The best Esai Morales’s drama movies

Mick O'Brien is a young Chicago street thug torn between a life of petty crime and the love of his girlfriend. But when the heist of a local drug dealer goes tragically wrong Mick is sentenced to a brutal juvenile prison where violence is a rite of passage and respect is measured in vengeance.

Picking up after the events of Never Back Down 2, former MMA champion Case Walker is on the comeback trail to become champion once again.

Los Angeles teenager Ritchie Valens becomes an overnight rock 'n' roll success in 1958, thanks to a love ballad called "Donna" that he wrote for his girlfriend. But as his star rises, Valens has conflicts with his jealous brother, Bob, and becomes haunted by a recurring nightmare of a plane crash just as he begins his first national tour alongside Buddy Holly.

With the help of their high school's newest teacher, four Hispanic students form a robotics club. Although they have no experience, the youths set their sights on a national robotics contest. With $800 and parts scavenged from old cars, they build a robot and compete against reigning champion MIT. Along the way, the students learn not only how to build a robot but something far more important: how to forge bonds that will last a lifetime.

The story centers around veteran assassin Mark Shields as he tracks down, Pelon, the elusive head of the Salazar Crime Cartel. Through twists of fate, Shields ends up with a local woman, Olivia who is also fighting her own demons for the sake of her daughter. Set in the rich and atmospheric backdrop of Tijuana, Mexico, La Linea (The Line) is full of action and drama.

Ivy League Freshman, Aaron Milton (17) gets a different kind of education when he falls for Linda (34) a vivacious former wild-child who has returned to college to straighten out her life. The curriculum gets more challenging when Aaron meets Linda's sarcastic 14 year-old daughter, Beth - who quickly develops a crush on him. The math doesn't work in either direction but the dysfunctional triangle becomes a learning experience for all involved.

Burglary. Drugs. Assault. Rape. The students at Brandel High are more than new Principal Rick Latimer bargained for. Gangs fight to control the school using knives - even guns - when they have to. When Latimer and the head of security try to clean up the school and stop the narcotics trade, they run up against a teenage mafia. A violent confrontation on the campus leads to a deadly showdown with the drug dealer's gang, and one last chance for Latimer to save his career... and his life.

A dramatised examination of the health issues and social consequences of America's love affair with fast food.

The global economy is on the brink of collapse. Brilliant creators, from artists to industrialists, continue to mysteriously disappear. Unemployment has risen to 24%. Gas is now $42 per gallon. Dagny Taggart, Vice President in Charge of Operations for Taggart Transcontinental, has discovered what may very well be the answer to the mounting energy crisis - found abandoned amongst ruins, a miraculous motor that could seemingly power the World. But, the motor is dead... there is no one left to decipher its secret... and, someone is watching. It’s a race against the clock to find the inventor and stop the destroyer before the motor of the World is stopped for good. A motor that would power the World. A World whose motor would be stopped. Who is John Galt?

Traces over three generations an immigrant family's trials, tribulations, tragedies, and triumphs. Maria and Jose, the first generation, come to Los Angeles, meet, marry, face deportation all in the 1930's. They establish their family in East L.A., and their children Chucho, Paco, Memo, Irene, Toni, and Jimmy deal with youth culture and the L.A. police in the 50's. As the second generation become adults in the 60's, the focus shifts to Jimmy, his marriage to Isabel (a Salvadorian refugee), their son, and Jimmy's journey to becoming a responsible parent.

Ace is an impressionable young man working for a dry cleaning business. His friend, drug dealer Mitch goes to prison. In an unrelated incident, he finds some cocaine in a pants pocket. Soon, Ace finds himself dealing cocaine for Lulu. Via lucky breaks and solid interpersonal skills, Ace moves to the top of the Harlem drug world. Of course, unfaithful employees and/or rivals conspire to bring about Ace's fall.

This musical is based on four short stories by Damon Runyon. In one tale, gambler Feet Samuels sells his body to science just as he realizes that Hortense loves him and that he would rather live than die. In another story, Harriet's parrot is killed, and she has problems dealing with her loss. Then, there is a gambler, "Right", who has bloodhounds on his trail when he becomes a murder suspect. Finally, "The Brain" is bleeding profusely, and his friends search for a way to save his life through a blood transfusion.

American-born Jayne Valseca, her husband Eduardo, the son of a legendary Mexican newspaper publisher, and their two children live an idyllic life on their 1,000 acre ranch outside of a peaceful Mexico town. But in the summer of 2007, their peaceful life is turned into a real-life nightmare when Eduardo is ambushed and kidnapped by strangers. With kidnapping becoming a pervasive and lucrative business in Mexico, Jayne is at the mercy of the kidnappers when they demand millions for the husband's safe release. She's pushed to the limit to do everything she possibly can to raise the money necessary to bring Eduardo back alive. As Eduardo is starved and tortured, he looses hope of ever seeing his family again but despite the dire and bleak times, Jayne refuses to give up and decides to turn the tables on the kidnappers and makes demands of her own. The film is based on a true story from the book, We Have Your Husband: One Woman's Terrifying Story of a Kidnapping in Mexico.

A young hustler tries to get drug money by selling a boy to a middle-aged man; his plans are disrupted when the kid dies.