
FILMS:

Title: "Coach Carter"
Character: Kyra
Release Date: January 14, 2005
Director: Thomas Carter
Rated: PG-13
Written by: Mark Schwahn & John Gatins
Cast: Samuel L. Jackson, Rob Brown, Channing Tatum, Robert Ri'Chard, Ashanti
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Genre: Drama
Official Website: Click to View
Official Trailer: Click to Watch
Opening Week Debut: #1 ($24,182,961)
Movie Storyline: Inspired by a true-life story, “Coach Carter” is an inspirational account of a controversial high school basketball coach, who received both high praise and staunch criticism when he made national news in 1999 for benching his entire undefeated basketball team for poor academic performance.
Ashanti's Character: In "Coach Carter," Ashanti plays Kyra, the girlfriend of a basketball player whose hoop dreams are seemingly jeopardized by a coach who wants to prove to his team that there's more to life than sports.
Availble: Blu-Ray & DVD
Other Info: Ashanti was nominated for MTV's Best Female Breakthrough Performance for her role as Kyra.
Title: "Bride & Prejudice"
Character: Ashanti (Herself)
Release Date: February 11, 2005
Director: Gurinder Chadha
Rated: PG-13
Written by: Paul Mayeda Berge & Gurinder Chadha
Cast: Martin Henderson, Aishwarya Rai, Daniel Gillies, Naveen Andrews, Ashanti
Studio: Miramax Films
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Official Website: Unavailble
Official Trailer: Click to Watch
Movie Storyline: A Bollywood update of Jane Austen's classic tale, in which Mrs. Bakshi is eager to find suitable husbands for her four unmarried daughters. When the rich single gentlemen Balraj and Darcy come to visit, the Bakshis have high hopes, though circumstance and boorish opinions threaten to get in the way of romance.
Ashanti's Character: In "Bride & Prejudice," Ashanti plays herself, she sings hindi and performs "My Lips are waiting (Goa Groove)." Check out a clip from the movie here.
Available: Blu-Ray & DVD
Title: "The Muppets Wizard Of Oz"
Character: Dorothy
Release Date: May 20, 2005 [ABC]
Rated: G
Written by: Debra Frank, Steve L. Hayes, Tom Martin, Adam F. Goldberg
Cast: Queen Latifah, Quentin Tarantino, David Alan Grier
Studio: Disney
Genre: Children
Official Website: Click here to view
Preview: Click here to Watch
Movie Storyline: Dorothy Gale lives with her Auntie Em and Uncle Henry in a trailer park in Kansas. Dorothy has dreams of becoming a famous singer, but when a tornado hits Kansas and Dorothy rushes to save Toto, her prawn (she couldn't afford a dog), she is whisked away to Oz where she meets the four witches (all played by Miss Piggy) and the Munchkins of Oz (the rats). On her way to see the Wizard, she meets the Scarecrow (Kermit), the Tin Thing (Gonzo), and the Cowardly Lion (Fozzie) who all wish to have something given by the wizard. On their way to Emerald City, they are captured by the Wicked Witch of the West (of course, Miss Piggy) and her flying monkeys (other muppets). When they finally make it back to Emerald City, the Wizard is really a man from Hollywood. But he "grants" their wishes, but what they wanted they already had inside (there's a lesson there). When Dorothy finally is back in Kansas, she becomes what she had wanted, a famous singer and on the Muppets Star Search show.
Ashanti's Character: In "Muppets Wizard Of OZ," Ashanti plays the lead role of Dorothy, a very brave and clever girl for her young age, but more than this she was amazingly innocent, empathic, and sincere. A truly righteous and noble girl, she saw good in all things and even insisted upon mercy to enemies to the fullest extent that any law would allow.
Availble: Blu-Ray, DVD, Disney Channel Re-Airs (Check Local listings)
Extra Info: Ashanti reunited as Dorothy in 2009, when she took the lead-role on broadway for the play "The Wiz".
Title: "John Tucker Must Die"
Character: Heather
Release Date: July 28, 2006
Director: Betty Thomas
Rated: PG-13
Written by: Jeff Lowell
Cast: Jesse Metcalfe, Brittany Snow, Sophia Bush, Ashanti
Studio: 20th Century Fox
Genre: Comedy
Official Website: Unavailable
Official Trailer: Click to Watch
Opening Week Debut: #3 ($14,276,534)
Movie Storyline: Kate is the new girl in school. She catches John Tucker (Jesse Metcalfe) dating three different girls at once: Carrie - the smart girl, Heather (Ashanti) - the cheerleader, and Beth - the activist slut; none of them are aware that they are not the only girl in John's heart. Kate, having been raised by a single mother, has seen the pain caused by playboys like John Tucker, and she won't stand idly by. Together with the three jilted ex-girlfriends, they hatch a plan to teach John a lesson. Things rarely go as planned, especially when Kate starts to think that she might be falling for John herself..
Ashanti's Character: Ashanti plays Heather, the head cheerleader who participates in a vengeful scheme against John Tucker, her unfaithful boyfriend and the school's biggest heartthrob.
Availble: Blu-Ray, DVD, FX Re-airs (Check local listings)
Title: "Resident Evil [Exctinction]"
Character: Nurse Betty
Release Date: September 21, 2007
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Rated: R
Written by: Paul W.S. Anderson
Cast: Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Oded Fehr, Mike Epps, Ashanti
Studio: Sony
Genre: Horror
Official Website: Click here to view
Official Trailer: Click to Watch
Opening Week Debut: #1 ($23,678,580)
Movie Storyline: Years after the Raccoon City disaster, Alice is on her own; aware that she has become a liability and could endanger those around her, she is struggling to survive and bring down the Umbrella Corporation led by the sinister Albert Wesker and head researcher Dr. Isaacs. Meanwhile, traveling through the Nevada Desert and the ruins of Las Vegas, Carlos Olivera, L.J., and new survivors K-Mart, Claire Redfield, and Nurse Betty must fight to survive extinction against hordes of zombies, killer crows and the most terrifying creatures created as a result of the deadly T-Virus that has killed millions
Ashanti's Character: A tough young woman who acts as the medical unit in Claire's convoy. She is a nurse, helping to aid members of the group to full recovery. Betty drives the paramedic vehicle and is a love interest of L.J. She sacrifices herself by locking herself inside the bus with the crows when they attacked
Availble: Blu-Ray, DVD, FX/TNT Re-airs (Check local listings)
Autobiograhy Films:
Title: "Princess Of Hip-Hop"
Character: Ashanti
Release Date: September 14, 2004
Studio: Azure
Rated: N/A
Preview: N/A
Storyline: This is an unauthorized presentation of Ashanti providing her very beginnings, pitfalls, reaching to her rise to the top. It has information from her early childhood until her album titled, Chapter II. The narration is by Kulondi Frier. It will provide a full detailed analysis of her record label flops, success, her managers, and the hits that came with her self-titled debut, her sophomore album "Chapter II", and Ashanti's Christmas. This account is done in a positive, uplifting fashion highlighting Ashanti's talent as well as inner humble sweet personality and inner beauty.
The menu has 8 chapters to choose from. Chapter 1 has her birth place, birth date, parents names and brief introductions, as well as Ashanti's interests in dance. There are plenty of photos to view, fast video glimpse, award podium clips, and more. She began with background hooks, dancing on some videos, and other gigs. During that time the documentary mentions how R&B and hip-hop were separate entities and how Mary J Blige and P. Diddy managed to bring both into a nice combination -or so, that's how I interpreted it. Both genres combined into a splash. Mary J Blige taking the title of "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul".
Chapter 2 discusses Ashanti's mom, as having taken notice of her daughter's talent. As Ashanti states, "Singing was an accident". From there her mother took her to talent shows and as Ashanti won most of them it was apparent she had something. Every now and then the clip will put a person talking in the bottom of the screen. One guy mentions how he enjoys Ashanti's mesh of Hip-hop with R&B making it thus more interesting. Also, it has other revealing facts about her first performance wardrobe malfunction and how Ashanti deals with it. Also, it has Ashanti's first shock of Jive not coming through with signing her nor Epic 4 years later. There's mentioning of her dance training, appearance in music videos, her hand in acting like in "Malcolm X".
Chapter 3 is more about Irv Gotti's background and how he became an A&R, his hits, and more. It has quite an array of information on his ties with artists like Ja Rule and others. It explains his connection and influence creating success with artists such as Jay-Z, DMX, and Ja Rule. Irv Gotti's contribution to Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt album, DMX's "It's Dark And Hell Is Hot" and others. A business associate hooked up Ashanti to meet Irv Gotti and the chemistry was right. He immediately signed her. His label was Def Jam --more specifically Murder Inc. He gave Ashanti duets with Big Pun, and Ja Rule -both being #1 hits.
Chapter 4 mentions Ashanti's self-titled debut release and how her first single rose to the #1 spot along with What's Luv and Always On Time duets making it 3 top 10 songs that was the first artist to do that since the Beatles. Furthermore, the album's singles were mentioned along with the videos and how they impacted. Her dreams were definitely being lived and her competition was also taking a view on that. The chapter talks briefly on that and on Ashanti's reaction. Her album debuted at #1.
Chapter 5 is about her remix of certain songs like Un-Foolish sampling The Notorious BIG as well as controversy, haters, and on-line discussions that became heated. It specifically talked also about the Arethra Franklin Lady Of Soul Award that was picked for Ashanti and how it created a huge madness of on-line chaos. Bad mouthing extended to other more serious issues as the FBI did some investigating and decided to search the studio for connections between Irv Gotti and a friend regarding some personal matters which turned out to bring nothing to the FBI.
Chapter 6 begins with Ashanti's continued success as well as road blocks along the way. The PETA organization attacks her for wearing a fur coat on a video for her Christmas album thus once again fueling the fire. But Ashanti kept strong and various clips proved she could take the heat. Her Christmas album was talked about and her first album mentioned as being triple Platinum. She also won the best Contemporary R&B Album. Furthermore, the spotlight heads to Miami as a hot spot for an array of artists and the Hit Factory Studio being a place many do their tracks--including Murder Inc. Her second album Chapter II was scrutinized, talked about, and given much detail. The narrator mentions the videos and how they were done, giving a nice viewing of the actual "in production" type.
Chapter 7 has Ashanti's success carefully analyzed as the "Rain On Me" song had 3 different version videos done thus making it clear Ashanti was definitely on the road to accomplishments. Also, the Christmas album was looked at up close along with her appearances on TV, and the big screens--mentioning an array -- "Sparkle". Her book, Foolish/Unfoolish: Reflections On Love was analyzed with much emphasis on each chapter--definitely inspiring a person to want to buy it.
Chapter 8 is just an exit of the entire video giving clips on all the different life events, with photos, and some last words.
Overall, this is an unauthorized look into Ashanti so there will be no videos, Ashanti talking, or exclusives. It will simply give the listener an idea of who Ashanti is, how she got into the music industry, what it was like, and also on her personality, reactions to success and failures, and the players behind the scenes. It's a pretty good DVD considering there are not many other there to view. I'd recommend this to any die-hard fan who has no knowledge of Ashanti or who has very little idea of how Ashanti began.
Purchase: AMAZON
Title: "The Making Of A Star"
Character: Ashanti
Release Date: December 14, 2004
Re-Release Date: June 25, 2005
Studio: The Inc./The Island Def Jam Music Group
Rated: N/A
Fan Clip: Click here to watch
Storyline: Ashanti's self titled debut studio album was released in April 2002, and sold over three million copies in the United States.[1] It produced the number-one hit "Foolish" (spending 10 weeks atop on Billboard Hot 100) and two more top forty hits, "Happy" and "Baby".[2] Her second album Chapter II (2003), another platinum-seller, was released a year after and enjoyed international chart success, spawning her international hit "Rock Wit U (Awww Baby)".[3] The singer's third studio album Concrete Rose was released in December 2004 stateside and certified platinum by the RIAA one month after release.[3] A minor success in international music markets, however it produced two singles only, including the top twenty hit single "Only U".
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