CANAL STREET is Thought Provoking on DVD

Coming to DVD from director Rhyan LaMarr and Cinedigm comes the story of two young men and when the media get it wrong with CANAL STREET.

Kholi (Bryshere Y. Gray) is a young man is dealing with the emotional separation with his mother. Father Jackie Styles (Mykelti Williamson) is a lawyer who has started with a new firm while Kholi starts in a new school in Winnetka. Almost immediately he meets Zoey (Juani Feliz), a young lady with a glowing smile. At the same time he meets Brian Sudermill (Kevin Quinn) but their meeting isn't such a good one.

The challenge of a one on one in basketball is given to Kholi and as they move closer to the bet being over, Brian offers up a bit of roughness. Zoey lets Kholi know that he should keep it together and don't give in to what Brian and his group are dishing out. To ease tensions, Zoey invites him to a party and sees it as a way for everyone to get to know the new student.

During music class, Kholi and Brian discover they share the same interests with an acknowledged fist pound. At the party, Kholi brings two friends and the night actually goes quite well, even to the point of Kholi giving Brian a ride home. On the drive with his friends in the back seat, the two young men discover even more about one another.

Dropping off Brian, Kholi is feeling good until he turns the car around down the street and comes up on Brian's body in the middle of the street. Jumping out, his two friends tell him he must get back in because they will be blamed. Kholi refuses to leave and screams out for help. That's when Brian's father Bill (William R Moses) runs out of the house to find the two boys in the street.

Kholi is arrested and it sends shockwaves through the town as the public begins to take sides and the media is taking over. There are people using the situation for their own gain and those who believe there is more to the story - like the very disturbing truth.

Gray as Kholi is a young man who has dealt with a lot of hard knocks. Keeping his mother close in his mind, it is probably the only thing helping him while awaiting trial. It seems that everyone has an agenda except what is going to happen to Kholi. Gray looks like an angry young man but then again I think I'd have the same face if enough people tried to change the course of my life.

Quinn as Brian is the school jock who is in a clique wanting to teach the new guy who is who. Of course when he realizes that he's misjudging Kholi and as a new friendship actually begins to happen. It is what happens on the street in front of his house that he can't do anything about.

Williamson as Jackie is a father who happens to be a lawyer but it doesn't stop him from feeling every bit a father. When he realizes that all eyes are on him, he also knows they are judging a son he believes is innocent. Feliz as Zoey knows both boys and doesn't appreciate being put on the stand to pit one against the other. Moses as Bill is a man grieving for the loss of his son. In his anger he believes what is easy to believe and cannot come to terms with his grief.

Other cast include Lance Reddick as Jerry Shaw, Michael Beach as Ronald Morgan, Jamie Hector as Pastor Sam Billings, Jon Seda as Det. Mike Watts, Will Yun Lee as Officer Hank Chu, Harry Lennix as DJ Terrance Palmer, Nora Dunn as Marge Sudermill, LaRoyce Hawkins as Amari Crawford, Ashley Black as Ashley, Rachel Cerda as Det. Regan, Katie Chang as Elizabeth Chu, and Mekhi Phifer as Prosecutor A.J. Canton. There are also cameos by Don Benjamin, Casper Smart, Da Brat, Charlamagne Tha God, Emily Walker, DeStorm PowerHeadKrack, and Angela Lee.

CINEDIGM has strategic relationships with over 60,000 physical retail storefronts and digital platforms with Wal-Mark, Target, iTunes, Netflix, and Amazon as well as national cable and satellite Video On Demand with an impressive distribution footprint that reaches ninety-three percent of all connected devices in the United States. The company's vast content library boasts over 52,000 feature films and television episodes. To learn more please visit www.cinedigm.com.

I am purposely being vague about this review because I want the viewer to take it in for themselves. With the tide of shootings in our country and the stories out in the media before the facts are in, CANAL STREET is a perfect example of it all. Finding myself with a case of the head shakes, it is everyone talking about something and making judgement before the facts are in.

The worst part of it is that it is the media in all forms that consistently do exactly that. Instead of focusing on investigating the true facts it is easy to cast dispersion here and there. CANAL STREET forces everyone to take a look at themselves if they are part of the problem or part of the solution.

I would use this film in high school classrooms if I could because although it is about two young men, it is also about how those two young men treat each other and how all of that can be a catalyst for pain and suffering where there doesn't need to be.

In the end - guilty until proven innocent!

EMPIRE: The Complete Third Season Puts Family Drama in the Music Business

Jeri Jacquin

Coming to DVD is the family that takes music and drama to another level as 20^th Century Fox Home Entertainment brings it all together atop an EMPIRE: The Complete Third Season.

Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray) has left the altar and a fight between Anika (Grace Byers) and Rhonda (Kaitlin Doubleday) will lead to a life and a death. Empire-X-Steam is Lucious’ (Terrence Howard) creation but it’s causing problems within the family and the feds aren’t far behind. Knowing it’s time for a sit down to work out issues, a Lyons dinner is in order.

Jamal (Jussie Smollett) has decided to work toward a campaign for gun violence awareness with Councilman Angelo Dubois (Taye Diggs). Nessa Parker (Sierra A. McClain), a new talent, works with Hakeem on music while Lucious knows he must find a working peace with Cookie (Taraji P. Henson).

Cookie is busy trying to get Jamal back to performing by pairing him up with Kitty (Mariah Carey). When Andre (Trai Byers) is falsely accused of charges, he believes it is due to racial profiling by the police but Tariq (Morocco Omari) uses this as a way to cause Andre to turn. Lucious is once again trying to get Empire but Cookie lets him know that he is all but declaring war.

Lucious gets Shyne (Xzibit) on a deal and sees Angelo as someone who can get in the way of his plans. He also lets Hakeem know that Andre is feeling some kind of way for Nessa and uses that to boost his sales with Empire-X. That all might be a mute point when it is discovered that the family is about to blow when Empire is hacked.

Cookie wants to make a good impression with Diana by having a family dinner and Lucious isn’t happy about anything that has to do with Angelo. Cookie and Lucious have done a good job teaching back handedness in the family when Jamal presents Cookie with a home video that just isn’t cool.

During Helene Von Wyeth’s (Gina Gershon) brings a big fashion event that gets Nessa time in the spotlight, Andre causes problems. Lucious better watch his back as Tariq enlists the help of Leah after making a deal with the feds. Cookie keeps busy with the concert to help Andre become mayor when she really should have been keeping an eye on Empire as the FBI freezes their assets.

Between the FBI and the ex’s feuding, Andre and Shyne are planning something worse for Lucious. An even bigger shocker is who is actually after Lucious in an underhanded way. Cookie has a moment with Lucious and now begins to question her relationship with Angelo.

The family dynamic shifts and the power struggle takes a threatening turn between Empire and X-Stream. The secret between Lucious and Guilana (Nia Long) comes out giving Cookie a reason to glare in that way only she can. When her son is in the emotional crossfire, Diana (Phylicia Rashad) plans her own destruction for the Lyon family. The expansion into Las Vegas is giving everyone an in to cause problems beginning with Angelo and his mother. Lucious, Jamal and Cookie actually have a moment where they see eye to eye about the future of their business until an unexpected agency knocks on their door.

In the middle of family struggles with Bella, it is clear that the DuBois and Lyons are going for the jugular. While trying to discover how all of this has happened, they are shocked with what Diana reveals to them.

The Laviticus Casino opens but there is still the issue of Bella that needs to be taken care of. Cookie is thrown out of the club after causing her normal ruckus and she is on the rampage to bring Lucious big problems. Wanting Jamal to launch is album; she learns that he has done something unexpected. Tariq discovers what the DuBois have done but Leah (Leslie Uggams) stops him from telling anyone else.

It all comes to an even bigger head when Lucious believes he has control of Leah and Cookie doesn’t trust Guliana for one second. The DuBois aren’t even close to being finished with their plans for the Lyon family when Shine turns Empire on its head!

Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment brings award-winning global product and new entertainment to DVD, Bluray, and Digital HD. There amazing collection offers fans an opportunity to expand their own home libraries with the best films. To discover what other titles they have please visit www.fox.com.

The DVD if EMPIRE: The Complete Third Season includes the episodes Light in the Darkness, Sin that Amends, What Remains is Bestial, Cupid Kills, One Before Another, Chimes at Midnight, What We May Be, The Unkindest Cut, A Furnace for your Foe, Sound and Fury, Play On, Strange Bedfellows, My Naked Villainy, Love is a Smoke, Civil Hands Unclean, Absent Child, Toll & Trouble Pt. 1, and Toll & Trouble Pt. 2.

The Special Features include Uncut Music Performances and Studio Sessions that shouldn’t be missed and prepare for the fourth season of EMPIRE that is coming soon on Fox!

EMPIRE: The Complete Third Season is an even more complex season than ever before. Mixing the family drama with outstanding music is what keeps this series high on the list of television watching. Of course Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson bring so much tension and down right shocking twists and turns that I watch just to see what these two characters are going to do next.

Now with the DuBois putting their proverbial hats into the ring to become the next twisted family on the block, I think this season had my jaw dropping harder and more often than the first two seasons.

So, before season four begins, it is time to revisit EMPIRE: The Complete Third Season because this family doesn’t miss a trick!

In the end – it is their reign and their rules!