Ving Rhames

Four blue-collar workers join forces with a destitute streetwalker in order to establish a top-dollar escort service in actor-turned-director Blair Underwood's working class drama. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The producers of Left Behind: The Movie craft this tale of a preacher attempting to make amends for his violent past by reaching out to a young drug dealer with no future. Armstrong Cane was the son of a respected preacher, but he took a different path in life and winding up serving fifteen years for manslaughter. Now that Cane is back on the streets, he's determined take over his father's old church and lead the congregation to salvation. But that's going to be no simple task, with the amount of drugs and gangs out on the streets anyone who was able has long since abandoned the neighborhood to fall in with a slick new preacher (Ricardo Chivara). Now, as a dangerous gang leader (Dean McDermott) does his best to drive Cane away, the man who once turned his back on God attempts to prevent a young drug dealer from throwing his life away and falling into a perilous cycle of self-destruction. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Overwhelmed by the soul crushing mediocrity of his life and hopelessly embittered by his overbearing boss and cruel ex-wife, a suicidal man recruits a struggling filmmaker to document his last day on earth. Max Walker (Tom Sizemore) is a man consumed by the emptiness inside. He's tired of this world, and at the end of the day he plans on putting a gun to his head and pulling the trigger. But quite a bit can happen over the course of twenty-four hours, and before that fateful bullet is fired there is much to be done. Determined to capture the events of the day for posterity, Max bestows sympathetic film student Bud (Corey Sevier) with a video camera and instructs him never to stop filming no matter what happens. Later, as Max roams the city confessing past misdeeds, sharing epiphanies, and railing against the injustices of the world, Bud makes good on his promise to capture every captivating moment. Finally freed from the rules of society and determined to live by his own rules, Max proves himself a man of deep emotional complexity as he commits random acts of heroism and shocking acts of insanity. The last order of business for Max is to confront his uncaring boss and his callous ex-wife, but just as his rage reaches a boiling point he finds his mission suddenly turned upside down due to the kindness of a young woman in a wheelchair. As the end of the day draws near and Max prepares for his final scene, one shocking revelation promises to change the lives of everyone involved. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Ving Rhames stars in director Richard Dutcher's updating of the Lillith myth. According to Hebrew Mythology, Adam's first wife Lillith was banished from the Garden of Eden by God after her husband decried her lack of submission. In the wake of her open definace, Lillith was said to have become the mother of all succubi and the paramour of Satan. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The third entry in Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible film series involves super Impossible Mission Forces (IMF) agent Ethan Hunt (Cruise) being forced back into the field just when he was planning on marrying his girlfriend, Julia (Michelle Monaghan). The agency asks Hunt to save an operative (Keri Russell) he trained after weapons dealer Owen Davian (Philip Seymour Hoffman) kidnaps her. With the help of his field team -- played by Ving Rhames, Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, and Maggie Q -- Hunt achieves his goal, but becomes involved in a web of double-crosses that leave him wondering if he can trust his superiors (Billy Crudup and Laurence Fishburne). Eventually Davian threatens Julia's life in order to get away with his evil plan. Simon Pegg appears as an IMF tech expert. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

Walt Disney's beloved space alien finds that his adventure has only begin when Dr. Hamsterviel breaks out of prison and creates an army of evil Stitch twins in a nefarious attempt to overthrow the universe. Having been rewarded for capturing all 625 experiments by being allowed to choose precisely where they want to reside in the galaxy, Lilo, Stitch, Pleakley, and Jumba are soon troubled to discover that the devious Dr. Hamsterviel has escaped the confines of prison and forced Jumba to create Leroy -- a troublesome doppelganger of Stitch with an unquenchable appetite for destruction. When Dr. Hamsterviel begins to clone Leroy in hopes of creating a powerful army with which to rule the stars, Lilo, Stitch, and the rest of the gang must come together to conquer an enemy whose strength lies in numbers and defeat the dreaded doctor once and for all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A notorious gangster must reconcile his past in order to make a future for his criminally-minded son in this crime-drama starring football superstar Jim Brown and Pulp Fiction star Ving Rhames. James "Animal" Allen (Rhames) reveled in a life of violent crime until he was placed behind bars. Upon meeting an ageing revolutionary during his stint in the slammer, Allen is guided toward the written word of Malcolm X and offered an illuminating historic document by Machiavellian slave owner Willy Lynch, leading him to conclude that his people are being manipulated into killing one another by a higher force. Soon released on a technicality, Allen returns home to find that his son Darius (Terrence Howard) has taken up a life of crime and seems bent on maintaining his father's legacy. Now imbued with a newfound sense of clarity and purpose, Allen must convince his son to break the cycle of violence while he still has the power to do so by his own will. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Barry Levinson directed this comedy in which success has a rather surprising effect on two old buddies. Nick Vanderpark (Jack Black) and Tim Dingman (Ben Stiller) are best friends and next-door neighbors who work together at a sandpaper factory. Nick and Tim often find themselves wishing for something more from life, and Nick has a habit of dreaming up harebrained get-rich-quick schemes that usually end in disaster. Tim is particularly appalled by Nick's latest idea, "Vapoorizer," a cleaning product which will make pet feces magically disappear, but to their shock, it turns out to be an incredible success, and before long Nick is wealthy beyond his wildest dreams. Tim, however, is still the same guy getting by in suburbia he's always been, and soon Tim finds himself bitterly resentful of his old friend. As Nick gets richer, Tim gets angrier, and he develops a drinking problem. One night, in a bar, Tim meets an eccentric drifter (Christopher Walken) who offers him some not-so-friendly advice on getting even with his old friend. Envy also stars Rachel Weisz and Amy Poehler as Tim and Nick's much-put-upon spouses. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

This direct-to-video documentary from filmmaker Peter Spirer, the man behind 2002's Tupac Shakur: Thug Angel, delves into the many on-the-mic feuds that have been an integral part of the world of hip-hop over the years. Narrated by Ving Rhames (Pulp Fiction), Beef includes archival footage that traces rap battles from the early days when they existed solely in songs to more contemporary times when the quarrels spilled into real-life, leading to violent confrontations and several dead MCs. Interviews with rap figures such as Jay-Z, Snoop Dog, Tupac, Ice Cube, Ja Rule, Russell Simmons, and Kool Moe Dee serve to offer first-hand accounts of some of the most well-known hip-hop squabbles in music history. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

A cop's personal code of justice begins to change after a number of incidents lead his city to a tragic wave of violence in this police drama. Eldon Perry (Kurt Russell) is a veteran cop with the LAPD's Special Investigations unit, a man who isn't above bending the law if it means putting people behind bars who deserve the treatment. As Los Angeles waits on the verdict in the Rodney King police beating trial, Perry is presenting testimony to Assistant Chief of Police Arthur Holland (Ving Rhames), who is well aware of the corruption in the SIS unit and wants to stop it. Perry, however, twists some facts as he speaks in the defense of his new partner, Bobby Keough (Scott Speedman), who is being investigated for inappropriate use of deadly force. For lack of honest testimony, Keough is let off the hook, and soon he and Perry have a new case to investigate -- a robbery at a liquor store than turned into a quadruple homicide. Perry and Keough quickly track down two likely suspects, Orchard (Kurupt) and Sidwell (Dash Mihok), but Perry is surprised when the head of SIS, Van Meter (Brendan Gleeson), tells him to let Orchard and Sidwell go, and instead points the finger at two ex-cons who should be taken off the street, even though they're innocent of this crime. Perry follows Van Meter's orders, despite Keough's misgivings, but in the wake of the L.A. riots, Perry has a change of heart, and decides to start working with Holland against Van Meter's corrupt methods. In the midst of it all, Perry is trying to hold together his troubled marriage to Sally (Lolita Davidovich), while Keough finds himself romancing a fellow officer, Beth (Michael Michele). Dark Blue was adapted from an original screenplay by noted crime novelist James Ellroy; originally set against the backdrop of the 1965 Watts riots, the story was later updated to 1992. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide