Title: Poetic Justice
Genre: Drama
Director: John Singleton
Rating: Rated R
Play Time: 110 minutes
Released: 1993
Tupac's Character: Lucky
Review: Director John Singleton (Boyz N the Hood, Rosewood) made an earnest effort in this, his second, film to say a great deal that is true and relevant about living and loving in a violent, difficult time in American history. Janet Jackson plays a beautician and poet who withdraws into herself after her boyfriend is murdered by gangsters. The late Tupac Shakur plays a postman who tries to get through to her, and the two travel on a course through urban America, connecting with family and community. Singleton has so much on his mind that the film comes out a terrible muddle, but there is a certain integrity peeking through the fog. Shakur makes a startlingly good impression in his film debut, and Jackson strips away her star veneer to play something like a real person--and entirely succeeds. Maya Angelou wrote the poems that pass as those penned by Jackson's character, and she also appears in the film.

Title: Above The Rim
Genre: Sport
Director: Jeff Pollack
Rating: Rated R
Play Time: 93 minutes
Released: 1994
Tupac's Character: Birdie
Review: Above The Rim is about the dreams of a high school basketball whiz named Kyle (Duane Martin) to use his basketball skills as a ticket out of the inner city. Kyle wants to play in the NBA and when this doesn't work out his best friend, Bugaloo (Marlon Wayan's), talks him into visiting a club run by the sinister Birdie (Tupac Shakur), and the kid is seduced by its shabby glamour into agreeing to play for Birdie's team. Birdie is a drug dealer, and that's a fact well known to the tall, silent Shep (Leon), a former Rucker's star who moved out of town but is now back as a security guard at the high school. Shep was once friendly with Kyle's mother (Tonya Pinkins), and now, as they begin to see each other again, he tries to guide Kyle in the direction of college. But Kyle is going to play in the neighborhood Shoot-Out, a tournament held in Rucker's Playground.

Title: Bullet
Genre: Crime
Director: Julian Temple
Rating: Rated R
Play Time: 95 minutes
Released: 1997
Tupac's Character: Tank
Review: Bullet is a hard criminal who's just been released out of jail. His criminal bodies were waiting for him at the gate and soon the act of crime and drugs starts again. Some old settlements has to be taking care of. In no time a new drug war in the neighborhood begins.
 

Title: Gridlock'd
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Director: Vondie Curtis Hall
Rating: Rated R
Play Time: 91 minutes
Released: 1997
Tupac's Character: Spoon
Review: British actor Tim Roth and the rapper Tupac Shakur are an unexpectedly charismatic and refreshing duo in this off-beat buddy movie. Closer than two brothers, these junkie musicians vow to kick their habits after a soul-shattering New Year's Eve. Gridlock'd is fueled by characterization, of which there is plenty, as the two play off one another with such finesse you would never know Shakur had been a relative novice to the acting profession. Off-beat humor lightens a bleak reality as these outcasts run smack against a brutal bureaucracy. Except for a tired subplot meant to jazz up the action, director Vondie Curtis-Hall employs an inventive approach in this sadly ignored theatrical release.

Title: Gang Related
Genre: Crime
Director: Jim Kouf
Rating: Rated R
Play Time: 111 Minutes
Released: 1997
Tupac's Character: Rodriguez
Review: Corrupt cops Belushi and Shakur sell coke to dealers, then kill them and recycle the drugs, but their scam starts to unravel when one of their victims turns out to be an undercover DEA agent. Sleazy crime thriller maintains some interest for a while, but falls apart due to its laughably contrived script and a schizophrenic tone that alternates faux-nihilism with shameless sentimentality. The late Shakur shows some talent in his last role, but Belushi gives an embarrassingly hammy performance. Super 35.

Title: Thug Immortal
Rating: NR
Play Time: 90 minutes
Released: 1998
Review: From his early appearances on record with Digital Underground to his popular and influential solo albums, Tupac Shakur was a rap phenomenon, and one of the pioneers of gangsta rap. Though often attacked by the media (and Dan Quayle) for his "thug" lifestyle, Tupac's life and art were filled with complexities that his detractors either did not see or just ignored in order to have a villain or a more sensational story. THUG IMMORTAL is an intimate look at Tupac's life told through never-before-seen footage and interviews with his close friends, revealing an artist who grew up a thug, but one who soon tired of that lifestyle and its trappings, revealing a Tupac far different from the one most of America knows.

Title: Best of Tupac
Rating: Rated NR
Play Time: N/A
Released: 1999
Review: make it or break it videos, which also puts music videos on tapes created this DVD of 2pac videos. unfortunately, some of the aren't perfect quality...it seems as if they just dubbed the VHS versions onto a DVD (Holla if ya hear me doesn't have great sound, so many tears has some static, but the others seem ok), but it's still worth the price cuz it's 2pac. I would have given it 5 stars, but it's not official 2pac and some busters are probably making money and not giving it back to 2pac's estate.

Title: Before I Wake
Director: Sean Long
Rating: Rated NR
Play Time: 93 minutes
Released: 2001
Review: Before I Wake is not the first home video to explore the life, art and tragically abrupt premature death of hip hop phenomenon Tupac Shakur, but it clearly distinguishes itself. At once personal, painful and insightful, Before I Wake lays bare Tupac's essence, creative light and horrific murder, recalled by someone who perhaps knew him best at the time of his death - his bodyguard Frank Alexander. I had a candid conversation with Alexander - known as 'Big Frank' to Tupac, and he spoke about the grief and healing of this cinematic journey back through time to that dreaded night, and how it has impacted on his own life. Tupac Shakur: Before I Wake is available on home video through Step N' Up Enterprises, Sepia tone Entertainment and Xenon Pictures.

Title: Thug Angel
Director: Peter Spirer
Rating: NR
Play Time: 92 minutes
Released: 2001
Review: The title says it all: Tupac Shakur was as much angel as outlaw. Unlike some of the other profiles made in the wake of his passing, Thug Angel doesn't focus only on the first few days of his career or the last few days before his death, but on his entire life. That makes it valuable as much for the fan as for the merely curious. The production was backed by friends and associates and includes never-before-seen material. It's surprisingly evenhanded, juxtaposing footage of Tupac at 17, for example--sounding mature beyond his years--with an interview conducted years later on a shooting range. Passion was still in full effect, but idealism had been replaced by paranoia. Peter Spirer's film is a documentary, not a music video, and contains only snippets of Tupac's work. At its best, Thug Angel makes a compelling case for his continued relevance as an artist and activist.