Brand Name: Christopher Walken, Wesley Snipes, Larry Fishburne
This low-budget crime thriller has the feel of a major blockbuster and owes its roots to the hard-edged crime movies of the 1930s. Christopher Walken stars as a drug kingpin who is released from prison and vows to use his position and influence--and criminal enterprise--for charitable means. But a core group of New York cops are all over him and his gang, determined to go to war, whatever the cost, to bring him down. Eventually his empire--headquartered at, of all places, Donald Trump's Plaza Hotel--crumbles under the weight of double-crossing and a body count of open warfare with the cops. This is one of the most stylish films of the last decade, with a strong supporting cast (including Lawrence Fishburne, Wesley Snipes, and David Caruso) and some truly enthralling set pieces, including a stunning car chase and gunfight across a rain-soaked Queensboro Bridge. The film's tongue-in-cheek, over-the-top style offsets its nihilism; and its riveting visuals will have audiences hooked from beginning to end
Starring: Christopher Walken, Wesley Snipes & Larry Fishburne
Director: Abel Ferrara
Encoding: Region 1 (US and Canada only)
Format: Color, Widescreen
a 1973 pimping epic, is at once a laughable, schlock classic and a harbinger of more serious black-themed films to come. Starring the now-forgotten Max Julien as Goldie, the preening ex-con whose dream is to rule the streets with a fine Cadillac and a fleet of topnotch hookers, this film is full of whip-crack, mostly improvised dialogue and hilarious stereotypes (the evil white cops, a wisdom-spouting blind man, and more trash-talkin' pimps than you could shake a walking stick at).
A "supercool and wild" blaxploitation actioner offering one mean heroin dealer out for blood when mobsters off his woman and his friends. VHS Only Rated R Not for sale to persons under the age of 18
In this blaxploitation flick, a supercool deejay, stuck on himself, decides to get revenge after his girl friend is slaughtered in his apartment. He enlists the help of a friend to investigate the death. He then finds a tape that shows that implicates a mobster in the murder of a union leader. His girl died because she had the tape. Violence and martial arts action ensues
Rated R
Starring Jim Kelly, Calvin Lockhart & Rosalind Cash
Ace (Wood Harris) is a young man working in a dry cleaners in 1985 Harlem. His friend Mitch (Mekhi Phifer) sells cocaine, drives flashy cars, and has cash to burn. When Mitch goes to prison and a couple of coincidences leave Ace with a ball of cocaine in his pocket and customers waiting to buy, Ace decides to enter the drug-dealing business that he had previously shunned. He quickly rises to prominence as the cocaine kingpin of Harlem. When Mitch is released from prison, Ace brings him into the business as a partner, along with Mitch's volatile acquaintance from prison, Rico (Cam'ron). When violence erupts, Ace begins to question whether the money that his cocaine business has provided him is worth its cost.
At first look, Paid In Full seems to retread a lot of territory that has already been covered in a slew of films about inner-city drug-dealing since the 1980's. There are a couple of things that set this film apart, however, and make it worth seeing. This film emphasizes the characters' development and inner struggles more, and the trappings of the gangsta lifestyle less, than most films on the same topic. And Paid In Full is based on a true story: the story of AZ, Rich Porter, and Alpo, three young men who controlled the cocaine trade in Harlem in the mid-1980's. (Called Ace, Mitch, and Rico, respectively, in the film.) Azie Faison, who was AZ back then, cooperated with the film and wrote an early version of the screenplay. He has since criticized the film for glamorizing the gangsta lifestyle too much and not being a strong enough cautionary tale. I don't find that Paid In Full glamorizes the lifestyle all that much, but its criticism of gangsta life is not heavy-handed either. Perhaps it is better that the film did not moralize as much as it could have because that tends to alienate the audience. You will have to see it and judge for yourself.
The first of many in a series depicting the harrowing prison existence of a convict who uses his wits and fists to survive.
Leon Isaac Kennedy's character is thrown deep into the bowels of the prison system, where the only consistent truth is kill or be killed.
To show his strength and gain respect from the other inmates, Kennedy must distinguish himself as a boxer, taking on all comers to save his own skin and regain his pride as a human being. Surprisingly effective in its harsh detailing of violent prison life, the film addresses the dehumanization of prisoners without excusing their crimes. Thought of as an exploitation picture, Penitentiary rises above its roots to provide a blunt and passionate look at one man's struggle on the inside.
This film is a cross between the "Rocky" films and Rudy Ray Moore flicks (Dolomite, The Avenging Disco Godfather... and HE does make a special appearance in this Fanaka classic). With loony character names like 'Too Sweet", 'Half-Dead' and 'Seldom Seen', this story-line is peppered with demented scenes like the scary "potato salad scene", or the dwarf-prostitute pursuit. A must see for all Mr. T fans.
Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e., a video store in Manhattan Beach, California) and turned Hollywood on its ear in 1992 with his explosive first feature, Reservoir Dogs. Like Tarantino's mainstream breakthrough Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs has an unconventional structure, cleverly shuffling back and forth in time to reveal details about the characters, experienced criminals who know next to nothing about each other. Joe (Lawrence Tierney) has assembled them to pull off a simple heist, and has gruffly assigned them color-coded aliases (Mr. Orange, Mr. Pink, Mr. White) to conceal their identities from being known even to each other. But something has gone wrong, and the plan has blown up in their faces. One by one, the surviving robbers find their way back to their prearranged warehouse hideout. There, they try to piece together the chronology of this bloody fiasco--and to identify the traitor among them who tipped off the police. Pressure mounts, blood flows, accusations and bullets fly. In the combustible atmosphere these men are forced to confront life-and-death questions of trust, loyalty, professionalism, deception, and betrayal. As many critics have observed, it is a movie about "honor among thieves" (just as Pulp Fiction is about redemption, and Jackie Brown is about survival). Along with everything else, the movie provides a showcase for a terrific ensemble of actors: Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Steve Buscemi, Michael Madsen, Christopher Penn, and Tarantino himself, offering a fervent dissection of Madonna's "Like a Virgin" over breakfast. Reservoir Dogs is violent (though the violence is implied rather than explicit), clever, gabby, harrowing, funny, suspenseful, and even--in the end--unexpectedly moving. (Don't forget that "Super Sounds of the Seventies" soundtrack, either.) Reservoir Dogs deserves just as much acclaim and attention as its follow-up, Pulp Fiction, would receive two years later.
This sprawling epic of bloodshed and excess, Brian De Palma's update of the classic 1932 crime drama by Howard Hawks, sparked controversy over its outrageous violence when released in 1983. Scarface is a wretched, fascinating car wreck of a movie, starring Al Pacino as a Cuban refugee who rises to the top of Miami's cocaine-driven underworld, only to fall hard into his own deadly trap of addiction and inevitable assassination. Scripted by Oliver Stone and running nearly three hours, it's the kind of film that can simultaneously disgust and amaze you (critic Pauline Kael wrote "this may be the only action picture that turns into an allegory of impotence"), with vivid supporting roles for Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and Robert Loggia
Product Details:
Starring: Al Pacino, Michelle Pfeiffer
Director: Brian De Palma
Encoding: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. This DVD will probably NOT be viewable in other countries.
