Edward Burns Movies

The creator of The Wire turns his attentions from the war on the streets to the war in the desert with this seven-part HBO miniseries following the Marines of First Recon Battalion as they attempt to survive the first forty days of the Iraq War. Based on the award-winning book by Rolling Stone reporter Evan Wright, who witnessed the confusion of war firsthand while embedded with the First Recon, Generation Kill follows the marines as they attempt to contend with equipment shortages, incompetent commanding officers, constantly shifting Rules of Engagement, and a strategy that's never quite clear. Real life Iraq War veterans Sgt. Eric Kocher and Cpl. Jeffrey Carisalez serve as technical consultants on a series featuring First Recon Marine Sgt. Rudy Reyes as himself. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

News of Amsterdam reaches the public; Avon prepares for war with Marlo; Cutty comes face-to-face with Fruit ; and Councilman Gray figures out Carcetti has political ambitions. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi

Season Three of The Wire opens with the demolition of Baltimore's notorious Franklin Terrace towers, the home base of Avon Barksdale's (Wood Harris) crew, currently under the supervision of Stringer Bell (Idris Elba). Rather than worry about expanding his control, through violence and intimidation, of the corners of West Baltimore, Stringer explains to his lieutenants that he plans to make money by offering the other gangs in on their New York drug supply, and sharing the corners with them. Lieutenant Daniels (Lance Reddick) and his unit are doing surveillance on Cheese (Method Man), one of Proposition Joe's dealers, and begin to realize that the phones that the street dealers use never reach the higher-ups in the organization. They have a wire up on one talkative dealer, who happens to be Prop Joe's nephew, and they decide to bust someone higher on the food chain in hopes that Prop Joe will promote the talker. "What makes you think they'll promote the wrong man?" asks Commissioner Burrell (Frankie Faison), to which Daniels responds, "We do it all the time." Daniels also finds out that Mayor Royce (Glynn Turman) is holding up his promotion because his wife, Marla (Maria Broom) is planning to run for the city council against one of the mayor's cronies. An ambitious councilman, Tommy Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) notices an uptick in violent crimes in the city, and decides to go after the mayor, inviting the media to watch him criticize Burrell at a hearing. This leads Burrell and Rawls to pressure their majors, including Bunny Colvin (Robert Wisdom) who is approaching his thirty year pension, to bring the murder rate down. Cutty (Chad L. Coleman), a former drug soldier, gets out of prison after fourteen years, and gets a handout from Avon, who plans to get out soon himself. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Ziggy's (James Ransone) skills as a drug dealer come into question again as he screws up, bringing down the wrath of Cheese (rapper Method Man), who supplied him. Cheese takes Ziggy's prized Camaro, and threatens to kill him if he doesn't pay what he's owed, plus interest. Ziggy goes to Nick (Pablo Schreiber) for help. Nick asks Cheese for the car back so Ziggy can sell it and pay him, but Cheese has other plans. Freamon (Clarke Peters) finds out he's been added to Daniels' (Lance Reddick) detail, leaving Bunk (Wendell Pierce) to deal with the 14 murders. Daniels also adds Carver (Seth Gilliam) to the team, reasoning that Carver wouldn't dare betray him again. Carver and Greggs (Sonja Sohn) take photos as Herc (Dominick Lombardozzi) goes undercover to buy drugs from the white boys who sell to the dock workers. Bunk and Russell (Amy Ryan) go back to the docks with grand jury summonses, but Sobotka (Chris Bauer) angrily denies being involved in the girls' deaths, and lets them know that none of his guys will talk. Russell finds an informant, a stevedore who tells her where to look for evidence of the missing container -- the computers. McNulty (Dominic West) takes time out from trying to identify "his" dead girl to bring in Omar (Michael K. Williams), so he can prepare to testify in the Gant murder case. Sobotka tells Vondas (Paul Ben-Victor) that he doesn't want to do business with them anymore, but The Greek (Bill Raymond) won't take no for an answer. Stringer (Idris Elba) gets advice from a professor on how to turn his business around, and gives advice to Avon (Wood Harris) about how to deal with D'Angelo (Larry Gilliard, Jr.) ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

After making a bunch of low-level busts at Franklin Terrace, the task force find themselves unable to get anyone to testify against Barksdale's crew. Bodie (J.D. Williams) is taken to a juvenile facility, where, unnerved by the presence of many D.C. bangers, he quickly escapes. Sergeant Landsman (Delaney Williams) asks McNulty (Dominic West) and Moreland (Wendell Pierce) to look into an old shooting that he thinks may be connected to D'Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard Jr.). Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) wants the thugs that robbed his crew to be "put on display" when they're caught. Bubbles (Andre Royo) gets a glimpse of McNulty's complicated life when, on a rare trip to the suburbs, he sees the addled cop arguing with his ex-wife. "There's a fine line between heaven and hell here," he tells McNulty on his return to the projects. D'Angelo, challenged by Bodie, tells his crew about the girl he murdered across town for Avon. The judge (Peter Gerety) keeps the pressure on Burrell (Frankie R. Faison) for meaningful arrests in the case. McNulty and Moreland investigate the old murder scene, and, communicating only through profanity, quickly determine how the crime was committed, and even find a slug and a shell casing. McNulty works on getting permission to clone a dealer's beeper. Freamon realizes that the phone number he's found is D'Angelo's beeper number, and McNulty begins to realize that Freamon is a very good cop. Wondering why Freamon was moved from homicide to the pawnshop unit years ago, McNulty asks him, "What'd you do to piss 'em off?" "Police work," Freamon responds. A drunken McNulty later visits Greggs (Sonja Sohn) at home, where he interrupts an intimate moment between her and her girlfriend, to thank her for helping him with the beeper cloning situation. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

In time-honored American tradition, two tough bureaucracies clashed head-on in the weekly cable-TV police drama The Wire. The difference here was that the bureaucracies in question were on diametrically opposite sides of the law. Filmed in Baltimore, the series was set in motion when a local judge, disgusted with the lack of progress in the war on drugs, ordered the city's Narcotics and Homicide divisions to join forces in their efforts to solve a string of murders which might have been drug-related. The "good guys" included homicide detectives Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) and Bunk Moreland (Wendell Pierce) and narcotics detectives Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn), Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick), Ellis Carver (Seth Gilliam), and Herc Hauk (Dominick Lombardozzi). To say that these law officers did not always see eye to eye would be an understatement, but their jealous squabbles were minor compared to the ego-driven flare-ups within the bad guys' camp -- specifically the members of the Franklin Towers drug dealing operation, led by Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris) and his contentious relatives. Created by David Simon (The Corner), the 13-episode The Wire debuted June 2, 2002, on the HBO cable service. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

When Detective Jimmy McNulty (Dominic West) sits in on the murder trial of D'Angelo Barksdale (Larry Gilliard Jr.), it piques the curiosity of the judge (Peter Gerety). D'Angelo gets off, despite testimony from one eyewitness, after another witness changes her story. The judge calls McNulty into his chambers to explain his interest in the case. McNulty tells the judge that D'Angelo's uncle, Avon Barksdale (Wood Harris), is a drug kingpin who runs the Franklin Terrace, but no charges have ever stuck against Avon and his crew. In fact, McNulty claims there are ten unsolved murders in the area that can be traced to Avon. The judge calls to complain to the higher-ups in the Baltimore Police Department, and McNulty finds himself called on the carpet for breaking the chain of command. He gets reassigned out of homicide to a special unit created to bust Barksdale's operation. The unit is headed by the ambitious Lieutenant Cedric Daniels (Lance Reddick), who warns McNulty not to cross him. Also in the unit are narcotics officer Shakima Greggs (Sonja Sohn), a good cop, and knuckleheads Ellis Carver (Seth Gilliam) and Thomas "Herc" Hauk (Dominick Lombardozzi). McNulty thinks the only way to bust Barksdale is to set up surveillance and work their way into the organization, but Daniels wants to settle things quickly with a widespread "buy and bust" operation. Meanwhile, D'Angelo finds himself busted back down to the street for all the trouble he's caused. The crew he's running, which includes the ruthless Bodie (J.D. Williams), viciously beats up a junkie who tries to pass off some phony bills. Another junkie, Bubbles (Andre Royo), visits his badly beaten friend in the hospital, where he runs into Greggs, and offers to help the cops in their investigation. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi