18½


            
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Gridlock'd

Faith Under Fire

Abducted: The Carlina White Story

The Night House

Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart

...And Then She Was Gone


            Ex-con Otis (Tyrese Gibson), or "O2" as he was once known on account of his ability to vanish from a crime scene like oxygen, has done his time and is now determined to stay out of trouble and never leave his young son, Otis, Jr. (played by Vondie Curtis-Hall's young son, Henry Hunter Hall), ever again.When O2 shows up late to pick Junior up from school one afternoon, he swears that he will always come back for Junior. That promise is put to the test just moments later when O2's vintage 1960's Chevrolet Impala SS Lowrider convertible is stolen from him at gunpoint in the middle of a crowded Southland intersection with Junior in the back seat.O2 chases the car and gets into a nasty gun battle with the carjackers circumstances that then make it impossible for O2 go to the police but to no avail.O2 does, however, catch up with Coco (Meagan Good), a woman who sells stolen suits on the streets for a thug known as P Money (Julius Denem). O2 knows she is the one who marked him for the carjacking, and he forces her to help him retrieve Junior. Lucky (Larenz Tate), Otis' unreliable cousin who works for Big Meat (Jayceon "Game" Taylor), the brutally vicious leader of the Outlaw Syndicate, also offers to help.After a few hours on the street, Lucky comes back with some bad news: Junior has fallen into Meat's hands, and Meat (the main antagonist of the film) is demanding that O2 deliver $100,000 by midnight the following night, or Junior will die. Otis claims that he has no money, but Meat thinks otherwise: Meat was once O2's partner in crime, and he thinks O2 is still holding onto the $100,000 they made off their last job together the job that got O2 six years in prison.Desperate to raise the cash, O2 comes up with a plan: he and Coco will rob P Money's and Meat's own operations, staging it to look like the one is stealing from the other, and thereby triggering a gang war that will hopefully eliminate both and help O2 and Coco rescue Junior. After a successful robbery of one of the Big Meat's locations, O2 and Coco come across a set of safe deposit box keys belonging to numerous banks in the area. The next day with time wearing thin, they stage a number of bank robberies and are able to retrieve expensive jewellery, which Lucky offers to get rid of eager to prove his worth. When Lucky takes the jewelry to Big Meat unknowing that it belongs to Big Meat, Lucky is forced to set up a meeting between himself, O2, and Coco, with Big Meat along to end O2 once and for all.They take a car to an alley and give him the money. It is then revealed that Big Meat never intended to let Junior live, as he signals one of his men to kill Junior. Lucky sees this and tackles him as the man shoots many shots, one shooting Lucky in the side of the chest. O2 kills Meat's men, leaving only Meat. He then proceeds to shoot O2 but has no shots remaining. O2 shoots and kills him and retrieves Junior.On the road, they stop at a gas station to attend to Lucky's wound. O2 tells Lucky that they will get him to a hospital, but he realizes that Lucky has died. Swerving off the road, they are chased by the cops. O2 hides in a parking lot and tells Coco that she must take Junior and go to the Mexican border while he outruns the cops. As Junior and Coco escape, O2 is tailed by the cops. They run him to a dead end where the lake is. O2, realizing he has no choice, drives straight into the water.In Mexico, Coco and Junior are living in a house on a beach. They are walking on the beach when Junior sees something in the distance. He and Coco find that it is O2, who has escaped the ocean and come back to them, as he promised. They then reunite.
    

Waist Deep


            "The Drop Squad" is a secret underground group of blacks dedicated to "deprogramming" fellow blacks whom they feel have wandered too far into the white culture, leaving their brothers behind. Their method is to kidnap offenders, subjecting them to deprogramming.ROCKY heads up the squad, but he's in conflict with partner GARVEY over how the deprograming should go. Rocky is for non-violent means, such as subjecting the subject to a barrage of slides, posers, slogans and family photographs that encourage alliance with their black heritage. Garvey favors a more violent approach, subjecting them to torture, humiliation and physical discomfort.Attractive young LENORE JAMISON, 30s, worries about the brother, BRUFORD JAMISON, whom she loves very much. Bruford works for a high-powered ad agency. Successful there, he's currently turned out advertisements filled with offensive black stereotypes. There's an ad for "Mumblin' Jack" malt liquor, featuring a black woman in a bikini straddling a bottle of beer with the slogan, "It Gits Ya Crazy!" Another ad is for a fried chicken franchise that features the "Gospelpack," offering a Bible verse on napkins served with take-out chicken dinners.Thinking her brother needs help, Lenore makes contact with Garvey at a diner, asking that they deprogram her brother Bruford, because she feels he's strayed too far from their family and heritage. Thus, they grab Bruford, hustle him into a van, taking him to a secret location. With Garvey in charge, they subject Bruford to several days of violent beatings, harassment, and torture. There are other black men being tortured there for the same reason, including a corrupt politician, COUNCILMAN JENKINS and a corrupt evangelist, REVEREND BEEKINS.Bruford's backstory is told in flashbacks that are intercut with the Drop Squad torture sequences. We see how Bruford got the job at the agency. We see him in conflict there with fellow black employees, who object to his racist advertisements. It's also shown that Bruford once was close to his good-natured but unemployed cousin, FLIP. Flip asked Bruford for a job at the agency, but Bruford was reluctant to set him up. Bruford figures he himself is safe, whereas he fears Flip will be anything but.The Drop Squad torture and humiliation of Bruford continues. Among other things, they show him old home movies. In spite of his discomfort, he cannot help but be touched and smile at this. Meanwhile, Rocky and cohort TREVOR, travel to Maryland to look into Bruford's past. They talk to his UNCLE, who fills them in on what happened between Bruford and Flip.Flashbacks continue, showing Bruford in conflict about his ads with black colleagues. On a visit home to a family reunion, Bruford shows his fried chicken ad to his family, all of whom find it offensive. It was at this time sister Lenore decided to take matters in her own hands and call the Drop Squad.In the present, Lenore wants her brother released, as she feels it's gone on too long. She doesn't know the violent tactics they're employing. Rocky and Trevor return from their trip, interrupting Garvey's violent session with Bruford. Rocky isn't happy with his tactics. Nonetheless, Rocky has brought something to show Bruford. It's a surveillance video taken at Bruford's company the day Flip showed up looking for a job and telling them Bruford would vouch for him. Bruford didn't take the call, blowing off his cousin, who, riled, was escorted out by SECURITY. Rocky has brought Flip with him, and he forgives Bruford, offering to take him home once Rocky tells Garvey to let him go. Bruford harbors resentment that his sister Lenore turned him in, although she swears she didn't know the treatment that he'd get. She says they wanted him back, but Bruford insists he never went away. Rocky tells Garvey he's moving on, but Garvey stays with the squad, kidnaping yet another black man believed to have moved too far from his heritage.
    

Drop Squad

Deceit

Turn It Up


            In the nightclub scene of the 1970s New York City, a multiracial young girl, Billie, born to a Caucasian father and an African-American mother, is taken away from her alcoholic, lounge singer mother after she is deemed irresponsible to raise her and Billie's estranged father wants nothing to do with either one of them. Billie spends the rest of her teenage years in an orphanage.Years later (in 1983), the 19-year-old Billie (Marah Carrey) works as a nightclub dancer along with her foster-care friends Louise and Roxanne. They meet Timothy Walker (Terrence Howard), a record promoter who offers the three of them a contract as backup singers/dancers to the singer Sylk. Initially, Billie refuses, hoping to achieve stardom on her own terms. After pestering from her friends, Billie relents and the three are contracted. They record the hit single, "All My Life" but Sylk's vocal is sub-standard. To maximize sales based on the sex appeal of Sylk, Timothy asks Billie to sing while Sylk lip-syncs.Later at a nightclub, Billie sings Sylk's song which gets her noticed by the club DJ, Julian "Dice" Black, during the public debut of "All My Life". Dice, knowing that Sylk is an indifferent singer, is shocked by the arrangement, but goes backstage to congratulate Billie for singing the song. Sylk insults her backup singers in front of a photographer and Billie, not wanting to take the verbal abuse, exposes Sylk by singing "All My Life" a cappella in front of Dice. Impressed, he wishes to produce her, but Billie turns him down, thinking that he wants to exploit her talent. When Billie relents after Dice pesters her, she raises concerns about her contract with Timothy. Dice threatens to not play any more artists from Timothy in his nightclub unless Timothy surrenders Billie and her friends' contacts. Timothy eventually agrees on the provision that Dice pays him $100,000.Billie and Dice start working on songs: the first being the hit underground single, "Didn't Mean to Turn You On". Dice advises Billie to play off record companies to secure a bigger deal. Ultimately they sign with Guy Richardson of a major record label. With success in their hands, Dice asks Billie to dinner. Later, he asks her up to his apartment and they sleep together.Billie's first major single, "Loverboy" is a success. The music video originally features Billie, Louise, and Roxanne. However, the director, dissatisfied with the results, orders Billie to wear more revealing clothing and replaces Louise and Roxanne with professional semi-nude male dancers. When the male dancers are then ordered to dance closely to Billie, this frightens her. Dice intervenes on her behalf, and they leave the set before the music video can be finished.Dice is denied permission to produce songs on Billie's debut, including "Reflections", which Billie wrote about her mother. Billie is called to perform at the USA Music Awards, where she meets singer/songwriter Rafael. Later at the party, they meet again, and Rafael suggests they write a song. Dice orders Billie and her friends to leave, accusing Rafael of sexual advances towards Billie. Louise and Roxanne give Billie an ultimatum: them or Dice, but leave before she can choose. Billie cries, but is comforted by Dice as she laments "If you didn't believe in me, none of this would have ever happened."The reconciliation is short-lived as Billie gets a threat from Timothy concerning the 100K debt that Dice failed to pay. Billie tells Dice that Timothy was at their apartment about his debt and her contract. She is confused because she thought he had handled her contract properly. She admits to Dice that Timothy threatened her and Dice, in a rage, puts Timothy in the hospital. In the middle of the beating, Dice is arrested, causing Billie to leave her appearance on Late Night Live to bail him out. Billie, upset about how Dice lied about her contract and his arrest, argues with and leaves him. With nowhere to go, she goes back to live with Roxanne and Louise.Billie tries to deal with the pain by creating the single "Want You", with Rafael, which is a hit, but her emotional pain leads her to solo songwriting. Dice also misses Billie, and also begins writing a song. Billie goes to Dice's apartment in an attempt to reconcile. He's not home, but the music he has written is and Billie realizes they wrote the same song: "Never Too Far". She kisses the sheet music, leaving a lipstick imprint, which Dice later discovers. Dice plans a reconciliation, but is shot dead by Timothy. Billie's management and support crew see a report of the murder on television. They wonder if Billie was with him, they see that she is there and has seen the report. Billie onstage commands the band to stop playing "Loverboy," tells the crowd never to take someone for granted, and that if you love them, you should tell them, because you might never have the chance to tell them how you really feel. She then starts to sing "Never Too Far".Afterwords, Billie reads a note Dice had left her, where he tells of his love for her, his plan to see her perform and that he has found Billie's mother. Billie's limo takes her to the secluded rural property where she is united with her mother once again.
    

Vondie Curtis-Hall

Vondie Curtis-Hall Movies or Tv Shows (upto Nov 2024) - Watch Online

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