Adam Trese Movies

Chris Kentis and Laura Lau (Open Water) return to terra firma for this remake of the "real time" Uruguayan thriller La Casa Muda. Their summer cottage vandalized by squatters during the off-season, Sarah (Elizabeth Olsen), her father, and her uncle begin the laborious process of cleaning the place up when noises from within hint they are not alone. Now the deeper Sarah ventures into the derelict building, the further the secrets of her dark past are dragged out into the light. As with La Casa Muda, Silent House was shot in one continuous take, a production style that allows the viewer to experience the swelling tension of Sarah's horror firsthand as she unlocks a diabolical mystery. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

An artist thrown into the violent world of police work is torn between his creative sensibility and his pragmatic need to earn a living in this offbeat police thriller. Jimmy (Adam Trese) is a gifted photographer who, despite the quality of his work, is having a hard time making ends meet. Eager to be able to support himself and his wife, Maria (Ariadna Gil), a classical dancer, Jimmy takes a job as a crime scene photographer with the L.A.P.D. The constant parade of violence and brutality Jimmy sees through his camera's lens proves hard to take, and soon Jimmy begins rearranging the scenes of violent death to give them a more creative and lifelike dimension, as he begins to imagine he can give the victims a new life through his art. Russo (V.J. Foster) and Flowers (Cully Fredricksen), the detectives Jimmy works with, are amused by his thin skin and creative sensibilities; they sense Jimmy's desire to leave his job behind, and persuade him to join them in a drug deal which could make them a fast and lucrative payday. Maria is also aware of Jimmy's discomfort with his new job, and in hopes of making enough money to support them both, she signs on as an exotic dancer at a strip joint, where she witnesses a crime that leads her into the same sort of danger Jimmy has been struggling to escape. Camera Obscura was the first feature film from writer and director Hamlet Sarkissian. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

A TV reality series, in which several contrasting personalities share the same apartment, suddenly turns ugly when one housemate apparently kills another. The DA's office not only goes after the likely perpetrator, but also the series' producers and the TV network executives who might have deliberately fomented bad feelings amongst the housemates for the sake of ratings. All too appropriately, the outcome of the case hinges on a hidden-camera videotape. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Theresa Connelly makes her directorial debut with her own screenplay, a semi-autobiographical romantic comedy-drama, set in working-class Detroit, about a large Polish-American family run by matriarch Jadzia Pzoniak (Lena Olin). Her four boys obey her, but adolescent Hala (Claire Danes) is rebellious and independent. Although happily married to bakery worker Bolek (Gabriel Byrne), Jadzia engages in an almost-open affair with Roman (Rade Serbedzija). Hala sneaks off for late-night trysts with her handsome neighbor Russell Schuster (Adam Trese), resulting in her pregnancy. After her parents learn the news, Russell is forced to marry Hala, and a big Polish wedding is planned. Shown at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Bhob Stewart, Rovi

This convoluted crime drama offers a haunting view of the violent and ruthless world of three Miami drug dealers: Dante, his lover Micki and Cisco. Though only in their mid-'20s, all three are veterans in the field and have made their fortunes selling heroin to upper-middle-class clients at the city's hottest nightspots via teenage couriers. The operation is overseen by a friendly but crooked-to-the-core policeman. Together the threesome has fashioned a stable, well-ordered world that borders on respectability, but that world is shattered when Dante learns that former partner Gabriel is getting out of prison and has sworn his vengeance upon the three who he believes framed him. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

Three likable losers attempt "a momentary shift in lifestyle" by becoming part-time thieves in this comedy. Russ (Vincent Gallo) is living with his family, who don't get along especially well, and he fools around with the teenage girl who lives next door. Jerry (Adam Trese) is married to Betty (Linda Gay Hamilton), who -- unlike her husband -- has a job and wants to keep it, even if that means having an affair with her boss. And Sid (William Forsythe) has a soft spot for dogs, which helped derail his plans for a taxi service for senior citizens. All three guys are out of work and need quick money; Russ comes up with a plan to rob a jewelry store, but things go haywire when they accidentally break into a bakery instead, though they at least make off with a large supply of doughnuts. Despite their initial failure as criminals, the would-be thieves raise their sights and plan to knock over an armored car, but they soon discover just how far out of their league they really are. Palookaville was based on a series of short stories by Italian writer Italo Calvino. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

In the concluding episode of Homicide: Life on the Street's two-part season-four opener, the discovery of a second body at an arson scene suggests that the fire was started to cover up a double homicide. With Bayliss (Kyle Secor) sidelined by illness, his partner, Pembleton (Andre Braugher), is reluctantly teamed with brash arson detective Kellerman (Reed Diamond), who continues to rub the homicide squad the wrong way when he turns down a transfer offer extended by Giardello (Yaphet Kotto). Meanwhile, Munch (Richard Belzer) and Howard (Melissa Leo) compete for a coveted promotion. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Danny Glover plays Jerry, a caring street person who takes a mentally retarded Matthew Dillon under his wing, teaching him the survival smarts so necessary to society's left-overs. The two team up with three other vagrants in an attempt to build a nuclear group-support community and find little lasting security in the cold NYC street world. ~ Rovi

Jessica (Angela Lansbury) returns home from New York when she finds out that her accountant Samuel Bennett (Wings Hauser) hasn't been paying her bills in Cabot Cove. It turns out that Bennett is deeply in debt to a local illicict gambling casino. Soon after, a crooked deputy (Matthew Flint) is killed--and among the suspects are Bennett, the ex-boyfriend (Adam Trese) of Bennett's daughter (Liz Vassey), and casino owner Caremidi (Richard Beymer). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Either loved or hated by the critics, this is the debut film by the 29-year-old writer/director, Nick Gomez. A three-day slice-of-life in Brooklyn done in the cinema verite style, this is a violent movie portraying two ruthless thieves and their friends involved in illegal activities--following them through the urban underbelly as they commit their crimes and are pursued by the police. ~ Tana Hobart, Rovi