The Snitch Cartel

A Colombian drug trafficker (Manolo Cardona) climbs the ladder of success in the bloody cocaine business, until the love of a good woman (Juana Acosta) makes him want to forsake his life of crime—only to find that it was easier to get into than it is to get out of. Loosely based on the real-life Norte del Valle Cartel, this mostly Spanish-language movie has the air of a Scarface wannabe, but without the charisma of Al Pacino, the visual flair of Brian De Palma, or even the brute energy of the earlier picture's writer, Oliver Stone. Instead, director Carlos Moreno substitutes the sun-faded look of a low-budget TV telenovela, punctuated with the spattering gunplay of a 1960s spaghetti Western. Originally made and released in 2011, it's only now hitting theaters, having already been released on DVD.