Justin Shaw 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, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Alexander Skarsgård, James Ransone, (more)
An apolitical South African oil-refinery worker and soccer coach is forced into terrorism as a means of fighting back against the brutality of the apartheid regime in director Phillip Noyce's dramatic look at the life of one-time political prisoner and freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso. In the 1980s, Patrick (Derek Luke) and his wife Precious (Bonnie Henna) lived a peaceful life until one fateful day, when on an overnight trip with his team, Patrick is singled out as the prime suspect in a bombing at the refinery. Placed in solitary confinement, with his wife and family brutalized by government agent Nic Vos (Tim Robbins), the young family man is eventually cleared of charges, but his life is in shambles. Devastated and distraught, Patrick soon begins working as a rebel fighter and political operative for Nelson Mandela's African National Congress. As the oppressed country's powerful apartheid regime continues to torture and torment its citizens, the now-radicalized Patrick must disappear from his family without a trace and go undercover if he is to aid in toppling the system that destroyed his family, and forever changed his outlook on the world. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tim Robbins, Derek Luke, (more)
Filmmaker James Cameron has long been fascinated with the ill-fated maiden voyage of the great ship the Titanic, and he used the story as the backdrop for his most famous and successful movie. In the summer of 2001, Cameron and his good friend Bill Paxton (who appeared in Titanic) joined a group of scientists, maritime historians, archaeologists, and deep sea explorers for a daring experiment -- to find and document the Titanic's final resting place at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. Cameron brought along a film crew equipped with state-of-the-art 3-D cameras to document the voyage, and Ghosts of the Abyss offers a detailed look at their search for the Titanic, as well as imagining what the final hours for the crew and passengers must have been like. The initial release of Ghosts of the Abyss was limited to big-screen IMAX theaters and movie houses specially equipped to show 3-D features. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
