Genres

Gene Hackman and Willem Dafoe star in this well-intentioned and largely successful civil rights-era thriller. Mississippi Burning, using the real-life 1964 disappearance of three civil rights workers as its inspiration, tells the story of two FBI men (Hackman and Dafoe, entertainingly called "Hoover Boys" by the locals) who come in to try to solve the crime. Hackman is a former small-town Mississippi sheriff himself, while Dafoe is a by-the-numbers young hotshot. Yes, there is some tension between the two. The movie has an interesting fatalism, as all the FBI's best efforts incite more and more violence, which becomes disturbing--the film's m...

Jimmie Rainwood was minding his own business when two corrupt police officers (getting an address wrong) burst into his house, expecting to find a major drug dealer. Rainwood is shot, and the officers frame him as a drug dealer. Rainwood is convicted of drug dealing, based on the perjured evidence of a police informant. Thrown into a seedy jail, fighting to prove his innocence is diffucult when he has to deal with the realities of prison life, where everyone claims they were framed.

This film tells the story of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, an African-American man who rose above his troubled youth to become a top contender for the middle-weight boxing title. However, his dreams are shattered when he is accused of a triple murder, and is convicted to three natural-life terms. Despite becoming a cause celebre and his dogged efforts to prove his innocence through his autobiography, the years of fruitless efforts have left him discouraged. This changes when an African-American boy and his Canadian mentors read his book and are convinced of his innocence enough to work for his exoneration. However, what Hurricane and his friends ...

In BACK IN THE DAY, Reggie Cooper, a young man from the rough side of the tracks who lives with his divorced, affluent father in order to avoid the gang activity that almost claimed his teenage life in his mother's neighborhood. When Reggie reconnects with a recently paroled friend from his past, he slips back into a life of crime with fatal consequences. Reggie becomes involved in the murder of a local preacher and in the aftermath of this crime, he falls in love with the preacher's daughter. Ultimately, he must choose between losing everything he cares about and his lifelong loyalty to his oldest friend. BACK IN THE DAY chronicles the power...

Dennis Allan is an scientist who visits Haiti on the strength of a rumour of a drug which renders the recipient totally paralyzed but conscious. The drug's effects often fool doctors, who declare the victims dead. Could this be the origin of the "zombie" legend? Alan embarks on a surprising and often surreal investigation of the turbulent social chaos that is Haiti during the revolution which ousted hated dictator "Baby Doc" Duvalier. Often a pawn in a greater game, Alan must decide what is science, what is superstition, and what is the unknown in a anarchistic society where police corruption and witch-doctory are commonplace.

When the girl that detective Joe Hallenback is protecting gets murdered, the boyfriend of the murdered girl (ex-football player Jimmy Dix) attempts to investigate and solve the case. What they discover is that there is deep seated corruption going on between a crooked politician and the owner of a pro football team.

After the death of the President, his successor is on the campaign trail to be re-elected. On a stop in Colorado, he is suddenly snowed in and he and his entourage are forced to take shelter in a small diner. Of course, the group completely take over from the diner's owner and his French-Canadian waitress. Also in the diner is a local redneck and a married couple. Suddenly, the movie moves into a suspense film as the President learns that Iraq has invaded Kuwait and slaughtered hundreds of American soldiers. Setting up temporary communications, the President announces that he will launch a nuclear attack on Iraq immediately if the country doe...

Homicide detective Dave Robicheaux has quit the New Orleans police department, has stopped drinking, and is living in the swamplands with his wife Annie. Dave runs a bait-and-tackle shop in New Iberia. Things are fine until the day Dave and Annie, entirely by happenstance, are on the scene when a drug smuggler's airplane crashes into the bayou, killing a number of people. Donning scuba gear, Dave succeeds in rescuing one of the passengers, an El Salvadoran girl, whom Dave and Annie take home with them. Annie names her Alafair, after Dave's mother. The plane crash brings DEA agent Minos Dautrieve in to investigate. And the drug connection brin...