David Simon 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

Carcetti learns that a colleague is planning to run for mayor; Bubbles wears a wire in Amsterdam; Proposition Joe intervenes in the Avon-Marlo dispute; Cutty finds an unlikely ally in his quest to open a gym; gun violence disrupts a longstanding Sunday truce. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi

Stringer's (Idris Elba) "legitimate" real estate associates are soaking him for bribe after bribe. Colvin's (Robert Wisdom) "provisional legalization" program, which the hoppers call "Hamsterdam," seems to be working. Colvin orders his troops to spare no effort in deterring dealers from staying on their corners, and they go wild with it. Avon (Wood Harris), fresh out of jail, is upset to hear about his crew's run-ins with Marlo (Jamie Hector). He wants to take a run at him, but Stringer wants to keep trying to talk to Marlo. Stringer wants to worry about the wholesale business of supply and money laundering, not the petty retail squabbles of who runs what corners. Kima (Sonja Sohn) and McNulty (Dominic West) tell Daniels (Lance Reddick) about Stringer's meeting with Marlo, but he's tells them, "This unit is about the bodies," and the Western District has been quiet. Avon has Cutty (Chad L. Coleman) and Slim Charles (Anwan Glover) take a run at Marlo. But Barksdale's crew doesn't have the muscle it once did. Bubbles (Andre Royo) tells Kima about the bodies dropping, but Daniels gets fed up with McNulty and Kima usurping his authority, and refuses to reassign the unit, so Kima suggests that McNulty go around him. Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) and D'Agostino (Brandy Burre) think if there's a black candidate running against Royce (Glynn Turman) in the primary to split the black vote, and Carcetti can get the support of someone like Odell Watkins (Frederick Strother), he might have a chance. Bunk (Wendell Pierce) gets permission to work his murder case, and arranges a face-to-face meeting with Omar (Michael K. Williams), taking the opportunity to lecture the man about his effect on the community. Donette (Shamyl Brown) talks to Brianna (Michael Hyatt) about her relationship with Stringer, and about McNulty's visit. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Herc (Dominick Lombardozzi) and Carver (Seth Gilliam) try to convince the local corner boys to relocate, as per Colvin's (Robert Wisdom) orders. "Vincent Street is your Amsterdam in Baltimore," Herc tells them, but they're not interested, so Colvin has them rounded up and brought to a local school gym so that he can tell them about his plan. They're unresponsive. Kima (Sonja Sohn) and McNulty (Dominic West) continue to disobey Daniels' (Lance Reddick) orders, hiring Bubbles (Andre Royo) to look around and tell them what happened to Avon's (Wood Harris) people after the towers came down. Bubs tells them about the strangely cooperative mood on the street, and about how the dealers are all using disposable cell phones, called "burners," these days. McNulty also tracks Stringer (Idris Elba) on his own, and learns that Stringer is cleaning up his act, at least on the surface, through his real estate dealings. Lester (Clarke Peters) attacks McNulty for disrespecting Daniels. "This may not be perfect," he tells McNulty, "but it's a chance to be police." Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) is considering a run for mayor. He meets with an old acquaintance, Terri D'Agostino (Brandy Burre), who is now a successful political consultant. "You're the wrong color," she tells Carcetti. "You're not electable." Carcetti is not deterred. Cutty (Chad L. Coleman), increasingly frustrated with straight life, pays a visit to Slim Charles (Anwan Glover) looking for work. McNulty pays a late night drunken visit to Rhonda (Deirdre Lovejoy) and finds that she's otherwise engaged. Stringer finally looks in on Donette (Shamyl Brown), who tells him about McNulty's stated suspicion that D'Angelo was murdered. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Omar (Michael K. Williams) and his crew continue to plague Avon's (Wood Harris) crew, robbing another stash, prompting Stringer (Idris Elba) to double the muscle at all his stash houses. Stringer's lieutenants make their sales pitch to the other gangs, but Bodie (J.D. Williams) has a difficult time convincing one strong-minded independent dealer, Marlo (Jamie Hector) of their common cause. Carcetti (Aidan Gillen) gets Stan Valchek (Al Brown) to help him pressure Burrell (Frankie Faison) to cooperate with him. Burrell is loath to go behind the mayor's back, but reaches what seems to be a mutually beneficial agreement with Carcetti. McNulty (Dominic West) investigates D'Angelo Barksdale's apparent suicide in prison, and visits Donette (Shamyl Brown) to tell her that D'Angelo might have been murdered. Cutty (Chad L. Coleman) gives straight life a try, getting day work as a landscaper, and finds it difficult. Cheese's (Method Man) loss at a dogfight leads to murder. It also causes confusion among Daniels' (Lance Reddick) team about what they're hearing on the wire. Ronnie (Deirdre Lovejoy) realizes that Daniels is no longer living with his wife, and pursues him. Kima (Sonja Sohn) is having a difficult time adjusting to domestic life with a new baby. During an undercover hand-to-hand buy and bust in the Western District, one of the officers under Bunny's (Robert Wisdom) command is shot, leading him to further question the good he's done over the course of his long law enforcement career. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Carcetti pays a visit to Amsterdam on a tip from Burrell; Stringer and Avon look back on a long friendship; Omar and Brother Mouzone meet face-to-face; Cutty finds help for his gym. ~ Joe Friedrich, Rovi

Sobotka (Chris Bauer) goes to see Vondas (Paul Ben-Victor) to express his outrage over the 14 dead prostitutes on his dock. Vondas assures him that they're as upset as he is about the deaths. McNulty (Dominic West) finds out about the girls, and connects them to the murdered girl he dragged out of the water. He goes to Officer Russell (Amy Ryan) for more information, and with the medical examiner (Eric Dellums), determines that the air pipe on the container was intentionally crushed -- the 14 girls were murdered. McNulty then goes far out of his way to make sure that his old homicide unit gets the case, despite Major Rawls' (John Doman) best efforts. Bunk (Wendell Pierce) and Freamon (Clarke Peters) aren't too happy with McNulty when Landsman (Delaney Williams) gives them the case. Valchek (Al Brown) goes to see Sobotka, and threatens to continue harassing him if the union doesn't let the police take the stained glass window in the church nave. Sobotka tells Valchek he should have come and discussed it with them in the first place, and insults the Major. So Valchek offers to support Burrell (Frankie R. Faison) for police commissioner, in exchange for Burrell letting him have a CID unit to investigate Sobotka. Valchek's son-in-law, Prez (Jim True-Frost), ends up heading the unit. Vondas and The Greek (Bill Raymond) begin their own bloody investigation into the murder of the 14 prostitutes. Meanwhile, things aren't going well for Avon's (Wood Harris) crew. Wee-Bey (Hassan Johnson) is being harassed by a guard with a personal beef, and D'Angelo (Larry Gilliard, Jr.) is using drugs and avoiding Avon. ~ Josh Ralske, Rovi

Omar (Michael K. Williams) is back in Baltimore, and plotting to rip off another drug dealer. His plans are thwarted by two resourceful young women who get the same idea and act sooner. Omar and his partner team up with the girls. Bunk (Wendell Pierce) and Freamon (Clarke Peters) go to Philly and interview the crew of the ship that brought in the dead women, but the multiethnic crewmembers all claim they don't speak English, so the frustrated cops let the ship go. McNulty (Dominic West) drops by the station to share his thoughts on the case, but Bunk, Freamon, and Russell (Amy Ryan) have already figured out that the women were prostitutes, that one of them was murdered, and that the others were witnesses, so they were suffocated in the shipping container. Avon (Wood Harris) and Stringer (Idris Elba) plot against a drug-dealing prison guard, Tilghman (Antonio D. Charity), who has a beef with their crew. Avon makes D'Angelo (Larry Gilliard Jr.) promise to give up drugs for a few days. Nick (Pablo Schreiber) isn't getting much work, so he and Ziggy (James Ransone) decide to steal a shipment of digital cameras off the docks and sell them to an associate of Vondas (Paul Ben-Victor). Prez (Jim True-Frost) tells Valchek (Al Brown) that the CID unit Burrell (Frankie R. Faison) set up to nail Sobotka (Chris Bauer) is getting nowhere. Valchek checks out the team himself and gets angry. He tells Burrell he wants results, or he'll start talking about how Burrell quashed the Barksdale case. Having heard about Daniels' (Lance Reddick) work from Prez, Valchek tells Burrell he wants Daniels to head the unit, but the lieutenant has recently put in for retirement. ~ 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

The toll that drugs and crime have taken on an economically-depressed African-American neighborhood in Baltimore paints the backdrop for this miniseries produced for and initially aired by the premium cable network HBO. Gary McCullogh (T.K. Carter) was once a hard-working man with an education and a solid career, but after succumbing to the lure of heroin, Gary has lost his job, home, and wife -- and now steals whatever he can find to support his habit. Gary lives with his girlfriend Fran Boyd (Khandi Alexander), who is also addicted to heroin. While she's all too aware of the pitfalls of her life and wants to clean up, she has trouble getting medical help and her willpower is too weak for her to kick the habit by herself. Fran's 15-year-old son DeAndre (Sean Nelson) has seen enough of his mother's troubles to be wary of using drugs, but while he would prefer to stay on the straight and narrow, dealing crack is one of the few job options open to him in his neighborhood, especially after his allergy to seafood causes him to lose a job in a restaurant. The Corner was based on the book of the same name by Edward Burns and David Simon, which examined one year in a real-life Baltimore neighborhood; Simon collaborated on the teleplay with David Mills, and noted actor Charles S. Dutton directed. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi