Director Ayer has a real eye for capturing LA’s less glamorous streets, and with a story and screenplay by James Ellroy, another storyteller who knows his way around the turf, Street Kings has the makings of a classic cop drama. But somewhere along the line the dialogue and story took a turn down a dark alley lined with film clichés and Hollywood melodrama and didn’t emerge unscathed.

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After being sent away by Judge Turpin, Sweeney Todd a.k.a Benjamin Barker returns to London with the help of a sailor, Anthony Hope. He opens a barber shop above Mrs. Lovett’s Meat Pie Shop, where she sells “the worst pies in London.” With the help of Mrs. Lovett, Todd means to rid London of the corrupt aristocracy, and hopes to be reunited with his daughter, Johanna, who is now Judge Turpin’s ward. Written by Anonymous

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John Rambo is a disoriented Vietnam Vet. He is hitchhiking from town to town to see friends from the war. A sheriff tries to make him leave town and when he refuses, arrests him for vagrancy. While in jail, a deputy takes delight in abusing him. Rambo escapes showing his old Vietnam fighting skills and takes to the woods as the sheriff and deputies try and find him in his element. Things get out of hand as Colonel Trautman Rambo’s old commander appears to shed light on the situation. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

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Jean Valjean, a Frenchman imprisoned for stealing bread, must flee a police officer named Javert. The pursuit consumes both men’s lives, and soon Valjean finds himself in the midst of the student revolutions in France. Written by Tim Kearns {tskearns@aol.com}

Cheech and Chong meet up by chance on the highway somewhere in California. They go in search of some dope and are accidentally deported to Mexico where in their desperation to get home they agree to drive a van back to the States so they can get back in time for a gig they are due to play. Unaware of the properties from which the van is constructed they make their way back having aquired a couple of female hitch-hikers whilst all the time avoiding the cops whom they are not even aware are following them. Written by Garry ‘Gadget’ Myles {garry.myles@mercury.co.uk}

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I walked out of “House of Sand and Fog” with two distinct thoughts pinging around in my brain. One, the acting in “House of Sand and Fog” was some of the best of the year. And two, I was thinking in amazement about the way director/screenwriter Vadim Perelman was able to make me alternately despise and cheer for each of the central characters in a balanced fashion over the entire course of the movie. Normally you get to pick one bad guy and wish evil thoughts on him or her over the course of the film. That’s not so easy with “House of Sand and Fog.” The characters were so well developed and human, with all the foibles that implies, it was difficult to find a hero or a villain and label them with that designation for longer than a scene or two.

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