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Baps
: :What was director Robert Townsend thinking? His movies, such as The Five Heartbeats and The Hollywood Shuffle, are sweet, enjoyable little pictures. But this 'comedy' about two flashy Georgia women hoping to find money and men in Los Angeles is stereotypical, unfunny, embarrassing, and boring. Halle Berry and newcomer Natalie Desselle are trapped in pitiful roles playing against the distinguished but miscast Martin Landau and a wasted Ian Richardson. B.A.P.S., by the way, stands for black American princesses. There ...
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Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
: :This wants desperately to be an Airplane-like parody of inner-city African American gangsta movies. Instead, it offers us more turkey than we would find at any Thanksgiving spread. Unfunny, stereotypical, stupid, and crass, it was cowritten by Marlon and Shawn Wayans, both of whom should have known better. The two fare better as actors than writers, as they are almost amusing as hardened, dimwitted homeboys. As Ashtray, Shawn returns to his 'hood and hooks up with his best buddy ...
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Rush Hour
: :The plotline may sound familiar: Two mismatched cops are assigned as reluctant partners to solve a crime. Culturally they are complete opposites, and they quickly realize they can't stand each other. One (Jackie Chan) believes in doing things by the book. He is a man with integrity and nerves of steel. The other (Chris Tucker) is an amiable rebel who can't stand authority figures. He's a man who has to do everything on his own, much to the displeasure ...
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Saturday Night Live - The Best of Eddie Murphy
: :Perhaps one of the greatest lights ever to shine on late-night television, Eddie Murphy has gone on to well-deserved international superstardom. Check out his earliest television work on Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy, a collection of his greatest roles, from Gumby to Stevie Wonder to Buckwheat. Of course, some would argue that his best role was as himself, and there is plenty of evidence for that--many of the skits feature Murphy au naturel and the opening ...
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Low Down Dirty Shame
: :Perhaps one of the greatest lights ever to shine on late-night television, Eddie Murphy has gone on to well-deserved international superstardom. Check out his earliest television work on Saturday Night Live: The Best of Eddie Murphy, a collection of his greatest roles, from Gumby to Stevie Wonder to Buckwheat. Of course, some would argue that his best role was as himself, and there is plenty of evidence for that--many of the skits feature Murphy au naturel and the opening ...
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Just Another Girl on the Irt
: :Sassy, in-your-face account of an intelligent, flippant Brooklyn girl who lives in the projects and dreams of college. Ariyan Johnson is captivating as the teen with attitude and a brain, but she cannot decide which should guide her. She wants a better life but finds herself taking a very hard road. First-time writer/director Leslie Harris put together a sharp, realistic, very funny account of life for a young black woman. It is rough around the edges, however, and is ...
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Bebe's Kids
: :Sassy, in-your-face account of an intelligent, flippant Brooklyn girl who lives in the projects and dreams of college. Ariyan Johnson is captivating as the teen with attitude and a brain, but she cannot decide which should guide her. She wants a better life but finds herself taking a very hard road. First-time writer/director Leslie Harris put together a sharp, realistic, very funny account of life for a young black woman. It is rough around the edges, however, and is ...
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Live in Concert
: :Watching Pryor go from imitating a drinking deer to a woman debating about going in the woods gives just a hint of the comedic genius of the man. Crude, foul, and real, this is the first and best of his concert films. Pryor does dead-on impersonations of the respective races, cussing, trying to act tough, getting kicked in personal spots. But it's his imagination that elevates him to a different level. He gives his impressions of what animals think, ...
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Friday
: :Friday is the rarest specimen of African American cinema: a 'hood movie refreshingly free of the semiseriousness and moralism of shoot 'em up soaps such as Boyz N the Hood, yet still true to the inner-city experience. Scripted by rapper Ice Cube, Friday is a no-frills tale of a typical day in the life of a pair of African American youth in South Central. Cube plays Craig, a frustrated teen who endures the ultimate humiliation: getting fired on his ...
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Def Comedy Jam, Vol. 1
: :Martin Lawrence hosts Def Comedy Jam All Stars, Vol. 1 with his usual loose-limbed aplomb. Lawrence doesn't so much tell jokes as create an atmosphere of enjoyment. He makes fun of the audience, runs around the stage, twists his elastic face into a variety of shapes; it's not so much funny as just fun. The other comedians on this compilation of standup routines are a mixed bag of newcomers and old hands, ranging from J. Anthony Brown, who does ...
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