Akeelah and the Bee (
2006) | IMDb:
7.4
11-year-old Akeelah Anderson has a way with words. After winning her schoolwide spelling bee, she decides to enter the competition, despite her classmates' derision and the antipathy of her mother Tanya. Thanks to the efforts of her teacher Dr. Larabee, she reaches the finala. As she gets to know her fellow competitors, Akeelah realizes that coming first isn't everything in life.
Starring:
Keke Palmer
,
Laurence Fishburne
,
Angela Bassett
,
Curtis Armstrong
,
J.R. Villarreal
,
Sean Michael Afable
Jackie Brown (
1997) | IMDb:
7.5
Jackie Brown is a flight attendant who gets caught in the middle of smuggling cash into the country for her gunrunner boss. When the cops try to use Jackie to get to her boss, she hatches a plan — with help from a bail bondsman — to keep the money for herself.
Starring:
Pam Grier
,
Samuel L. Jackson
,
Robert De Niro
,
Bridget Fonda
,
Michael Keaton
,
Robert Forster
Eve's Bayou (
1997) | IMDb:
7.2
Summer heats up in rural Louisiana beside Eve’s Bayou, 1962, as the Batiste family tries to survive the secrets they’ve kept and the betrayals they’ve endured.
Starring:
Jurnee Smollett
,
Meagan Good
,
Samuel L. Jackson
,
Lynn Whitfield
,
Debbi Morgan
,
Jake Smollett
Good Burger (
1997) | IMDb:
5.8
Two L.A. teens with summer jobs at Good Burger try to save their small restaurant when a corporate giant burger franchise moves in across the street.
Waiting to Exhale (
1995) | IMDb:
6
Cheated on, mistreated and stepped on, the women are holding their breath, waiting for the elusive "good man" to break a string of less-than-stellar lovers. Friends and confidants Vannah, Bernie, Glo and Robin talk it all out, determined to find a better way to breathe.
Starring:
Whitney Houston
,
Angela Bassett
,
Loretta Devine
,
Lela Rochon
,
Gregory Hines
,
Dennis Haysbert
Friday (
1995) | IMDb:
7.2
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do.
Starring:
Ice Cube
,
Chris Tucker
,
Nia Long
,
Tommy Lister Jr.
,
John Witherspoon
,
Anna Maria Horsford
Billy Madison (
1995) | IMDb:
6.3
Billy Madison is the 27 year-old son of Bryan Madison, a very rich man who has made his living in the hotel industry. Billy stands to inherit his father's empire, but only if he can make it through all 12 grades, 2 weeks per grade, to prove that he has what it takes to run the family business.
Starring:
Adam Sandler
,
Bradley Whitford
,
Josh Mostel
,
Bridgette Wilson-Sampras
,
Darren McGavin
,
Norm Macdonald
Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight (
1995) | IMDb:
6.7
Ex-soldier Frank Brayker is the guardian of an ancient key that can unlock tremendous evil; the sinister Collector is a demon who wants the key so he can initiate the apocalypse. On the run from wicked mercenaries for almost 90 years, Brayker finally stops in at a boarding house in New Mexico where — with the help of its residents — he plans to face off against the Collector and his band of ghouls, preventing them from ever seizing the key.
Starring:
Billy Zane
,
William Sadler
,
Jada Pinkett Smith
,
CCH Pounder
,
Brenda Bakke
,
Dick Miller
Cool Runnings (
1993) | IMDb:
7
When a Jamaican sprinter is disqualified from the Olympic Games, he enlists the help of a dishonored coach to start the first Jamaican bobsled team.
South Central (
1992) | IMDb:
6.8
During a 10-year sentence for murdering the leader of a rival South Central Los Angeles gang, Bobby Johnson finds religion and rehabilitation with the help of Muslim inmate Ali. Upon his release, Bobby returns home to find that his young son, Jimmie, has joined the Deuces, his old crew. Tensions rise as Bobby struggles to convince Jimmie to leave the gang that was his only family during the painful years his absent father spent behind bars.
Starring:
Glenn Plummer
,
Byron Minns
,
Lexie Bigham
,
Vincent Craig Dupree
,
LaRita Shelby
,
Carl Lumbly
Juice (
1992) | IMDb:
7
Four Harlem friends -- Bishop, Q, Steel and Raheem -- dabble in petty crime, but they decide to go big by knocking off a convenience store. Bishop, the magnetic leader of the group, has the gun. But Q has different aspirations. He wants to be a DJ and happens to have a gig the night of the robbery. Unfortunately for him, Bishop isn't willing to take no for answer in a game where everything's for keeps.
Starring:
Omar Epps
,
Tupac Shakur
,
Khalil Kain
,
Jermaine Hopkins
,
Cindy Herron
,
Samuel L. Jackson
The Borrower (
1991) | IMDb:
5.3
Aliens punish one of their own by sending him to earth. The alien is very violent, and when the body he occupies is damaged, he is forced to find another.
Directed by:
John McNaughton
Boyz n the Hood (
1991) | IMDb:
7.8
In the middle of the Los Angeles ghetto, drugs, robberies and shootings dominate everyday life. During these times, Furious tries to raise his son Tre to be a decent person. Tre's friends, on the other hand, have little regard for the law and drag the entire neighborhood into a street war...
Starring:
Laurence Fishburne
,
Cuba Gooding Jr.
,
Ice Cube
,
Morris Chestnut
,
Angela Bassett
,
Nia Long
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (
1988) | IMDb:
6.6
Jack Spade returns from the army in his old ghetto neighbourhood when his brother, June Bug, dies. Jack declares war on Mr. Big, powerful local crimelord. His army is led by John Slade, his childhood idol who used to fight bad guys in the 70s.
Starring:
Keenen Ivory Wayans
,
Bernie Casey
,
Antonio Fargas
,
Steve James
,
Isaac Hayes
,
Jim Brown
Lost in America (
1985) | IMDb:
7
David and Linda Howard are successful yuppies from LA. When he gets a job disappointment, David convinces Linda that they should quit their jobs, liquidate their assets, and emulate the movie Easy Rider, spending the rest of their lives traveling around America...in a Winnebago.
Starring:
Albert Brooks
,
Julie Hagerty
,
Sylvia Farrel
,
Tina Kincaid
,
Candy Ann Brown
,
Maggie Roswell