Felon-y

Looks like some Hollywood executive woke up to the ratings that America's Toughest Prisons was getting and decided to make a movie about it. So you have a pretty gritty insider's view of prison with prison politics as an added bonus. However, the politics are limited to the men in uniform instead of dealing with gang politics (which is the whole point of America's Toughest Prisons).

Val Kilmer looks pretty cool as a bearded lifer who spends his time philosophizing and writing poetry. Stephen Dorff does his best to portray the angst of An-innocent-average-Joe-trying-to-live-so-why-is-shit-happening-to-me. If only he could get under your skin.

Truth be told, Felon feels a bit like Lock Up. Donald Sutherland's character is played by Harold Perrineau (of Lost fame), Mr Dorff takes Sly's place; not sure whether Lock Up had a bearded lifer, though, who spent his time philosophizing and writing poetry. So Val's about the best thing in Felon. After the cool tattoos on the inmates.