Monty Brogan was a dealer of some repute, but his time is up and in only 24 hours he will be incarcerated at the nation's pleasure for seven long years. With the small amount of time left to him Monty decides to attempt some kind of redemption, a journey that will take in his estranged father, his alienated friends and a little unfinished business. No more entertaining than many of Spike Lee's films (and I like his stuff) this is perhaps one of his most mature pictures, devoid of much of the pr find out more...

Malik is the anti-hero of this somewhat mystical mini-epic of a movie. Just turned adult, illiterate, lacking a clear-cut ethnic identity, he finds himself doing 6 years in a prison run on the inside by a violent Corsican gang with the connivance of corrupt staff. With the guidance of the ghost of a now dead inmate Malik learns not just to read and write but to deal with the power politics of gangsterhood and it is his success at the latter that allows him to emerge from prison... There is a s find out more...

Jimmy Boyle was a young Glaswegian hard man born into, and fully embracing, a life of crime. When Jimmy was imprisoned for murder his first reaction was rage, but while incarcerated he experienced an epiphany and embarked on a journey as far removed from his earlier infamy as it was possible to get. Based on Jimmy Boyle's own life ‘A Sense Of Freedom' is a powerful, often brutal, tale of redemption. find out more...

Powerful drama exploring the underlying erosion of stability in American society by following three generations of a Hispanic American family from the 1940's to the mid 70's. This story illustrates the roots of gang culture in LA, and digs beneath the surface. Excellently directed. find out more...

James "Animal" King is locked away in a maximum security prison for a very good reason, the streets he ruled were more reminiscent of a war zone, and his merciless reputation was well earned. A reformed man upon his release James is horrified to find his son has taken the same violent path as him; but just how much is the "Animal" prepared to sacrifice in order to save his family. A powerful prison/urban drama starring Ving Rhames. find out more...

Sean Penn stars in this powerful and violent drama as the kind of kid who was always destined to end up in prison. When he inevitably does, it only serves to fuel his hatred and contempt for the system. Yet Penn still manages to win the viewer's sympathy in possibly his best performance ever. find out more...

Chronicles the life and times of Nucky Thompson, the undisputed ruler of Atlantic City, who was equal parts politician and gangster.
High production values and a fine ensemble cast: HBO knows how to do TV.

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Irish Sicilian Henry Hill always wanted to be a gangster and from running errands as a small boy, he graduates to becoming a trusted member of the "family". A stunning, violent and essential portrait of the Mafia's intimate details. An award winning film, superbly crafted by Scorsese. find out more...

We follow the everyday travails of a group of WW2 French resistance fighters in Marseille, including their engineer leader and a middle-aged woman who sets up anti-German attacks without telling her husband or daughter, as they do battle against the occupying Nazis, collaborators and traitors in their own camp. This tense and atmospheric classic, based partly on Joseph Kessel's novel and partly on Melville's own experiences as a resistance fighter who later escaped France to join the Free French find out more...

A crackingly realised biog of a man who relentlessly dodged death with a cocky ambivalence that frankly defies credulity. 'Mesrine' is stylishly shot, smoothly directed and perfectly, charmingly, sociopathically performed by Cassell. A tight, pacey thriller considerably enhanced by the fact that it's based in, well…fact. This first film takes us from his brutal initiation as a soldier during the horrors of Algeria's fight for liberation to the end of the 1960s via France and French Canada. find out more...