07.7.2012 | By Jack Rico |
This week from Miami, on the Enrique Santos Morning Radio Show, Jack Rico reviews the new film releases: THE AMAZING SPIDER-MAN, SAVAGES, KATY PERRY 3D
You can hear our movie review segment in Miami on the ‘Enrique Santos Morning Show‘ every Friday at 7:25 AM and 9:25 AM by Univision Radio ‘MIX98.3FM’ in Miami or the global network by visiting: http://www.enriquesantos.com/
07.6.2012 | By Karen Posada |
‘Savages’ has so much star potential and a solid story that it could easily have been one of the best movies of the summer; unfortunately it fails to reach its full potential as it gets lost in all the twists and it doesn’t take itself seriously. Controversial film director Oliver Stone uses a not so original setting in the world of drug dealing and turns it into an almost dark comical action thriller, where cold-blooded dealers are gossiping coworkers that easily fool one another. I’ve said this before and I will say it again, a movie that has so many characters and that tries to fulfill too many genres most likely will fall short to what it tries to accomplish.
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Best friends Chon (Taylor Kitsch) and Ben (Aaron Johnson) lead a successful marijuana producing business in California, they each bring something different to the table, which is what makes their partnership unbreakable. They also have a love triangle with their girlfriend O (Blake Lively) who keeps them balanced and creates this unusual family they all need. Their picture perfect life gets disrupted when the powerful and violent Mexican Baja Cartel wants part of their business’ action. The Cartel’s fierce leader Elena (Salma Hayek) runs her operations from her living room, commanding her right hand Lado (Benicio Del Toro) and her lawyer Alex (Demián Bichir). Not sure what to do, Chon and Ben consult a dirty DEA agent, Dennis (John Travolta) who’s helped them run their business without getting caught. A savage war breaks out when both teams try to outsmart one another.
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Del Toro is just the perfect person to play a bad guy and the audience easily begins to hate him by his actions and behavior. Although Bichir’s part is miniscule, it’s very important and he plays it well despite of the film almost mocking his character, he’s still able to come out unharmed. The problem with Hayek wasn’t her performance, as it was great to see her play such a strong, powerful character; the problem was the script as it decides to show her as someone gullible and that’s hard to believe having seen what kind of person she is.
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Kitsch has had a tough year with ‘John Carter’ and ‘Battleship’, he has a lot of talent and it shows here but at times the script does fail him, but he’s able to overcome it. Johnson gives the film a good balance, as he’s one of the few pacifistic characters and it is quite refreshing. Lively is the weakest link here, as she’s doesn’t have a lot of say and gets used over and over again. Although the narration by Lively helps the film, as she’s able to give background information, at the end the narration starts treating the audience like idiots and it takes away from the film.
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Stone made some great casting choices as he combined veteran stars such as Travolta, perhaps Stone’s political angle in the film, with the three main young actors, which quickly have come to be known in Hollywood. Stone shows his capability as a filmmaker mixing in shots of black and white as well as beautiful sceneries and bloody scenes.
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The film is based on Don Winslow’s novel and this might be the reason why it becomes over dramatic, ironic and comical at times; those were the biggest flaws of the film. The actors gave it their all despite of the script failing them at times. Unfortunately when it begins to have funny scenes and ridicule the characters who have earned the audience’s respect it undoes what it’s done. The film tries to overcompensate with violence but it doesn’t succeed. I expected so much more from this movie but it drowned in a pool of mediocrity as much as it struggled to keep afloat.Â
07.6.2012 | By Jack Rico |
Here we go again! “The Amazing Spider-Man” is back on the big screen and it’s now in 3D with a new cast and a new storyline… sort of. This movie is a reboot of the Spider-Man franchise which is part prequel, part remake. It is a modest effort on the part of Columbia Pictures, but let’s be honest, the original Spidey with Tobey Maguire needn’t be touched or polished. It is one of the best superhero films ever made. Nevertheless, there are distinct nuances that director Marc Webb brings to the table such as: a more detailed origin story, a darker Peter Parker, a high school teenage vibe and a 3D that feels more 2D than anything I’ve seen all year. When you mix all pros and cons together, the result is an average movie experience that leaves you wanting excellence, not mediocrity.
In this remake, Peter Parker (Andrew Garfield), an outcast high schooler who was abandoned by his parents as a boy, leaving him to be raised by his Uncle Ben (Martin Sheen) and Aunt May (Sally Field). Like most teenagers, Peter is trying to figure out who he is and how he got to be the person he is today. Peter is also finding his way with his first high school crush, Gwen Stacy (Emma Stone), and together, they struggle with love, commitment, and secrets. As Peter discovers a mysterious briefcase that belonged to his father, he begins a quest to understand his parents’ disappearance – leading him directly to Oscorp and the lab of Dr. Curt Connors (Rhys Ifans), his father’s former partner. As Spider-Man is set on a collision course with Connors’ alter-ego, The Lizard, Peter will make life-altering choices to use his powers and shape his destiny to become a hero.
“The Amazing Spider-Man” is not terrible, it is rather an average superhero movie, a factory made film, so to speak. It is nothing special worthy of praise. It does have moments of high entertainment value, specially the battle with The Lizard in 3D, that the masses will like, but the rest is so familiar that true superhero moviegoers will ultimately become very weary of it very quickly.
Perhaps one might like this darker version, but it is difficult for anyone to convince me that this is better then “The Dark Knight” or “The Avengers.†Among the defects of this movie though, is the lack of chemistry between the protagonists, and perhaps most obvious, the script. It suffers from serious gaps of continuity that don’t allow the first hour to smoothly connect to the second or third act. The special effects do distract from these shortcomings, but let’s be more honest, why re-tell a story that we saw only ten years ago? Could it be that Sony thinks we suffer from amnesia? It’s a frustrating exercise in redundancy and commercialism.
It doesn’t help that the script by James Vanderbilt, Alvin Sargent and Steve Kloves contains absurd leaps of uniformity. The best example of this is unacceptable fallacy is when Parker spends the first half our of the film looking for the blond thug who killed his Uncle Ben, and without a clear and obvious resolution, the story abruptly jumps to Peter’s romance with Gwen Stacy and forgets the search for the crook. Helmer Marc Webb somehow ignored this crucial element that really wasted a better movie.
In the acting department, the selection of Andrew Garfield was an upgrade to Tobey Maguire. Garfield’s work on “The Social Network” was superb and was better than anything Maguire’s been in. Emma Stone, whose caustic sardonic roles we’ve seen “Easy A” and “Crazy Stupid, Love”, is by far the overt improvement to the languid-like, Kirsten Dunst. Meanwhile, Rhys Ifans, who plays The Lizard, is for me one of the best actors in Hollywood. His ability to physically change from character to character (a derelict in Notting Hill to royalty in Anonymous) is “amazingâ€. Here he provides a respectable archenemy to Spider-Man.
To be fair to the movie, the action, direction, special effects is not the main culprit for this average film. It crumbles because of the screenplay. If only Christopher Nolan was in charge of the script.
“The Amazing Spider-Man†was filmed in 3D and converted to 3D, however, more than half of the film is presented in what looks like 2-D. The only time you really feel its in 3D is when it gets to the action sequences, the other bits are pure fraud.
Overall, this “reboot†is the biggest cinematic redundancy of the 21st century. It fails to improve upon the myth of one of the most charming and popular superheroes of the Marvel universe. Instead of giving us something new and innovative with the arachnid character, perhaps Peter Parker as an Afro-Latino photographer like in the comics, or re-concocting a different story altogether, we got a superfluity, one which will hit a nice revenue line for many studio heads at Columbia.
Okay, okay. But Jack, Iâ€m very curious to see it. Is it at least watchable, because I really like these type of movies. Yes, it’s watchable, because after the drags of boredom there are ‘peaks’ of diversion. But if you frown a few times it’s not my fault.
Don’t forget the hidden scene after the credits that hints at what looks to be the next villain or not. You be the judge.
07.2.2012 | By Karen Posada |
‘Family Guy’s producer Seth MacFarlane took over the box office with his comedy ‘Ted’ with $54.1 million dollars. The story of the not so adorable teddy bear and his owner Mark Wahlberg, certainly is worth a peek as many would agree. This is the third best debut for an R-rated comedy, ever!
Channing Tatum’s ‘Magic Mike’ premiered at number two with $39.2 million dollars; this R-rated dramedy sure dragged plenty of ladies to the theaters this weekend. The film takes viewers into the world of male stripping, which is not as glittery as one might expect.
Surprisingly, ‘Brave’ dropped two spots to number three with $34 million dollars. Apparently the adults decided to leave the kids at home this weekend and give themselves a treat with the top two R-rated films of the box office.
The Top 10 Movies in the Box Office are:
1.Ted – $54.1 mil
2. Magic Mike – $39.2 mil
3. Brave – $34 mil
4. Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Witness Protection -$26.3 mil
5. Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted -$11.8 mil
6. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter – $6 mil
7. Prometheus – $4.9 mil
8. Moonrise Kingdom – $4.9 mil
9. Snow White and the Huntsman – $4.4 mil
10. People Like Us $4.3 mil
06.30.2012 | By Karen Posada |
Oscar-nominee Demián Bichir’s film ‘The Runway’ directed by Ian Power and produced by Macdara Kelleher and Brendan McDonald will be available nationwide beginning on July 18, 2012 and in select theaters July 20th. It also starts Kerry Condon, James Cosmo, Donncha Crowley, Jaime Kierans, John Carpenter, and Bruno Bichir (Demián’s brother).
In this comedy kind of based on a true story, Ernesto (Demián Bichir) is a Colombian pilot that crashed in a small Irish village. Since he doesn’t speak English, it is thanks to Paco (Jaime Kierans) a 9 year old who speaks Spanish and becomes his translator that he gets help. Paco rewrites Ernesto’s life story motivating the village to help him. Unfortunately for the pair when a detective claims to know one of Ernesto’s secrets, the town’s people being to doubt who they can trust.
The 93-minute film which already premiered in Mexico last year, shows the story about a boy needing a father, a man wanting a family and a town willing to go the extra mile to help someone in need.
Check out the trailer:
06.29.2012 | By Jack Rico |
Es difícil ver en tiempo real un clásico instantáneo, pero eso será lo que usted experimentará cuando vea la comedia clasificada R – ‘Ted’. Es discutiblemente la mejor comedia de 2012 y una de las mejores desde ‘The Hangover’ del 2009. La cinta es pura ‘shock comedia’ y sumamente chistosa, logrando producir risas que te harán llorar, toser fuertemente y hasta… ofenderte. Sin embargo, pudo haber sido aún mejor si la duración del filme fuese un poco más corta. Hubo momentos en que era obvio que no había mucho material jocundo para sostener un film de 1 hora y 46 minutos. 16 minutos menos hubiese hecho toda la diferencia.
En esta comedia de acción real y de animación digital, vemos la historia de un niño de Boston, John Bennett (Mark Wahlberg), que convive con un adorable osito de peluche que cobró vida después de un deseo infantil… y que, desde entonces, se niega a abandonarle. La mayor parte de la película transcurre con un adulto John de 35 años de edad y Ted (voz proporcionada por Seth MacFarlane) dando vueltas fumando marihuana. Ted inexplicablemente continúa fumando hierba y perico, seduciendo a prostitutas, corrompiendo a John con fiestas llenas de alcohol y usando un vocabulario tan obsceno que el film debería de ser clasificado NC-17. Ted también se convierte en un importante obstáculo en la relación romántica entre John y su novia de cuatro años, Lori (Mila Kunis). Eventualmente, ella se vuelve tan cansada de las payasadas de Ted y la irresponsabilidad de John, que le exige escoger entre Ted o ella. Esto solo le complica las cosas más a John.
La comedia aquí es espectacular y se puede describir como ‘shock comedia’ – aquellos chistes que ofende con su sexualidad gráfica, situaciones perversas y depravadas y dialogo altamente cargados con obscenidades. Pero son dos factores que claramente establecen las risas y el éxito del film. La primera, y la más importante, es el oso de peluche Ted. La asociación que tenemos con peluches es algo infantil, sano e inocente. Colocándolo en extremas situaciones contradictorios como las susodichas, inyectan una inquietante y nerviosa risa involuntaria difícil de cohibir. El segundo factor al éxito y risas incontrolables es ver a un macho-man musculoso comportándose como un pleno niño. Wahlberg nuevamente nos sació y atontó con su talento cómico y actúa estos personajes cómicos con mucha autenticidad y convencimiento. Si vas con un amigo o amiga, será inevitable no reírte.
Seth MacFarlane, el creador de la serie ‘Padre de familia’, hace su debut como director y pega un jonrón como guionista, director y la voz de ‘Ted’. Aunque no catalogaría la película como una obra maestra cómica, se aproxima muy cercano a ella. Él nos provee con una historia original y un humor refrescante que no podremos olvidar por semanas. Pero con el fin de estirar la duración del largometraje, MacFarlane inserta algunas subtramas impares que apaciguan el ritmo cómico del film. Además, muy buen toque de darnos una fuerte dosis de nostalgia de los años 80 y apariciones especiales que incluyen a Norah Jones, Tom Skerritt, y Ryan Reynolds.
Mila Kunis por su parte desempeña un papel de tercera a Ted y Wahlberg. Si su trabajo en ‘Friends with Benefits’ es alguna indicación de su talento en comedias bruscas, ella fue un total desperdicio aquí. Mejor hubiesen escogido a una cara menos relevante. El guión, sin duda, defrauda a Kunis y su papel requería más que solo un aspecto atractivo.
Los efectos especiales del oso Ted son increíbles. Uno se olvida por completo que es un efecto creado en un ordenador especial. Los detalles de su pelo, ojos y sus manerismos lo dejarán patidifusos.
Fuera de poder mantener el tempo jocoso por casi dos horas continuas, y una que otras deficiencias minúsculas no merecedoras de resaltar aquí, ‘Ted’ es un clásico de la comedia para los próximos cuantos años hasta que llegue su secuela. Eso sí, por favor tenga cautela que este osito no es Winnie the Pooh, es más bien el Diablo dentro de Winnie the Pooh. Muchos padres podrían malinterpretar el avance y pensar que es una película de familia. Este largometraje es exclusivamente para adultos con un sentido de humor muy fresco y experimentado. Sin mentirles, ‘Ted’ es tan buena, que merece ser vista múltiples veces!
06.29.2012 | By Karen Posada |
‘People Like Us’ is a good mix of drama with a sprinkle of comedy and sweetness, a perfect dose of entertainment. I wasn’t sure what to expect from this film since it seems to have a pretty clear plot, but fortunately thanks to all the different personalities it is anything but predictable. At times the film gets dangerously corny, but as Alex Kurtzman’s directorial debut it is a refreshing film about life choices and family, which teaches us all a lesson.
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When Jerry Harper a record producer and Sam’s (Chris Pine) estranged father passes away, he reluctantly flies to Los Angeles with Hannah (Olivia Wilde) his girlfriend, to attend his funeral and settle his state. At home we get pieces of what his childhood was like, as his mother, Lillian (Michelle Pfeiffer) doesn’t seem very nurturing. To his surprise his father left him the task of contacting a half sister he didn’t know existed, Frankie (Elizabeth Banks) to deliver an enraging amount of money to her. While contemplating what to do with the money, Sam scouts out his half sister and gets a peek into her complicated life as the single mother of Josh (Michael Hall D’Addario) and unexpectedly gets drawn into their lives.
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The best part of this movie is D’Addario, the kid is hilarious because not only does he act like an adult since he has to take care of himself, but he’s too smart for his own good. Banks doesn’t stay too far behind as we see where the kid gets it from, she also has a smart mouth, is strong and sexy all at the same time. Pine’s character is the darker, mysterious one and he plays the roll well. Wilde although doesn’t have a lot of screen time, serves her role as Pine’s conscience perfectly. Finally Pfeiffer, rounds out the parent role, as obviously the missing parent is talked about a lot and becomes a presence in the film, but she’s one of the characters that can bring him to life the most.
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The movie’s fuel is the tension between the siblings and although it is beyond frustrating, it works, because that’s exactly what keeps you interested and cringing at the same time. The movie weaves in music with funny and dramatic moments masterfully. Slowly without noticing you come to care for this characters and even when it starts to get corny you still want to know how the story ends. The key to the story is that we see how someone’s actions (the deceased father’s) affected the lives of many people, even the ones that didn’t know him. The movie is loosely based on the director’s real life and this isn’t a story that is hard to believe; it’s pretty down to earth without being dull.
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Pine delivers some worthy life lessons, but most of all the film let’s us know that there’s usually more to the actions of others than we know. As children we are quick to judge our parents and react on it as adults, here we explore how the options of running away or sticking around pan out. In the mist of summer movies this is a heartfelt hidden drama in between all the action and comedy ones that will leave you with a warm fuzzy feeling.  Â
06.29.2012 | By Jack Rico |
This week from Miami, on the Enrique Santos Morning Radio Show, Jack Rico reviews the new film releases: the rated R comedy TED starring Mark Wahlberg, and MAGIC MIKE, the stripper movie for the ladies.
You can hear our movie review segment in Miami on the ‘Enrique Santos Morning Show‘ every Friday at 7:25 AM and 9:25 AM by Univision Radio ‘MIX98.3FM’ in Miami or the global network by visiting: http: / / www.enriquesantos.com/
06.27.2012 | By Karen Posada |
‘Magic Mike’ is nothing more than a top-notch peep show, it tries very hard to be much more than that but it simply fails. I would say this is the cheapest way to enjoy a male strip show rather than going to a strip club, because that part of the movie is a guaranteed good time. The movie definitely out does itself with all the butt shots and fun sexy shirtless moments; honestly that’s what most people are going to check out this movie for anyway. I would definitely suggest leaving your boyfriend home for this one, so you can enjoy all the eye candy without being pinched every five seconds.
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The story is divided between Mike (Channing Tatum) and Adam (Alex Pettyfer). Basically, Mike who is an entrepreneur and holds a handful of part-time jobs, the most prominent being a male stripper, decides to take nineteen year old Adam who he nicknames “Kid†under his wing. Adam is a screw up at everything he does, his lifeline is his sister Brooke (Cody Horn), but thanks to Magic Mike’s guidance he finds something that motivates him. Magic Mike entered the world of male stripping thanks to Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) owner of club Xquisite, in Tampa. Here Magic Mike and newcomer Kid show their talent, along with: Big Dick Richie (Joe Manganiello), Ken (Matt Bomer), Tito (Adam Rodriguez) and Tarzan (Kevin Nash), they perform to the music of Tobias (Gabriel Iglesias). Slowly we explore the nightlife these male strippers lead and all the ups and downs that come along with that.
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Director Steven Soderbergh worked off Tatum’s idea, which became one of the producers of the movie that stem off the fact that he was a male stripper for eight months when he was 18 years old. To compose a rounder idea they decided to portray a young newcomer versus a thirty year old experienced headlining stripper. The idea works, since this is the only real believable connection in the film. It was interesting to see that despite all the fun, most of these characters are lonely and have almost like a “rockstar†kind of life. There are certainly a number of funny moments that will make you giggle, some that will make you drool, and others that will make you cheer.
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The other connection they work very hard at is between Tatum and Horn, although she’s the biggest obstacle of the film and she serves her purpose it feels too forced and awkward most of the time. But, the thing that bothered me most about the film was the way it was edited, it had a timeline, which served as a way to cut up the movie into chapters, but it was distracting and rushed the movie along especially at the end.
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There are no great acting performances here, except for McConaughey who really knows how to play a controlling nut, besides that the only great performances happen on stage. Without a doubt Tatum delivers every time the spotlight is on him and it is time to seduce, but he has yet to convince me that he’s more than a pretty face. It was nice to have comedian Iglesias play one of the most serious roles of the film, although it’s such a hidden and unexplored story.
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Perhaps if the film had focused on the title the plot would have been more interesting, as Tatum’s character clearly has layers to work with. It would have been nice to have a fun time along with a sensible storyline, but not all is perfect in life. So, enjoy the entertaining yummy peep show and try to overlook everything else that surrounds it. Â
06.26.2012 | By Karen Posada |
There’s very few times when a sequel is better than the original, but this is true for ‘Wrath of the Titans’. This probably has to do with the fact that it has a new director, Jonathan Liebesman, as well as different screenwriters, Dan Mazeau and David Johnson. Obviously, this helped it tremendously as the original ‘Clash of the Titans’ had a flat storyline and other various problems that made it very hard to like. This sequel has a storyline that is more captivating and nutritious, it also has some mighty shots of various horrifying monsters that made the action all the more interesting. The screening I went to was 3D, which didn’t really enhance the movie as the 3D work was not good and this could be because of the fact that it was converted into a 3D film, it wasn’t shot as one.
This second film picks up with Perseus (Sam Worthington) a decade after his last adventure, although he’s a demigod he’s decided to live life as a fisherman and as the single father of Helius (John Bell). His calm life begins to change when his father, Zeus (Liam Neeson) comes to ask him for help, the gods have weakened since people have lost faith and they are losing control of their prisoners in the underworld: Hades (Ralph Fiennes) and the titans. Perseus refuses but is forced to come into action when the unstoppable wrath begins. He recruits the help of Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike) and Agenor (Toby Kebbell). Together they go on a journey in which if they don’t succeed the world will cease to exist along with them and their gods.
We get a couple of new characters in the story; one of the most exciting ones is Zeus’ godly son Ares (Edgar Ramírez). This Venezuelan born actor plays the god of war just how mythology and his title describe it. It is great to see a Hispanic playing a big role in a blockbuster film like this one. Another note worthy fact is that a big portion of the film was shot in the Canary Island of Tenerife, one more reason to like the film. The main actor, Worthington for the most part does well with action films and so this role fits him. I would also say this sequel fits Neeson better, as I thought it was embarrassing that he was involved in the previous film.
One thing I enjoyed about this film more were the monsters, they were so much more real and detailed. The diversity of them also really added to the story, along with the fact that in this film we have more than one fighter getting rid of them. Like mentioned before, the 3D might have been an element that took away from the film. Also, there are certain parts of the story that are supposed to be complicated but somehow end up having an easy solution, which I’m not sure was fitting. The film also should have worked a little more in relationships, as most characters seemed to lack emotion in certain places that merited it.
This film is just fun to watch because you are taken on a mythological journey, where you are surrounded by gods, monsters and powerful humans (both men and women) who together make for a fascinating story. Although this film is much better than its’ predecessor, is not to say it is the best action film of 2012 but nonetheless it is entertaining and will take you on a wild adventure for a short 99 minutes.
