Crime DVD & Blu-rays 2008 List

25-year-old Wes was the most disaffected, cube-dwelling drone the planet had ever known. His boss chewed him out hourly, his girlfriend ignored him routinely and his life plodded on interminably. Everyone was certain this disengaged slacker would amount to nothing. There was little else for Wes to do but wile away the days and die in his slow, clock-punching rut. Until he met a woman named Fox. After his estranged father is murdered, the deadly sexy Fox recruits Wes into the Fraternity, a secret society that trains Wes to avenge his dad's death by unlocking his dormant powers. As she teaches him how to develop lightning-quick reflexes and phenomenal agility, Wes discovers this team lives by an ancient, unbreakable code: carry out the death orders given by fate itself. With wickedly brilliant tutors--including the Fraternity's enigmatic leader, Sloan--Wes grows to enjoy all the strength he ever wanted. But, slowly, he begins to realize there is more to his dangerous associates than meets the eye. And as he wavers between newfound heroism and vengeance, Wes will come to learn what no one could ever teach him: he alone controls his destiny.

To survive the night, cops and criminals alike will have to unite and fight. A classic head-to-head showdown ignites in an all-new update of the 1976 action thriller of the same name. With only a few hours left in the calendar year, Precinct 13, one of Detroit's oldest precinct houses, is closing. Amid heavy snowfall and unsafe road conditions, only a few lawmen remain on duty for New Year's Eve. They are headed by Sergeant Jake Roenick (Ethan Hawke), a good cop wrestling with bad memories of a fatal undercover op from the previous spring. Roenick and Precinct 13 have both seen better days. Early on December 31st, deep in the city, formidable crime lord Marion Bishop (Laurence Fishburne), is cornered by an undercover cop. Their ensuing struggle leaves the cop dead - and Bishop captured, by the Organized Crime and Racketeering squad that Marcus Duvall (Gabriel Byrne) runs. Bishop is handcuffed and herded onto a prison bus with several criminals: junkie Beck (John Leguizamo), hustler Smiley (Ja Rule), and gang member Anna (Aisha Hinds). But the battering snowstorm stops the bus well short of its high-security destination and strands it at the remote Precinct 13 - where, as night falls, the prisoners are temporarily incarcerated. This influx of prisoners irks Roenick, almost as much as visiting police psychologist Alex Sabian (Maria Bello) does. But Precinct 13's provocative secretary Iris Ferri (Drea de Matteo) and salty veteran cop Jasper "Old School" O'Shea (Brian Dennehy) won't let the increasing workload deter them from celebrating...until two masked gunmen break in and attack the guards from the bus. The gunmen are just barely beaten back, and everyone inside Precinct 13 realizes that more will come - to extract crime lord Bishop, but also armed and ready to shoot anyone and everyone else. The cops, looking to the reluctant Roenick for leadership, and the cons, looking to the steely Bishop for an angle, must join forces to live. Fortifying themselves with minimal weaponry and maximum courage, they will not go gently into the bad night. As they fight to the death, the thin lines between good and bad bleed together.

Batman (Christian Bale) raises the stakes in his war on crime in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight." With the help of Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and District Attorney Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman sets out to dismantle the remaining criminal organizations that plague the city streets. The partnership proves to be effective, but they soon find themselves prey to a reign of chaos unleashed by a rising criminal mastermind known to the terrified citizens of Gotham as The Joker (Heath Ledger).

Willem Dafoe will play Stan Aubrey, a veteran cop investigating a serial killer who may be a copycat killer based on a famous murderer Stan allegedly disposed of five years ago. As the killings go on, his partner Carl Unger begins to suspect that Stan didn't do his due dilligence five years ago when he pronounced the killer dead.

Based on the life of Chinese Martial Arts Master Huo Yuanjia (1869-1910), the founder and spiritual guru of the Jin Wu Sports Federation. Set during the late 1800's to early 1900's, a pivotal period in China's history, when the whole country is shrouded under increasing internal turmoil and the imminent threat of foreign invastion.

Written and directed by Wayne Kramer, " Running Scared" stars Paul Walker as low-level mobster Joey, an average guy who finds himself on a nightlong chase to recover a gun that was used in a mob hit. Joey's wife Teresa (Vera Farmiga) and son Nicky (Alex Neuberger) are also drawn into frantic chase, along with neighbor's kid Oleg (Cameron Bright). As the night goes on, Joey must race to stay one step ahead of both his mob associates and the cops, lead by dirty Detective Rydell (Chazz Palminteri).

The story centers on a twentysomething slacker and a bank employee who get caught in the middle of a bank heist and are forced to arbitrate between the robbers and the police.

A Los Angeles police officer has always done what was needed to solve homicides and crack down on gang violence, but he gets a wakeup call and decides he can no longer play the game that made him so effective.

The film explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. In the wake of his parents' murder, disillusioned industrial heir Bruce Wayne travels the world seeking the means to fight injustice and turn fear against those who prey on the fearful. He returns to Gotham and unveils his alter-ego: Batman, a masked crusader who uses his strength, intellect, and an array of high-tech tools to fight the sinister forces that threaten the city.

Inspired by an extraordinary true event, "The Bank Job" is a highly-charged thriller which interweaves a heady combination of intrigue, danger and scandal in early ‘70s London. In September 1971, thieves tunneled into the vault of a bank in London's Baker Street and looted safe deposit boxes of cash and jewelry worth millions and millions of pounds. None of it was recovered. Nobody was ever arrested. The robbery made headlines for a few days and then suddenly disappeared - the result of a UK Government ‘D' Notice, gagging the press. This film reveals what was hidden in those boxes, involving murder, corruption and a sex scandal with links to the Royal Family - a story in which the thieves were the most innocent people involved.

In this film based on a true story, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor (Kevin Spacey) teaches a group of students to use mathematics to count cards and increase their odds of winning at Las Vegas casinos. The students are able to bring home millions as a result.

Durell and LeeJohn are best friends and bumbling petty criminals. When Durell learns that his ex-girlfriend plans to move to another state with their son--unless they can get her $17,000 to pay off a debt--they come up with a desperate scheme to rob their neighborhood church. But when the duo fumbles their way through the break-in, they discover someone has beaten them to the punch. In order to get their hands on the money, Durell and LeeJohn are forced to spend the night in the presence of the Lord and his followers--and end up getting a lot more than they bargained for.

The story centers on a former cop (Samuel L. Jackson) who makes his living cleaning up crime scenes. After cleaning a murder site, he discovers that the crime was never reported to the police and that he has unwittingly covered up a homicide. Eva Mendes will play the widow of the slain man who turns to Jackson for help. Campbell will be a coach to Jackson's daughter (Keke Palmer).

Based on the Anthony Shaffer play and adapted for the screen by Nobel Prize winner Harold Pinter, "Sleuth" is a thriller that tells the story of two men involved in a battle of wits over a woman.

Hotshot Las Vegas gambler Jake Green is rarely allowed to play in the casinos because he's a winner. Jake has taken in so much money, in fact, that he's the only client of his accountant and older brother, Billy. Jake, Billy and their other brother Joe are invited to sit in on a private game. Crime boss and casino owner, Dorothy Macha is sitting in on the game, too. Though he's a terrible player he always wins because people are scared to lose to him. Jake not only beats Dorothy but insults the man. Macha puts out a hit on Jake, but Jake ends up working for and being protected by a pair of brothers, Avi and Zack, who are out to take Dorothy down.

A gripping, dramatic thriller infused with a twist of dark humor, PU-239 reveals the lengths to which a man will go to secure his family's future. While working at a nuclear power plant in Russia, Timofey (Paddy Considine) is exposed to a deadly dose of radiation while trying to aver a plant disaster. Instead of rewarding Timonfey for his efforts, the plants treats him as a scapegoat, offering no compensation to him or his family. Desperate to provide security for his wife and son, Timofey steals a small amount of Pu-239 - weapons-grade Plutonium- and head to Moscow to sell it on the black market. Caught up in the "new Russia" of hoods and hookers, Timofey struggles to make the sales; his efforts resulting in deadly consequences.

Bobby Green has turned his back on the family business. The popular manager of El Caribe, the legendary Russian-owned nightclub in Brooklyn's Brighton Beach, he has changed his last name and concealed his connection to a long line of distinguished New York cops. For Bobby, every night is a party, as he greets friends and customers or dances with his beautiful Puerto Rican girlfriend, Amada, in a haze of cigarette smoke and disco music. But it's 1988, and New York City's drug trade is escalating. Bobby tries to keep a friendly distance from the Russian gangster who is operating out of the nightclub--a gangster who is being targeted by his brother, Joseph, an up-and-coming NYPD officer, and his father, Burt, the legendary deputy chief of police.

Based on the life of drug-kingpin-turned-informant, Frank Lucas, who grew up in segregated North Carolina where he watched as his cousin was shot by the Klan for looking at a white girl. He eventually made his way to Harlem where he became a heroin kingpin by traveling to Asia's Golden Triangle to make connections, shipping heroin back to the US in the coffins of soldiers killed in Vietnam. He soon made upwards of one million dollars a day in drug sales. Lucas was shadowed by lawman, Richie Roberts, who finally helped bring the kingpin to justice. The two then worked together to expose the crooked cops and foreign nationals who made importing heroin so easy.

A gritty, fast-paced action thriller, "Shoot 'Em Up" kicks into high gear with a memorable opening scene and never relents. Clive Owen stars as Mr. Smith, a mysterious loner who teams up with an unlikely ally (Monica Belluci) to protect a newborn baby from a determined criminal (Paul Giamatti) who hunts them throughout the bowels of the city.