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The Latest in ShowBiz News

Earth
Jack Rico
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2009/09/01 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

Earth

09.1.2009 | By |

Rating: 3.0

Rated: G
Release Date: 2009-04-22
Starring: Alastair Fothergill, Mark Linfield, Leslie Megahey
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA, Germany, UK
Official Website: http://www.loveearth.es/

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‘Earth’ is the first film from Walt Disney’s new movie studio “Disneynature”. It is very similar to the documentaries that Discovery or National Geographic create except that Disney was the first to create this genre of film 60 years ago. If you have seen ‘March of the Penguins’ and ‘Arctic Tale’ along with the bevy of nature documentaries from PBS amongst many other television networks, you are not missing anything new or innovative.

“EARTH,” narrated by James Earl Jones, tells the story of three animal families and their journeys across Earth. We watch as a polar bear mother struggles to feed her newborn cubs as the sun melts the ice beneath their feet. The determination of an elephant mother as she guides her tiny calf on an endless trek across the Kalahari Desert in search of fresh water. We follow a humpbacked whale mother and her calf as they undertake the longest migration of any marine mammal—4,000 miles from the tropics to the Antarctic in search of food.

The film is released today, Earth Day, April 22, a logical marketing tactic, along with the “Buy a ticket, Plant a tree” initiative which has Disney planting a tree for everyone who sees EARTH between April 22-28. As of now, 500,000 trees will be planted.

My father loves these grandiose, awe-inspiring nature documentaries, but he would never pay money to see it in a movie theater when he can view a show similar to this on TV, in the privacy of his own home. You see, the only downside to ‘Earth’ is that television has been the propagator of the genre for a very long time. Nevertheless, seeing it in IMAX is a whole different conversation. Overall though, many won’t see or tell the difference with these nature films or its television brethren. Keep your money and rent on DVD ‘March of the Penguins’ or ‘Arctic Tale’ to get your fix of animals roaming on Earth but with a great quotient of entertainment.

Extract
Namreta Kumar
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2009/09/01 at 12:00am

Reviews

Extract

09.1.2009 | By |

Rated: R for language, sexual references and some drug use.
Release Date: 2009-09-04
Starring: Mike Judge
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://www.extract-the-movie.com/

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Extract

When you leave this film the first thing that you recall is that it was a comedy; beyond that the characters were peculiarly familiar, and then even the comedy becomes textbook.

Overall this comedy rings through the characters, but unlike “Office Space” this film brings nothing novel to cinema. “Extract” pulls from Mike Judge’s all too familiar space and creates a new score of characters we can all say we have met before.

Jason Bateman plays the “Extract King,” Joel, in this blue-collar comedy that is all about its ensemble of characters and the trouble they brew. From the incorrigible best friend Dean, played by Ben Affleck, down to the gnawing neighbor Nathan, played by David Koechner, each character is a satire all on their own and the film benefits most from the casts’ unison. However, that is about where the fun ends. As one gets to know the little pieces that each character plays the film becomes a little too predictable and even the characters lose their familiar charms.

As the film progresses, the little doses of rolling laughter almost feel typical rather than being synonymous to the anecdotes they all seem to have been created from. The audience may feel swept away for bits as the cast does a great job portraying their little world, however as the film closes there is not much that resonates. The story comes full circle as the satire thins out and the final credits roll in the last little stunts.

Extract can benefit from its release date as summer winds-down and some people look forward to an unassuming film to wind-down with; but this Judge film, much like its predecessor, will more likely find its place in the cable and DVD market.

Taking Woodstock
Alex Florez
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2009/08/27 at 12:00am

Reviews

Taking Woodstock

08.27.2009 | By |

Rated: R for graphic nudity, some sexual content, drug use and language.
Release Date: 2009-08-28
Starring: James Schamus
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://www.filminfocus.com/focusfeatures/film/taking_woodstock

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Taking Woodstock

I’ve always felt that Taiwanese filmmaker Ang Lee can do anything.  A director as versatile as they come, Lee refuses to be pigeonholed to any one genre and be restricted by the technological challenges of a film.

Think about this: Lee has gone from the experimentation and liberalism that defined the 1970s (Ice Storm, 1997), to the adventures of a young woman in feudal China (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2000), to the biggest and baddest hero of the Marvel universe (Hulk, 2003) to an Oscar award winning cowboy drama (Brokeback Mountain, 2005).  How’s that for range?

But fearlessly stepping out of your comfort zone has its risks. Lee has made his share of forgettable movies and with ‘Taking Woodstock’ he maybe adding to that list.

Based on the memoirs of Elliot Tiber, the comedy stars Demetri Martin as Elliot, who inadvertently played a role in making 1969’s Woodstock Music and Arts Festival into the famed happening it was.  When his parents are in danger of losing their dumpy motel in the Catskills, Elliot offers it up to the festival promoters to generate some much needed business. 

In the end however, the film is about the peculiar relationship with his overbearing parents.  The rock n’ roll, the drugs, the mud slides, and everything else we’ve come to know about Woodstock plays second fiddle and is ultimately nothing more than a backdrop, a setting for what is otherwise a family drama with very little at stake. 

Regrettably, something about the performances doesn’t seem as sincere as some of the others we’ve seen in other movies set in that time period.  But I won’t pin all the blame squarely on the actors.  Mr. Lee stumbles but doesn’t fall.

The September Issue
Jack Rico
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By

2009/08/26 at 12:00am

Reviews

The September Issue

08.26.2009 | By |

Rated: PG-13 for brief strong language.
Release Date: 2009-08-28
Starring: Documentary
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://www.theseptemberissue.com/

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The September Issue

Le tenemos la reseña de la película ‘Earth’ y le diremos si merece invertir su dinero en verla.

Inglorious Basterds, reseñas de Inglorious Basterds, resena de peliculas, criticas de Inglorious Basterds

Check out our movie review of Max Payne and we’ll let you know if it’s worth going to or not.

Max Payne, film review, movie review

Rudo y Cursi
Jack Rico
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2009/08/25 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

Rudo y Cursi

08.25.2009 | By |

Rating: 2.5

Rated: R for pervasive language, sexual content and brief drug use.
Release Date: 2009-05-08
Starring: Carlos Cuarón
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:Mexico
Official Website: http://www.rudoycursilapelicula.com/

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“Rudo y Cursi” is a lively and engaging comedy that highlights some drama in its storyline. Regrettably, in the end, feels a little thin, largely because it is unsure of how earnestly to treat its own lessons about fate, ambition and brotherly love. There is a lot of velocity in this ultimately familiar tale of rising and falling, but not much gravity. “Rudo y Cursi” is partly about the consequences of taking a game much too seriously, but at the same time it treats everything else — life, death, love, money — like a game.

 

Beto (Diego Luna) and Tato Verdusco (Gael Garcia Bernal) are half brothers who work together at a banana plantation and live with their extended family in a village in southern Mexico. When the two of them are suddenly (and somewhat improbably) plucked from rural proletarian obscurity and turned into professional soccer players in Mexico City, they achieve fame as Rudo and Cursi, nicknames that can be translated more or less as tough and corny.

 

But Mr. Cuarón also has trouble managing the tone of the film as it swerves from light-hearted absurdity toward a darker, more cynical view of its characters and their fate. Too often he allows “Rudo y Cursi” to coast on the likeability of its stars, who seem at times to be enjoying themselves more than their characters are able to.

Duplicity
Alex Florez
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2009/08/24 at 12:00am

DVD ReviewsReviews

Duplicity

08.24.2009 | By |

Rating: 3.0

Rated: PG-13 for language and some sexual content.
Release Date: 2009-03-20
Starring: Tony Gilroy
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country:USA
Official Website: http://www.duplicitymovie.net/

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At its core, Duplicity is a romantic caper about two spies that have left the world of government intelligence for a scheme to cash in on a highly profitable cold war raging between two big rival corporations.  The problem is, half the movie goes by before we can figure that out.

Duplicity feels a lot like one of the Ocean’s Eleven movies with the romantic dynamic of Mr. & Mrs. Smith, but its plot is wound up tighter than it really needs to be. Director Tony Gilroy (Michael Clayton, The Bourne Identity) seems to be overly concerned with keeping his audience guessing, virtually adding a plot twist wherever he can in the film.  Yes, for most of it we don’t quite know who’s good, who’s bad or who’s double crossing who, but at some points we’re also utterly confused. To make matters worse, this is one of those movies where the timeline isn’t linear and the events are completely shuffled around.

But let’s face it, at the root of this whole thing is a love story in which all those other details don’t really matter much.  For all of the intricacies Gilroy writes into the film, all we really care about is the fate of the two spies – as lovers.  Fortunately for us, both Julia Roberts and Clive Owen are total pros at being charmingly ‘duplicitous’, and thanks to them, the film is solidly entertaining.  Let’s remember how creepily untrustworthy they both were in Mike Nichols’ Closer. 

Of course, this isn’t The Bourne Identity nor is it Michael Clayton, and as far as romantic capers go, the endings are never as deceitful. Wink wink.

Inglorious Basterds
Jack Rico
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By

2009/08/21 at 12:00am

Reviews

Inglorious Basterds

08.21.2009 | By |

Rated: R for strong graphic violence, language and brief sexuality.
Release Date: 2009-08-21
Starring: Quentin Tarantino
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: Germany, USA
Official Website: http://weinsteinco.com/#/film/inglourious/

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Inglorious Basterds

‘Inglorious Basterds’ is a collection of brilliantly crafted scenes that are routinely interrupted by Quentin Tarantino‘s ego. Worried that we might forget who is directing, he reminds us that this isn’t any old World War II movie. The film could have been one of the great works of movie cinema this decade if it wasn’t for his compulsion for attention rather than concentrating in the craft at hand and the audience viewing it.

In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a group of Jewish-American soldiers known as “The Basterds” (Brad Pitt, Eli Roth, Til Schweiger) are chosen specifically to spread fear throughout the Third Reich by scalping and brutally killing Nazis. The Basterds soon cross paths with a French-Jewish teenage girl (Mélanie Laurent) who now runs a movie theater in Paris which is targeted by the soldiers.

Don’t expect to see Kill Bill. This is the new evolution of Tarantino, a director who is absolutely grown in every way, except as a storyteller. The film is putatively about Nazi killers in the Second World War, but it is really about the love of cinema, Tarantino’s love of cinema. ‘Can it be?’, you might ask. That’s what I said when the movie ended. The constant reiteration of dialogue in homage to the French and German classics is unavoidable, and regrettably, it fractures the pace of the film in order to illustrate it. So as the audience, we get taken for a switch and bait. The crazy thing is that it is a delightful switch and bait. Expect to see a beautiful and meticulous visual cinematic experience with one Oscar award winning performance from Christoph Waltz as Col. Hans Landa and perhaps Ms. Laurent’s.

The opening scene is riveting and one of the more memorable sequences Tarantino has ever put on celluloid, rivaling that of Pulp Fiction. It’s elegant and sophisticated, tense and engrossing, but at times, the film slips and doesn’t find its way such as some of its miscasting efforts and its bathetic ending. We are witnesses to a movie and a director trying to find themselves as it unfolds. Not very admirable, but interesting nonetheless.

What you’ll like about ‘Inglorious Basterds’ is its story concept, artistic cinematography, Tarantino’s directorial tone and mood and Waltz’s mesmerizing and petrifying performance. What you won’t like is that you paid to see a movie that isn’t about Brad Pitt killing scores of Nazis, but more about the romanticism of world film and Tarantino’s place in it. Go figure.

Post Grad
Alex Florez
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By

2009/08/20 at 12:00am

Reviews

Post Grad

08.20.2009 | By |

Rated: PG-13 for sexual situations and brief strong language.
Release Date: 2009-08-21
Starring: Kelly Fremon
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: Not available.

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Post Grad
Art & Copy
Alex Florez
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By

2009/08/20 at 12:00am

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Art & Copy

08.20.2009 | By |

Rated: Not available.
Release Date: 2009-08-21
Starring: Gregory Beauchamp, Kirk Souder
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://www.artandcopyfilm.com/

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Art & Copy

Walking out of the theater I couldn’t help but think to myself “I can’t wait to sell this movie to our readers!”

More than just a history lesson on 20th century advertising, Art & Copy is the story of some of the most influential creatives of our time. Ones that have profoundly impacted our society and shaped our everyday lifestyle. That is, if we are to define ‘lifestyle’ as the site where consumer culture and individual identity intersect.

In his latest effort, Director Doug Pray (SURFWISE, SCRATCH, HYPE!) introduces us to the artists and writers that exploded onto the scene during advertising’s heyday or the “creative revolution” of the 1960s.  And chances are that you, over the last few decades, whether you like it or not, have fallen victim to the people featured in this film: George Lois, Mary Wells, Dan Wieden, Lee Clow and Hal Riney.  We may not recognize their names but we’ve certainly heard from them: “Where’s the Beef?”, “Got Milk?”, “Just Do It”, “Think Different” are just a few of the slogans that have swayed us throughout the years.

Most might ‘sell’ Art & Copy as the ‘behind the music’ of advertising or as an addendum to the ever so popular AMC series ‘Madmen’.  And while it is true that fans of the show will most certainly get a kick out of meeting the real life versions of their Madison Avenue heroes, Art & Copy is ultimately an inspiring documentary that explores the power of creativity, not just to sell a car to a customer or a president to a nation, but to problem solve.  As George Lois puts it: “The creative act, the defeat of habit by originality, overcomes everything.”

Casi Divas
Karen Posada
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By

2009/08/19 at 12:00am

Reviews

Casi Divas

08.19.2009 | By |

Rated: PG-13 for mature sexual content, language and thematic material.
Release Date: 2009-08-21
Starring: Issa López
Director(s):
Distributor:
Film Genre:
Country: USA
Official Website: http://www.casidivas.com/

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Casi Divas

I have to admit that neither the title nor the trailer would have made me go see Casi Divas; I came out of the movie theater surprised at how fun and interesting it was.
 
The film was a hit in Mexico which is what helped launch it in the U.S. The plot of the movie is to find the main movie star for a soap opera turned movie. It sounds a little ridiculous but among the mockery of soap operas and other themes that make up the plot we stumble along some interesting themes such as: the racism of the indigenous people in Mexico, the way women factory workers at the border are abused by the coyotes, and a common theme among teenagers who try to follow Hollywood’s hype by doing extreme diets. The cast is made up by five women Patricia Llaca, Ana Layevska, Diana Garcia, Daniela Schmidt and Maya Zapata one stud Julio Bracho; each one of them offers a different view point and element to the story.

 

The movie sticks to its roots by the way the characters speak and by having its setting in Mexico City in places where the locals live. The movie is in Spanish but the subtitles make it true to the American viewer, they even change some cultural references so we can connect better to what the characters say when they refer to their cultural icons.
 
The movie is well rounded, its audience (teenagers, adults) will not be disappointed thanks to the different cultural themes that it touches upon along with the mockery and slapstick comedy; it has something to offer everyone, it is a movie that will surprise many.

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