Michael Kenneth Williams’s Typical Vibe
Signature vibe

Highest-ranked title
Highest-ranked title
Michael Kenneth Williams has 29 titles in the CriticCrunch catalog across a career spanning the 2000s through the 2020s. 1 sits in the Top 1% of all titles we track — including The Wire.
Recurring themes

The Wire
2002 · Series · Actor
Top 1%Max · Included

When They See Us
2019 · Mini · Actor
Top 7%Netflix · Included

Boardwalk Empire
2010 · Series · Actor
Top 10%Max · Included

Gone Baby Gone
2007 · Movie · Actor
Top 14%Pluto TV · Free w/ ads

The Road
2009 · Movie · Actor
Top 16%Pluto TV · Free w/ ads

Beastie Boys Story
2020 · Movie · Actor
Top 23%Apple TV+ · Included
Told from the points of view of both the Baltimore homicide and narcotics detectives and their targets, the series captures a universe in which the national war on drugs has become a permanent, self-sustaining bureaucracy, and distinctions between good and evil are routinely obliterated.
Dir. David Simon · With Dominic West, Lance Reddick, Sonja Sohn

Five teens from Harlem become trapped in a nightmare when they're falsely accused of a brutal attack in Central Park.
Dir. Ava DuVernay · With Asante Blackk, Jharrel Jerome, Ethan Herisse

One night per year, the government sanctions a 12-hour period in which citizens can commit any crime they wish -- including murder -- without fear of punishment or imprisonment. Leo, a sergeant who lost his son, plans a vigilante mission of revenge during the mayhem. However, instead of a death-dealing avenger, he becomes the unexpected protector of four innocent strangers who desperately need his help if they are to survive the night.
Dir. James DeMonaco · With Frank Grillo, Carmen Ejogo, Zach Gilford

Atlantic City at the dawn of Prohibition is a place where the rules don't apply. And the man who runs things -- legally and otherwise -- is the town's treasurer, Enoch "Nucky" Thompson, who is equal parts politician and gangster.
Dir. Terence Winter · With Steve Buscemi, Kelly Macdonald, Michael Shannon

When 4 year old Amanda McCready disappears from her home and the police make little headway in solving the case, the girl's aunt, Beatrice McCready hires two private detectives, Patrick Kenzie and Angie Gennaro. The detectives freely admit that they have little experience with this type of case, but the family wants them for two reasons—they're not cops and they know the tough neighborhood in which they all live.
Dir. Ben Affleck · With Casey Affleck, Michelle Monaghan, Morgan Freeman

A father and his son walk alone through burned America. Nothing moves in the ravaged landscape save the ash on the wind and water. It is cold enough to crack stones and, when the snow falls, it is gray. Their destination is the warmer south, although they don't know what, if anything, awaits them there.
Dir. John Hillcoat · With Viggo Mortensen, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Charlize Theron

Here's a little story they're about to tell... Mike Diamond and Adam Horovitz share the story of their band and 40 years of friendship in a live documentary experience directed by friend, collaborator, and their former grandfather, Spike Jonze.
Dir. Spike Jonze · With Michael Diamond, Adam Horovitz, Adam Yauch

Career criminal Youngblood Priest wants out of the Atlanta drug scene, but as he ramps up sales, one little slip up threatens to bring the whole operation down before he can make his exit.
Dir. Director X. · With Trevor Jackson, Jason Mitchell, Michael Kenneth Williams

Sudan, East Africa, 1980. A team of Israeli Mossad agents plans to rescue and transfer thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel. To do so, and to avoid raising suspicions from the inquisitive and ruthless authorities, they establish as a cover a fake diving resort by the Red Sea.
Dir. Gideon Raff · With Chris Evans, Haley Bennett, Alessandro Nivola

Utah and his girlfriend Opal, are drug addicts living on the streets in rural Ohio. After getting recruited by body broker Wood and offered treatment in Los Angeles, Wood takes Utah under his wing and introduces him to treatment center mogul Vin. Wood and Vin bring Utah in on their lucrative and illegal dealings, where saving lives comes second to the bottom line.
Dir. John Swab · With Jack Kilmer, Alice Englert, Frank Grillo

A reporter becomes the target of a vicious smear campaign that drives him to the point of suicide after he exposes the CIA's role in arming Contra rebels in Nicaragua and importing cocaine into California. Based on the true story of journalist Gary Webb.
Dir. Michael Cuesta · With Jeremy Renner, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michael Sheen

New York City, 1957. Lionel Essrog, a private detective living with Tourette syndrome, tries to solve the murder of his mentor and best friend, armed only with vague clues and the strength of his obsessive mind.
Dir. Edward Norton · With Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Gugu Mbatha-Raw

Desperate for money and running out of options, Marine veteran Brian Brown-Easley holds several people hostage inside a bank, setting the stage for a tense confrontation with police.
Dir. Abi Damaris Corbin · With John Boyega, Michael Kenneth Williams, Nicole Beharie
Construction company owner John Matthews learns that his estranged son, Jason, has been arrested for drug trafficking. Facing an unjust prison sentence for a first time offender courtesy of mandatory minimum sentence laws, Jason has nothing to offer for leniency in good conscience. Desperately, John convinces the DEA and the opportunistic DA Joanne Keeghan to let him go undercover to help make arrests big enough to free his son in return. With the unwitting help of an ex-con employee, John enters the narcotics underworld where every move could be his last in an operation that will demand all his resources, wits and courage to survive.
Dir. Ric Roman Waugh · With Dwayne Johnson, Barry Pepper, Susan Sarandon

Literature professor Jim Bennett leads a secret life as a high-stakes gambler. Always a risk-taker, Bennett bets it all when he borrows from a gangster and offers his own life as collateral. Staying one step ahead, he pits his creditor against the operator of an illicit gambling ring while garnering the attention of Frank, a paternalistic loan shark. As his relationship with a student deepens, Bennett must risk everything for a second chance.
Dir. Rupert Wyatt · With Mark Wahlberg, John Goodman, Brie Larson

The anthology horror series follows 25-year-old Atticus Freeman, who joins up with his friend Letitia and his Uncle George to embark on a road trip across 1950s Jim Crow America to find his missing father. They must survive and overcome both the racist terrors of white America and the malevolent spirits that could be ripped from a Lovecraft paperback.
Dir. Misha Green · With Jonathan Majors, Jurnee Smollett, Wunmi Mosaku

Friends, family, and lovers struggle to find love, forgiveness, and meaning in an almost war-torn world riddled with comedy and pathos.
Dir. Todd Solondz · With Shirley Henderson, Michael Kenneth Williams, Ally Sheedy
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and '30s.
Dir. Dee Rees · With Queen Latifah, Mo'Nique, Mike Epps

A gang of criminals and corrupt cops plan the murder of a police officer in order to pull off their biggest heist yet across town.
Dir. John Hillcoat · With Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Anthony Mackie

Enforcing the law within the notoriously rough Brownsville section of the city and especially within the Van Dyke housing projects is the NYPD's sixty-fifth precinct. Three police officers struggle with the sometimes fine line between right and wrong.
Dir. Antoine Fuqua · With Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke

A darkly comic swamp noir story of two best friends set in the late 1980s. Based on the novels by Joe R. Lansdale, the series follows Hap Collins, an East Texas white boy with a weakness for Southern women, and Leonard Pine, a gay, black Vietnam vet with a hot temper.
Dir. Nick Damici, Jim Mickle · With James Purefoy, Michael Kenneth Williams, Nicholas Logan

In RoboCop, the year is 2028 and multinational conglomerate OmniCorp is at the center of robot technology. Overseas, their drones have been used by the military for years, but have been forbidden for law enforcement in America. Now OmniCorp wants to bring their controversial technology to the home front, and they see a golden opportunity to do it. When Alex Murphy – a loving husband, father and good cop doing his best to stem the tide of crime and corruption in Detroit – is critically injured, OmniCorp sees their chance to build a part-man, part-robot police officer. OmniCorp envisions a RoboCop in every city and even more billions for their shareholders, but they never counted on one thing: there is still a man inside the machine.
Dir. José Padilha · With Joel Kinnaman, Gary Oldman, Michael Keaton
Richard Cooper is a married man and father of two who is just plain bored with married life. Not getting any sex from his wife, he resorts to ogling random women on the street to the point that he takes lunch late to look at them. When old crush Nikki Tru visits his office to get a reference letter, she becomes obsessed with Cooper and they begin a complicated relationship.
Dir. Chris Rock · With Chris Rock, Gina Torres, Kerry Washington

Kyle and Swin live by the orders of an Arkansas-based drug kingpin named Frog, whom they've never met. But when a deal goes horribly wrong, the consequences are deadly.
Dir. Clark Duke · With Liam Hemsworth, Clark Duke, Vince Vaughn
A surrogate mother harbors a deadly secret desire for a family of her own with the husband who is expecting to raise her child.
Dir. Jon Cassar · With Morris Chestnut, Regina Hall, Jaz Sinclair
Based on a miraculous true story that drew the attention of the entire nation, is the dramatic, thrilling, and spiritual journey of Ashley Smith and Brian Nichols. After being taken hostage by Brian in her own apartment, Ashley turns to Rick Warren’s inspirational book, The Purpose Driven Life, for guidance. In reading from the book, Ashley not only finds purpose in her own life, but helps Brian find a more peaceful resolution to a harrowing situation.
Dir. Jerry Jameson · With Kate Mara, David Oyelowo, Michael Kenneth Williams

Through a technology that unlocks the genetic memories of his ancestor in 15th century Spain, Callum Lynch discovers he is a descendant of an ancient line of Assassins and amasses lethal skills to take on the oppressive Templar Order.
Dir. Justin Kurzel · With Michael Fassbender, Marion Cotillard, Jeremy Irons
A man's recently transplanted heart leads him on a frantic search to find the donor's killer before a similar fate befalls him.
Dir. Michael Cuesta · With Josh Lucas, Lena Headey, Brian Cox

Mercenary John Seeger is one of the best in the business. John and his crew battle some soldiers on Galmoral Island in Southern Africa as they're trying to rescue the French Ambassador -- there's a coup going on. Some of John's soldiers unload their machine guns into the Ambassador and his family, blowing the mission and getting his best friend Radio Jones killed. He heads back to the US and visits Radio's wife Shondra to tells her the news, and then promises that he'll take care of her and her son Eddie. But shortly after he makes that vow, Shondra and Eddie get kidnapped.
Dir. Don E. FauntLeRoy · With Steven Seagal, Jacqueline Lord, Roger Guenveur Smith
Top Collaborators
Directors with 2+ shared titles, ranked by frequency