Vincent Laresca

Five strangers get trapped in an elevator high above Philadelphia, one of them is the devil. Will they survive?

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

Shale's Mercenary team is retired after a (not so) covert mission in Cuba. He becomes a substitute teacher at his teacher fiancee's Miami high school to get those behind kneecapping her. His team helps him. After a botched mission in Cuba, professional mercenary Shale and his crew Joey Six, Hollan, Rem, and Wellman head home to Miami, Florida, where Shale is reunited with his fiance Jane Hetzko, who is a history teacher at Columbus High School in Miami. Some of Jane's students happen to be members of a street gang known as the "Kings of Destruction" (KOD), led by Juan Lacas, who has been terrorizing Jane. After Jane's kneecap is broken by a big seminole named Bull, she tells Shale that she believes Lacas ordered the attack, so Shale goes undercover as Jane's substitute, and initially, Jane has no idea that Shale is doing this. At the school, Shale meets principal Claude Rolle, librarian Hannah Dillon, and english and drama teacher Darrell Sherman. It turns out that Lacas is one of Jane's students. As Shale investigates the attack on Jane, he discovers that drugs are being circulated into the school. Shale even investigates local drug kingpin Johnny Glades, who may or may not have someone inside the school distributing the drugs for him. Lives are threatened as Shale investigates and sets out to clean up the crime infested school. —Todd Baldridge After a failed mission in Cuba with three casualties, the mercenary Jonathan Shale and his team composed by Joey Six, Rem, Wellman and Hollan return to Miami. Meanwhile, the history teacher at the Columbus High School Jane Hetzko is threatened by the gangster Juan Lacas, who is the leader of the dangerous street gang Kings of Destruction. She reports the menace with her colleague Darrell Sherman to the Principal Claude Rolle, but he does not take any attitude. When the scared Jane returns home, she meets he boyfriend Shale that was visiting her and they spend the night together. On the next morning, Shale has a meeting with the rogue lawyer Matt Wolfson that offers a job to protect a shipment of drugs but Shale declines the offer. When he returns to Jane's apartment, he learns that she is jogging at the beach. He walks to meet her and save Jane from the attack of the strong punk Bull that breaks her kneecap and flees. She asks him to invite a substitute to replace her and Shale adopts the alias James Smith to replace Jane. Soon he learns that Lacas and Rolle are associated to the drug lord Johnny Glades and using the school to store and distribute the drug in Miami. Shale summons his crew and decide to clean the school and eliminate the gangsters. —Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil After he did some jobs for CIA, ex-marine John Shale is visiting his high school love Jane. She's now a teacher in Columbus High School in Miami. Soon after his arriving Jane has her knee cap broken while jogging. After that, John decides to go undercover as her substitute in high school. Very soon he finds out that gang named Kings of Destruction is terrorizing the school. Shale is going to give everything to stop them, even his own life. —Harun Mehmedinovic <Pkojovic@concentric.net>

Two New York City transit cops who are foster brothers come to a crossroads when one decides to rob the train they`re hired to protect.

The movie begins in a noisy neighborhood in The Bronx where most people are Latino. Then there is a noisy apartment where Chino and wife Lisette seem to be having sex while their kids are getting really frustrated about something. An old woman hits the ceiling with a broom because she's tired of the noise up above. Chino is a bike messenger who doesn't have much but he tries. He also "plays the numbers", the same number every time. I assume that's a lottery reference. C (Li'l Chino, eight years old) and Minnie (around the same age) are his kids but it's not clear they are Lisette's. Pee Wee is in diapers and may be Lisette's. Chino's mom Rosaria is proud of her Castilian (European) heritage and seems bothered by her grandchildren being black. C has friends who want to get him to do things his parents disapprove of, and C seems to have no problem with doing things that might be illegal, as long as he's making money. Chino's brother was killed because he was dealing drugs, so he will not tolerate his son doing the same. Lisette hasn't had a paying job but takes care of the kids. Her parents run a food cart. Her father is dark-skinned and may have had an African accent. Lisette gets frustrated early in the movie and goes to stay with her sister Alexis in the same building, Alexis seems like a man. She is in fact transitioning and her parents most definitely do not approve. Alexis runs a store which, according to what someone said, sells "botanicals". The 'hood is typical of what one would expect in New York City. People have lots of friends but they have a funny way of being friendly. People from quieter neighborhoods might assume they are all being mean to each other. The power goes out and there is looting. Chino ends up in jail. Earlier, Lisette was trying to get a stereo fixed, or a new stereo. She refuses to pawn her wedding ring, at least at first. Lisette refuses welfare when it comes down to that. for a while. And gets humiliated when she tries to use her benefits. Magdalena, who Chino was with once, claims her baby is his and if he will just own up to it, he can have a job at her bodega, which she runs with her father. Lisette did get paid for modeling once, so she goes to a modeling agency where the receptionist is quite rude. Val walks in, looking like she has been successful in the business, but she's actually looking to hire a model, not be one. Her record company needs someone to help her boss Mr. Price impress singers referred to as the Mendez Brothers. Chino doesn't want Lisette to take that job, but Lisette schemes her way into a meeting anyway and impresses Mr. Price into making her the person who knows how to make talent look good. Chino hears other details about the relationship between Lisette and Mr. Price. Throughout the rest of the movie, Lisette and Chino struggle to stay together and to keep the kids out of trouble. Chino seems abusive at first but actually comes up with creative ways to parent. And then he does something unspeakable (but not to his kids), but apparently there are no consequences. Things never get so bad they can't get better.