Bones (DVD)
BONES features rapper Snoop Dogg in his first starring role as the benevolent neighborhood kingpin, Jimmy Bones, who is betrayed and murdered in 1979, and returns to get his horrific revenge twenty years later. Patrick (Khalil Kain), the son of one of the witnesses to the murder, Jeremiah (Clifton Powell), decides to turn the creepy abandoned brownstone where Bones once lived into a nightclub. He and his crew move into the building, where a terrifying presence makes itself known. Patrick also meets the beautiful Cinnabar (Bianca Lawson), the daughter of Bones` old flame, Pearl (Pam Grier). But the vengeful spirit released from the old house jeopardizes their newfound love, and their lives. Drenched in stage blood and sprinkled with sex, BONES delivers its gory chills in the style of Italian horror masters like Mario Bava and Dario Argento, with a touch of Clint Eastwood`s Man With No Name thrown in. Director Ernest Dickerson proved his skill at horror with the entertaining TALES FROM THE CRYPT: DEMON KNIGHT. Here, he puts a hip-hop spin on a classic horror narrative. The updated motif gives the film a sociopolitical edge, and Snoop`s performance harkens back to the blaxploitation films of the 1970s.R"
Director: Ernest R. Dickerson
ACTORS: Snoop Doggy Dogg, Michael T. Weiss, Pam Grier, Khalil Kain, Sean Amsing
Civil War Journal: The Commanders (DVD)
One of America`s most fascinating and complex historical occurrences, the Civil War is such rich and meaningful history that it continues to be a source of intrigue and interest to millions of everyday Americans. This episode of A & E`s documentary series, CIVIL WAR JOURNAL, examines the roles that the commanders played in the fracas. Taking history into the realm of the personal, THE COMMANDERS examines the thought processes and inner turmoil behind the difficult and monumental decisions that these men had to make every day.NR"
Classified X (DVD)
Melvin Van Peebles takes a look at how African Americans have been portrayed in the cinema over the past century.NR"
Director: Mark Daniels
ACTORS: Melvin Van Peebles
Tito Puente - Live In Montreal (DVD)
The King of Mambo plays Montreal in this vintage 1983 performance. Tito Puente leads the band and keeps a Latin beat on the percussion as he is backed by Michel Camilo, Vincent Frisaura, Edgardo Miranda and others in a tight ensemble. Seven tracks are included. Among them Oye Como Va, On Broadway, and Pare Cochero. NR"
ACTORS: Tito Puente
Erotique (DVD)
In order to turn the tables on the male-dominated genre of erotica, three women filmmakers came together to present this triptych of sexually-charged, disparate vignettes. Lizzie Borden`s LETS TALK ABOUT SEX concerns Rosie (Kamala Lopez-Dawson), a budding Latino actress, who takes a job at a phone sex company in order to pay the bills. When she finds a sympathetic customer in Dr. Robert Stern (Bryan Cranston), a dangerously intense phone relationship commences, culminating in a face-to-face meeting between the two. Monika Treut`s TABOO PARLOR, set in Hamburg, finds a lesbian couple (played by Priscilla Barnes and Camilla Soeberg) bringing an attractive man (Michael Carr) home for the novelty value. But before he can fully comprehend their true intentions, the role reversal has taken place and he has become the tortured victim. Clara Laws WONTON SOUP follows a distraught Hong Kong man, Adrian (Tim Lounibos), who is determined to win the affections of Ann (Hayley Man) by rekindling their spent passions with a series of outrageously hysterical aphrodisiac recipes. At turns brutal, erotic, and comical, EROTIQUE is a refreshing burst of female-flavored sensuality from three world-renowned directors. (NOTE: Most video releases carry a fourth vignette, Ana Maria Magalhaess FINAL CALL.)NR"
Director: Lizzie Borden|Clara Law|Monika Treut|Ana Maria Magalhaes
