If it weren’t for the brilliant job done by Mortensen as a ruthless Russian mobster and by Naomi Watts as a concerned midwife, Eastern Promises could be considered a real step down from A History of Violence. However, Mortensen and Watts lift Eastern Promises up and it’s because of their performances this movie works reasonably well as a character-driven drama, rather than a straight-up thriller.

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Oddball cop and tough guy, Jack Cates is the only survivor of a cop shooting and in hunting down the murderer collects Reggie Hammond from jail for 48 hours. Hammond is oddly motivated to help. The killer is searching for his stash of cash. Cates and Hammond who have the Black-white, cop-crook thing to work out make surprisingly good partners as they navigate through the city looking for their suspect. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

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When John Eastland’s best friend, Michael Jefferson, is mugged and left permanently crippled, he decides to do something about it. Jefferson had saved Eastland’s life in Vietnam and now it’s time for Eastland to get revenge for his friend. Using his old Army gear he sets out on a crusade to clean up the streets of New York using the name “The Exterminator.” Written by David Bongo {ajgs09b@prodigy.com}

“Anger Management” is another example of a good idea gone bad. Take two popular actors with radically different styles, mix in a sprinkling of a few name actors, throw in Adam Sandler’s buddies in supporting roles, and ask them to take an intriguing idea and turn it into a solid comedy. The result? Well, let’s just say this is deeply disappointing considering how much promise Sandler showed in “Punch-Drunk Love.” And Nicholson’s far from blameless. He takes his wild man character from the latter part of “The Shining,” tones it down a bit, and then generally looks uncomfortable with the results throughout this film.

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Mortimer and Randolph Duke are commodity brokers who enjoy a little wager now and then. For the latest bet, Randolph believes they can take a common criminal and make him a successful businessman in the company. The criminal, Billy Ray, is to be given the job and home of Louis, who in turn is set up for crimes he didn’t commit, to see if he resorts to crime once he’s lost his rich environment and friends. Written by Rob Hartill

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Eugene is an extraordinary talent in classic guitar, but he dreams of being a famous Blues guitarist. So he investigates to find a storied lost song. He asks the legendary Blues musician Willie Brown to help him, but Willie demands to free him from the old-people’s prison first and to really learn the blues on the way to it’s origin: Mississippi Delta. Eugene doesn’t know yet about Willie’s deal with the devil, that he now wants to revoke. Written by Tom Zoerner {Tom.Zoerner@informatik.uni-erlangen.de}

Xenia, Ohio, is a small poor and boring city that never fully recovered after a tornado in the 1970s. Teenager Solomon and his slightly older friend Tummler, have nothing to do but kill time, buying glue to sniff and get high. Written by Anonymous

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A dark tale based on the true story of Aileen Wuornos, one of America’s first female serial killers. Wuornos had a difficult and cruel childhood plagued by abuse and drug use in Michigan. She became a prostitute by the age of thirteen, the same year she became pregnant. She eventually moved to Florida where she began earning a living as a highway prostitute–servicing the desires of semi-truck drivers. The tale focuses on the nine month period between 1989 and 1990, during which Wuornos had a lesbian relationship with a woman named Selby. And during that very same time, she also began murdering her clientele in order to get money without using sex. This turned the tables on a rather common phenomena of female highway prostitutes being the victims of serial killers–instead Wuornos, herself, carried out the deeds of a cold-blooded killer. Written by Sujit R. Varma

The biography of Ron Kovic. Paralyzed in the Vietnam war, he becomes an anti-war and pro-human rights political activist after feeling betrayed by the country he fought for. Written by Murray Chapman {muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au}

An FBI agent tracks down and catches a young con artist who successfully impersonated an airline pilot, doctor, assistant attorney general and history professor, cashing more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 countries. Written by Anonymous

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