Dead Man Walking (1995)
Tim Robbins' movie about a convicted murderer on Death Row and the nun who befriends him addresses a controversial issue with an intensely personal look at the people involved in one such case. Through the portrayal of finely drawn characters and their interactions as the days, hours, and minutes tick down to the condemned man's execution, powerful emotions are unleashed. While Matthew Poncelet and Sister Prejean desperately try to gain a stay of execution from the governor or the courts, scenes are intercut from the brutal crime, gradually revealing the truth about the events that transpired. In addition to her temporal help, the nun also tries to reach out spiritually and assist as a guide to salvation.
The Green Mile (1999)
Paul Edgecomb is a slightly cynical veteran prison guard on Death row in the 1930's. His faith, and sanity, deteriorated by watching men live and die, Edgecomb is about to have a complete turn around in attitude. Enter John Coffey, He's eight feet tall. He has hands the size of waffle irons. He's been accused of the murder of two children... and he's afraid to sleep in a cell without a night-light. And Edgecomb, as well as the other prison guards - Brutus, a sympathetic guard, and Percy, a stuck up, perverse, and violent person, are in for a strange experience that involves intelligent mice, brutal executions, and the revelation about Coffey's innocence and his true identity.
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
The movie begins with Andy Dufresne being wrongly convicted, despite persistent pleas of innocence, for the murder of his wife and her lover. He is sent to the fictitious Shawshank Prison, to serve his sentence. At the prison he befriends Red (Morgan Freeman), and several other prisoners (including Brooks Hatlen, played by James Whitmore). His pre-prison, professional life as a banker, and his knowledge of accouting and income taxes earns him the trust of the captain of the guard, Captain Hadley (Clancy Brown), and eventually, the warden (Bob Gunton). However, Dufresne brings a sense of civility to his prison life through his hobby of working with rocks, treating others with civility, and continually defying authorities through simple acts of decency. In the end, it is revealed that Dufresne created a tunnel out of the prison, and escapes to Mexico.
The Chamber (1996)
Having survived the hatred and bigotry that was his Klansman grandfather's only legacy, young attorney Adam Hall seeks at the last minute to appeal the old man's death sentence for the murder of two small Jewish boys 30 years before. Only four weeks before Sam Cayhall is to be executed, Adam meets his grandfather for the first time in the Mississippi prison which has held him since the crime. The meeting is predictably tense when the educated, young Mr. "Hall" confronts his venom-spewing elder, Mr. "Cayhall," about the murders. The next day, headlines run proclaiming Adam the grandson who has come to the state to save his grandfather, the infamous Ku Klux Klan bomber. While the old man's life lies in the balance, Adam's motivation in fighting this battle becomes clear as the story unfolds.
True Crime (1999)
A recovering alcoholic, womanizing reporter (Clint Eastwood), who can't stay out of trouble with his bosses (mostly because he is sleeping with their wives), inherits a human interest story about a prisoner (Isaiah Washington), who is sentenced to die at midnight for the murder of a pregnant woman who owed him $96. However, the reporter immediately figures out that the key witness lied about what he saw and believes the prisoner is innocent. He then sets out to prove his belief in the final 12 hours of the prisoner's life. James Woods appears as Eastwood's Editor-in-Chief and the only man who still believes in his talents. Denis Leary is Eastwood's direct editor, who wants him fired for his direct belligerence and teh fact that he slept with Leary's wife.
(all information and pictures courtsey of imdb.com)
