National Geographic - World's Most Dangerous Gang (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)You've probably heard about high profile gangs that make up some of the American landscape and those would include some like the Crips, Bloods, Hell's Angels, Mexican Mafia, The Latin Kings, Chinese Triads, Japanese Yakuza, and Skinheads. These are just a few and they are all notorious in their own right but there is an even more insidious gang that is growing at a frightful rate on a global scale.
In the 1980's in Los Angeles, the gang MS -13 came from humble beginnings but now spreads across 33 different states in America and 6 different countries around the world. The estimated numbers are ten thousand members in the United States and up to one hundred thousand worldwide. It seems like virtually no communities are left untouched by their presence as they expand like a plague through urban and rural settings.
MS -13 is touted as the fastest growing and most violent gang in America at the present time. They have their own culture and abide by a set of rules and rituals that they follow to the letter. Enforcing these measures, protecting their turf, and conducting day to day business oftentimes means using murder, maiming, and other brutalities to accomplish whatever they need to. They are made up of individual cliques inside distinct territories that govern themselves but there is evidence of a top hierarchy that has influences down through the ranks. Organization in criminal activities appears to be well structured also and money is made from drug smuggling and dealing, extorting protection money, gun running, and other illicit affairs.
National Geographic has put together a detailed, informative, and scary documentary that is well supported with interviews from law enforcement officials and past and present members of the MS -13 gang. This program does contain graphic video footage and some disturbing images but it is not excessive in my opinion and I see it as a necessary element in supporting the overall messages here.


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You've spotted the graffiti and seen their tattoos. And you've read the shocking headlines documenting their brutality. But what is driving the rapid spread of the ultra violent gang MS-13, which has infected big cities and small towns across the country. Lisa Ling takes you deep inside a merciless world hidden in plain view. Through revealing interviews with active members, National Geographic reveals the extreme culture and rituals of the MS-13 gang.

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Rosario Tijeras (2005) Review

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(More customer reviews)I enjoyed *Rosario Tijeras*. It wasn't a great film but it is worth watching.
The movie opens with Antonio bringing Rosario into an emergency room. Both are covered in blood. While Rosario is taken into surgery, Antonio takes a stroll down memory lane to where he first meets Rosario.
Antonio and his friend, Emilio, meets Rosario at a trendy bar. Emilio and Rosario immediately hooks up. Rosario is a sexy, fascinating and mysterious woman.
Throughout the movie, you're not sure if Rosario is doing assignments for someone else or if she's the head honcho. Antonio later tells her about these rumors he's heard about her. Even Antonio isn't sure. Rosario just laughs it off.
What's interesting about this movie is that the first half, she's in control. However, once her friend/"brother"/mentor/caretaker, JonHefe was killed, she seems to lose control of everything.
Meanwhile, Antonio is in love with Rosario. However, he doesnt' want to come between her and his childhood friend, Emilio. Plus, he feels obligated to look after her after her brother made him promise to do so.
I enjoyed the cinematic scenes throughout the film. However, what I wasn't too crazy about was the stereotypical portrayal of Latinos as gun-toting and revengeful. Ah well, I guess there are small rings of truth in stereotypes.
Overall, good movie. In fact, probably one of the best Latin action films that I've seen in recent years.

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The story of two friends that meet and are seduced by a sensuous hit woman named, Rosario Tijeras (Flora Martinez). Based on the novel by renowned writer Jorge Franco, Rosario is moved by hatred toward anyone who has ever hurt or abused her, making violence her way of life.The three friends will soon loose themselves in a passionate love triangle where the pain of love will be confused with that of death.
Basada en la novela del aclamado escritor Colombiano Jorge Franco, se trae a la pantalla grande la historia de Rosario Tijeras. Antonio y Emilio son dos amigos que un día conocen a una bella y sensual sicaria del narcotráfico en Medellín, llamada Rosario Tijeras (Flora Martinez). Movida por el odio contra todos los que la han maltratando, Rosario hace de la violencia su estilo de vida. Los tres amigos pronto se perderán en un triángulo pasional donde confundirán el dolor del amor con el de la muerte.

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J. Edgar Hoover and the Great American Inquisitions (2001) Review

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(More customer reviews)There is nothing wrong with this documentary as a documentary. It's just that Hoover and the tactics he favored were so awful, unfair, shady, and unjust that I couldn't leave this work in a good mood.
This work consistently proved how conniving Hoover was. Still, it took more than luck to work under eight presidents. Unlike fellow red-baiter Senator McCarthy, Hoover did not have a downfall. The work highlights his bad acts, but is upfront in saying, "America let this man rise to power and stay there." It repeats that the government has at times overstepped its boundaries since the Sedition Acts of the second president. Sometimes homophobic people are the first to shout out, "J. Edgar Hoover was gay!" This work does not fall into that. One interviewee quickly says, "Hoover and Tolson were rumored to be lovers" and then the subject is not brought up again. Sources on the Internet say Hoover will his estate to Tolson and Tolson chose to be buried next to Hoover.
This work has diverse interviewees in terms of race and gender. A few interviewees had classical, Japanese art work behind them. I'm not sure if the documentary makers planned that as a background motif or not.
I do wonder if young students will get bored watching so much old black-and-white footage. Perhaps teachers showing this work could remind viewers that the controversy surrounding Hoover's tactics have similarities to the controversies surrounding the Patriot Act of this decade.

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This scathing documentary chronicles the career of J. Edgar Hoover, director of the FBI for more than 40 years. His lifelong obsession with communists that began with the "Red Scare" of the early 1920s and manifested itself into a mission hell-bent on eradicating anyone suspected of engaging in anti-American activities, be they actors, politicians or protest groups. A masterful propagandist, Hoover took every opportunity given him to create a public atmosphere of outsider paranoia – and his fears ran deep. By the time of his death in 1972, Hoover’s FBI had compiled thousands of individual secret files and completed countless illegal operations.

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DEA: Detroit (2008) Review

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(More customer reviews)This is a 2-disc DVD set of Spike TV's DEA, a real COPS like show where camera's follow real law officers on the job. This show differs from COPS in that it follows a set group of individuals from the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), Group 14, as they try to stop Drug trafficking by targeting small drug dealer's for leads that will take them to the top dogs all in the set location of Detroit. This set contains the following six hour long episodes:
Season 1, Ep 1: DEA vs. Heroin Kingpin - The DEA receives help from a drug trafficker that was a turned informant, to get DEA agents into Detroit's drug underworld scene.
Aired: 4/2/2008
Ep 2: Deadly Chase - The DEA go on a deadly standoff with two drug dealers and an escaped bank robber who stop at nothing to leave Detroit.
Aired: 4/9/2008
Ep 3: Operation Pill Grinder - The DEA joined with Group 14, go on a citywide operation that forces them to go on eight simultaneous raids on the streets of Detroit.
Aired: 4/16/2008
Ep 4: Up the Ladder - Group 14 stages a group of raids that target drug rings.
Aired: 4/23/2008
Ep 5: Deep Cover - A confidential informant and a special agent with the DEA go undercover to infiltrate an ecstasy drug ring.
Aired: 4/30/2008
Ep 6: Marijuana Grow House - Group 14 goes on a citywide operation to shutdown grow houses that are near local schools.
Aired: 5/7/2008
The show is shot in widescreen.
Spike TV has been growing since UFC took off and I find this show one of the best new additions to their lineup. This first season took place in Detroit but every season they plan to move and focus on a different group of DEA officers which finds season 2 moving to 'Tony Soprano's' own New Jersey where Group 56 (said "Five-Six") tackles the drug world and tries to clean up the streets. In my opinion these shows are done better than most live action series and I find the second season so far, especially, to be more adrenaline fueled than the more recent seasons of 24. (In fact I was surprised to learn that a thirteen episode cop drama series entitled DEA, based on the DEA's exploits, had been produced in 1990 but apparently never took off and was way before it's time. Just as well now that we have this awesome reality series based on the real guys).
I highly recommend this show to anyone who either loves the Cop Camera based documentaries, loves action and good entertaining television, or even for those who like cop or criminal based dramas to give a try. 5 stars, I'm glad for the number of episodes that this set is only 19.99 and I can't wait for the second season on DVD and it's not even done airing yet as I write this. If your not sure if this is for you check out your listings to catch the new season on Spike TV and give it a try.

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Item Name: DEA: Detroit; Studio:Paramount

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Brotherhood - The Complete First Season (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Showtime has been trying for years to brand itself as the new HBO, producing programming that it hopes will match the critical and popular success of it's rival network (with "Sex and the City", "Sopranos", "Deadwood", "The Wire", "Six Feet Under" and "Curb Your Enthusiasm" as a few examples).
To me, most of the shows have fallen short. I did think, however, "Sleeper Cell" was better than most people gave it credit for --and "Weeds" has developed into a tidy little comedy. So check them out, too.
"Brotherhood", in my opinion, is their crowning achievement so far. It is sophisticated, morally ambiguous entertainment. The set-up is not unfamiliar--the classic cops versus criminals in a distinctly Irish neighborhood. Good brother in politics versus bad brother in crime. But how good is the good brother? And how bad is the bad? This show is very much about the choices we make and the complications and compromises that can arise.
But it's even more about family, obligations and loyalty. You will see this family for every flaw (and there are so many), but there is also much to be respected. I don't like shows to spoon-feed me ideology and tell me what to think. I like that "Brotherhood" doesn't pass judgment, it respects it's characters and each viewer will likely react differently to their goings-on.
Two particular stand-outs in the cast are Jason Isaacs and Annabeth Gish. I've liked these performers for a while, but neither has achieved major stardom. Isaacs is ostensibly the "bad" brother and he is, at once, chillingly cold and charming. And Gish, as the politician's wife, is so lost and hopeless in many regards--but also, strangely, the voice of reason in many circumstances.
"Brotherhood" is complex, you do have to pay attention. It's serious drama done for people who appreciate serious drama. And I do! KGHarris, 9/06.

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A working-class Irish family is torn between right and wrong when two brothers live out their destinies on opposite sides of the law.BROTHERHOOD tells the story of two brothers who sometimes share a twisted sense of moral compromise--each with his own skewed, idealistic vision of what makes the American dream.

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