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Movie Reviews and Ratings

Karen Posada

By

2012/12/11 at 12:00am

Ice Age: Continental Drift

12.11.2012 | By |

Ice Age: Continental Drift’ is 94 minutes of fun for all; this might be the best out of the last two sequels. It’s hard for three main characters to entertain over so many movies, perhaps the reason why it works here is because they take a back seat at points and let the new characters tell the story. This movie combines drama with comedy very well, so that even in the most dramatic moments there’s an upside to it all. Also, the 3D works well throughout the movie, but it works best in the first part where there are a lot of objects popping out of the screen.

 

In this chapter thanks to Scat’s (Chris Wedge) endless pursuit of the acorn, he triggers a continental drift. As Manny (Ray Romano) is learning to deal with his teenage daughter Peaches (Keke Palmer), Sid (John Leguizamo) is reunited with his Granny (Wanda Sykes) and Diego (Denis Leary) ferociously helps them both. The gang all learn a lesson after they get separated from part of their pack and they face a rare group of pirates that use an iceberg as a ship. Their captain, Captain Gutt (Peter Dinklage) rules the oceans and with the help of his best crew members Shira (Jennifer Lopez) and Squint (Aziz Ansari) he will fight anyone that gets in their way.  

 

My favorite new character is Sid’s Granny, everything she does and says it’s adorably cranky and funny; she’s one of those old people that don’t hold back. Also, the tiny hyraxs (chipmunk like animals) are awesome with their ‘Braveheart’ skit. One of the most substantial new characters is Louis (Josh Gad), a molehog who is Peaches’ best friend.

 

The new group of villains is an interesting mix but Captain Gutt is the only that’s worth mentioning, his yellow teeth really shine with the 3D making him all the more disgusting and scary. One thing I could have lived without is the pirate jig they use to introduce Gutt. Manny still has a lot of screen time and is certainly the leader, but Sid and Diego really are secondary characters. There are also appearances by Nicki Minaj and Drake, which obviously were just added to the film to draw in a bigger audience.

 

What makes this movie more entertaining than the 3rd part is the fact that there are two simultaneous stories developing, the action shots of one complements the heart of the other. The introduction of new characters that lead the story gives it a more refreshing look. Of course Scrat is basically a third part of the story that always makes it all the more interesting as he’s the catalyst to everything that occurs.

 

If you are a fan of The Simpsons make sure to arrive early as there’s a short 3D film ‘The Longest Daycare’ with Maggie. This movie is better rounded than the last one of the series and there’s a lot more humor that will keep you and your children entertained. There are a few lessons the film tries to teach as an undertone, but they don’t over take the movie, this is more fun, action and laughter than anything else.

Mack Chico

By

2012/12/11 at 12:00am

Javier Bardem nominated for Critics’ Choice Movie Awards!

12.11.2012 | By |

Javier Bardem nominated for  Critics' Choice Movie Awards!

The James Bond film ‘Skyfall,’ considered a commercial Holywood action movie, received a nomination for Javier Bardem‘s villainous character in Best Supporting Actor from the BFCA (Broadcast Film Critics Association). It seems like anytime he does a movie, he’s instantly in the nomination conversations.

Lincoln” received a record 13 nominations Tuesday for the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, held by the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

With nominations for picture, director Steven Spielberg, scribe Tony Kushner, lead actor Daniel Day-Lewis and supporting thesps Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones, “Lincoln” surpassed the 12 noms that went to “Black Swan” in 2010.

Les Miserables” was second this year with 11 Critics’ Choice noms, joining “Lincoln” among the 10 films tapped as best picture candidates. Also nommed for picture were “Argo,” “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” “Django Unchained,” “Life of Pi,” “The Master,” “Moonrise Kingdom,” “Silver Linings Playbook” and “Zero Dark Thirty.”

From that group, Ben Affleck (“Argo”), Kathryn Bigelow (“Zero”), Tom Hooper (“Les Miserables”), Ang Lee (“Life of Pi”), David O. Russell (“Silver Linings”) and Spielberg grabbed director noms.

Silver Linings” grabbed 10 nods, followed by “Life of Pi” with nine and seven apiece for “Argo,” “The Master” and “Skyfall.” Bradley Cooper of “Silver Linings” earned noms in three categories: actor, comedy actor and as part of the “Silver” acting ensemble.

Actor nominations went to Cooper, Day-Lewis, John Hawkes (“The Sessions”), Hugh Jackman (“Les Miserables”), Joaquin Phoenix (“The Master”) and Denzel Washington (“Flight”). For actress, scoring noms were Jessica Chastain (“Zero”), Marion Cotillard (“Rust and Bone”), Jennifer Lawrence (“Silver”), Emmanuelle Riva (“Amour”), Quvenzhane Wallis (“Beasts of the Southern Wild”) and Naomi Watts (“The Impossible”).

Foreign-film nominees were “Amour,” “The Intouchables,” “A Royal Affair” and “Rust and Bone,” while “Brave,” “Frankenweenie,” “Madagascar 3,” “ParaNorman,” “Rise of the Guardians” and “Wreck-It Ralph” were tapped in animation and “Bully,” “The Central Park Five,” “The Imposter,” “The Queen of Versailles,” “Searching for Sugar Man” and “West of Memphis” in documentary.

Nominated for top comedy were “Bernie,” “Silver Linings Playbook,” “Ted,” “This Is 40” and “21 Jump Street,” and for action were “The Avengers,” “The Dark Knight Rises,” “Looper” and “Skyfall.”

The CW will air the kudocast live Jan. 10, the day the Academy Award nominations are released. The deadline for BFCA members to vote on the nominees is Jan. 8.

The full list of nominees:

BEST PICTURE

“Argo”

“Beasts of the Southern Wild”

“Django Unchained”

“Les Misérables”

“Life of Pi”

“Lincoln”

“The Master”

“Moonrise Kingdom”

“Silver Linings Playbook”

“Zero Dark Thirty”

 

BEST ACTOR

Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Daniel Day-Lewis – “Lincoln”

John Hawkes – “The Sessions”

Hugh Jackman – “Les Misérables”

Joaquin Phoenix – “The Master”

Denzel Washington – “Flight”

 

BEST ACTRESS

Jessica Chastain – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Marion Cotillard – “Rust and Bone”

Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Emmanuelle Riva – “Amour”

Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

Naomi Watts – “The Impossible”

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

Alan Arkin – “Argo”

Javier Bardem – “Skyfall”

Robert De Niro – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Philip Seymour Hoffman – “The Master”

Tommy Lee Jones – “Lincoln”

Matthew McConaughey – “Magic Mike”

 

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Amy Adams – “The Master”

Judi Dench – “Skyfall”

Ann Dowd – “Compliance”

Sally Field – “Lincoln”

Anne Hathaway – “Les Misérables”

Helen Hunt – “The Sessions”

 

BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS

Elle Fanning – “Ginger & Rosa”

Kara Hayward – “Moonrise Kingdom”

Tom Holland – “The Impossible”

Logan Lerman – “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

Suraj Sharma – “Life of Pi”

Quvenzhané Wallis – “Beasts of the Southern Wild”

 

BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE

“Argo”

“The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”

“Les Misérables”

“Lincoln”

“Moonrise Kingdom”

“Silver Linings Playbook”

 

BEST DIRECTOR

Ben Affleck – “Argo”

Kathryn Bigelow – “Zero Dark Thirty”

Tom Hooper – “Les Misérables”

Ang Lee – “Life of Pi”

David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Steven Spielberg – “Lincoln”

 

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

Quentin Tarantino – “Django Unchained”

John Gatins – “Flight”

Rian Johnson – “Looper”

Paul Thomas Anderson – “The Master”

Wes Anderson & Roman Coppola – “Moonrise Kingdom”

Mark Boal – “Zero Dark Thirty”

 

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

Chris Terrio – “Argo”

David Magee – “Life of Pi”

Tony Kushner – “Lincoln”

Stephen Chbosky – “The Perks of Being a Wallflower”

David O. Russell – “Silver Linings Playbook”

 

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

“Les Misérables” – Danny Cohen

“Life of Pi” – Claudio Miranda

“Lincoln” – Janusz Kaminski

“The Master” – Mihai Malaimare Jr.

“Skyfall” – Roger Deakins

 

BEST ART DIRECTION

“Anna Karenina” – Sarah Greenwood/Production Designer; Katie Spencer/Set Decorator

“The Hobbit” – Dan Hennah/Production Designer; Ra Vincent & Simon Bright/Set Decorators

“Les Misérables” – Eve Stewart/Production Designer; Anna Lynch-Robinson/Set Decorator

“Life of Pi” – David Gropman/Production Designer; Anna Pinnock/Set Decorator

“Lincoln” – Rick Carter/Production Designer; Jim Erickson/Set Decorator

 

BEST EDITING

“Argo” – William Goldenberg

“Les Misérables” – Melanie Ann Oliver and Chris Dickens

“Life of Pi” – Tim Squyres

“Lincoln” – Michael Kahn

“Zero Dark Thirty” – William Goldenberg and Dylan Tichenor

 

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

“Anna Karenina” – Jacqueline Durran

“Cloud Atlas” – Kym Barrett and Pierre-Yves Gayraud

“The Hobbit” – Bob Buck, Ann Maskrey and Richard Taylor

“Les Misérables” – Paco Delgado

“Lincoln” – Joanna Johnston

 

BEST MAKEUP

“Cloud Atlas”

“The Hobbit”

“Les Misérables”

“Lincoln”

 

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

“The Avengers”

“Cloud Atlas”

“The Dark Knight Rises”

“The Hobbit”

“Life of Pi”

 

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

“Brave”

“Frankenweenie”

“Madagascar 3”

“ParaNorman”

“Rise of the Guardians”

“Wreck-It Ralph”

 

BEST ACTION MOVIE

“The Avengers”

“The Dark Knight Rises”

“Looper”

“Skyfall”

 

BEST ACTOR IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Christian Bale – “The Dark Knight Rises”

Daniel Craig – “Skyfall”

Robert Downey Jr. – “The Avengers”

Joseph Gordon-Levitt – “Looper”

Jake Gyllenhaal – “End of Watch”

 

BEST ACTRESS IN AN ACTION MOVIE

Emily Blunt – “Looper”

Gina Carano – “Haywire”

Judi Dench – “Skyfall”

Anne Hathaway – “The Dark Knight Rises”

Jennifer Lawrence – “The Hunger Games”

 

BEST COMEDY

“Bernie”

“Silver Linings Playbook”

“Ted”

“This Is 40”

“21 Jump Street”

 

BEST ACTOR IN A COMEDY

Jack Black – “Bernie”

Bradley Cooper – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Paul Rudd – “This Is 40”

Channing Tatum – “21 Jump Street”

Mark Wahlberg – “Ted”

 

BEST ACTRESS IN A COMEDY

Mila Kunis – “Ted”

Jennifer Lawrence – “Silver Linings Playbook”

Shirley MacLaine – “Bernie”

Leslie Mann – “This Is 40”

Rebel Wilson – “Pitch Perfect”

 

BEST SCI-FI/HORROR MOVIE

“The Cabin in the Woods”

“Looper” 

“Prometheus”

 

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

Amour

The Intouchables

A Royal Affair

Rust and Bone

 

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

Bully

The Central Park Five

The Imposter

The Queen of Versailles

Searching for Sugar Man

West of Memphis

 

BEST SONG

“For You” – performed by Keith Urban/written by Monty Powell & Keith Urban – Act of Valor

“Learn Me Right” – performed by Birdy with Mumford & Sons/written by Mumford & Sons – Brave

“Skyfall” – performed by Adele/written by Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth – Skyfall

“Still Alive” – performed by Paul Williams/written by Paul Williams – Paul Williams Still Alive

“Suddenly” – performed by Hugh Jackman/written by Claude-Michel Schonberg & Alain Boublil & Herbert Kretzmer – Les Misérables

 

BEST SCORE

“Argo” – Alexandre Desplat

“Life of Pi” – Mychael Danna

“Lincoln” – John Williams

“The Master” – Jonny Greenwood

“Moonrise Kingdom” – Alexandre Desplat

Karen Posada

By

2012/12/11 at 12:00am

‘The Hobbit’: Interviews with Peter Jackson and the cast!

12.11.2012 | By |

It’s been almost 10 years since ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King’ premiered and now finally the prequel to ‘The Lord of the Rings’ is here, ‘The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey’ will open in the United States this Friday December 14. This one will be followed by ‘The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug’ to open December 13, 2013 and then, ‘The Hobbit: There and Back Again’ July 18th 2014. In this first part, we will join young Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman) in his first adventure with some new faces such as Thorin (Richard Armitage) the Dwarf King of Erebor and the rest of the twelve dwarves, whose kingdom has been taken away by a dragon named Smaug. Familiar faces accompany us on the trip such as the wizard Gandalf the Grey (Ian McKellen) and they will bump into Goblins, Orcs, Giant Spiders, Sorcerers and even Gollum (Andy Serkis) among others. In this journey he will discover himself as well as the wanders that the world outside of The Shire has to offer. Read More

Karen Posada

By

2012/12/10 at 12:00am

Guillermo Arriaga to unveil new horror short at Sundance

12.10.2012 | By |

Guillermo Arriaga to unveil new horror short at Sundance

Acclaimed Mexican screenwriter, director and producer Guillermo Arriaga’s next project is a short horror film called ‘Broken Night’. The interesting thing about this short is that it has been shot entirely with a Nikon D800, which the movie’s website describes it as giving “the highest possible image quality.”  Not to get too technical, but worth mentioning, “the camera has a 36 megapixel FX- format CMOS sensor; spectacularly low noise and high dynamic range.” The camera is so versatile that the page states “it’s as much at home on a movie set as on a landscape shoot or in a photo studio.” Pay attention film students, your film might just have gotten cheaper to shoot.

‘Broken Night,’ is about a young mother and her four-year-old daughter who are driving across desolated hills on a joyful trip that suddenly becomes a nightmare when they get into a car accident. Arriaga spoke on a video about how it is based on a car accident he had a couple of years ago. He continues on to say that he became involved in the project because he wants to play with horror, which he describes as an unexpected event such as a car crash.

He worked on this short horror film with Janusz Kamiński, one of the preeminent cinematographers in Hollywood who won the Oscar for ‘Schindler’s List’ and ‘Saving Private Ryan’. He was also nominated for ‘Amistad’, ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’ and ‘War Horse,’ also beautiful looking movies. 

Arriaga got Hollywood’s attention with ‘Amores Perros’ a story that is certainly known as one of Mexican cinema’s best films. Soon after he was asked to write ’21 Grams’ a crime thriller, which started Naomi Watts, Benicio del Toro and Sean Penn; the aforementioned actors won an Oscar for their performances. He went on to write ‘Babel’ another acclaimed film, which was nominated for an Oscar and starred Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Gael García Bernal. To bring my point home, he wrote and directed ‘The Burning Plain’ with Charlize Theron, Jennifer Lawrence and José María Yazpik and went on to win an award at the Venice Film Festival. 

This man has an impressive resume and is certainly one of the best storytellers of our time, whether he’s putting his stories down on paper or getting behind the camera.

It’s been announced that ‘Broken Night’ will be part of Sundance’s 2013 Short Film program, which will take place from Jan 17-27 and it’s under the “U.S. Narrative Short films” category. Out of the 65 films in this list, this is definitely a film many are keeping their eyes on.

For more info check out the movie website http://brokennightmovie.com

Karen Posada

By

2012/12/10 at 12:00am

‘Skyfall’ reclaims #1 spot

12.10.2012 | By |

'Skyfall' reclaims #1 spot

The box office was shaken up this week when ‘Skyfall’ reclaimed the number one spot, after having lost it for three weeks with $11 million dollars. The movie has been out for five weeks and now has become Sony’s highest earning film. This is a big deal for the Bond franchise all around.

The animated film ‘Rise of the Guardians’ also made a jump this week taking the second spot with $10.5 million dollars. Perhaps its theme and Santa Claus hero character have made it more appealing with the holidays nearing. Surprisingly though this film has not been a success for Dreamworks Animation.

After three weeks at number one ‘The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2’ fell to number three with $9.2 million dollars. Either way this last chapter of the saga is the highest earning out of all of them, holding on to $751.1 million dollars world wide it probably will reach the $800 million mark before its run is over.

The Top 10 in the Box Office are:

1. Skyfall – $11 mil

2. Rise of the Guardians – $10.5 mil

3. The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2 – $9.2 mil

4. Lincoln – $9.1 mil

5. Life of Pi – $8.3 mil

6. Playing for Keeps – $6 mil

7. Wreck-It Ralph – $4.9 mil

8. Red Dawn – $4.3 mil

9. Flight – $3.1 mil

10. Killing Them Softly – $2.7 mil

Jack Rico

By

2012/12/09 at 12:00am

NYFCO names ‘Chico & Rita’ Best Animated Feature

12.9.2012 | By |

NYFCO names 'Chico & Rita' Best Animated Feature

One of the movie critic’s group I belong to is The New York Film Critics Online (NYFCO). We held our thirteenth annual meeting on December 9th, 2012 at the LGBT Center in New York City to select our annual best of movie awards.

Kathryn Bigelow’s “Zero Dark Thirty” gathered momentum as NYFCO voted the film about the hunt for Osama Bin Ladin as the Best Film of 2012, with Bigelow honored for her direction and Mark Boal for his screenplay.  Daniel Day-Lewis received honors for his performance as Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s “Lincoln” while veteran French actress Emmanuelle Riva was esteemed for her performance in Michael Haneke’s drama “Amour,” which also received NYFCO’s award for Foreign Language film.

Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Hathaway received kudos for Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress respectively in Spielberg’s “Lincoln” and Tom Hooper’s “Les Misérables.” Ben Affleck’s “Argo” received an award for its Ensemble Cast

Benh Zeitlin’s “Beasts of the Southern Wild” was feted for a Breakthrough Performance by then five-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis, and Zeitlin was honored as Debut Director.  The Spanish language “Chico & Rita” was honored as Animated Feature while “The Central Park Five” was selected as Documentary.

These are the awards selected by the 35-member organization in fifteen categories:

 

A complete list of winners follows:

Best Picture:
 Zero Dark Thirty

Best Actor:
 Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln

Best Actress
: Emmanuelle Riva, Amour

Best Director: Kathryn Bigelow, Zero Dark Thirty

Best Supporting Actor
: Tommy Lee Jones, Lincoln

Best Supporting Actress: 
Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables

Breakthrough Performer:
 Quvenzhane Wallis, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Debut Director: 
Benh Zeitlin, Beasts of the Southern Wild

Ensemble Cast
: Argo

Best Screenplay
: Zero Dark Thirty

Best Documentary: 
The Central Park Five

Best Foreign Language
: Amour

Best Animated Feature:
 Chico and Rita

Best Cinematography:
 Life of Pi

Best Use of Music: 
Django Unchained

 

NYFCO’s TOP TEN FILMS (alphabetical)

   Argo (Warner Bros)

   Beasts of the Southern Wild (Fox Searchlight)

   Django Unchained (The Weinstein Company)

   Les Misérables (Universal)

   Life of Pi (20th Century Fox)

   Lincoln (DreamWorks)

   The Master (The Weinstein Company)

   Moonrise Kingdom (Focus Features)

   Silver Linings Playbook (The Weinstein Company)

   Zero Dark Thirty (Columbia Pictures)

Jack Rico

By

2012/12/09 at 12:00am

Se presentan 9 minutos de “Star Trek Into Darkness”

12.9.2012 | By |

Se presentan 9 minutos de “Star Trek Into Darkness”

Paramount Pictures y Bad Robot Productions presentaron en IMAX nueve minutos de la secuela de “Star Trek” de J.J. Abrams – “Star Trek Into Darkness” – a la prensa cinematográfica. Los nueve minutos lo están llamando “el prólogo” y las imágenes se ven intrigantes. 

Por lo que la secuencias de imágenes dejaron ver, mucho está en el primer avance y lo demás deja en duda la identidad del villano que Benedict Cumberbatch interpreta. 

El pietaje se inicia con Noel Clarke y Kayla Hassan, personajes que parecen tener una vida muy normal en el siglo 23. Se despiertan, preparan su desayuno y manejan al hospital, donde una niña, probablemente su hija, está inconsciente en la cama. No hay dialogo mientras durante estas escenas. 

Preocupados por la niña, Cumberbatch se les acerca a los padres y ofrece ayudarlos. Clarke pregunta quién es y él simplemente se sonríe pícaramente.

El resto de las imágenes tienen a la nave Enterprise viajando a una misión a un planeta rojo donde Kirk y McCoy están disfrazados de locales para espiar a una comunidad, pero luego son perseguidos a la muerte.

Abrams está molesto de que fans piensan que su film será un film oscuro, pero vemos una película entretenida donde cada miembro de la tripulación recibe un breve momento estelar. 

“Star Into Darkness” se estrenará el 17 de mayo de 2013 en los Estados Unidos protagonizados por Chris Pine, John Cho, Bruce Greenwood, Zachary Quinto, la dominicana Zoe Saldana, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, Alice Eve y Peter Weller. 

Mack Chico

By

2012/12/07 at 12:00am

Is Alejandro González Iñárritu’s next film a comedy?

12.7.2012 | By |

Ben Affleck‘s favorite director, Mexican helmer Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu, is leeaving all the heavy depressing, multi-story dramas to make… a comedy. You heard that right, a comedy.

The name of the movie will be BIRDMAN and its premise will be about a former actor, who once played an iconic superhero, as he mounts a Broadway play in a bid to reclaim past glory. The movie will take place in one location over the course of three days as the actor juggles family, career and his sanity.. That sounds it’ll be either a hit or an embarassing failure. Nevertheless, I don’t mind evolution and aspiring to be more versatile.

Iñárritu said he co-wrote the film with Nicolas Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris and Armando Bo and is eyeing a start in March.

Word is he still is planning The Revenant with Leonardo DiCaprio, but there is no pre-production date set to start.

 

Karen Posada

By

2012/12/05 at 12:00am

Heleno

12.5.2012 | By |

Heleno

There have been countless movies made about star athletes that have revolutionized certain sports and most of them have such a phenomenal life story that they deserve to have their life captured on film. Unfortunately, ‘Heleno’ which captures some of the life of one of Brazil’s top soccer players, Heleno de Freitas, doesn’t fall under this category, as it’s tragic yet unextraordinary story. The interesting part of the tale comes into seeing how fame, money, stupidity and pressure can lead someone down a disastrous path. This is not a story about the sport itself, but about the biography of one of the best soccer players to have ever existed, if that sparks your curiosity this is one to watch on DVD.

 

In the form of flashbacks we get to see Heleno (Rodrigo Santoro) at the height of his career and his life in the 1940’s, where he often finds himself in a love triangle with Silvia (Aline Moraes) and Diamantina (Angie Cepeda). The film switches back and forth from his present to his past showing us how this troubled man dealt with everything fame and fortune brought him, along with his poor decisions in life.

 

José Henrique Fonseca gives us a film that is all shot in black and white and this is a rare thing to experience nowadays, it’s refreshing and beautiful. It gives us a small glimpse of how Rio must have been in this era, with its blissful beaches. As the title suggest the film mainly rotates around Heleno and Santoro does a fantastic job portraying this arrogant, hotheaded soccer player. Santoro with out a doubt shows skills here; he is almost unrecognizable in some of the scenes. He easily portrays the highs and the lows, giving the public a reason to watch this film, making me a fan of his and wanting to see grander roles for him. This is a film worth seeing him in, unlike ‘What to Expect When You’re Expecting’, where he plays JLo’s love interest.

 

Moraes is stunning and she gives us some balance, although she has very few chances to show us her acting skills, but she breaks through a bit at the end. Cepeda, the Colombian actress has more weight than Moraes and she uses her sensuality to show how exhausting and frustrating it’s to love this man. Unfortunately, we don’t get much more about these ladies lives, as that’s not a focus of the story.

 

Heleno was one of the first athletes to get paid an obscene amount of money; the movie doesn’t show in any way what his talent must have been like, it only focuses on what this talent gave him. Apparently Heleno wasn’t someone likeable, he was arrogant, wasn’t’ a team player, had a temper, and basically believed himself to be a god. All of this makes us feel little sympathy for him, so we are taken into a tragic, depressing journey that many might not want to take.  

 

Aesthetically the movie is pleasing, beginning with the black and white format, continuing with the location and gorgeous looking cast. The issue is the story itself, it doesn’t capture the pressure that drove this man mad, it leaves unanswered questions about his childhood as well as some gaps within the story; it doesn’t make us feel compassion for Heleno and leaves us depressed, but I appreciate that it shows that in real life not everything has a happy ending; but it fails to show us why this man became a myth and a legend.

Mack Chico

By

2012/12/05 at 12:00am

Pedro Almodovar to be celebrated by Academy

12.5.2012 | By |

Pedro Almodovar to be celebrated by Academy

Pedro Almodovar is being honored again, and this time, by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in London.

The event will feature a conversation with Almodovar and discussions with friends, colleagues and family members including Agustin Almodovar, filmmaker Stephen Frears, fashion guru Jean-Paul Gaultier, composer Alberto Iglesias and scriptwriter Peter Morgan.

Almodovar’s most recent film was The Skin I Live In, which grossed about $22 million worldwide and was released by Sony Pictures Classics in the U.S., where it grossed about $3.2 million.

His next film will be called Los Amantes Pasajeros (Standby Lovers) with Paz Vega as part of the cast. The Spanish movie, which Almodovar also wrote, follows a group of travelers who are placed in life-threatening situation aboard a plane flying to Mexico City. The passengers are defenseless in the face of danger, which provokes colorful confessionals that are their way to put out of mind the possibility they might be about to die.

Along with Vega, the movie stars Javier Camara (Talk to Her), Cecilia Roth (All About My Mother) and Lola Duenas (Volver). Spanish comedians Carlos Areces, Raul Arevalo and Jose Maria Yazpik are also in the cast.

Agustin Almodovar, the director’s brother, is producing the film. It is expected to shoot in Madrid this summer and will be released in spring 2013 by production company El Deseo.

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