Release Date: 1/14/14 (DVD); 10/18/13 (theatrical, limited)
Genre: Drama/Romance/Inspirational
Rating: PG
Running Time: 118 mins.
Studio: High Top Releasing/Reverence Gospel Media
Director: Steve Race
Cast: Jeff ‘Ja Rule’ Atkins (Miles Montego), Adrienne Bailon (Vanessa Leon), Michael Madsen (Frank Harris), Stephen Baldwin (Jason McDaniels), Martin Kove (Terry Edgemond), Vincent Pastore (Nicholas Halston).
Story: Cars. Good looks. Mansions. Money. Women. Miles Montego has it all. Including a past. He was king of the streets as a high-level drug trafficker, and although he has tried to move on, the DEA isn’t convinced. Miles is still rolling with his old friends and colleagues, and the feds are certain he has not fully retired from his criminal past. When Miles meets Vanessa Leon, a woman who is different than every other woman he’s met, he is drawn to her beauty and her faith. She is a “church girl” in every sense of the word. Increasingly, he is torn between a life that he knows and a love that he feels. As Vanessa experiences his lavish lifestyle, mobster-type friends, gun play, and encounters with past women, Vanessa must reconcile her faith in God and her growing love for Miles. Both are tested to their last ounce of faith and strength in God and each other. God continues to chip away at Miles through struggles from his past, having to live up to his reputation, feelings of unworthiness, the death of his mother, federal charges, his friends being indicted, the strain on his relationship with Vanessa, almost losing her in a near-fatal car accident, and finally the spiritual breakdown that brings him on his knees to face God one-on-one. (Synopsis taken from I’minlovewithachurchgirl.com)
Tag: 2013
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Release Date: 1/14/14 (DVD); 8/16/13 (theatrical)
Genre: Drama/Biography
Rating: PG-13
Running Time: 132 mins.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Director: Lee Daniels
Forest Whitaker (Cecil Gaines)
Oprah Winfrey (Gloria Gaines)
Mariah Carey (Hattie Pearl)
John Cusack (Richard Nixon)
Jane Fonda (Nancy Reagan)
Cuba Gooding, Jr. (Carter Wilson)
Terrence Howard (Howard)
Lenny Kravitz (James Holloway) John F. Kennedy (James Marsden)
Story: The story of a White House butler who served seven American presidents over three decades. The film traces the dramatic changes that swept American society during this time, from the civil rights movement to Vietnam and beyond, and how those changes affected this man’s life and family. (Synopsis taken from The Weinstein Co., official site).
Fruitvale Station
Release Date: 1/14/14 (DVD); 7/12/13 (theatrical)
Genre: Drama/Biography
Rating: R
Running Time: 85 mins.
Studio: The Weinstein Company
Director: Ryan Coogler
Cast: Michael B. Jordan (Oscar Grant)
Melonie Diaz (Sophina)
Octavia Spencer (Wanda)
Kevin Durand (Officer Caruso)
Chad Michael Murray (Officer Ingram)
Story: Winner of both the Grand Jury Prize for dramatic feature and the Audience Award for U.S. dramatic film at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. True story of Oscar, a 22 year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year’s Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn’t been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year-old daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station, that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant. (Synopsis taken from official Facebook site).
Trailer
Black Cinema Connection 