George Furla Movies

In this gritty drama executive-produced by Gus Van Sant, a teenaged would-be stock-car driver gets more than he bargained for when he makes a pit stop in Las Vegas to earn a little cash. Almost as soon as he arrives in the city, high-school dropout Johnny (Jesse Bradford) finds himself victimized at the slot machines by a slick little vixen. His journey to glory on the racetrack thus sidetracked, he soon falls in with a group of hoods and street urchins. Befriended by solicitous hustler Steven (Jordan Brower) and condescended to by gay-for-pay stud Eric (Jonathan Taylor Thomas), Johnny gets a quick introduction to the sleazy Vegas landscape. At first he rejects his new acquaintances, but after a disastrous liaison with a buxom young lady (Tiffani-Amber Thiessen), he finds himself the reluctant new best friend of the besotted Steven. Adamantly professing his own heterosexuality, Johnny tries to find female clients to bankroll his ticket out of town. But soon Eric arrives, promising big bucks from his wealthy male patrons, setting the stage for conflict with Steven and unexpected bloodshed. Shown during the Panorama program at the 1999 International Berlin Film Festival, Speedway Junky was the debut feature from writer/director Nickolas Perry. Daryl Hannah co-stars as an older ex-prostitute who serves as a sort of foster mother for both Johnny and Steven. The film also marked the acting debut of musical artist Warren G and features a cameo appearance from Patsy Kensit. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this action-adventure story, Thomas Taylor (Christian Slater) is a master thief who was caught red-handed during a robbery and ended up in prison. Convinced he was pushing his luck, Taylor began pursuing a new career on the other side of the law as a paramedic when he's approached by one of his old partners and brought in on a robbery that could earn them a million dollars in cash. However, after Taylor and his cohorts pull the job, they discover the cash has been marked, and they find themselves at the mercy of Mark Cornell (Val Kilmer), an FBI agent gone bad. Produced under the title In God We Trust and shown on television as Run for the Money, Hard Cash also features Daryl Hannah, Bokeem Woodbine, and Balthazar Getty. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A good-old-boy small-town sheriff in a New Orleans parish happens upon a murder case that threatens to end his career in Behind the Badge, the embattled second feature of writer/director Robby Henson (Pharaoh's Army). Billy Bob Thornton stars as Darl, a divorced lawman first spotted sleeping in his truck outside his favorite bar. Darl gets a call about a truck accident, and happily hands out shoes from the ditched tractor-trailer to win over the locals for his re-election. But then the body of a beautiful woman is found in the mud near the wrecked truck. The "woman" turns out to be a transsexual with a .22 slug in her back. Prejudice reigns in the small community, and no one seems to be taking the murder too seriously. Local politicians, including a powerful judge (William Devane), are focused on the upcoming election, and are also angling to build a casino in town, and so they want to keep the sordid murder quiet. The victim's wife, Scarlet (Patricia Arquette), a New Orleans stripper, shows up. Despite Darl's own prejudices, he finds himself attracted to Scarlet, and starts to look into the case. Soon he learns that his investigation and his big mouth have cost him his slot on the ticket. When he presses on, he finds himself jailed on a trumped-up statutory rape charge. Struggling with his own family history of disgrace, Darl considers making a deal with the local bigwigs in order to keep his job. But when he learns that Scarlet is in danger, he's forced into action. Sela Ward and Jena Malone also star. Behind the Badge was heading for theatrical distribution before production company Propaganda Films went bankrupt. The film was unable to find a new distributor and premiered on Starz cable on September 7, 2002. ~ Josh Ralske, All Movie Guide

Suspended from the police force following an undercover drug bust gone horribly awry, Detroit undercover narcotics officer Nick Tellis (Jason Patric) is reluctantly goaded back into active duty in hopes that he can help to crack the case of a slain fellow officer. Promised reinstatement in the force in exchange for his efforts, Tellis is paired with the victim's volatile ex-partner Henry Oak (Ray Liotta) and soon begins to actively seek the killer in an increasingly complex case. A recent father whose wife fears for her husband's safety and begs him not to take back to the dangerous streets, Tellis struggles with his conscience as he navigates a twisting road of half-realized truths, shifting loyalties and questionable agendas. With every step closer to Tellis gets to solving the troubling murder, he grows farther away from his wife and newborn son, and edges ever closer to a resolution so complicated that it threatens to devour his soul and shatter every preconceived difference he has ever made between cop and criminal. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Action hero Steven Seagal goes behind bars -- though don't worry, he isn't really a bad guy -- in this action thriller. Sascha Petrosevitch (Seagal) is an FBI agent working undercover to infiltrate a gangland kingpin's operations. While Petrosevitch is able to gain the trust of one of the gangster's lieutenants, Nick Frazier (Ja Rule), things go haywire during an FBI raid, and Petrosevitch takes several slugs in the back as he struggles to maintain his cover. Eight months later, Petrosevitch and Frazier are serving time together in the newly refurbished Alcatraz Penitentiary, as Petrosevitch secretly continues his investigation. Prison warden Hubbard (Stephen J. Cannell) is arranging for the execution of convicted killer and thief Lester (Bruce Weitz), and U.S. Supreme Court justice Jane McPherson (Linda Thorson) has announced she will attend as a witness. But Hubbard's assistant Donny (Morris Chestnut) has devised a secret plan -- it seems Lester stole and stashed away 200 million dollars in gold before he was arrested, and Donny, along with an underground SWAT team, takes control of the prison and takes Hubbard, McPherson, and the other assembled dignitaries hostage, demanding to be told where Lester has hidden his fortune. Now Petrosevitch must drop his cover and persuade his allies within the prison -- including Frazier and Little Joe (Michael "Bear" Taliferro) -- to join him in a desperate bid to foil Donny and free the hostages. Half Past Dead also features Nia Peeples, Kurupt, Tony Plana, and Claudia Christian. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

James Cox directs the sleazy Hollywood murder tale Wonderland, starring Val Kilmer as legendary porn star John Holmes. Using a non-linear plot structure, the film explores different perspectives of the quadruple homicide that occurred on July 1, 1981, in the Hollywood Hills. At the lowest point of his career and the height of his drug addiction, Holmes was implicated in the murders of the Wonderland gang: Ron Launius (Josh Lucas), Billy Deverell (Tim Blake Nelson), Barbara Richardson (Natasha Gregson Wagner), and Joy Miller (Janeane Garofalo). Launius' wife, Susan (Christina Applegate), was the only survivor. Led by Detective Sam Nico (Ted Levine), the police investigation reveals a dark criminal underworld surrounding Holmes, his disapproving wife, Sharon (Lisa Kudrow), and his innocent teenage girlfriend, Dawn Schiller (Kate Bosworth). Eric Bogosian stars as notorious Hollywood nightclub owner Eddie Nash. Wonderland premiered at the 2003 Toronto Film Festival. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide

Corruption is the law of the land in the every-city of Edison, and the only soul brave enough to peer into the fire and face the wrath of an entire squad of corrupt cops is a fresh-faced journalist in this neo-noir thriller from television director-turned-feature helmer David J. Burke. Joshua Pollack (Justin Timberlake) has discovered a glitch in the system, and as a fledgling journalist he sees it as his duty to expose the corruption. When Pollack misjudges the depth of the authoritative decay and his girlfriend is hospitalized following a brutal attack by the alliance of crooked cops known as F.R.A.T., he soon decides to take action and prove that even those who believe themselves to be above the law still aren't beyond its reach. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

One of the most celebrated horror films of the late '70s is given a new look in this remake, produced by blockbuster filmmaker Michael Bay. George and Kathy Lutz (Ryan Reynolds and Melissa George) are a young couple who are looking for a new home, and think they've found a dream house in Amityville, Long Island -- a large and beautiful home available at a bargain price. George thinks that there must be a catch, and learns that the house has a dark history -- a year before, a man living in the house murdered his family in their sleep, claiming he was commanded to commit the crime by demons. Shrugging off stories that the house is haunted, George and Kathy move in with their three kids, only to discover that something evil lurks within the house, and even Father McNamara (Philip Baker Hall), an expert on possession, is powerless to clear the dark spirits from the home. The Amityville Horror was based on the same book by Jay Anson that provided the basis for the 1979 film, which in turn documented an actual incident. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

A pair of writers inhabiting an abandoned New York tenement building become locked in an antagonistic battle of wills in director Danny Green's adaptation of novelist Bernard Malamud's studied exploration of faltering race relations. The time is the early '70s, and Jewish writer Harry Lesser (Dylan McDermott) is finally nearing completion on the novel that has taken him almost a decade to write. The last tenant in a crumbling inner-city apartment building, Harry soon discovers that he is no longer alone in the building when an illegal squatter named Willie (Snoop Dogg) claims a room down the hall and begins writing his own novel. When Harry attempts to offer writing advice to his new neighbor, his criticism of Willie's "immature" writing style ignites a heated confrontation between the pair that is quickly compounded by the growing relationship between Harry and Willie's white girlfriend Irene (Rose Byrne). As the situation quickly spins out of control and Willie sets fire to the only existing copy of Harry's treasured manuscript, the deep-rooted racial animosity explodes into rage and the two writers become locked in a life-or-death struggle to survive. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young child has gone missing and it's up to a haunted but determined policeman to travel to the remote island community where she was last seen and solve the lingering mystery of her disappearance in director Neil LaBute's updated reworking of Anthony Shaffer's 1973 cult horror classic. Upon receiving a letter from his one-time fiancée, Willow (Kate Beahan), imploring him to search for her missing daughter on the secluded island of Summersisle, Policeman Edward Malus (Nicolas Cage) quickly makes his way to the island to locate the girl and seek an answer as to why Willow suddenly and inexplicably disappeared shortly before their wedding date. Once there, Malus is troubled to discover that although there are traces of the child to be found in such locations as the local schoolhouse, the residents of Summersisle seem reluctant to offer any specific details as to the girl's apparent death. His investigation effectively stalled by the highly secretive Wiccan community, Sheriff Malus soon discovers that there are still some cultures that have their own unique beliefs about humankind's relationship with Mother Earth, and refuse to adapt to the rules of modern society. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A hard-drinking, hard-living cop assigned the task of transporting a small-time criminal to the nearby courthouse finds that a simple, 16-block drive can be the longest ride of his life in director Richard Donner's urban action thriller. Hung-over, has-been cop Jack Mosley (Bruce Willis) has seen better days, and all that the force expects out of him these days is to stay out of trouble while he's on the clock. Eddie Bunker (Mos Def) is set to testify before a grand jury at 10:00 a.m., and it's up to Mosely to make sure that Bunker makes it to the courthouse in one piece -- a job that Mosely estimates will take a maximum of 15 minutes. A black van has been trailing the pair unnoticed, though, and after stopping off at a nearby liquor store to pick up some breakfast, Mosely emerges from the store just in time to save Eddie from the lethal bullet of a determined assassin. When backup arrives in the form of Detective Frank Nugent (David Morse), Mosely quickly realizes that the detective on Nugent's team is the same cop that Bunker is set to testify against. Now faced with the tough task of dodging bullets and eluding a massive onslaught of corrupt cops, Mosely must keep Bunker alive long enough to get him before the judge and ensure that justice is served. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Ving Rhames, Nick Cannon, and Mena Suvari star in director Steve Miner (Friday the 13th Part II, Halloween: H20)'s remake of the apocalyptic gore-fest that originally concluded George A. Romero's zombie trilogy back in 1985. A small American town has been infected with a deadly virus, and the military is determined to contain the sickness by establishing quarantine. When the situation spirals out of control and the infected residents develop a taste for human flesh, the military and surviving residents must band together to battle an enemy whose goal is not simply to kill, but to consume as well. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide