Lucas Black Movies

Better Luck Tomorrow director Justin Lin picks up where John Singleton left off to offer a high-octane look at the world of underground Japanese drift-racing in the latest installment of the super-charged Fast and the Furious film series. A frustrated teen from a broken home, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is an outsider looking to make a name for himself on the illegal street racing circuit. When Sean is busted by the police for his high-speed exploits and given the option of either spending time behind bars or moving overseas to live with his no-nonsense, military man father who's currently stationed in Tokyo, the young rebel packs his bags and sets his sights on Nippon. Though at first reluctant to adapt to the unfamiliar customs and foreign code of honor of his new home, Sean soon strikes up a friendship with American speed freak Twinkie (Bow Wow), a like-minded race fan who schools the inexperienced newcomer in the pulse-pounding world of drift-racing. Inadvertently challenging local champion and yakuza associate D.K. (The Drift King) his first time on the road, Sean is subsequently forced to work under expatriate Han (Sung Kang) to pay off his debt after failing to cross the finish line first. Taking note of the young American's affinity for racing as he warmly welcomes him into his merry band of misfit drift-fanatics, Han slowly introduces Sean to the key principles of the popular new racing style. When Sean makes the potentially deadly mistake of falling for D.K.'s girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelley), he'll need all the help he can get to face his most challenging race to date and take on the most notorious driver on the Tokyo drift scene in a hair-raising, hairpin-turn race where the winner truly takes all. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young man gets a crash course in the madness of war in this fact-based drama from director Sam Mendes. Anthony "Swoff" Swofford (Jake Gyllenhaal) decides to join the Marines, just like his father and his father before him, and signs on just in time to be sent to Iraq to fight in the Gulf War in 1991. After experiencing the rigors of boot camp, Swofford and his pal Troy (Peter Sarsgaard) are trained to be snipers, and under the leadership of Sgt. Sykes (Jamie Foxx) and Lt. Col. Kazinski (Chris Cooper), the two land in the middle of a desert where they're up against an enemy they can't always see under a blazing sun with hours of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Swofford, Troy, and their fellow soldiers rely on the wits, their sense of humor, and their friendship of their brothers in arms to deal with a situation that doesn't much resemble what they saw on television at home. Jarhead was based on the memoirs of the real-life Anthony Swofford, who did serve as a sniper in the 1991 Gulf War; the title comes from military slang for a Marine enlistee. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A musician who is supposed to mend his ways ends up changing the habits of a group of fellow inmates in this comedy. Wesley Benfield (William Lee Scott) is a guitar player with a habit of walking on the wrong side of the law. One night, Benfield gets into a fistfight in a Missouri honky-tonk, and when police discover the car he drove to the club is stolen, it's not long before he finds himself standing before a judge. Benfield is ordered to move into a half-way house near a small Baptist college, and as part of his therapy he joins in a small gospel combo comprised of the house's residents. However, Benfield is a lot more interested in playing the blues; with a bit of persuading, he convinces his bandmates to pursue a new musical direction, and they start sneaking out at night to play shows at a local nightspot. Killer Diller co-stars Fred Willard, Lucas Black, John Michael Higgins, Mary Kay Place, and veteran blues artist Taj Mahal. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Originally telecast November 12, 2000, on ABC, The Miracle Worker was the third film version of the classic biographical play by William Gibson. Following in the footsteps of Patty Duke and Melissa Gilbert as the young Helen Keller is Hallie Kate Eisenberg, who skyrocketed to TV fame in 2000 as star of a series of well-circulated cola commercials. Alison Elliot co-stars as Annie Sullivan, the dedicated, no-nonsense teacher who ultimately draws the blind, deaf, and mute Helen out of her lonely shell (literally kicking and screaming at times) and into the "normal" world. Filmed in Mississauga, Ontario, The Miracle Worker was shown as a two-hour episode of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney anthology. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Produced by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment and DIC Entertainment in collaboration with the family of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Our Friend Martin is an animated, feature-length film that features two sixth-grade boys who are transported back to the time of civil rights leader Dr. King and who learn about his life and his contribution to humankind by experiencing the moment themselves and watching history in the making. The animated story is interspersed with authentic historical footage celebrating the life and work of Dr. King. ~ MaryAnn Henry, All Movie Guide

This 60-million-dollar science fiction suspense drama (marketed with an additional 25 million dollars), was adapted from the popular TV series The X-Files -- arriving in theaters while the Emmy-winning series was still being aired, continuing plot threads familiar to many of the series' 25 million viewers, and featuring several familiar recurring characters introduced during the previous five TV seasons. In 15,000 B.C., a strange creature attacks a caveman. Cut to present day, when a boy at the same North Texas spot falls into a pit and is contaminated by a black substance. When a bomb threatens the Dallas Federal Building, special FBI agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) locate the device but are unable to prevent the explosion. The agency blames Mulder and Scully for the disaster, subjecting them to lengthy interrogations while trying to sever their partnership. In a bar, conspiracy theorist Kurtzweil (Martin Landau), a friend of Mulder's father, tells Mulder about the group behind the explosion, the cover-up of the boy's death, the bodies of four infected rescue workers removed from the Federal Building, the secret government, and the forthcoming plague. Mulder and Scully set out to find answers, and their investigation becomes a foray into the fantastic. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

Sling Blade marked the directorial debut of country singer turned actor Billy Bob Thornton, who also authored the script (expanding George Hickenlooper's acclaimed short Some Folks Call it a Sling Blade) and stars in the picture. Thornton plays Karl Childers, a mildly retarded man who spent most of his life in a mental institution. When Karl was a boy, he was severely mistreated by his abusive father (Robert Duvall). At age 12, Karl found his mother having intercourse with a man who tormented him endlessly; he snapped, flew into a homicidal rage, and killed both individuals by decapitating them. Years later, as a middle-aged man, Karl is deemed harmless to society and released from the mental institution where he resides. Karl says he has learned his lesson and adds, "I reckon I got no reason to kill no one." He returns to the town of his boyhood, where he's befriended by Frank (Lucas Black), the son of a widowed mother who sees the eccentric but open-hearted Karl as a kindred spirit. Karl also gets a job at a fix-it shop and resides in the backroom, until Frank's mother, Linda (Natalie Canerday), takes a liking to Karl and lets him stay with them. However, Karl also meets Doyle (Dwight Yoakam), Linda's boyfriend, a sadistically cruel, narrow-minded drunk who tosses casual abuse at Frank, treats Linda like dirt, and mocks Karl endlessly. The late John Ritter co-stars as Linda's friend Vaughan, a mild-mannered homosexual who works at the neighborhood dollar store. Musicians Col. Bruce Hampton and Vic Chesnutt are among Doyle's party guests. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

One of the earliest forays into TV production by former teen idol Shaun Cassidy, the weekly, hour-long supernatural drama series American Gothic debuted September 22, 1995 on CBS. Things weren't quite right in the outwardly peaceful and respectable town of Trinity in Fulton County, South Carolina. Credit (or blame) for the ominous strangeness permeating the area could be laid at the feet of malevolent sheriff Lucas Buck (Gary Cole), who subtly held the populace in thrall, using his demonic powers for coercion, intimidation and murder. Even so, everyone considered Sheriff Buck one of nicest guys in town. . .at least, everyone who voiced no objections to dancing to the crack of his whip. Buck's deputy Ben Healy (Nick Searcy) was the only person aware of the full depth and breadth of Lucas' evil, but he was powerless to stop it. As for Buck's girlfriend, sexy schoolteacher Selena Coombs (Brenda Bakke), she somehow managed to avoid his terrible wrath despite shacking up with practically every other adult male in town--including Dr. Billy Peele (John Mese), who joined the cast mid-season to battle an epidemic in Trinity. Having disposed of teenager Merlyn Ann Temple (Sarah Paulson), Lucas Buck attempted to gain custody of the girl's younger brother Caleb (Lucas Black), whose long-suppressed family ties to Lucas would not be revealed until mid-season. But Caleb's older cousin Gail Emory (Paige Turco), a crusading journalist, fought Lucas tooth and nail, and found a strong ally in the form of a stranger in town, Dr. Matt Crower (Jake Weber), who agreed to take care of Caleb himself. Incredibly, even Merlyn Ann, who'd been bumped off by Lucas early in the series, made surprise appearences to offer advice and comfort to her brother, and to steer him clear of Lucas' sinister influence. Too weird and inscrutable for the tastes of most viewers, American Gothic was put on hiatus after only seven episodes on November 3, 1995. The series was brought back on January 3, 1996, but yanked off the network again a scant five weeks later. Six of the remaining ten episodes were run off between July 3 and July 11, 1996, some of them shown out of sequence and thus confusing those viewers trying to make sense of its kinky continuity. The four untelecast episodes of American Gothic would not be generally seen until the series was released to DVD nearly a decade later. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide