Pride tells the story of Jim Ellis (Howard), an African-American male struggling to find employment in 1974. A former competitive swimmer, Jim eventually accepts the job of dismantling a recreation center in Philadelphia - one with a pool. Jim’s presence causes friction between him and a janitor, Elston (Mac), who works at the center and doesn’t want to see it closed.

One day while heading to work he sees a group of black teens who have been tossed off of their basketball court. He invites them for a swim and discovers that any (or all) of them could be great swimmers with a bit of training. Jim decides to try and save the pool by starting the city’s first African-American swim team, with some help from Elston.

What follows is a tale of adversity against the odds and burgeoning romances. Needless to say, Pride is a good movie, and definitely worth watching - especially since it’s one of the last movies Bernie Mac ever did.

Crash features a large cast and several different story lines which intertwine with one another and, eventually, culminate in a car crash that bring many of the stories together. In Howard’s case the story is of a black couple, the Thayers, and their brush with the law.

Cameron is a successful television director. On the way home from a night out, however, he is stopped by a racist cop - and has to watch as his wife is molested by said cop. Cameron does nothing and his wife takes obvious exception to his apathy. Cameron insists that there’s nothing he can do as a black man, despite his status.

This attitude doesn’t last, however, and in a moment of enraged passion, as his car is being stolen, Cameron snaps and holds a gun to the heads of his would-be carjackers. He just barely gets away from a tense altercation with the police thanks to one quick-thinking officer who negotiates the gun out of Cameron’s hands.

As for his wife, she finds herself in a dire car accident the day after the molestation - during which the same officer who abused her willingly risks his life to save her from the burning vehicle.

In other words, nothing’s black and white in Crash.

Hustle & Flow tells the story of a Memphis hustler called DJay (Howard) who has become dissatisfied with his life. He wants more than pimping and drug dealing. So, buying a keyboard, he tries to make some hip hop songs. With the help of his friends he manages to do quite well, showing talent for stringing together lyrics in a pleasing way. Using his hustling to fund his recording he manages to do quite well.

But his dream falls apart when, trying to get his songs heard, DJay realizes that the man he gave his demo tape to actually crushed the cassette. Enraged, DJay shoots one of the man’s guards in the arm and is arrested. But his dream comes true when he learns that one of his prostitutes actually managed to get a recording of his songs to a local DJ, who plays the songs on the radio.

Terrence Howard plays the part of Lt. Colonel James Rhodes in the 2008 movie Iron Man. A constant companion of lead character (and eventual Iron Man) Tony Stark, Rhodes is an important secondary character who’s responsible for not only finding Stark in the desert after he’s been kidnapped by terrorists but helping his friend navigate the tricky life of a millionaire and a superhero rolled into one.

Howard is an Iron Man fan of old, as Rhodes featured into the comics quite predominantly not only as a friend of Stark but as another superhero, War Machine. If there are future Iron Man movies Howard will almost certainly get to suit up of his own accord.

Howard and Robert Downey Jr. (who played Tony Stark) were apparently friendly rivals behind the scenes, constantly trying to one-up each other when it came to keeping in shape for the movie.