Rubén Blades

Oscar winner Denzel Washington and Ryan Reynolds star in the action-thriller Safe House. Washington plays the CIA`s most dangerous traitor, who stuns the intelligence community when he surfaces in South Africa. When the safe house to which he`s remanded is attacked by brutal mercenaries, a rookie (Reynolds) is forced to help him escape. As the masterful manipulator toys with his reluctant protege, the young operative finds his morality tested and idealism shaken. Now, they must stay alive long enough to uncover who wants them dead. Legendary spy Tobin Frost (Washington) has eluded capture for almost a decade.

John J. is a New York City hitman aging into retirement, with a loving 40-something girlfriend who has a young daughter that he dotes on. He keeps his gangster life a secret from both of them. One night he stabs a man in line at a club and swiftly gets away with the murder. Not long after, he goes to his boss for another assignment, which will take him to Buenos Aries. After arriving in Argentina, he meets with the men who have arranged the hit, and he begins to work on the plan for murdering a corrupt general. Despite his insistence that the job be done in less than three days, the plan gets extended for a few weeks. With so much time to wander around, John becomes captivated by tango dancers at local clubs, particularly one ravishing girl named Manuela. He asks her to teach him the tango, yet she is reluctant, and encourages her sister to help him. John and Manuela have a candid conversation over coffee. She admits she is single with a 2-year-old daughter. He says he is essentially married to his girlfriend, but he has been with other women. He doubts that he would "have a chance" with her since he is so old, but she says that indeed he does. Over time, John and Manuela go out dancing and he learns more of the tango as he continues to prepare for his hit job. One evening he enjoys a nice dinner with Manuela and some of her family. John has grown to distrust the men who have set up the hit, so he pulls off the murder sooner than expected, and evades capture by both the gangsters and the police. He had agreed to meet Manuela and her daughter at a park, but he gets caught up in trying to escape the country. On the plane back to the U.S., John fantasizes of dancing the tango with Manuela. Having returned to NYC, John reunites with his girlfriend and her daughter. He later shows the little girl some tango moves. In a coda tacked on to roll under the closing credits, Manuela says in voiceover that she has provided John with a video of new tango lessons that she hopes he will enjoy.

A successful South Bronx drug dealer turns his back on his roots and gives money to a Wall Street broker to invest for him. A big time drug dealer Victor Rosa is looking to get out of the game and sees his chance with a big deal and a new friend who happens to be a Wall St. stockbroker. Thinking this will be his chance to go out on top, Victor soon finds out that he has been double crossed and his last option is to get revenge. —El Toro

Rory, an Irishman on a secret mission, seeks refuge in the home of NYPD Sergeant Tom O`Meara. But when violence is visited on Tom`s home and family, he begins to suspect Rory.

The sequel to Chinatown (1974) finds J.J. "Jake" Gittes investigating adultery and murder, and the money that comes from oil. Private detective Jake Gittes has a new client. Jake Berman believes his wife is cheating on him and wants Gittes and his associates to catch her in the act. Everything appears to be going according to plan until Berman shoots the man dead. It should be an open-and-shut case but now Gittes is drawn into a complex web that involves far more than infidelity. —grantss After the war, L.A. private eye Jake Gittes is hired by realtor Jake Berman. He proves the infidelity of Berman's wife Kitty and sets up a way for her to be caught in the act. At the rendezvous, Berman shoots the co-respondent who turns out to be his business partner. Gittes finds himself in the middle of a complicated web, under pressure from all sides for a wire recording of the fatal encounter. He then realises that the land the partners were developing was once an orange grove connected with a case that he has never quite gotten over. —Jeremy Perkins {J-26}

The accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort. In the tiny town of Milagro, New Mexico, where the local water is a premium resource, shady developer Ladd Devine has conceived a glitzy resort that will ultimately siphon off all the water from the neighboring crop-fields. When handyman and farmer Joe Mondragon accidentally breaks a water valve reserved for major companies, he inadvertently sets off a small-scale water-rights war between the farmers and the developers. —Jwelch5742 Milagro is a poor, drought-stricken New Mexico village populated largely by Mexican-Americans. The only economic activity of any note is the development of the partially state-funded Miracle Valley Recreation Area which will consist of among other items a ski resort and a golf course. It is being developed by rich out-of-town white people, namely the [Ladd] Devine Land Development Company, for rich out-of-town white people. Milagro resident, handyman Joe Mondragon, who just wants to earn money to support his family, can't even get a job with Devine working on this development. In frustration, Joe kicks and breaks a sluice on an irrigation ditch that is diverting all the water of the region to Devine's development, that break which ends up flooding a small field owned by Joe. It is a former beanfield his legacy as passed down to him by his father, and which is located in the middle of the recreation development area, Joe the one resident who did not sell. In this act, Joe comes up with the idea of "stealing" the water to do with the field as it was intended, namely to plant a crop of beans. With that stealing of water caught up in state bureaucracy, Joe's act of public mischief draws the battle lines largely by race and by pro versus anti-Miracle Valley development, with the beanfield itself the physical symbol of the battle. While some necessarily need to straddle the line, such as Chicano Sheriff Bernabe Montoya, others may not be as one-sided in the matter as they appear on the surface. —Huggo In Milagro, a small town in the American Southwest, Ladd Devine plans to build a major new resort development. While activist Ruby Archuleta and lawyer/newspaper editor Charlie Bloom realize that this will result in the eventual displacement of the local Hispanic farmers, they cannot arouse much opposition because of the short term opportunities offered by construction jobs. But when Joe Mondragon illegally diverts water to irrigate his bean field, the local people support him because of their resentment of water use laws that favor the rich like Devine. When the Governor sends in ruthless troubleshooter Kyril Montana to settle things quickly before the lucrative development is cancelled, a small war threatens to erupt. —Reid Gagle

Detective Rita Rizzoli (Whoopi Goldberg) is an undercover narcotics police officer who stages an undercover buy with drug dealer Tito Delgadillo, when during the bust she sees her friend and informant Charlene being dragged out of the bar by her pimp and runs to her aid, alerting Delgadillo of being an undercover cop. After saving Charlene and shooting the pimp, Rizzoli notices all the money used for the buy is missing. Delgadillo retreats to a warehouse in Los Angeles where a family of Asian immigrants is preparing plastic envelopes of imported cocaine stamped with the gang's brand name "Fatal Beauty". One worker, however, has been sampling too much of the drug and, in his intoxicated state, prepares envelopes with a fatally high concentration of cocaine and a misaligned stamp. Delgadillo discovers the error but before they can correct it, the house is attacked by two small-time hoods, Leo Nova and Earl Skinner (Brad Dourif and Mike Jolly) who kill everyone within including Delgadillo and steal the lethal product. Back at the police station, Rizzoli is chewed out by her boss, Lt. Kellerman (John P. Ryan), for ruining the bust when he receives a call in which Rizzoli is needed at the warehouse where the drugs were being made. At the warehouse Rizzoli identifies Delgadillo as the only victim whom authorities weren't able to identify because his face was mutilated during the attack by pointing out the diamond pinkie ring on his finger bearing his initials that he showed Rizzoli earlier that evening. Rizzoli also discovers traces of Fatal Beauty and Charlie Dawson's body, which was stuffed in a van labeled "Kroll Enterprises". The next morning Rizzoli receives a call from Charlene, asking for money. When Rizzoli refuses, Charlene offers some information about the drug-related murder the previous night, hoping to sway Rizzoli to give her the money. Charlene tells Rizzoli that there is a goon squad looking for the killers. She also tells her that the person, to whom all the drugs belonged, drove a "Rolls." That prompts Rizzoli to pay a visit to Conrad Kroll (Harris Yulin), whom she accuses of drug dealing. After leaving Kroll's home, Rizzoli hears a call for assistance over the scanner involving a police standoff. Realizing that Charlene lives there, she immediately rushes to the location. At the location a man who is hopped up on drugs emerges from Charlene's house and is shot several times but doesn't go down right away. After the man finally falls to the ground and dies, Rizzoli runs into Charlene's house, where she attempts to resuscitate her with no success. Rizzoli is told by a boy at the location that both Charlene and the man who was shot, "Big Bubba" were both taken out by the new drugs and that they got it from Charlene's new pimp, "Jimmy". Rizzoli and her partner Detective Jimenez (Ruben Blades) find him in a restaurant, where Rizzoli places him under arrest; when he tries to escape, she shoots him in the buttocks. After hanging him up in the freezer and threatening more bodily harm, Rizzoli gets him to reveal that he purchased the drugs from a buy house from a man named Rafael. Rizzoli heads to the buy house the pimp told her about and is greeted by a man named Epifanio, who tells her he will get her what she wants. She is able to get Epifanio to take her to Rafael, but a hood from the night she staged the bust with Delgadillo recognizes her as a cop and immediately alerts Nova and Skinner. Rizzoli is able to get locked in a room with Rafael, where she gets Rafael to admit he is fronting for Nova and Skinner right as two of his crew members shoot their way inside. Rizzoli dives for safety, but Rafael is killed in the crossfire. Rizzoli shoots down one of the thugs, but the other gets the drop on her, but she is saved by the timely arrival of Mike Marshak, Kroll's bodyguard (Sam Elliot) who shows up at the buy house to help Rizzoli, and admits that he has been following her around since the night before by using a transmitter concealed under her bumper. After taking out the rest of Rafael's gang, Rizzoli and Marshak come close to apprehending Nova and Skinner when a section of the a roof collapses on Rizzoli; Marshak immediately runs to her aid, letting Nova and Skinner escape. Rizzoli is taken to a nearby hospital, Aka- Vista Verde but known as"(Linda Vista Hospital)" where Marshak goes to visit her. Upon walking into Rizzoli's room, Marshak sees Rizzoli and Jiminez going over the mug shots of Nova and Skinner and Jiminez immediately leaves after Marshak's arrival. When Jiminez goes toward the elevator he notices Nova from the mug shot carrying a package and orders him to freeze. Nova pulls out a shotgun from the package and fires at Jiminez, missing him. After getting into an argument about what Marshak's boss Kroll is allegedly doing, Rizzoli agrees to let Marshak drive her home. Rizzoli notices her cat on the roof and explains to Marshak about her cat's fear of heights and her front door being open. They both go into her residence see Zack Yeager (James LeGros) asleep. Yeager tells Rizolli that all his friends have died from using Fatal Beauty. This is further confirmed when he, Rizzoli and Marshak arrive at the home of one of the kids who threw the party and finds them all lying dead in the living room. Yeager tells Rizolli he got the drugs from his mother, Cecille (Jennifer Warren). When Rizzoli goes to Cecille in an attempt to get information about where the drugs came from, the two get into a physical altercation until Marshak arrives to break it up and takes Rizolli home. At home Rizzoli invites Marshak into her house for some coffee and receives a phone call that four young children had died from using Fatal Beauty; Rizzoli then has a breakdown and tells Marshak that she is a recovering drug addict, having quit after her daughter got into her drug stash and drowned in a swimming pool. Rizzoli takes a shower, during which she receives a call and notices Marshak has left, and that he went through her police files of the suspects she was after. At the point Rizzoli learns that Kroll had sent Marshak not to protect Rizzoli, but to spy on her to find out who ripped him off. Rizzoli receives a call from Cecille learning that Zack had cut his wrist and was in the hospital. Cecille asks Rizzoli to meet her at the hospital where she reveals who she bought the drugs from and that her supplier, Denny Mifflin, will be making a pickup from his suppliers Nova and Skinner at Kroll Plaza. Rizzoli and Jiminez head to Kroll plaza and are spotted by Kroll's security team. Rizolli and Jiminez are watching Mifflin and Rizolli orders Jiminez to get the drugs away from some kids that they spotted Mifflin selling to. When Jiminez gets the drugs from the kids he is knocked out by one of Kroll's security men. When Kroll is alerted to Rizzoli's presence, Marshak who is with Kroll notices Nova and Skinner entering the plaza. Kroll orders one of his men to take out Nova and Skinner and then orders Marshak to take out Rizzoli. Rizzoli meanwhile notices Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and his bodyguard, Frankenstein meeting together in a mall store to discuss drug distribution and follows them into the store. Rizzoli is followed into the store by Kroll's security team with their guns drawn. Just as Rizzoli is about to bust Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and Frankenstein she is accosted by Marshak who warns her it is a wipeout in which all five of them are going to be killed. Rizzoli then punches Marshak, which frightens Nova, Skinner, Mifflin and Frankenstein. When running in the store, Frankenstein is grabbed by one of the security guards. He then stabs him in the stomach. The security guard falls to the ground knocking over a rack of clothes. Frankenstein then is grabbed by Kroll's bodyguard, Eddie and is shot three times in the stomach. Frankenstien slashes Eddie's arm with his switchblade, forcing him to back off, but dies seconds later while calling to Mifflin for help. Rizzoli then shoots Mifflin after he fires at her. Rizzoli and the security guards pursuit Nova and Skinner, who open fire in the mall, killing several guards and Eddie, and then retreat into a sporting goods store, followed by another of Kroll's men and three surviving guards. Nova and Skinner race to the back of the store and shoot the fuse boxes, cutting the main power to the store lights (but the emergency lights come on seconds after). Rizzoli cautiously makes her way through the store, but the security guards get the drop on her, but she is inadvertently saved by Nova and Skinner when they gun the guards down. A short gun fight ensues between Rizzoli and the two men, but she runs out of ammunition. Nova and Skinner try to move in and finish her off, but she manages to give them the slip long enough to break into a gun cabinet and get a shotgun and some bullets. After Rizzoli kills Kroll's other bodyguard who was poised to ambush her from above and takes his gun, the shelf he was standing on collapses on her and Skinner prepares to kill her; at the last minute, however, Marshak appears and guns him down. Nova wounds Marshak before he, in turn, is wounded by Rizzoli, and retreats from the store. Rizzoli pursues Nova and runs into Kroll, who is about to kill her when Nova jumps out of a hiding place and kills him. Rizzoli follows Nova into a parking garage and shoots him several times, apparently unable to injure him. After Nova reveals to Rizzoli he was wearing a bullet-proof vest this whole time Rizolli pulls out a gun she stole from the dead guard and shoots Nova in the throat, killing him. Rizzoli meets the paramedics outside the plaza, where Jiminez is waiting along with Marshak, who muses to Rizzoli that he might be going to jail for a long time because of his connection to Kroll. Rizzoli agrees, but tenderly tells him that she'll be waiting for him when he gets out. She then gives him a kiss and tells him with a smile that he'll be fine.

In New York City, real estate investor Kevin Lenahan (Richard Pryor) has a hair-brained scheme to buy a 32-screen movie theater complex in which each theater only has eighteen seats. When banks deny his loan request, he approaches a loan shark named Palazzi (Joseph Ragno), who is actually a gangster. Police raid Palazzi's office while Kevin is making his loan request and arrest him in the process. Kevin's lawyer works out a plea deal by which Kevin will only do one year in prison, but Palazzi, who has vowed revenge, will be in the same prison, serving a ten-year sentence. In the courtroom, Kevin pretends to be insane to avoid going to prison. The court sends him to Empire General Hospital for evaluation. When psychiatrists determine he is faking his mental condition, hospital administrator Arthur Chambers (Joe Mantegna) plans to send Kevin back to jail in the morning. Meanwhile, a storm named Hurricane Sam approaches New York City. Since Empire General is located on a small island in New York harbor, Maggie (Sylvia Miles), the head nurse, requests some of her nurses remain overnight in case there are problems, but Chambers refuses the overtime request. He tells his administrative assistant, Rachel Atwood (Rachel Ticotin), that a fill-in emergency room doctor, Edward Slattery, will arrive shortly to help out. When Kevin starts a ruckus in the psychiatric wing, Chambers tells guards to lock him in a private room for the night. When the other psych patients protest Kevin's punishment, Chambers threatens to have them all transferred to a hospital for the criminally insane. Just then, the hurricane knocks out the electricity. The patients take this opportunity to escape, locking Chambers and the guards in the psych ward. Kevin goes to Chambers' office to look at his file as Rachel Atwood finds him there when she goes to the office to consult the disaster preparedness manual. She assumes Kevin is the missing Dr. Edward "Eddie" Slattery and tells him to go to the emergency room (ER) right away. Kevin puts on a white coat and finds chaos in the ER. Dr. Foster (Bob Dishy), a longtime physician at Empire General, refuses to treat any patients and recommends they not admit anyone since dealing with patients during a blackout is a "malpractice time bomb." Kevin spies the exit door, rushes out, gets in an ambulance and drives away. However, the rainstorm is so intense, he cannot see well and drives off the causeway connecting the island hospital to the mainland. He escapes before the ambulance sinks into the water. The hospital's back-up generator comes on briefly, but soon goes out again. First-year intern, Dr. Joffe (Bob Saget), suggests they connect the generator to the ambulance batteries. When Kevin returns to the ER, nurse Maggie gives him files on a half dozen patients needing treatment. Kevin acts authoritative and gives the responsibility to other ER staff, saying he will trust their recommendations. When people obey his orders, Kevin realizes it is easier to pass himself off as a doctor than a lunatic. However, Louis (Ruben Blades), an orderly, recognizes him from the psych ward, but decides not to say anything and enjoy the fun. Kevin goes to the waiting room, advising patients that exercise is good for them and recommending they treat each other. Young Dr. Joffe comes to him with questions, but Kevin suggests he trust his own gut instincts. Worried about malpractice lawsuits, Dr. Foster has concerns about Kevin's methods, calling him a "gypsy doctor." Meanwhile, in the psych ward, the patients have Arthur Chambers tied up. They start a list of changes they want implemented before they agree to release him. Chambers refuses to sign their list of demands and tells them Kevin was an undercover agent from the board of health, but they do not believe him. A pipe bursts, flooding the basement and orderlies say it will be morning before they can possibly get the generators working again. Kevin suggests they move a generator from the helicopter landing pad to power the ER. Rachel Atwood goes to the drug detoxification unit to get help moving the generator, but none of the patients are willing to help. Kevin goes to the detox unit promising to give the patients their methadone pills if they will help move it, and they all pitch in. Soon the ER has power again, but the rest of the building does not. Since the upper floors have no air circulation, Kevin suggests moving the helicopter into the building and placing it beside the elevator shaft to get air moving to the upper floors. Kevin and Rachel go to the kitchen to fix sandwiches for the patients and develop a bond while discussing how to help the patients. Kevin visits Tommy Pinto, a patient who fell off the hospital roof and has no feeling in his legs. Tommy requires immediate surgery or he will be crippled for life. A make-shift operating room is set up in the ER and Kevin persuades Dr. Foster to do the surgery. In the psych ward, Chambers finally signs the list of demands and the patients contact Rachel via walkie-talkie to get her to implement the demands before they will release Chambers. When Rachel is resistant, Box (Randall 'Tex' Cobb), the hulking leader of the psychiatric patients, demands to deal with Kevin Lenahan. Rachel does not know anyone named Kevin, but when they describe him, she realizes they are talking about the man she knows as Edward Slattery. Rachel confronts Kevin over his charade, fearful she will get in trouble for all the things she authorized at his recommendation. Kevin assures her they dealt successfully with a crisis and refuses to help get Chambers released if they intend to send him back to jail once the crisis is over. He makes his own list, demanding to be set free and also demanding none of the other psych patients be sent to the institute for criminally insane. Rachel agrees. Kevin gives the word to free Chambers, and Rachel gives him the keys to a speed boat docked at the pier. Chambers is upset to see what has happened to the hospital and lashes out at Foster and Rachel. However, Dr. Joffe insists they did what had to be done under the circumstances. Nonetheless, Chambers fires Rachel. Kevin speeds off in the boat, but as he glances back at the hospital, he sees plumes of smoke from a fire set by a patient. Kevin rushes back and orders the hospital evacuated. He uses a hose to put out the fire, but when Chambers makes threats against him, Kevin turns the hose on him. The patients and staff defend Kevin, saying he saved the hospital. Kevin lambastes Chambers for criticizing his staff rather than empowering them. If Chambers had done proper maintenance, many of the problems would not have occurred. He suggests the press will be interested in covering this story. Meanwhile, Stucky (Joe Dallesandro), the patient who set the fire, takes Rachel hostage. Seeing that Stucky has a walkie-talkie, Kevin pretends to be several people talking on the device to confuse Stucky. Kevin and Stucky fight and Kevin knocks him out. Grateful, Chambers tells Kevin to leave, suggesting that his file was likely destroyed in the fire. As Kevin gets into the speedboat, Rachel follows him, asking why he could not have been the real Dr. Slattery. Kevin invites her to dinner and she accepts. The two speed off toward New York City.