Rating: 
Summary: Bad Meaning Good
Review: Civil Brand was a very good movie. When my fiance' picked it out, I was just like whatever, but I watched it anyway and was presently surprised. It had an unexpected ending and the cast was great, Da Brat, Mos Def, LisaRaye, Nubush Wright, Lark Vorhees and many more. The acting was superb and very real. I was shocked at how they portrayed a female penitentiary. This movie is worth watching. Later!!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Movie
Review: I enjoyed this movie. I was very suprised and moved by the movie.
I am glad I purchased.
Rating: 
Summary: Powerful, Disturbing, Thought Provoking
Review: I have to give this film 4 stars because the ending was too similar to films of the past, ala "Thelma & Louis," "Set It Off,' meaning the bad guys don't really win. The women are in jail because they are hardended criminals, yet the film is set up for us to feel compassion for these women. They are mothers, they have feelings and the are horribly abused by the prison captain. The stand out roles in this film are not the obvious. Lisa Raye is a very beautiful woman who I support, but her acting is pretty much the same in every film, she pouts, she tries to look tough, i.e., she could have been Diamond from "Players Club." Da Brat did some pretty good acting as the films narrator Sabrina. Lark Voorhies shined as little mama and N'Bushe Wright proved that she deserves more film roles. Monica Calhoun is in this film, Tichina Arnold and several other leading African-American women including MC Lyte who acted really well in her role. Not to mention Mos Def as a college going prison guard. This film is well written in most parts, there were a few scenes that had me wondering, like why the women were doing sit ups in the hole, but other than that it was a good film. I thought it would be like those cheesy prison movies in the 70's, but it is very thought provoking. It makes the viewer think about prison as a business and how when abuse takes place behind prison walls it is often hard to get word to the outside. This film made me depressed at times because the women just faced so much tragedy. This movie is definitly worth watching, it just can be a downer.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Disturbing, Thought Provoking
Review: I have to give this film 4 stars because the ending was too similar to films of the past, ala "Thelma & Louis," "Set It Off,' meaning the bad guys don't really win. The women are in jail because they are hardended criminals, yet the film is set up for us to feel compassion for these women. They are mothers, they have feelings and the are horribly abused by the prison captain. The stand out roles in this film are not the obvious. Lisa Raye is a very beautiful woman who I support, but her acting is pretty much the same in every film, she pouts, she tries to look tough, i.e., she could have been Diamond from "Players Club." Da Brat did some pretty good acting as the films narrator Sabrina. Lark Voorhies shined as little mama and N'Bushe Wright proved that she deserves more film roles. Monica Calhoun is in this film, Tichina Arnold and several other leading African-American women including MC Lyte who acted really well in her role. Not to mention Mos Def as a college going prison guard. This film is well written in most parts, there were a few scenes that had me wondering, like why the women were doing sit ups in the hole, but other than that it was a good film. I thought it would be like those cheesy prison movies in the 70's, but it is very thought provoking. It makes the viewer think about prison as a business and how when abuse takes place behind prison walls it is often hard to get word to the outside. This film made me depressed at times because the women just faced so much tragedy. This movie is definitly worth watching, it just can be a downer.
Rating:
Summary: Powerful, Disturbing, Thought Provoking
Review: I have to give this film 4 stars because the ending was too similar to films of the past, ala "Thelma & Louis," "Set It Off,' meaning the bad guys don't really win. The women are in jail because they are hardended criminals, yet the film is set up for us to feel compassion for these women. They are mothers, they have feelings and the are horribly abused by the prison captain. The stand out roles in this film are not the obvious. Lisa Raye is a very beautiful woman who I support, but her acting is pretty much the same in every film, she pouts, she tries to look tough, i.e., she could have been Diamond from "Players Club." Da Brat did some pretty good acting as the films narrator Sabrina. Lark Voorhies shined as little mama and N'Bushe Wright proved that she deserves more film roles. Monica Calhoun is in this film, Tichina Arnold and several other leading African-American women including MC Lyte who acted really well in her role. Not to mention Mos Def as a college going prison guard. This film is well written in most parts, there were a few scenes that had me wondering, like why the women were doing sit ups in the hole, but other than that it was a good film. I thought it would be like those cheesy prison movies in the 70's, but it is very thought provoking. It makes the viewer think about prison as a business and how when abuse takes place behind prison walls it is often hard to get word to the outside. This film made me depressed at times because the women just faced so much tragedy. This movie is definitly worth watching, it just can be a downer.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Movie
Review: I loved this movie. I didn't care for known rappers to be in the movie, because I just don't like famous rappers in movies much, but that doesn't effect my rating of this movie at all. I'm definitely going to add this to my movie collection later on. I liked the ending because it was sad. I'm a guy, but I had to shed some tears, especially for that Bible reading woman. The main guard in the movie angered me and I wanted to kill him myself while watching the movie. I liked the story, the acting, the violence, etc. If this was a "white movie" instead of a "black movie," I probably wouldn't have liked it, but this movie kept it street and kept it hardcore.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't mess with Jailed females!!!
Review: I recall when this movie was being filmed. Lisa Raye did an interview about the movie. The film is about prison being big business. The women are being exploited, abused and enough is enough. The final straw is when one character ends up dies. Lisa Raye plays Francis Shepeard who is in prison for killing her abusive husband. She ends up heading an all out boycott on the prison conditions. Da Brat is Sabrina and she is the narrator. Which is cool, because her acting leaves much to be desired. The movie is okay, but I think the movie would have been better if we could have seen a flashback about Francis' character having to deal with her husband. The movie is okay.
Rating: 
Summary: Pretty Good
Review: I saw this movie a few month's ago and I was suprised, I expect it to be horrible. One thing I wish though is that MC Lyte had a bigger role (she's a great actress), I thought the other ladies were good too.
Rating:
Summary: Something was missing in Civil Brand
Review: In your Classic Women's Prison flick (ie: Pam Grier in "Big Doll House", "Women in Cages", etc. ), There is almost always a shower scene and/or a scene when the women first arrive in prison and they are stripped and hosed down and the Correction Officers check their various orifices for drugs. Neither was in this movie so I feel cheated for not being able to see all those beautiful Nubian Women in a nice hot and steamy shower scene. I mean c'mon!! LisaRaye, N'Bushe Wright, Da Brat, Monica Calhoun and Lark Voorhies and NO SHOWER SCENE?!!!! Other than that MAJOR miss, the film was decent.
Rating:
Summary: VERY Important subject matter, but unfortunately a
Review: pretty much mediocre presentation. The acting ranged from surprisingly good to passable, the characters were decently developed in moist cases, the script fairly tight except for a few small holes. But for some reason, the film doesn't hold together as well as it should. One major problem is the director trying to get way too artistic with the camerawork (flashes, fades to B&W, repeats, etc) instead of just telling the story. That actually made the film look far more amateurish than it really was. Second, there was too much time spent on several scenes (solitary, for example), when that time would have been better spent on, perhaps, more/additional character development and/or fleshing out. Third, some of the script was a little too melodramatic. Still; NOT your typical women-in-prison flick, but definitely 10 notches above in intelligence. The crime is it could have been way, way more.
Oh... unlike others, I don't classify movies as "white" or "black," but as movies, plain and simple.
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