Steve Wilcox

American Me -- Edward James Olmos sets the screen ablaze in this powerful epic about a youth from the streets of East LA who becomes the leader of the Mexican Mafia from behind the gates of Folsom Prison.

In what The Hollywood Reporter calls "a brilliant debut", award-winning actor Edward James Olmos sets the screen ablaze with his directorial bow - a powerful, stunning examination of a Latino crime lord, set against a backdrop of prejudice and hopelessness. Olmos stars as Santana, a youth from the streets of East Los Angeles who becomes the leader of the Mexican Mafia behind the gates of Folsom Prison. Once out, Santana discovers that the harsh reality of barrio life and his blood-stained past will not give him the chance to turn his back on his former way of life. With a vehement anti-drug and anti-gang theme, American Me is an explosive and unforgettable epic.

A crime-ridden road picture that follows the random meeting of two off-beat characters: Dennis Brabant (Alfred Molina - "Chocolat," "Spider-Man 2"), a sleazy French actor, ditched by his mistress in the middle of nowhere when he tells her his wife is pregnant, and Zac Cross (Patrick McGaw - "The Basketball Diaries," "Cookers"), more or less Dennis' opposite, a handsome, naive all-American guy trying to reconcile over the phone with his former sweetheart, Beth. With Dennis needing a ride and Zac out of money for gas, the duo pool their resources and hit the road in Zac's old convertible. Along the way the two are greeted by a bizarre cast of characters and outlandish incidents, resulting in the duo's smuggling an illegal alien across the border. Also starring Matthew McConaughey ("Fool's Gold," "We Are Marshall").

Two homicide cops operating on the wrong side of the law mistakenly kill a DEA agent - but the homeless man they frame for the crime has other ideas as the plan goes violently awry. With Dennis Quaid, James Earl Jones.