the spark of a new generation. Convinced that they could invoke great change if given the confidence and tools needed to do so, the tireless educator implores his students to take responsibility for the future while furtively attempting to protect them from his clandestine role as an organizer for the Southern Tenant Farmers Union. Chief among Tolson's promising young students is a 14-year-old prodigy named James Farmer, Jr. (Denzel Whitaker). Farmer's father, James Sr. (Forest Whitaker), is a renowned scholar and an important presence in the emerging student's life. Yet despite his formidable reputation, James Sr. has not yet learned how to truly harness the power of knowledge through action and assertion. James Jr. has seen the raving effects of racism all around him, and longs to live in a future where no one must be in fear simply because of the color of their skin. Other talented debaters on Tolson's team include fiercely independent student Henry Lowe (Nate Parker), and Samantha Brooke (Jurnee Smollett) -- the first ever female ever to join the Wiley College debate team. While most educators may not have recognized the remarkable potential of assembling such a disparate team, Tolson's unique vision truly set him apart from the pack as the team begins to experience a series of consecutive victories on their road to challenging Harvard at the National Championships. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Costas Mandylor, Angie Everhart, and Christopher Atkins headline this thriller about a traumatized big city cop who moves his family to the country in hopes of forgetting his violent past, only to be targeted for death by the same psychopath responsible for killing his partner. After seeing his partner murdered during a drug bust gone awry, Sean was certain that his fellow officers would do everything in their power to ensure that justice was served. When internal politics within the police force threaten to prevent this from happening, a dejected Sean makes the decision to leave the city behind and move his wife and daughter to a modest ranch in the country. Meanwhile, the maniac who murdered Sean's partner stages a daring escape from prison, and he's determined to take out the man responsible for putting him there in the first place. Out in the country, Sean and his family are sitting ducks. As the killer closes in, Sean finds himself reluctantly dragged back into the violent world he had once tried so hard to escape. But this time the odds are greater than ever before, leaving Sean with no choice but to take drastic action for the sake of his frightened family. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Based on characters created by Bob Gookin, the made-for-TV thriller The President's Man 2: A Line in the Sand casts Chuck Norris in a role not dissimilar to his title character on the long-running series Walker: Texas Ranger. Norris is seen as secret agent Joshua McCord, the right-hand man to the President of the United States (Robert Urich). The plot thickens when a band of terrorists breaks into a museum to retrieve hidden nuclear-bomb components from the statues therein. Apprised of the situation, the military attempts to abduct the charismatic leader of the terrorists, but to no avail. It is up to Joshua to infiltrate the terrorists' lair and disarm the bomb before an unnamed U.S. metropolis can be blown into oblivion. Along the way, Joshua's "techy" daughter Que (Jennifer Tung) falls in love with her dad's young assistant Deke Slater (Judson Mills). Directed by the star's son, Eric Norris, and co-produced by his other son, Aaron Norris, The President's Man: A Line in the Sand debuted January 20, 2002 on CBS. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A new '90s expressiveness regarding homosexuality in movies is gently mined for laughs in this 1993 comedy that predates the similar but much more raw Chasing Amy and slightly more humorous Threesome. With her straight greasy hair, semi-paranoid outlook, and leather jacket she wears like a shield, Connie (Kelly Lynch) already seems a bit unhinged. Then her girlfriend, Ellen (Sherilyn Fenn), breaks up their relationship and Connie loses it. In her grief, she hits upon a bizarre plan: Why not hire male prostitute Joe (William Baldwin) to seduce Ellen, then break her heart? Wouldn't that make Ellen rush back into Connie's arms? Of course not. For one thing, Joe's life is complicated by his protective yet sinister pimp (Joe Pantoliano) and a thug who mistakenly believes Joe set him up for a prison sentence. And Joe and Ellen fall in love. Yet an odd, sibling-like friendship develops between Joe and Connie that steers them through the repercussions of Ellen's discovery of their deceit, the thug's attack on Joe, and Joe's desire to give up prostitution. By the story's end, they've lost Ellen, but they have one another, and have learned to step beyond the protective relationships they have lost. Three of Hearts solidified William Baldwin's ascent to leading-man status (along with brothers Stephen and Alec) after 1991's Backdraft. ~ Nick Sambides, Jr., Rovi

Jean-Claude Van Damme and Dolph Lundgren play archenemies from beyond the grave in this action film. During the Vietnam War, Luc (Van Damme), hoping to be sent home, comes upon blood-crazy Scott (Lundgren), who is starting a one-man genocide program. When Luc tries to stop Scott's carnage, Scott fights back and they end up killing each other. But now the government gets involved, cryogenically freezing their corpses and using their bodies in a secret government project call "UniSols" --turning the dead men into android fighting machines. Luc and Scott are now metallic fighting members of a robot SWAT team. But Luc begin to have flashbacks to the final moments of his life in Vietnam, as does Scott, who recalls that one of his final thoughts was to kill Luc. Meanwhile, a snoopy reporter named Veronica (Ally Walker) stumbles upon the secret of the UniSols, and soon Luc is trying to save both himself and Veronica from the wrath of Scott, who is trying to kill them both. All of the action culminates in a wild chase between a prison bus and a UniSols van, racing around hairpin turns on desert precipices. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi