Days of Cinema

2008, listado de cintas vistas.

2008-09-12T17:17:00.000-07:00

2008. Cintas en orden de acuerdo a la fecha en cuales fueron vistas.

Cocalero (Alejandro Lanes) 63

El Huésped (Joon Ho Bong) 80

La casa de Alicia x2 (Chico Texeira) 70

El llanto de la mariposa (Julian Schnabel) 68

El robo del siglo (Roger Donaldson) 82

Rec (Paco Plaza & Jaime Balaguero) 72

El caballero de la noche (Christopher Nolan) 78

Todos los días son tuyos (José Luis Gutiérrez) 50

Amor letra por letra (Luis Eduardo Reyes) 45

Leonera (Pablo Tapero) 90

Intimidades de Shakespeare y Víctor Hugo (Yuelene Olaizola) 88

Perro come perro (Carlos Moreno) 60

Desierto Adentro (Rodrigo Pla) 73

Lake Tahoe (Fernando Eimbcke) 86

La mujer sin cabeza (Lucrecia Martel) 79

Los Bastardos (Amat Escalante) 81

Liverpool (Lisandro Alonso) 68

Un tigre de papel (Luis Ospina) 79

Tropa de Elite (José Padilha) 56

Wanted (Timur Bekmambetov) 46

Pasiones privadas en lugares públicos (Alain Resnals) 79

Camino a la redención (Terry George) 48

La edad de la peseta (Pavel Giroud) 60

Hellboy II: El ejercito dorado (Guillermo del Toro) 75

Wall-E (Andrew Stanton) 84

El asesinato del presidente (Gabriel Range) 44

Miradas ocultas (Eric Nichols) 38

12:08 al este de Bucarest (Corneliu Porumboui) 90

Los demonios del edén (Alejandra Islas) 57

Los Muertos (Lisandro Alonso) 88

Fantasma (Lisandro Alonso) 56

La Libertad (Lisandro Alonso) 76

Persepolis (Parannoud & Sartrape) 80

Planet Terror (Robert Rodríguez) 72

Déficit (Gael García Bernal) 68

Hulk, el hombre increíble (Louis Leterrier) 37

Bella (Alejandro González Monteverde) 50

El fin de los tiempos (M. Night Shyamalan) 70

Deathproof (Quentin Tarantino) 84

Indiana Jones (Steven Spielberg) 37

Iron Man (John Fraveau) 58

4 meses, 3 semanas y 2 dias (Cristian Pingiu) 85

Mi historia sin mi (Todd Haynes) 70

Mas que a nada en el mundo (Leon Becker & Solar) 62

Camino Salvaje (Sean Penn) 63

Lejos de ella (Sarah Polley) 64

Noches Purpura (Wong Kar Wai) 61

Quemar las naves (Francisco Franco) 66

El viaje de la Nonna (Sebastián Silva) 70

Antes que el Diablo sepa que has muerto (Sidney Lumet) 80

Casi Divas (Issa López) 34

Los Falsificadores (Stefan Ruzowitsky) 46

La misma luna (Patricia Riggen) 50

Los Inquebrantables (Woody Allen) 80

El cielo, la lluvia y la tierra (Jose Luis Torres Leyva) 89

Parque Vía (Enrique Rivero) 86

La France (Serge Bonzo) 85

La Soledad (Jaime Rosales) 80

The man from London (Bela Tarr) 88

En la ciudad de Sylvia (José Luis Guerin) 85

Opera (Juan Patricio Riveroll) 83

Wadley (Matias Meyer) 76

3:19 (Dany Saadia) 62

El Garabato (Adolfo Martínez) 55

Cáliz (Miguel Angel Vega) 30

La vida inmune (Ramón Cervantes) 80

Juno: crecer, correr y tropezar (Jason Reiman) 50

Los ladrones viejos (Everardo González) 80

Sweeney Todd (Tim Burton) 70

Sin lugar para los débiles (Coen Brothers) 68

Expiación, deseo y pecado (Joe Wright) 55

Cloverfield (Matt Reeves) 65

El Custodio (Rodrigo Moreno) 78

Gangster Americano (Ridley Scott) 53

XXY (Lucia Puenzo) 76

El Orfanato (Juan Antonio Bayona) 69

Soy leyenda (Francis Lawrence) 60

Viaje a Darjeeling (Wes Anderson) 82

En el valle de las sombras (Paul Haggis) 46

Cometas en el cielo (Marc Foster) 48

las mejores del 2007

2008-01-11T23:30:00.000-08:00

Top 10 Final

Silent Light (Carlos Reygadas)
INLAND EMPIRE (David Lynch)
Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood)
Black Book (Paul Verhoeven)
The Assassination of Jesse James... (Andrew Dominik)
The Violin (Francisco Vargas)
Sicko (Michael Moore)
The Golden Door (Emanuele Crialesse)
The Black Dahlia (Brian De Palma)
Sunshine (Danny Boyle)

Top 10 List November

2007-11-26T23:04:00.000-08:00

TOP 10, PERSONAL

01. Stellet Licht (Carlos Reygadas, 100)
02. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 90)
03. Meduzot (Etgar Keret & Shira Geffen, 90)
04. The Violin (Francisco Vargas, 90)
05. The Assassination of Jesse James… (Andrew Dominik, 85)
06. La Zona (Rodrigo Pla, 85)
07. La Influencia (Pedro Aguilera, 80)
08. Paranoid Park (Gus Van Sant, 80)
09. Drama/Mex (Gerardo Naranjo, 80)
10. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 80)

Highlights: Cochochi, Ladrones Viejos, Black Book & The Golden Door

TOP 10, COMMERCIAL RELEASES (MEXICO)

01. Stellet Licht (Carlos Reygadas, 100)
02. Inland Empire (David Lynch, 90)
03. The Violin (Francisco Vargas, 90)
04. The Assassination of Jesse James… (Andrew Dominik, 85)
05. Drama/Mex (Gerardo Naranjo, 80)
06. Letters From Iwo Jima (Clint Eastwood, 80)
07. Black Book (Paul Verhoeven, 80)
08. The Golden Door (Emmanuel Crialese, 80)
09. El Cielo Dividido (Julián Hernández, 80)
10. El Viaje Hacia El Mar (Guillermo Casanova, 80)

La Muestra and other Films

2007-11-26T22:43:00.000-08:00

I know I have been out of my blog for some time, I got a new job as a teacher, and I’m very happy. It consumes most of my time, especially as I have people supervising my first semester teaching and I got to impress. But I’ve been following all the movies that are coming out, and I have spent a lot of time at La Muestra, the always fantastic showcase the Cineteca Nacional brings us. It’s a one-only opportunity because most of the films playing will wait to wait for months, maybe years for them to get distributed here in Mexico. This year the selection is for the most part amazing.

Here is a list of some films I’ve see at the Muestra, and also other titles I have cached in their theatrical runs. The best films I’ve seen are by far La Influencia by Pedro Aguilera, and Paranoid Park by Gus Van Sant. While in commercial releases, two European films standout: The Golden Door & Black Book.

La Influencia (80)

Paranoid Park (80)

Black Book (75)

The Golden Door (75)

Quemar Las Naves (70)

Across The Universe (66)

A Casa de Alice (65)

La Vida En Corto (65)

Shut Up and Sing (60)

Bee Movie (55)

La Leyenda de la Nahuala (55)

El Cobrador: In God We Trust (55)

Fraude: México 2006 (50)

Malos Hábitos (50)

Belle Toujours (45)

Beowulf (40)

Propiedad Ajena (35)

I Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (45)

2007-10-23T12:40:00.000-07:00

I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (2007)

Country: USA

Director: Dennis Dugan

Probably the best intentioned film of the year, but it just falls into cliche and even offensive subjects. Adam Sandler, what a character, why does it feel like he has a movie out every month? But he's got charisma and that is shown at the box office. Credibility issues? Believe me, is the number one problem with the film. But let's ignore that, the execution of the film is so poor, the same old jokes, reminded me of the Mexican comedies during de 70s that would just make everyone fall or smash a cake and people would actually embrace that. The most touching aspect of the film is the way they are trying to help one of the kids, who seems to be gay, though it is never confirmed. I really loved how they managed to make those scenes so charming. Production wise, the film is boring, a step back for Sandler, visually... Jessica Beil is hot.

It Works Now!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

After more than a freaking week trying to post something, I finally did it! it works now, I have no idea what happened to this, so I just try deleting the blog and then something happen and I didn't have to delete it and now I'm very happy. I've seen a couple of movies since I got home from Morelia, will be writing my thoughts on those.

Thanks for your comments!

- SANTIAGO ULLOA

Jesse James, Hermafrodite, Brothers and Diego

2007-10-10T21:46:00.000-07:00

FICM

Ugh! only 2 more days at the festival... and then, I will have to go back to Mexico City, but hey I'll come back later to visit my family, but I will miss the festival. Once again, sorry for the lack of content, but not having a computer around me is difficult, especially if I'm watching at least 4 films every day. By the way the press pass is nice, but I must confess I like the public viewings much more, it's a different mood, some critics here are so dumb, and just keep talking during the movies!!!!! WTF!!!!

In the second post I wrote about the festival, I mentioned that somebody had stolen my Gael Garcia Bernal autograph, guess what? I got another one, how lucky am I. This time it went straight into my wallet, it would be impossible for me not to feel a girl searching for it right? Although I've lost my wallet twice in Mexico City... I guess some robbers are magicians or something. Make sure to visit Cine Azteca to see another entry, probably tomorrow since I'll send Carlos my vol. 3 at midnight, but I've seen these films in the last 2 days:

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (82)
Meduzot (87)
XXY (75)
The Darjeeling Limited (43)
A Portrait of Diego (58)

Ladrones Viejos (77), Blue Eyelids (75), Moliere (67)

2007-10-08T15:11:00.000-07:00

and even more...

Ladrones Viejos, Las Leyendas del Artegio (Gonzalez) 77
Parpados Azules/Blue Eyelids (Contreras) 75
Moliere (Tirard) 67

It's been 3 days of very good films, the clear standout is Reygadas who just seems so distant in quality to his fellow great directors. Yesterday I watched 3 films, the first one was on my list of Most Anticipated, it is called "Ladrones Viejos, Las Leyendas del Artegio", and it doesn't dissapoint. Gonzalez's second feature is so entertaining, this director has style, better than his debut film "Pulque's Song."

Blue Eyelids has been praised by many people, and it is a very well put together film. I found it a little over the top in the visual substance. But the story is very funny, and quite intimidating, some people will not feel comfortable siting through such a film, could be viewed as depressing, but it really is a magnetic piece of filmaking, flawed, but is sustained by a great scrip and performances, Contreras is one talented guy nontheless.

Morelia First Impressions

2007-10-07T16:41:00.000-07:00

More on the Festival

Cine Azteca has my first thoughts on the festival, El Orfanato is still the most popular film in the festival, Del Toro is very popular here. The film has grown badly on me, still a good effort.

Films:

Silent Light (97)
Cochochi (79)
Deficit (70)
The Orphanage (69-70)
Atonement (57)
El Pasado (51)

More Here....

Quick Note

2007-10-06T13:03:00.000-07:00

"The Orphanage" (75)

I'll be writing more thoughts on Cine Azteca probably tomorrow along with about another 4 films I plan to watch, it is kind of difficult for me since I don't have a labtop, so I actually writing from home.

Morelia 2007

2007-10-04T11:43:00.001-07:00

The 5th Morelia Film Festival starts tomorrow, I've been going to the festival since its first edition and I have seen the transformation of the third most important festival in the country, just after Guadalajara and FICCO. I currentely live in Mexico City, but I was actually born in the beautiful capital of the Mexican state Michoacan. Even though the list of films is HUGE, it is always impossible to see more than 20 films. Last year I was able to catch 15 films, from those I considered 4 films as 'outstanding': "Broken Sky", "The Road to Guatanamo", "Volver" and "News From Afar."

Last year I was able to touch Guillermo Del Toro, I know that sounds so minimal, but hey he is a great director, or at least when he's not directing Hollywood films. The competition is divided in 4 sections, all awarding Mexican productios: Best Mexican Short, Best Short from Michoacan, Best Documentary and for the first time Best Mexican Feature. The films in competition I'm mostly looking forward are the Toronto winners "Cochochi" and "La Zona", hopefully I'll be able to catch both of them.

The 'premiere' screenings will bring better selections, many titles from Cannes and Venice. I will be writing my thoughts in this blog, but I was delighted to get an invitation from Carlos Reyes, from the excellent blog Cine Azteca. I know about 2 people visit my blog and colaborating at his blog will hopefully bring more visitors to my blog, not to mention that he 'hooked' me up with the fest and I got special privaleges, more movies!

These is the list of films I'm looking forward the most:

My Blueberry Nights (Wong Kar Wai)
La Zona (Rodrigo Pla)
Cochochi (Israel Cardenas y Laura Guzman)
Ser Isla (Eun-Hee Ihm) (seen it, but supposely there is an 'extended' version?)
Ladrones Viejos, Las Leyendas del Artegio (Everardo Gonzalez)
Voleurs de Chevaux (Micha Wald)
El Pasado (Hector Babenco)
The Darjeeling Limited (Wes Anderson)
Luz Silenciosa (Carlos Reygadas)
Moliere (Laurent Tirad)

others: "Paranoid Park" (Van Sant), "Bug" (Friednick), "Year of the Nail" (Cuaron) and "A Portrait of Diego" (Figueroa & Lopez)

The Simpsons Movie (45)

2007-10-04T08:03:00.000-07:00

The Simpsons Movie (2007)
Country: USA

Director: David Silverman

18 years in the making, and The Simpsons movie dissapoints like no other film this year. Is not as bad as I'm making it to be, but it is a very empty film, few laughs but overall very noisy. It's great to see they didn't ruin the visuals by making the cartoon 3-dimensional. I have seen both versions, with English audio and Spanish audio, the latino track is by far the most effective, the people behind this really took courage in changing a couple of things and relating it to our culture. Something impressing since The Simpsons are the 'idea' most people have of an American Family. For me, this is the best T.V. show ever, and after watching the film I felt that it was just another episoide but extended. It tries too hard to look profound, it goes from questioning religion and faith and even touches the current environmental problems lol. I guess I miss the lighter touch of the series, meant only to entertain or at least give a message in a pure and naturalistic way. I would suggest you to go watch the SOUTH PARK movie, that one is actually terrific!

La Santa Muerte (25)

2007-09-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

La Santa Muerte (2007)
Country: Mexico
Director: Paco del Toro

I can't believe we're making films so empty and pretentious. In my last review I highlighted the 'fresh' factor of Begne's "Dos Abrazos" (Two Love Stories), a film that did not follow the tradition implied by Guillermo Arriaga of interconnecting stories. Well guess what? Paco Del Toro seems to have noticed that too. In La Santa Muerte, his third and worst film yet, he tells three stories in which the characters' faith is placed on a particular Mexican saint, the saint death. Del Toro really knows how to manipulate not only its actors, but also its distributors. I understand why Niñas Mal and Kilometro 31 get hundreds of copies into theatres, but how can this film possibly get almost 300 theatres? It is an ugly film; it tries to be depressing and gives sermon after sermon, something very typical with this director. I would love to be given the opportunity of making this idea into a fiction film; I think it is such an interesting character. As I was looking around me, I noticed that the theatre was almost full (ugh), and I was shocked to see that some people were even shocked and emotional. I seriously don't get this director, and it is not because of his religious beliefs (my parents are both Christian), is just that he is the kind of storyteller that starts digging and digging until he gets to the areas of discrimination and stupidity.

Dos Abrazos (75)

2007-09-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Dos Abrazos (2007)
Country: Mexico
Director: Enrique Begne

A tender and sweet effort by breakthrough director Enrique Begne. Graduated from CCC (Mexico's best film school), he is a very promising helmer. Even though the film is not innovative at all and we get the feeling we've been there already, it is refreshing to see an ensemble piece is so carefully crafted that it never falls into mediocre interlocking stories, something so typical by Mexican filmmakers nowadays. The film consists of 2 pieces, and they are not related at all physically, only spiritually. Techs are fine, the music is probably the highlight of the film, performances wise goes from good (Maya Zapata, Giovanni Florido) to great (Ximena Sarinana) to exemplary (Jorge Zarate). The film won best first feature at the Tribeca Film Festival this year.

Resident Evil: Extinction (65)

2007-09-26T15:56:00.000-07:00

Resident Evil:Extinction (2007)
Director: Russell Mulcahy
Country: United States

Just a few days ago I was criticizing the film 300 for its video game visuals and content. Now it is time to review an actual video game converted into a successful movie franchise. While I was not a big fan of the first two films, there's always something about a woman kicking ass. Furthermore, how dare anyone ignore a film about a tremendously hot chick killing zombies. The result is an empty emotional script but a very stylish film that is as bloody as 300, and a lot more entertaining. Sound mixing and visual effects are taken to such an extreme that I would consider them breathtaking; production design by Eugenio Caballero is raw and marvellous.

Top 10 so far

2007-09-21T23:00:00.000-07:00

Best Films of the year so far
It's hard to watch films in Mexico, distributors are determined to make us wait as many years as possible.
Four Mexican films in my top 10? WTF! that's got to be
a first.

1. Inland Empire (2006, Lynch)
2. El Violin (2005, Vargas)
3. Drama/Mex (2006, Naranjo)
4. Letters From Iwo Jima (2006, Eastwood)
5. Broken Sky (2006, Hernandez)
6. Madeinusa (2006, Lloza)
7. Halloween (2007, Zombie)
8. Never on a Sunday (2007, Gruener)
9. Sunshine (2007, Boyle)
10. Notes on a Scandal (Reyre)

300 (45)

2007-09-17T08:41:00.000-07:00

300 (2007)

Country: United States

Director: Zack Snyder

Style over substance. At first thought, it was a beautifully looking film, a stunning cinematography and out-of-this-world techs. I gotta say though, it was a bit intimidating watching all those bodies full of muscles. The problem with the film is it's obsessive intention of entertaining visually and not taking the responsability of recreating a beautiful epic story. We're not given much time to care about the characters, Snyder slightly introduces them and immediately tries to hide all the plotholes through bloody battles. The story is simply too shallow to entertain, unless you love video games, because to me, this was just a videogame. Unfortunately, we're not given the chance to touch the control. Most of the performances were over the top, except maybe for the lead actor, who I must admit was very funny, but sometimes unintentionally funny.

Broken Sky (80)

2007-09-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

Broken Sky (2006)

Country: Mexico
Director: Julian Hernandez

An affecting minimalist film, almost silent. I wasn't impressed with his debut film as everyone seemed to be, I found it pretentious and manipulative. My expectations for this film were very low, but I decided to give it a chance since it was playing at the Morelia film festival. Immediately Hernandez introduces his audience to his own personal world. One that is full of provocative thoughts, and most importantly Hernandez reflects that awful reality of loneliness. There is that deep fight between the three characters and the music is perfectly presented to us. At moments Broken Sky seems to be a very long ballad. As great as the film was, it was too long. I would've cut at least 20 minutes of the film. Techs are near perfect, except for the rude editing. The cinematography and music are the standouts of the film, performances are fine.

Alatriste (20)

2007-09-08T21:28:00.000-07:00

Alatriste (2006)
Country: Spain
Director: Agustin Diaz Yañez

First, excuse me for the language, but how do fuck did this film got nominated for so many Goyas (Spain's oscars), Azuloscurocasinegro was a very fine film that has a lot more heart and fun in it. I like Viggo Mortensen, I really loved his darkish performance in Cronenberg's A History of Violence, and yes, his spanish is great since he was raised in Argentina. He is fine in Alatriste, but his accent is way too tick, that's also fine, what bothered me is that he tried way to hard to hide it, to the point that he had to whisper words, making it harder to understand for latinos. Production design is good, and the costumes are great as well. The screenplay was... does Alatriste have a screenplay? or was it so bad that my brain just decided to ignore it? Alatriste is a huge failure, it never really accomplishes its goals. At moments it tried too hard to be historic and present an era of Spain. Dissapointing as this is probably the most expensive spanish-language film ever made? And what´s up with it having every single spanish actor there is.

The Bourne Ultimatum (70)

2007-09-06T12:35:00.001-07:00

The Bourne Ultimatum (2007)
Country: United States
Director: Paul Greengrass

A stimulating thriller that will satisfy any fanboy of action flicks. I found this film to be as powerful in content as Scorsese's The Departed. You're probably wondering, why the low grade?, It is simple, is there any reason why Paul Greengrass is making us suffer with that hideous and horrible looking hand-camera work? Seriously, I'm not against these type of cinematography, but Greengrass uses it so excessively I got a headche. I began to wonder if Greengrass has the creativy to innovate, I mean, I know his trying to do so. All of his films look the same, not only the camera work, but also the editing and sound mixing. Matt Damon, he's an interesting actor, and shines on screen when doing action films, but I've always had a problem watching him. He never transmits anything through his eyes. At the end, The Bourne Ultimatum is successful, but also exhausting. I thought this was better than his oscar-nominated film United 93.

The Night Buffalo (45)

2007-09-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

The Night Buffalo (2006)
Country: Mexico
Director: Jorge Hernandez Aldana

Guillermo Arriaga, an okay novel writer that sensacionalizes everything he can touch. His idea of making films is not very far from what he does as a writer. The raves of his earlier work in both books and film, have contributed to his mega ego. He showed some talent in Amores Perros and 21 Grams, but still, his screenplays weren't necessarily good. Later, he ruined The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, and was the weakest element to hideous Babel. Now, he gives a new director the chance of directing one of his most acclaimed novels. The result becomes an ugly-looking mess, where the only thing worthy is the beauty of Liz Guillardo, and the beautiful score by The Mars Volta,which in my opinion is one of the scores in recent mexican movies. Performances are irregular, but they did what they could, the screenplay and directing didn't do much to help them.

Sunshine (75)

2007-09-04T15:55:00.000-07:00

Sunshine (2007)
Country: England
Director: Danny Boyle

An interesting and visually striking feature by visionary Boyle, who brought us one of the best horror movies of the decade, "28 Days Later." Once again, he collaborates with Cilian Murphy, probably one of the best young actors these days. The pic is fire, but in moments falls in absurdity and credibility issues. Yes, it is a science fiction film, but the screenplay obsessively puts obstacles in its characters, it looses potential because we don't really care about the characters, even knowing that they are supposely saving our lives. Boyle is a tech director, and the cinematography and red pallete are more than outstanding here.

Bobby (25)

2007-09-03T11:28:00.000-07:00

Bobby (2006)
Country: United States
Director: Emilio Estevez

Some critics for some reason compared Bobby to Babel last year. And even though I find both of them very superficial and mediocre, at least Babel had amazing performances like Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza, a career-best work from Rodrigo Prieto, and splendid sound mixing. Bobby is not only melodramatic, it had a fantastic cast and seems like Emilio Estevez did everything he could to make
them bad actors. Besides, from the dozens of actors, I would highlight Freddi Rodriguez and Sharon Stone. It really is a shame that the movie didn't work, I was drooling to see it despite knowing how it was received in the U.S. Some other highlights of the film were the costume design
and perhaps Lindsay Lohan?, yeah, I finally saw a different side of her acting, which isn't bad at all.

Mr. Bean's Holiday (45)

2007-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007)
Country: England
Director: Steve Bendelack

First, I must confess I've never liked this character, I find him so irritant and so over the top. I decided to give this film a chance since some of my friends for some reason actually thought the film was smart? And, it really isn't Mr. Bean isn't smart, but that has never really been a problem with my dislike of the series. This movie is nothing but the same typical comedy intended to get descent amount of box office. I should say though, it really has a colorful and striking cinematography. And the music is also very well put together. At the end the film is flawed in every single way, the performances become as dull as it can get. The final scene is a disaster.
Was the director trying to to make a homage to "The 8th Hour" ?

The Violin (90)

2007-09-01T13:45:00.000-07:00

The Violin (2006)
Country: Mexico
Director: Francisco Vargas

As I was organizing my list of the film I've seen so far this year, I started to choose the film I would love to write about. And no other film came to my mind, but "The Violin." A beautifully lensed pic that has been the most awarded Mexican feature since Amores Perros. At first, I was reluctant to see it, I have declared myself anti-mexican movie goer. A very arrogant action from my part, but in those moments the film industry of my country was depressing, mediocre, there was no light at all. People started talking about Babel, and I hate it, later on came Pan's Labyrinth, and I loved it, I came to the conclusion that maybe Mexico does in fact produce quality films, but where should I look for them. Later on, people starting talking about this film, about the actor, everyone raved it, but I wasn't excited about it, the plot seemed so minimal. When I walked out of the theatre I finally knew what all the fuss was about, it truly is one of the best contemporary films from Latin America. It is so gentle and sublime, I seriously doubt any other Mexican film will be able to capture so much beauty and reality than what Francisco Vargas has accomplished. Angel Tavira is brilliant, an iconic performance for the ages. The best film I've seen so far, wait, not really, Inland Empire is the best film of the year, no doubt about it, in fact, it Lynch's film is probably one of the best films in years.

Knocked Up (65)

2007-09-01T11:43:00.000-07:00

Knocked Up (2007)
Country: USA
Director: Judd Apatow

I had been waiting for a this kind of comedy all year long, and even though I find it very irregular, it is the first comedy that I have liked this year. I was begining to think I was in somekind of depression, and turns out that I just had to wait for a film that was smart and touching, oh and yeah, funny. The editing of the film was horrible, but the performances and the screenplay do more than justice. This is the kind of comedy Hollywood should continue doing. The film tries too hard to embrace so many things abroad, and at the end it begins to weight a lot, that's probably the biggest problem of the film. But hey, it still is the best comedy of the year so far, I just have to say that it is very hard for a film to make me laugh, well, I laughed a lot this year watching the mexican film Cuando Las Cosas Suceden (When Things Happen), truly the worst film of the year, in a surprisingly descent year for Mexican cinema.

Hairspray (60)

2007-09-01T10:33:00.000-07:00

Hairspray (2007)
Country: United States
Director: Adam Shankman

A stylish, colorful, and soundy production. Unfortunately, it takes itself too seriously, nevertheless it's got enough energy and the accurate music to make it a descent film. No doubt, it was a big step and a huge surprise from Director Adam Shankman, yes, the director of The Pacifier. Nikki Flonsky is a revelation, but I hope her over-the-top charms don't continue to follow her acting career. John Travolta, I found myself questioning if casting him casting him was a joke, but I gotta say it was a descent performance. The screenplay is very unconcistant, as well as the art direction, I didn't get the feeling we were transported into the 1960s. Hairspray sparkles too much, just as Dreamgirls did last year, none of these two musicals have the heart or entertainment qualities of the best musical of the decade so far, Chicago. This is the kind of film the entertainment show bizz drools for, I wouldn't be surprise if this ends up geting some oscar nominations in the techs, and probably a golden globe nom for Best Picture Comedy/Musical.