Latino movie reviews

Being Flynn (Movie Review)

Watching ‘Being Flynn’ is like eating a heavy meal right before you go to bed, it is very hard to digest. The subject matter is so loaded that it took me a while to understand how I felt about the movie, and that effect on its own says a lot. The movie is entertaining up to a certain point because the story develops delicately and although it only runs for 1hour 42 minutes, there’s a precise moment in the end where if it would have finished, it would have been enough. This true-life story no doubt is interesting but perhaps it is this very element of realness what drags it down.

The film narrates the life of Nick Flynn (Paul Dano) from his childhood to his adulthood. He tells us of his absent father, Jonathan (Robert De Niro) and about his obsessiveness of being a writer. Despite many obstacles in his childhood his single mother, Jody (Julianne Moore) was able to raise a somewhat normal child. Although he does seem to be struggling, he starts putting his life on track by working at a shelter in Boston and just as he seems to be shaping his life how he wants it his father comes in to mess with any kind of confidence or goals that he may have. The struggle between these two is what carries the movie forward and what brings on the heavy sentimental tiring subjects.

Dano does a good job at capturing the very complicated life of this man who’s had very little in his favor to reach his goals. De Niro plays well the character of an arrogant, self-centered alcoholic; he really is such a versatile actor that you can almost believe him to be this character in real life. There’s no denying that the movie is most intense in the homeless shelter scenes, it is such a haunting dose of reality because of the sense that nowadays specially with the economic crisis anyone can end up in this situation.

Most true-life stories that turn into movies usually have great success because of all the elements that it combines, but in this one the sad reality is way heavier than the uplifting moments; therefore you come out depressed and pensive. The fact that it does open our eyes more to certain things we overlook such as homeless people is a very positive point of the movie but having to deal with all the other emotions it brings is too much of a burden to want to be excited about seeing this film.

The Woman in Black (Movie Review)

Daniel Radcliffe made an incredibly surprising move by choosing this movie as his first project after his life legacy of ‘Harry Potter’.The Woman in Black’ is a decent horror film that uses old formulas that work, but at times it’s too predictable to make you loose sleep. The film has an elegance and beauty that keeps you entertain up to a certain point; fortunately the length of the film also helps it be more likeable. This film reaches close to the level of ‘The Ring’, but it will only scare those that truly believe in the supernatural and can overlook the clichés of it.

A young English lawyer, Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe), who’s trying to overcome the death of his wife is sent to a small town to sell a mansion, that holds a deadly secret and with this prove that he has what it takes to keep his job. Kipps arrives in this grey town where he is only able to make one friend, Daily (Ciarán Hinds), who doesn’t believe in the supernatural rubbish and wants to help him carry out his task. In the meantime, Kipps must fight the vengeful ghost of a woman, who will never forgive what was done to her and he must also fight the townspeople who want the outsider to go away for reasons they don’t explain to him until it’s too late.   

Radcliffe carries this entire film on his shoulders and he does a good job at interpreting a man who is trying to make sense of things he doesn’t believe exist. Interestingly enough in our interview, he told me he doesn’t believe in ghosts or the supernatural, which makes me wonder even more, why take upon a project that has to do entirely with just that? To be fair his character does try to come up with a somewhat logical yet wacky solution. Although Radcliffe denies he’s not trying to escape from his ‘Harry Potter’ persona, now I’m more inclined to believe the opposite than before.

There is no doubt this film contains all the right creepy ingredients: porcelain dolls, toys that play lullabies, zombie- ghost children, lonely mansion in a secluded area, unfriendly towns people, and of course a ghost who doesn’t accept apologies and makes no exceptions. Despite that, I have to say that my experience with horror films helped me predict the outcome of some of the scenes, which takes away from it but I have to give some credit though to the weird unpredictable creepy twist and the semi unexpected ending.   

For people that don’t believe in the supernatural such as myself, it is very hard to have a horror film such as this one make me loose sleep, I enjoy horror films don’t get me wrong. After all we go to the movies to see unimaginable and incredible things, but this one didn’t traumatize me to the effect of ‘The Grudge’. If you want to see a good old hunted house film, then this is the one you’ve been waiting for. If you are into more hard-core horror/violent films this one is a bit more psychological and less graphic.

The Devil Inside (Movie Review)

*Updated November 2025

It has been over a decade since The Devil Inside hit theaters, and it still holds the title for one of the most controversial endings in cinema history. What started as a low-budget found-footage film exploded into a $100 million box office phenomenon, only to leave audiences booing at the screen. Read More

War Horse (Movie Review)

Bring your tissues to this film! I’m speaking to the animal lovers in particular. This is such a beautiful story about perseverance, love, understanding and adventure. Steven Spielberg has managed once more to make a family film that will capture many. It is so difficult to make a living, breathing animal be the main character of a major motion picture, but it was pulled off majestically.

We are taken on a journey placed during WWI in England mainly but also France. A young boy, Albert Narracott (Jeremy Irvine) has the great challenge of raising a young horse that he names Joey. The two build an unbreakable bond thanks to the obstacles they go through such as plowing a hopeless piece of land. Since Albert’s family is poor they end up giving up the horse when the war hits their small village, Albert swears to Joey that they will meet again. Rose (Emily Watson), Albert’s mom tries to help her son be strong and understand his father’s (Peter Mullan) decision.

In his journey through war Joey gets various soldier owners both English and German, who instantly realize this horse is like no other. One of them, Captain Nicholls (Tom Hiddleston) swears to Albert he will return his horse after the war and cares for Joey like Albert would. We follow our main character, Joey, through an unbelievable story during the WWI, which was the last war where horses were used.

The horses used to play the character of Joey are gorgeous beasts that fulfilled Spielberg’s task of having an animal as a main character and will make the public to want to go out and immediately get a horse after the movie. This is Irvine’s first movie on the big screen and he plays his character very humbly with an easy to like attitude, which many pet owners can identify with.

War is the backdrop of the story and I really enjoyed the way it was perceived; most movies depict war as something so strategic; here we see how much the element of surprise has to do with it and how little the soldiers involved in it know about it, how clueless they are because of their youth and their fear and all they do is follow orders. One of the most beautiful scenes of the movie is played out in no-man’s-land, where Toby Kebbell’s character is united with the so-called enemy thanks to this amazing horse; this scene alone makes the whole film worth it.

Most of the shots in this film are beautiful, not only because of the countryside shots but even the ones in the war are so well done that they easily captivate the public. Even when corniness seems to overwhelm the screen one is easily distracted by the sunset and the imagery.

The film was adapted from a book and there’s also a play in Broadway on it, all the actors recommended the full experience in our interviews and none seemed to have felt overshadowed by the outstanding performance of the horses as it should be since they each contributed to what makes this movie as a whole what it is: a great family film. This movie will make you tear up but it will also make you smile and leave you with a content feeling, it’s no surprise its release date is Christmas day.