Raymond J. Barry

The paths of several eccentric and troubled strangers cross one night. The criminal Carlos breaks out from prison and her pimp Felonious Spinks drives the runaway car. Carlos seeks revenge against the criminal Henrique, who raped and introduced her to prostitution. The smalltime crook Johnny is married with Jane, but he is still fancy Olivia that is the love of his life and will marry his best friend Bill while Jane organizes a shower for Olivia. Johnny's father is the pedophile Mr. Grand that sells abducted teenagers to Henrique. Mr. Grand has injured his wife when she asked for the divorce and now she is crippled. Johnny plots a scheme with the travesty Gigi LaRush to separate Olivia from Bill and is negotiating fake passports with Carlos and Spinks. But when Bill and Gigi are arrested by a police officer and Mr. Grand kidnaps Tammy Snow, the lives of these players are entwined with tragic consequences. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Singer Dewey Cox overcomes adversity to become a musical legend. The up-and-down-and-up-again story of musician Dewey Cox, whose songs would change a nation. On his rock 'n roll spiral, Cox sleeps with 411 women, marries three times, has 36 kids, stars in his own 70s TV show, collects friends ranging from Elvis to the Beatles to a chimp, and gets addicted to - and then kicks - every drug known to man; but despite it all, Cox grows into a national icon and eventually earns the love of a good woman - longtime backup singer Darlene.

The film follows a single day in the life of an LAPD cop, Jake Hoyt (Hawke), who is scheduled to be evaluated by Detective Alonzo Harris (Denzel Washington), a highly decorated LAPD narcotics officer who could advance Jake's career. In Alonzo's car, the pair of officers observe teenage Mara Salvatrucha members dealing drugs in a park. Instead of arresting the buyers, Alonzo confiscates the drugs and tells Jake to take a hit from the marijuana. Jake initially refuses, but Alonzo puts a gun to his head and says Jake's failure to use drugs could get him killed by a street dealer. Jake relents and smokes the marijuana, but shortly thereafter, Alonzo tells him the marijuana was laced with PCP. While driving, Jake notices a female high school student being sexually assaulted by two men in an alley. Jake jumps out to help her and subdues the attackers, but Alonzo refuses to report the incident. He tells the girl to leave, telling Jake that the girl's gang member (Sureno) cousin will seek the attackers out for revenge. Jake discovers the girl's wallet on the ground and takes it. Jake objects to Alonzo's use of vigilante "street justice," but Alonzo characterizes Jake as naive. Alonzo and Jake then go to the home of a drug dealer named the Sandman and serve a phony search warrant, which is actually a cover for Alonzo to steal drug money. Jake again objects to Alonzo's actions, especially since it could have gotten them killed. The duo then arrive at Baldwin Village to visit Alonzo's Salvadoran girlfriend Sara (Eva Mendes) and their young son. Afterward, Alonzo meets with a group of high-ranking police officials dubbed the "Three Wise Men" (Tom Berenger, Harris Yulin and Raymond J. Barry). They tell Alonzo that they know he owes money to the Russian Mafia and suggest that he leave town. But Alonzo insists he can control the situation and gets permission from the Wise Men to "cash in on an account" with the caveat that he avoids a scandal. Alonzo later tells Jake that he had to give Sandman's money to the Three Wise Men to obtain an arrest warrant. Alonzo takes Jake and several other narcotic officers to the home of Roger (Scott Glenn), a drug dealer and former police officer the two visited earlier. Using the warrant, they seize several million dollars from underneath the floor of Roger's kitchen, but Jake refuses to take his share of the cash -- much to the suspicion of the other cops. Alonzo then shoots Roger and arranges the scene to appear like a justified shooting. Jake refuses to lie, and after being threatened seizes Alonzo's gun. A Mexican standoff ensues, with Jake threatening to shoot Alonzo while the other officers threaten to shoot Jake. Alonzo then reveals that the LAPD will run a blood test on Jake following the shooting, thus detecting the PCP he had smoked earlier. Alonzo offers to have the test results falsified in exchange for Jake's cooperation. Jake reluctantly agrees, and Alonzo again urges Jake to drop his naive view of police work. Alonzo then drives Jake to the home of a Mexican gangster named "Smiley" (Cliff Curtis), allegedly to run an errand. Alonzo gives Smiley a package containing a large stack of money, which Smiley asks his sister to count while he plays poker with two other gang members. Jake is persuaded to join the game and engages in tense conversation with the three men. After Smiley's sister confirms to him that the count is correct, Smiley receives a message on his phone. Smiley then reveals to Jake that Alonzo has abandoned him, and explains Alonzo's situation: by midnight, Alonzo must pay $1 million to the Russian mob for killing one of their couriers in Las Vegas or be killed himself. Alonzo has paid Smiley to kill Jake. Jake tries to escape but is overpowered and dragged into the bathroom to be executed. The men search his pockets, finding the wallet he had picked up earlier from the girl he rescued, who is Smiley's cousin. Smiley calls the girl, who confirms that Jake defended her against the attackers. In gratitude for protecting his cousin, Smiley lets Jake go, and asks for no hard feelings because the planned execution was "just business". Jake returns to Sara's apartment looking for Alonzo. He attempts to arrest Alonzo, but Alonzo resists and they fight. Jake eventually subdues him, after which the local gang members and residents begin congregating to watch. Alonzo tries to get the crowd on his side by offering a reward to whoever kills Jake, but they have grown tired of Alonzo's arrogance and allow Jake to walk away with the money. In his escape to LAX, Alonzo is surrounded by Russian hit-men who kill him. The final scene has Jake pulling into his driveway and going home to his wife, Lisa (Charlotte Ayanna), and daughter, while a radio broadcast describes Alonzo's death as occurring honorably while "serving a high-risk warrant near LAX."

A young man fresh out of law school tries to win a reprieve for his racist grandfather who is on death row. Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall seeks at the last minute to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi prison which has held him since the crime. The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall," about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber. While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds. Not only does he fight for his grandfather, but perhaps for himself as well. He has come to heal the wounds of his own father's suicide, to mitigate the secret shame he has always felt for the genetic fluke which made this man his grandfather, and to bring closure -- one way or another -- to the suffering the old man seems to have brought to everyone he has ever known. But, would mercy soften his grandfather's heart? —Mark Fleetwood <mfleetwo@mail.coin.missouri.edu>

Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn), who was sentenced to death for the murder of a teenage couple, has been on death row at the Louisiana State Penitentiary for six years. He committed his crimes with Carl Vitello (Michael Cullen), who was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. As his scheduled execution date approaches, Poncelet asks Sister Helen Prejean (Susan Sarandon), with whom he has corresponded, to help him with a final appeal. Poncelet had written several letters to Helen, and finally Helen agrees to respond to him, and they start a correspondence. Poncelet claims that Jesus visited in his cell. Sister Helen decides to visit Poncelet, who is arrogant, sexist (calls the mother of his own child a bitch) and racist (hates niggers) and does not even pretend to feel remorse. Chaplain Farlely (Scott Wilson) is the prison priest & very orthodox. He does not support Helen's visits to Poncelet as he thinks Poncelet is guilty and is only trying to take advantage of Helen. Poncelet protests his innocence and insists Vitello killed the two teenagers and that he was only doing what he was told under the influence of booze and drugs. Poncelet also shows Helen the pic of his baby girl, whom he has only met once. He says that in 6 yrs, he has learned the law and has even written his own motion of appeal, he just needs a lawyer to file it with the court. Poncelet is convicted for the kidnapping, sexual assault and murder of Walter Delacroix (Peter Sarsgaard) & Hope Percy (Missy Yager). Helen argues that both Vitello and Poncelet were there and yet Vitello got life, and Poncelet got death. Poncelet is scheduled for execution by the state's new lethal injection machine (1st shot paralyzes you, the 2nd shot explodes the lungs and the 3rd shot stops the heart). Convincing an experienced attorney Hilton Barber (Robert Prosky) to take on Poncelet's case pro Bono, Sister Helen tries to have his sentence commuted to life imprisonment. Hilton coaches Poncelet for the upcoming pardon board hearing. He says if Poncelet appears to be "human", it will be difficult to kill him. He argues for Poncelet's mother Lucille & his brother Craig Poncelet (Jack Black) to be at the hearing. At the pardon hearing, Hilton argues that Poncelet didn't have money to hire a proper lawyer and was assigned one by the state. He was a tax attorney, who never tried a capital case ever. The Trial lasted 5 days, and the jury took 4 hours to decide. The lawyer raised one objection during the entire trial. The Prosecution argues that Poncelet killed 2 people and their families are suffering too. Poncelet is proven guilty in court in trial, appeals and so on. He is not a good boy. Sister Helen's application for commutation is refused. The board rules to deny clemency and execution is on for 1 week later. After many visits, she establishes a relationship with him. At the same time, she gets to know Poncelet's mother, Lucille (Roberta Maxwell), and the families of the two victims. The victims' families (Earl Delacroix (Raymond J. Barry), Clyde Percy (R. Lee Ermey), Mary Beth Percy (Celia Weston)) do not understand Sister Helen's efforts to help Poncelet and claim that she is "taking his side". They desire "absolute justice" i.e. his life for those of their children. IN course of her support, Helen attracts vilification from her own family, and the wider society, who condemn her actions. Poncelet asks Sister Helen to be his spiritual adviser through his execution, and she agrees. Helen meets Earl who tells him about his memories of his son. Mary tells Helen about how Hope was going to join the air force within a week before she was sexually assaulted and killed. She wanted to serve overseas. That day, she had a date with Walter. Hope didn't return that night and the Percy's called the Delacroixs and learn that Walter didn't return home either. They thought the kids ran away and got married. The bodies were found 6 days later. Hope was nude, and her vagina was torn up. She was stabbed 17 times with the class pin she was wearing. Clyde remembers Poncelet being snug, arrogant and unrepentant at the trial. He even mocked Clyde. Helen starts spending more time with Poncelet as his time nears. She gets him to realize that even white people can be lazy and not just niggers. Poncelet gives interviews on TV praising Hitler and his Aryan supremacy work. He also says that he would like to come back as a terrorist and bomb govt buildings. Helen is livid and tells Poncelet that he is making it very easy for people to kill him. Meanwhile she tries to get Poncelet to realize that parents of the kids who died are also hurting for their loss. Earl's wife files for divorce as she blames Earl for not doing enough. Poncelet is moved to an isolated facility in prep for the execution. Helen is now able to visit him for longer hours in a day. Poncelet is also taken away for measurement (weight, height etc), as part of the official procedures. Helen meets guards and medical staff who will be part of the execution process. Helen encourages him to read the bible as seek redemption in the truth. Poncelet offers to take a lie detector test, but the results are inconclusive as he was feeling stressed about the execution. Governor Benedict (Kevin Cooney) rejects the clemency request as Poncelet is already publicly vilified. Poncelet meets his family the day before the execution. It was a normal meeting, with family exchanging stories about what's going on. Eventually, the family is asked to leave. Helen gets to spend the whole night with Poncelet, the night before the morning of the execution. Helen tells Poncelet to stop blaming, niggers, govt, the world for what happening to him and to start taking some responsibility. Sister Helen tells Poncelet that his redemption is possible only if he takes responsibility for what he did. Just before he is taken from his cell, Poncelet tearfully admits to Sister Helen that he had killed the boy and sexually assaulted the girl, before Vitello killed her. Helen tells Poncelet that the truth has set him free. As he is prepared for execution, he appeals to the boy's father for forgiveness and tells the girl's parents that he hopes his death brings them peace. Poncelet is executed by lethal injection and given a proper burial. The murdered boy's father attends the funeral ceremony; although he is still filled with hate, he soon begins to pray with Sister Helen.

Darren McCord, a fire marshal for the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, finds himself in a race against time to save his daughter, the Vice President and a crowded stadium, when terrorists take over an NHL Stanley Cup game. Darren McCord takes his two kids to a Pittsburgh Penguins National Hockey League play-off game, unknowing that the sports arena has been taken over by terrorists, who are holding the Vice President of the United States, as well as many other high-ranking officials hostage. Darren later becomes the only one who is aware of the situation. And, the stakes are raised when the terrorists announce that they will blow-up the building at the end of the game. Therefore, Darren must not only subdue the terrorists, but postpone the game and send it to overtime. —Anonymous The Vice President is being held at gunpoint. The Pittsburgh Civic Arena is wired with enough explosives to blow up the whole city. And if $1 billion isn't delivered soon, thousands will die... ...Darren McCord is in the arena. An arson investigator, he's seen what explosives can do to people. And he won't let it happen again. Because this time, one wrong move and his daughter dies, too... —Stephen Mertz

Daryl's parents ship him off to the big city to live with his brother, hoping he will have a better life there. After a baggage mix-up at the airport, Daryl finds himself in possession of a drug cache, which a drug dealer wants back. Farm boy Daryl Cage's parents ship him off to the big city to live with his brother, hoping he will have a better life there. After a baggage mixup at the airport, Daryl finds himself in possession of a drug cache, which a ruthless drug dealer wants back. The dealer murders Daryl's brother and the small town boy ends up all alone in the big city, being pursued by both the drug dealer and the police, who suspect him of the murder.