Candy Ann Brown Movies
Notoriously obsessive director Michael Mann and star Will Smith devoted nearly two years and over 100 million dollars from the coffers of Columbia Pictures and other financiers to creating this biography of boxing great Muhammad Ali, which focuses on the ten-year period of 1964-1974. In that time, the brash, motor-mouthed athlete quickly dominates his sport, meets and marries his first wife (Jada Pinkett-Smith), converts to Islam (changing his name from Cassius Clay), and defies the United States government by refusing to submit to military conscription for duty in Vietnam. His world heavyweight champion title thus stripped from him entirely for political reasons, the champ sets about to win back his crown, culminating in a legendary unification bout against George Foreman (Charles Shufford) in Zaire, dubbed the "Rumble in the Jungle." In his travels, Ali becomes a symbol of power to disenfranchised African-Americans everywhere and meets such luminaries as Malcolm X (Mario Van Peebles), Martin Luther King Jr. (LeVar Burton) and Maya Angelou (Martha Edgerton). Ali features an all-star supporting cast that includes Jon Voight, Giancarlo Esposito, Jamie Foxx, Nona Gaye, Michael Michele, Joe Morton, Paul Rodriguez, Ron Silver, Mykelti Williamson, and Jeffrey Wright. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, (more)
An interracial romance sparks social upheaval in this indie drama from first-time writer/director Anthony Drazan. Jewish high school student Zack Glass (Michael Rapaport) lives with his widowed, womanizing father (Ray Sharkey) in one of the nicer areas of Detroit. His pop and grandfather own a pair of vintage record stores full of everything from swing and jazz to soul and disco; Zack carries on the vinyl-centric family tradition by selling hip-hop mix tapes out of his locker and mixing fiddles and Puccini into his DJ sets at local parties. One day at school, beautiful New Jersey transfer student Nikki (N'Bushe Wright) witnesses Zack's girlfriend unceremoniously dumping him; when it turns out that Zack's best friend, Dee Wimms (DeShonn Castle), is Nikki's cousin, the stage is set for romance -- the first interracial pairing for each teen. Dee is happy to play matchmaker, but members of the Wimms clan aren't as pleased with the romance. Nikki's mother, Marlene (Candy Ann Brown), asks Zack point-blank if he's curious about black women -- or just slumming it. Such mild disapproval is nothing compared to the rage felt by Nut (Ron Johnson), a young troublemaker who wants to romance Nikki himself. When Nikki overhears Zack making a racially insensitive comment about her to his pals at a party, she questions the viability of their relationship; the next day, she finds herself making time with Nut, who displays an unexpected tender streak. When Zack shows up at the local skating rink to talk to Nikki and sees Nut pestering her, things spiral out of control. Soon, the lines are drawn in a community-wide debate about interracial dating and urban violence. Zebrahead earned a Filmmaker's Trophy for Drazan at Sundance in 1992 and launched the successful careers of Rapaport and Wright. Indie fans will notice Kevin Corrigan in an elliptical subplot involving the industrial disintegration of the Motor City. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- N'Bushe Wright, Paul Butler, (more)
- 1991
Serious-minded Kim (Charnele Brown) begins to wonder if her actor boyfriend Matthew (Andrew Lowery) is too frivolous for her tastes. Long-suffering Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) bets motor-mouthed Whitley (Jasmine Guy) that she can't go 24 hours without talking. And four members of the National Theater of the Deaf (C.J. Jones, Mike Lamiola), Cathleen Riddley, Bobbie Beth Scoggins) give a memorable performance for the Community Center outreach program. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1990
- PG13
Stephanie Zimbalist stars in this made-for-cable thriller as a L.A. detective who decides to re-open the case of a murder she herself witnessed as a child. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Based on a series of Rolling Stone articles by Aaron Latham, this romance was set in the world of L.A.'s hip fitness scene. Rolling Stone reporter Adam Lawrence (John Travolta) comes to L.A. to write a story about a prominent businessman who's been arrested for drug dealing (shades of the John DeLorean scandal). He's also decided to research a piece on the exercise fad and how health clubs have become the "singles bars of the '80s." His boss (real-life Rolling Stone editor Jann Wenner as himself) OK's the project. At a club called The Sports Connection, an incognito Adam meets the regulars, including promiscuous Linda (Laraine Newman), airhead Sally (Marilu Henner) and aerobics instructor Jessie (Jamie Lee Curtis), a former Olympic swimmer. Adam and Jessie begin a romance, but it ends when she discovers that he's there to trash her and the club in print. Conflicted, Adam wrestles with publishing the story, but the final decision isn't his. A director of sincere, sober dramas, James Bridges was an odd choice to helm the romantic Perfect (1985), widely considered one of the decade's notorious cinematic misfires. Bridges had enjoyed much greater success with his previous collaboration with Travolta, Urban Cowboy (1980). ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- John Travolta, Jamie Lee Curtis, (more)
Bored with their cushy suburban existence, yuppie David (Albert Brooks) talks his wife Linda (Julie Hagerty) into selling everything they own and hitting the road to "see America." As a starting-over gesture, David and Linda are romantically remarried in Las Vegas -- which, ironically, proves to be the beginning of the end of their idyll. In short order, Linda loses their life's savings, the couple nearly self-destructs at Hoover Dam, they take blue-collar jobs in a go-nowhere Arizona town, and....Well, if you know your Albert Brooks, be prepared for a steady stream of manic social satire. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Albert Brooks, Julie Hagerty, (more)
- 1981
This TV-movie biography of legendary black ballplayer Leroy "Satchel" Paige unfortunately whitewashes and hokes up his fascinating story. Louis Gossett Jr. stars as Paige, who spends virtually his entire professional career in the Negro leagues because of the "gentlemen's agreement" barring African-Americans from the Majors. Paige's prowess as a pitcher is so famous that he becomes the highest-paid player in the Negro leagues -- but as for joining the mainstream teams, the answer is always the same: "If only you were white." When Jackie Robinson is signed by the Dodgers in 1946, the doors open for other black ballplayers; thus it is that in 1948, Satchel Paige becomes the first black pitcher in the American leagues...at the tender age of 42. Don't Look Back down-pedals Satchel Paige's tempestuous private life (his two marriages are combined into one, for example), and tends to shortchange the viewer in the crucial ball-playing scenes. Its saving grace is the towering performance by star Louis Gossett Jr., who struggles manfully to overcome the script's shortcomings. When the film was first telecast on May 31, 1981, the real Satchel Paige appeared in the prologue; one year later, Paige was dead at the (reported) age of 76. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
- R
John Byrum wrote and directed this loosely based biographical tale of Beat author Jack Kerouac and Neal and Carolyn Cassady. John Heard stars as Jack Kerouac, and the film chronicles the Beat lifestyle that shaped the literary and social forces brewing and overflowing in Kerouac's imagination, resulting in the publication of Kerouac's seminal novel On the Road. Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek play the Cassadys, enmeshed in a love-hate relationship that forms the backbone of the film. Kerouac drifts in and out of their lives as the Cassadys take up residence in San Francisco. Ray Sharkey is also on hand as the manic Ira, a thinly veiled character based on Alan Ginsberg. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Nick Nolte, Sissy Spacek, (more)
- 1980
For those of you who didn't get your T&A fill from the 1979 TV movie The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, we submit for your approval The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Part Two. The first film dealt with the selection and training of the famed pulchritudinous cheerleading lineup. The sequel finds the girls prepping for the Super Bowl and a hectic USO tour. Returning from the first film are Laraine Stephens as reporter Suzanne Mitchell, and several anonymous real-life members of the troupe. Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, Part 2 first jiggled its way into the hearts of televiewers on January 13, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
A teen comedy that does not quite rise to the level of that age group, this uninspired story features Ron Liebman as the Major, a sadistic instructor at a military school. Ralph Macchio (before his 1984 hit, Karate Kid) and other teens of every stripe suffer through the indignities heaped on them by the Major and do their best with the sexual, ethnic, and racial stereotypes that the script gives them to handle. Robert Downey directs, Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses wrote the screenplay. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Wendell Brown, Tom Citera, (more)
