Ron Simons Movies

The true story of "the Beltway Snipers," who killed ten people in a series of shootings in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. during 2002, is dramatized in this powerful independent psychological study. Lee Malvo (Tequan Richmond) was a seventeen-year-old living in Antigua who had been left to fend for himself by his single mother when he met John Allen Muhammed (Isaiah Washington), an American tourist in his early forties. In John, Lee found a paternal figure willing to give him the guidance and support he'd never received from his family, and when John returned to Tacoma, Washington, Lee joined him. However, Lee would soon come to know another side of John, a man who was filled with rage, endlessly bitter about his failed marriage, and a stern taskmaster whose demands of Lee included increasingly bizarre demonstrations of loyalty. John, an Army veteran, introduces Lee to his old friend Ray (Tim Blake Nelson), and they teach Lee how to use a rifle; when Lee turns out to be an excellent shot, he and John make their way East, where John's vindictive side takes on a new and more destructive form. Directed by French filmmaker Alexandre Moors, Blue Caprice received its American premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A man comes home to find some of the demons of his past waiting for him in this independent drama from writer and director Tanya Hamilton. Marcus (Anthony Mackie) was born and raised in Philadelphia, but hasn't been there for years when he comes back in 1976 to attend the funeral of his father, a local minister. Marcus came of age during the late '60s and was a member of the Black Panther Party when revolution and black power were hot topics in Philly's African-American community. After a key figure in the local Black Panther organization was assassinated, many suspected someone inside the group had informed on them to the police, and more than a few were certain Marcus was the rat as he walked out on the Panthers and left town shortly after the murder. As Marcus visits his old neighborhood, he has to deal with strained relationships in his family and the distrust of old friends convinced he betrayed a close friend; he also spends some time with Patricia (Kerry Washington), a fellow activist he used to love who was also married to the man Marcus is said to have betrayed. As Marcus wrestles with the shadows of another era, he's shadowed by Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), Patricia's disturbed and homeless cousin who still believes in the Panthers' cause. Featuring an original score by the Roots, Night Catches Us received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi