The film implies he hasn't really worked in years

As the film would have it, the neighborhood experiences daily shootings, sometimes by cops of completely innocent people, other times in countless drug raids. Certainly the line between bad and good guys is fuzzy in every instance.Eddie (Richard Gere) has seven days left on the job yes, the film dares to pull out that old chestnut which he means to get through with liquor and visits to his favorite prostitute (Shannon Kane). The film implies he hasn't really worked in years.Tango (Don Cheadle) wants out from his three years-plus undercover assignment because his wife has left him It's not easily done. Finally, his superior (Will Patton) and a farcically tough federal agent (Ellen Barkin) propose that he set up his best friend, drug dealer Cas (Wesley Snipes), to win a desk job.Sal (Ethan Hawke), who works narcotics, has five kids and a wife (Lili Taylor) pregnant with twins. Hell, they even talk to their fellow cops about their cynicism and crimes.The screenplay ends all three stories at one huge crime scene that is staggering in its illogic. It should come as no surprise, given how down the movie is on its protagonists, that the film has only nastiness in store for each. The film seems to wear its bleakness as a badge of honor while ignoring the preposterousness of each story line.

Sometimes bleak can be as much a cop-out as a happy ending.The film is very well produced, and all the background details of the dead-end environment, community outrage over police misbehavior and hostility raging at all social levels feel real. It's what happens in the foreground that rings false.Reuters/Hollywood Reporter Film. SAN RAFAEL, CA, Jan 19 (MARKET WIRE) Craford Benefit Consultants announced today that Scott Beeber has joinedthe firm as Managing Director, Business Development. Beeber will be basedin the firm's San Rafael, California headquarters.In this newly-created position, Beeber will lead and manage Craford'sbusiness development and sales initiatives and will play a critical rolein creating and managing strategic alliances and other beneficial businessrelationships for the firm."We are thrilled to add someone with Scott's experience and talent to ouralready strong senior management team," said Mike Craford, ManagingPrincipal of Craford Benefit Consultants.

"Scott has a proven record ofsuccess in all areas of business development and we are confident that hewill have an immediate and positive impact on our firm as well as ourclients."Prior to joining Craford, Beeber was a Senior Consultant, ClientDevelopment in the San Francisco office of Watson Wyatt Worldwide, wherehe was responsible for developing new client relationships with Fortune1000 firms in Northern California. Earlier, Beeber held various sales andbusiness development positions with San Francisco-based Gantz WileyResearch, an international professional services firm, Spherion, a SanFrancisco-based recruiting firm, and First Union National Bank, nowWachovia.Beeber holds a MS in Management, with a focus in leadership, from NovaSoutheastern University and a BA in International Business Finance fromThe George Washington University.About Craford Benefit ConsultantsCraford Benefit Consultants, with offices in San Rafael, CA, Portland, OR,and Charlotte, NC, specializes in Health and Welfare Benefit Consulting,Human Capital Consulting, Private Equity Services, and Human ResourceSolutions and Services. Craford Benefit Consultants create value to theirclients by solving business issues that increase organizationaleffectiveness and financial performance. Craford's services andcapabilities are described in detail at the firm's website: Contact:Clint TripodiCraford Benefit Copyright 2009, Market Wire, All rights reserved.-0-. BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union foreign ministers will hold two meetings with Middle East counterparts in Brussels this week to discuss ways to ensure the ceasefire in Gaza holds. WorldThe Czech EU presidency said the ministers from the 27 EU states would meet Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni on Wednesday evening and ministers from Egypt, Jordan, Turkey and the Palestinian National Authority on Sunday."The aim is to see if we can help ensure a permanent ceasefire and to assess humanitarian needs," an EU diplomat said.Israeli forces have a started a gradual withdrawal from the Gaza Strip following a ceasefire at the weekend.German media said German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier had a agreed a plan with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana and Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg on how the European Union could help keep the ceasefire.It proposes humanitarian action, the prevention of illicit arms trafficking, re-opening crossing points into Gaza, help with reconstruction and a resumption of the peace process, according to a copy of the paper seen by Reuters.The plan envisages the EU funding medical supplies, training security forces and assessing damage in the Gaza Strip.The EU also would explore a role it could take with regard to opening Gaza-Israel crossing points and pursue a multi-pronged approach to resume the peace process, the document showed.Islamist militant group Hamas announced an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and gave Israel, which had already declared a unilateral truce, a week to pull its troops out of the territory following a three-week war.The Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper said Steinmeier wanted to ensure the United States alone did not lead diplomatic efforts in the region.(Reporting by David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Hans-Edzard Busemann in Berlin and Jan Lopatka in Prague; editing by Michael Roddy) World.

As most of you know, I pick 'em every week and have for years. Ive been doing most of my picks right here on bleacherreport and also over at my site at Going into last week (Seven), I was a solid if unspectacular 63-27, good for a 70.0 percent accuracy rate Last season was my personal best of 80 percent. It'll come back, I know it will!I finished Week Seven with an average 9-5 record, not great...but not bad either. Hindsight being 20/20, I would have picked the Cards, but who realistically thought that was going to happen I guess a Saints pick would have helped too...Oh well, it's a new week, and I gotta get better!As always, Im not picking the spread here folks; Im picking the straight up winner.Byes this week: Bengals, Chiefs, Patriots, Steelers, Buccaneers & RedskinsRecordRecord from Two Weeks Previous (6): 9-5Record from Last Week (7): 9-5Record coming into Week (8): 72-32 (67.2 percent)Now that the records are out of the way, let's get right to it!. Seattle is coming in off a bye, and that's always scary to me, because it gives your opponent two weeks to rest, heal, and game-plan against you. Usually that swings the advantage to the rested team, but I'm not sure I believe that this week.In Seattle's Week Six game, they got manhandled by the Arizona Cordinals, 27-3. The thing that's so disturbing about that is the fact that Arizona, at the time of that game, was ranked dead last against the pass.That's right, 32nd, and Matt Hasselbeck was beaten, bruised, and abused in that game by Arizona's D-line and could get nothing going.This week, the Seahawks face a Cowboys team that's ranked 22nd against the pass and 16th against the run, so one can reasonably assume that the challenge becomes tougher for them this week.Conversely, Dallas looked great last week, and the emergence of MIles Austin as a legitimate deep threat will do a LOT for this offense.