Wren T. Brown Movies

Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison) is visited by his highly opinionated friend Milt (Wren T. Brown), who immediately launches into a devastating criticism of Dwayne's college and his choice of friends--especially Ron (Darryl M. Bell). Elsewhere, Col. Taylor attends a serviceman's reunion, hoping to be reunited with former girlfriend Carol Garrison (Denise Nicholas), with whom he served in Vietnam. But alas, there are some things best left to memory. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After Ally's first date with Greg Butters (Jesse L. Martin) ends in a car accident, she defends him in court against the plaintiff's lawyer---a 9-year-old genius (Josh Evans). ~ TV Guide, All Movie Guide

Angela Bassett and Danny Glover star in this gripping film adaptation of Athol Fugard's renowned play. Though written during the apex of apartheid and first staged in 1970, director John Berry downplays the work's historical background and strips the play of its poetic symbolism, lending the film a raw, universal quality. The film opens with stock footage of shantytowns being flattened by bulldozers followed by the two titular characters carrying what they can on their backs and heads. Recalling the tortured human bonds seen in such productions as Who's Afraid of Virgina Woolf? and Waiting for Godot, Boesman (Glover) and Lena (Bassett) are a couple united by pain and grief. Stopping at some god-forsaken roadside wasteland for the night, Lena spends much of the first half of the film heaping verbal abuse on her husband, while Boesman doggedly tries to jerry-rig some shelter to protect against the cold of the night. This dynamic changes went an elderly African tribesman shows up. Boesman scorns the old man, while Lena invites him to sit at their campfire. This film, which was screened at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, was the last film that noted director John Berry made before his death on November 29, 1999. ~ Jonathan Crow, All Movie Guide

When suburban police officer Alex Kearney (Anthony Edwards) angers a wealthy, influential citizen by stopping him for a traffic violation, he finds himself transferred to the city's worst precinct. Struggling to adapt to his new inner-city surroundings, Kearney must deal with his gruff new partner, Dennis Curren (Forest Whitaker), as the two attempt to break up a crime ring. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide

The true story of American turncoat John Walker, Jr. is related blow-by-blow in this made-for-TV movie. Powers Boothe stars as Walker, a Navy petty officer who spends half of his career selling secrets to the Soviets. At first the soul of discretion, the hard-drinking, philandering Walker eventually becomes careless enough in his activities to arouse the suspicions of his in-the-dark wife Barbara (Lesley Ann Warren). With the skill and aplomb of the true sociopath, Walker also manages to convince his own son (Andrew Lowry) to join the "family business." The spy ring is ultimately smashed through the joint efforts of the FBI and Walker's embittered ex-wife. Based on the books Family of Spies by Pete Earley and I Pledge Allegiance by Howard Blum, Family of Spies: The Walker Spy Ring was originally telecast in two parts on February 4 and 6, 1990. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Director Ron Underwood follows up his crowd-pleasing hit City Slickers (1991) with this likable, feel-good comedy drama about a selfish businessman who discovers that he's permanently being followed by a group of ghosts. In 1959, a bus accident links the spirits of four fatally injured passengers to a newborn baby whose birth is caused by the crash. For 25 years, Milo (Tom Sizemore), Harrison (Charles Grodin), Penny (Alfre Woodard) and Julia (Kyra Sedgwick) remain bound to Thomas Reilly (Robert Downey Jr.), who believes the quartet to be imaginary childhood friends that have long since disappeared. When the four spooks suddenly realize that they are meant to use Thomas as a conduit to bring closure to their unfinished corporeal lives, they reemerge, causing Thomas to think that he's gone insane. As he becomes reattached to his supernatural companions, however, Thomas' innate decency asserts itself and he begins helping them to right the wrongs in their lives, allowing them to possess his body to achieve their goal of settling accounts and moving on into the afterlife. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Clive Barker's horrific creation Pinhead (Doug Bradley) returns to the screen for the fourth (and purportedly final) time in this time-juggling horror opus. In 18th century France, Phillip Lemarchand (Bruce Ramsay) constructs a black puzzle box for the wizard Duc de L'Isle (Mickey Cottrell); however, the box has potentially deadly consequences when it's discovered that it can be used to open the gates of hell, freeing the demonic Pinhead. Two hundred years later, the box finds its way into the hands of John (also played by Bruce Ramsay), a New Yorker and distant descendant of Lemarchand who is being pursued by Pinhead and his minions, while another 200 years hence, Dr. Paul Merchant (Ramsay again) is trying to make his way aboard a space station in hopes of reclaiming the puzzle box, hoping to destroy it before it can be used to once again release the demons upon the world; Merchant is also attempting to build a second box that can close the gates that the first box opens. While makeup artist Kevin Yagher made his directorial debut with this film, the final cut was taken away from him and considerably shortened, which in his mind severely compromised the film's complex, time-traveling narrative. He opted to instead credit his work to Alan Smithee, which was the Directors Guild's official pseudonym for directors who feel their work has been tampered with. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James L. Brooks' showbiz comedy I'll Do Anything is "The Musical That Almost Was" (after test screenings Brooks removed all the musical numbers in the film, turning the film into a songless romantic comedy). Matt Hobbs (Nick Nolte) is a hardly working actor who finds himself raising his 6-year-old daughter Jeannie (Whittni Wright) after her mother Beth (Tracey Ullman) is sent away to prison. Since Matt now has to support a daughter, he has to develop more regular work habits. As a result, he takes a job as a chauffeur for a William Castle-inspired schlockmeister named Burke Adler (Albert Brooks). As Adler develops a relationship with divorced test-marketing researcher Nan Mulhanney (Julie Kavner), Matt becomes romantically attached to beautiful development executive Cathy Breslow (Joely Richardson). ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

This Hallmark Channel TV movie is one of a series starring John Larroquette as McBride (no first name), a hard-nosed cop turned compassionate defense lawyer, specializing in "lost causes." On this occasion, McBride's client is one-half of a popular FM radio "shock jock" team, accused of murdering his partner. The cops think they have the suspect dead to rights: Not only did he have motive and opportunity, but a recording exists of the victim's last moments on earth, which were broadcast for all to hear, and which seem to confirm the suspect's guilt. Of course, this being a made-for-cable movie, such airtight evidence can't be trusted--especially when McBride finds out that everyone at the radio station hated the dead man's guts. As in all previous McBride films, the climactic "You done it" scene is staged in flashback form, with McBride himself appearing as a sidelines spectator to the foul play. McBride: Tune In For Murder was first broadcast on August 14, 2005. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Tragedy strikes the publishing industry when Jessica Fletcher's editor Edward Graham (Robert Desiderio), a man known for his extreme mood swings, falls out of his Manhattan office window to his death. The police are content to rule Graham's demise as a suicide, but Jessica doesn't buy this. She is convinced that Graham was murdered--and possibly by someone very, very close to him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To escape his persistent--and dishonest--corporate sponsors, a Nobel Prize-winning microbiologist fakes his own death. It's a clever ruse, but not a particularly healthy one: soon afterward, the missing scientist turns up murdered for real. Typically, the wrong man is accused of the crime, obliging Jessica (Angela Lansbury) to take over investigation of the case herself...while her old friend Lt. Artie Gelber (Herb Edelman) fusses and fumes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A lawyer whose wife is missing becomes obsessed with the below that a woman he has seen is his wife. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide

After several weeks of reruns, Next Generation offered a first-run episode on July 1, 1989. In Manhunt, the Enterprise is assigned to transport a group of delegates to an important Federation conference. One of the delegates is Troi's mother Lwaxana, played by former Star Trek regular Majel Barrett. Ostensibly on a diplomatic mission, Lwaxana is actually in search of a new husband, and she decides that Captain Picard fits the bill. "Manhunt" was written by Terry Devereaux. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide