The Film:

A motley crew of characters struggling to overcome personal tragedies is used as a pretext for a broad and stripped of glamour portrait of Cuba in Humberto Solas' Barrio Cuba (2005). While the script occasionally suffers from banal inconsistencies pic's fine lensed vistas from the backstreets of La Havana more than make up for it. Winner of the Audience Award at the Huevla Latin American Film Festival.

Magalis (Luisa Maria Jimenez), a beautiful nurse with a tumultuous love life, has become Ignacio's (Mario Limonta), a lonely and often inebriated aging worker, obsession. He is convinced that sooner or later Magalis will respond to his invitations even though she has made her preference for younger men clear.

El Chino (Jorge Perugorria) is an overworked truck driver who barely spends time at home. His wife (Isabel Santos) has just found out that she is pregnant ...Read the entire review

Not being familiar with Spanish language television, I'll have to trust wikipedia (a dangerous thing) when it states that TV Azteca is the second largest network in Mexico. Cielo is a tv movie filmed for the station, a standard coming of age, after school special, Lifetime network worthy, troubled teen tale.

Gabriel (Alan Chavez) is a fifteen year old with a troubled home life. His father abandoned the family long ago. Gabriel lives with his idolized older brother, his bitchy older sister Sofia (Giovanna Zacarias), his terminally ill mother, and a nurse boarder. After his mother dies, Gabriel take the loss especially hard, begins skipping school, not doing his homework, and generally lashing out at Sofia, who is not prepared for the role of replacement mother.

After an uncle advises Sofia to curtail Gabriel by sending him to boarding school, Gabriel runs away and begins to live alone on the...Read the entire review

The Product:
They say there is nothing worse than bad horror. While lame comedy and uninspired action strive for a similar stink bomb stature, the groan-inducing genre effort is supposedly the biggest cinematic abomination of all. But what about the just plain boring bits of dread? Where does that fit in the world of wasted opportunities and motion picture mediocrity? Isn't a routine scary movie just as awful as an inept one, providing the same sense of brain melting mediocrity and soul stealing stupidity? In the case of The Wailer II, the answer is a resounding "Yes". This incredibly crappy film, trying to get by on mood and its Mexican backdrop alone, is a true test of any fright fans patience and proclivities. Some may see it as subtle and suspenseful. But unless you believe that inert plotting and underdeveloped characters equal undeniable eeriness, you're better off watching pain...Read the entire review

7 Kilos:
And now I'm back at home again. Freelance DVD reviewers and inveterate readers know the score, the territory. Direct-to-video, homes. I bust the gangsta talk, and you readers supply the accent, because we're delving into the subset of DTV DVD that involves Hispanic gangsters, this time coming with the stylish, assured, and (sadly) ultimately un-watchable 7 Kilos. Why so harsh, you ask? Wait and see, bro, wait and see.

7 Kilos commences in grand fashion with some post-reservoir dogs gangster stuff involving the titular load and 2.5 million. Trouble is hothead Danny gets his skinny tie all in a bunch, popping caps in some asses that, by association, don't deserve them. In a sad coincidence, his girlfriend Camilla ends up with the loot and the weight and with nothing to do but run for the border. That's where pseudo-outlaw Cane comes in, and viewers with sensitive constitu...Read the entire review