Danitra Vance Movies
Danitra Vance was a highly regarded stage actress who occasionally ventured into films and television. Vance debuted on stage in the early '80s and subsequently worked closely with New York Shakespeare Festival producer George C. Wolfe. Her stage work won her some prestigious awards, including two Dramalogues, an NAACP Image Award, and an Obie. On television, she spent the 1985 season in the cast of the long-running sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. She was the first black woman to become a cast regular. She played supporting roles in a handful of feature films, including Little Man Tate (1991) and Sticky Fingers (1988). She played a lead in her final film, Jumpin' at the Boneyard (1992). Vance was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990 and incorporated the experience into a solo skit The Radical Girl's Guide to Radical Mastectomy. Despite her efforts to fight the disease, Vance passed away on August 21, 1994. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1992
- R
This bleak, provocative drama, the debut of filmmaker Jeff Stanzler, gives a haunting look at the effects of drug abuse upon those who care for the user. It tells the story of unemployed, depressed and just-divorced Bronx-resident Manny who hears burglars in his kitchen one morning and walks in to find his little brother Danny and Danny's girlfriend Jeanette rifling around for money to support their crack cocaine habits. Using the baseball bat he carries, Manny nearly beats his errant brother to death. He grabs their drugs and bundles them into his car for a long drive to the graveyard where their recently deceased father is buried. Thus begins a long, depressing journey between the disparate brothers as they try to make peace with their pasts and find redemption for their wasted lives amidst the ruins of their old neighborhood. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Roth, Alexis Arquette, (more)
Jodie Foster made her directorial debut (with a script by Scott Frank) in this tale of a child prodigy's search for social acceptance. Fred Tate (Adam Hann-Byrd) is a precocious fourth grader who has no problem with the most complex mathematical problems or in banging out a Rachmaninoff concerto on the piano, but is totally inept at playing baseball or dealing with children his own age. His mother Dede (Jodie Foster) is a cocktail waitress who acts more like a child than Fred, but cares passionately about her son. Fred comes to the attention of child psychologist Jane Grierson (Dianne Wiest), who runs a summer camp for child prodigies called Odyssey of the Mind. She invites Fred to attend the summer session, creating a rift between Fred and Dede. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jodie Foster, Adam Hann-Byrd, (more)
Hangin' with the Homeboys follows four young men--two Black, two Puerto Rican--over the course of one night in the Bronx. During the night, they have several misadventures as they talk, argue, play and get into accidents. This coming-of-age film was directed by the late Joseph B. Vasquez and features an early performance by John Leguizamo. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Doug E. Doug, Mario Joyner, (more)
Divorce lawyer Danny De Vito warns his prospective client that the story he's about to tell isn't a pretty one, but the client listens with eager intensity -- as do the folks out there in the movie in the audience. The War of the Roses can best be described as a slapstick tragedy concerning the decline and literal fall of a marriage. After 17 years, Oliver (Michael Douglas) and Barbara (Kathleen Turner) Rose want a divorce. Not for this couple is there anything resembling a "civilized understanding": Barbara wants their opulent house, and Oliver isn't about to part with the domicile. Barbara nails the basement door shut while Oliver is downstairs, Oliver disrupts Barbara's fancy party by taking aim at the catered dinner, Barbara lays waste to Oliver's sports car....and so it goes, culminating in a disastrous showdown around, about and under the living room's fancy chandelier. DeVito and screenwriter Michael Leeson never let us forget that the couple's self-indulgent imbroglio exacts an awful price upon their children (Sean Astin and Heather Fairfield). The War of the Roses was adapted from the novel by Warren Adler. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner, (more)
- 1989
Julia Duffy is the cover girl and Dinah Manoff the cop in this made-for-TV contrivance. When dim-witted model Duffy witnesses a murder, short-fused officer Manhoff is assigned to protect her. Would you be shocked if we informed you that the ladies drive each other crazy? But never fear: they forget their differences long enough to jointly nab the killer at the end. Filmed on location in Washington DC, Cover Girl and the Cop trounced in the ratings by the vastly superior The Ryan White Story when it first aired on January 16, 1989. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1988
- PG
This screwball urban comedy is about two dippy roommates, struggling musicians Lolly (Melanie Mayron) and Hattie (Helen Slater), who are asked by an equally spacey, drug-dealing friend-of-a-friend Diane (Loretta Devine) to baby-sit a bag containing nearly a million dollars while she scoots out of town in order to avoid trouble. Once the money is in their possession, however, temptation proves too much for Lolly and Hattie, who use the ill-gotten cash to pay the rent, buy new instruments, and embark on a shopping spree for earrings, clothes, and shoes. While the girls dig themselves deeper into trouble with every dollar spent, they also encounter a variety of eccentric characters, including a fellow musician (Danitra Vance), their ailing landlady (Eileen Brennan), Lolly's boyfriend (Christopher Guest), and a parking lot attendant (Stephen McHattie). The latter, however, is actually a cop who's keeping surveillance on them from across the street. Mayron co-wrote the script for Sticky Fingers (1988) with actress and first-time director Catlin Adams. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Helen Slater, Melanie Mayron, (more)
- 1969
This collection features works by six different artists including Allen Kaprau ("Hello"), Otto Piene ("Electronic Light Ballet" and "Manned Helium Structure"), James Seawright ("Capriccio for Television"), Thomas Tadlock ("Archetron"), Aldo Tambellini ("Black") and Nam June Paik ("Electronic Opera 1"). ~ All Movie Guide
