Everybody knows Jamie Foxx from “Any given Sunday” but not until I saw this stand-up session I became aware that this guy is funny. Jamie repertoire includes many imitations of famous celebrities like Clinton, Nixon, Prince and others, most of them black due to the almost all black public that filled the theater. Nevertheless the main course of this evening was the parody of Africa: its smells, people, music and animals. Not bad at all, though sometimes you could feel some repetitiveness on the punch lines. All and all this was a solid black culture show and enjoyable by all.

A comedy with Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Cage cannot go wrong. A respectable African american scholar professor (Jackson) has just arrived to his new summer home at a small town, when, unluckily his mid class white neighbors got it wrong when they saw a black man handling a stereo withing the house that they thought still belonged to the last white owner. They call the police and freelance TV reporters also arrived. In the proximity of local elections for town mayor, police chief wants to cause a good impression in the press and prepares his team to storm the house without any further anaysis of the situation: they almost kill the celebrity. In order to cover the mistake, they cut a deal with a small criminal (Cage) to make as if he was the celeb raptor and the chief comes to save the kidnapping. One mistakes gets to another to the amaze of both professor and kidnapper.

Though the setting Steve’s Buscemi (also acting in the movie) chose for Animal Factory is Holmesburg Prison, this location depicts the well known Californian prison San Quentin. This movie is an adaptation of Edward Bunker’s novel on life in San Quentin, the same actor who played Mr. Blue in Reservoir Dogs.

A young suburban fish that goes by the name of Ron Decker (Edward Furlong), has just been caught and judged for some drugs charges. As his entrance in the animal factory penitentiary, he will have to choose, as any other movie would describe it, between putting someone down or being someone’s bitch, for he is just a young good looking 21 old youngster from a good neighborhood, son of a wealthy businessman.

Fortunately for Ron, he gets acquaintance with almost the owner of the place, Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), a log term inmate who almost rules the penitentiary. For whatever reason, Earl will choose to take the boy under him and protect him against the psycho rapers always waiting for a chance to get hard on the kid. This is usually a side, most of the prison movies won’t show as it is in this film, the sensitivity, altruist feelings that father figure Earl will display for Ron, with nothing in exchange.

Earl’s inner circle is formed by almost unrecognizable Mickie Rourke playing the place’s queen, hill-billy played by Jake La Botz, Vito (Danny Trejo) and  In one of the hot moments of the picture, Ron would be attacked by a sex-starved gorilla (Tom Arnold) and the two plan to retaliate on the attacker, before the last makes his move first. The two would attack the violent inmate but wont kill him. After this, the boy will get another 5 years in the joint, for he is still consider a danger to society. Good critics for this movie at he Sundance Film Festival of the same year.

Based on the real story of Ted Bundy, the first modern serial killer who was active during the seventies in the US. Though the actual number of victims that met his rage is still unknown, it is  estimated that they range from 35 to 100.

He used to strangle his victims after bludgeoning them, also raping and practicing necrophilia with them.

It’s amazing how casual the guy seemed and how easy it was for him to accomplish what he had set out for himself, i.e – the commission of murders. The movie is not as bloody as expected though and the results are already historically known to all – he got the chair, a special, electrifying one, which made him feel 3000 volts run through his spine. Score: 5.5

On the same year, and right after finishing “The Wrestler”, Mickey Rourke went and did this action movie. Here he plays a native American hitman, working for the local mafia. Under strange circumstances, he associates with a troublemaker punk who will get him several degrees deeper into trouble, hunting down a couple who is left behind, after seeing their faces. With the beautiful Rosario Dawson and Diane Lane.

Score: 5.5

Nothing can hide this title about what is about to happen in this film. A group of mid 30’s guys is out for Las Vegas to celebrate a bachelor party for one of them, getting married soon. Obviously, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, and this guys will go through a tour of crazy deeds during a night they cannot remember a thing about., why? because one of them got the other drugged with some substance that causes amnesia, by mistake. During the night some cary things will happen, from stealing a tiger and place it into their hotel room till gettign married with a stripper,all and all many stereotypes like any movie trying to hit the jackpot selling tickets. But the result is a mediocre comedy that has just some half funny guy in it, that by the way I couldn’t stand 10 minutes watching him as a stand up comedian, that some object he is: Zach Galifianakis.

Nicholas Cage and what is left of his hair depict a sigle parent professor of science with a gifted son and a passion for astronomy.  This is a sience fiction movie around the topic of the end of the days for our planet earth and how a man knows about it, nobody listens to him and how he tries to stop destiny from ocurring. One day John Koestler, our professor, will stumble on a piece of paper filled with numbers he will try to decifer; and he does, getting from it, dates of terrible disasters world wide, the number of victims it will provoke and finally he will also know latitude and longitude for them = where. So now our professor knows it all and goes on a try to mold what is to come, being defeated by destiny. Expected and long final, some nice pics all and all in the film, a better monster pick-up and poor acting: I just appreciate from Nicholas Coppola “Peggy Sue got married” and “Wild at Heart”, the rest is just trying to pay bills acting.  Score: 3.

There will be blood is the strong story of the greedy Daniel Plainview, a ruthless oil prospector. Daniel would make his fortune through buying lands with oil beneath for a cheap price so he an exploit the wheels and the local people by manipulation. He will ultimately find himself left alone with no family but a adopted friend’s son who will also split from him in order to creaqte his own company. Great performance of Daniel Day-Lewis as usual with a character demanding part. Less blood actually in the movie and more drama for a tortured individual who made of property and power his goal and not his mean. Score: 6.

It has been a while and several crappy movies since I came up with this one. Look is a fine well produced, edited and among all sensational well constructed plot around the world of the surveiling cameras surrounding us. All this film looks like a reality document of real security cameras in stores, streets, elevators and buildings that are watching you 24/7. They will catch every move, every glimpse and some also every word you come up with. They help decision makers to get clues on a crime, fellany and such and will be used when the whole judiciary process is on. On this, I think first of a kind motion picture on this subject and with a story telling structure, you will enter into the daily life of several anonimous people and how they get into trouble. Score:6.5