The situation at the Texas/Mexico border in 2019 is becoming quite a dramatic theme for movies now. Recently the big studios gave us Miss Bala, about an American woman being forced into working for the cartels to save the one she loves.
Now we have Tejano, an independent effort, telling a story of the American man, being forced into.... you get the drift.
Filmed in the Rio Grande Valley and in Nuevo Progreso, Mexico, it's got some authenticity to the area. The photography and the colors were very realistic. Patrick Mackie stars as Javi who is a simple farmhard in love with a beautiful Mexican senorita. But when he is robbed of the money he is saving to bring her over, he turns to the cartels to smuggle drugs for money. Always a good plot point when the hero loses everything he has.
Thug life ain't easy. The "Blood in, Blood out" rule applies here. The heist takes a Reservoir Dogs turn as well, and builds toward a grande finale like in a Western back at the hacienda. A very memorable final scene also.
A good man doing bad things? There is an ambiguity here and that makes it even more watchable.
In case you were wondering whatever happened to State Senator Hector Uribe, he's now a working actor, playing the grandfather here and stealing the show!
* * * * of 5
Destination Wedding (2018)
Available on Amazon Prime now, this looked to be a light-hearted film but rather turned out to be more of a biting satire of that most "presumptuous of affairs" as they put it, the destination wedding.
Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves star. She's was formerly engaged to the groom. He's the half brother of the groom. They realize that they might be the extras invited and thrown together like in Table 19.
Set in Santa Rosa, CA wine country, the setting and tone reminded me of the underrated 2000s film Sideways. Like that movie the bucolic setting seems to draw out the craziness that is otherwise kept repressed in L.A.
If you can believe that two wedding guests end up in a hotel room like they are old friends, you'll also appreciate the "old married couple" aspect ( which is anything but) like in the classic Same Time Next Year. That movie started out as a play and since there are only two main characters, this movie was like a play as well, even down to the acts and the scene cards.
* * * of 5
Winona Ryder and Keanu Reeves star. She's was formerly engaged to the groom. He's the half brother of the groom. They realize that they might be the extras invited and thrown together like in Table 19.
Set in Santa Rosa, CA wine country, the setting and tone reminded me of the underrated 2000s film Sideways. Like that movie the bucolic setting seems to draw out the craziness that is otherwise kept repressed in L.A.
If you can believe that two wedding guests end up in a hotel room like they are old friends, you'll also appreciate the "old married couple" aspect ( which is anything but) like in the classic Same Time Next Year. That movie started out as a play and since there are only two main characters, this movie was like a play as well, even down to the acts and the scene cards.
* * * of 5
A dry February
There have not been any movies I thought worth seeing lately. I could not get into seeing Green Book even though it won the Academy Award for Best Picture. My vote would have gone to Bohemian Rhapsody.
When in doubt, see an old movie. The movie Cruel Intentions is coming back for a 20 year anniversary in wide release so I plan to see that next weekend.
When in doubt, see an old movie. The movie Cruel Intentions is coming back for a 20 year anniversary in wide release so I plan to see that next weekend.
To All the Boys I've Loved Before
I just learned a new word: Epistolary e.g. telling a story via exchange of letters. This Netflix original has that aspect which involves our heroine, Lara Jean, writing 5 letters to boys she has had a crush on.
Her little sister then sends the letters that Lara Jean has kept for years and the Pandora's Box opens. So to keep up appearances, she invents a fake boyfriend to keep the secret from coming out and embarrassing her further.
Several subplots involving that the boys are somewhat "taken" by other important people in her life, e.g. her older sister away at college. And we have have the Dead Disney Parent adding another aspect to the mix.
Nicely done, certainly reminiscent of Pretty in Pink, the ugly duckling getting the prince. They even sample John Hughes movies, Say Anything, Juno and other RomCom favorite tropes.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Her little sister then sends the letters that Lara Jean has kept for years and the Pandora's Box opens. So to keep up appearances, she invents a fake boyfriend to keep the secret from coming out and embarrassing her further.
Several subplots involving that the boys are somewhat "taken" by other important people in her life, e.g. her older sister away at college. And we have have the Dead Disney Parent adding another aspect to the mix.
Nicely done, certainly reminiscent of Pretty in Pink, the ugly duckling getting the prince. They even sample John Hughes movies, Say Anything, Juno and other RomCom favorite tropes.
Happy Valentine's Day!
Miss Bala
Gina Rodriguez stars as Gloria, in this Female Fighting Back version of Sicario 2. What starts as a promising set up (2 women go to a club and bad s@#$ starts to occur...) winds up in a mess or stereotypes: drug cartels, forced prostitution, American DEA saviors).
The fact that it was "filmed in Mexico" using majority Mexican persons doesn't make up for this shabby script. It devolves into a Born in East L.A., which is pretty silly in this day and age. Including Gina, there are really few positive or redeeming characters here. Maybe the little brother...
In the underworld, everyone is a gangster. You'd think that in a country of 130 million people you'd get some better stories than this: e.g. Coco. But perhaps those good stories only exist in Hollywood's imagination.
Directed by McAllen, TX native Catherine Hardwicke.
* * * due to good aerial photography .
The fact that it was "filmed in Mexico" using majority Mexican persons doesn't make up for this shabby script. It devolves into a Born in East L.A., which is pretty silly in this day and age. Including Gina, there are really few positive or redeeming characters here. Maybe the little brother...
In the underworld, everyone is a gangster. You'd think that in a country of 130 million people you'd get some better stories than this: e.g. Coco. But perhaps those good stories only exist in Hollywood's imagination.
Directed by McAllen, TX native Catherine Hardwicke.
* * * due to good aerial photography .
Gaza * Sundance Film Festival 2019
The theme of this year's Sundance Film Festival was "Risk Independence". Not only could this apply to independent film making for which Sundance is the mountaintop, but it also weighs toward the types of film that Sundance tends to favor: those from filmmakers with another voice not commonly heard.
One does not primarily go to Sundance to view what will be available in the local Multiplex in a month or two. Rather, be expecting to have an eye-opening movie experience. Maybe you'll like it and maybe you won't.
Gaza is at heart a documentary, but edited with a narrative arc that made it seems like a layered story line with several families. All the stories involving living in Gaza, described as a 25 mile by 7 mile area, blocked to the north by Israel, blocked to the south by Egypt and blocked by the Mediterranean Sea, where Israel ships enforce a 3 mile limit.
As a result of this siege, prompted by a 2014 war and election of Hamas-backed leadership, Israel has withdrawn all of its settlements in Gaza. While humanitarian aid does come in, the local citizens must make do with what they have to raise families, earn a living and hope for a better tomorrow.
Some of the families featured were the Bakr family, where the husband strives to make a living as a fisherman, while living in a refugee camp with 3 wives and 20 children. Another man featured is a taxi driver who has recently been imprisoned for 20 months in a debtors prison. Another is a young teenage girl who plays her cello and hopes to study abroad if the opportunity ever comes. The thought of going to America is like going to the moon for her.
Andrew McConnell, Director of Photography did an excellent job with the various everyday shots, from the basics of getting a haircut or having a cup of coffee to military jet bombings (not explicitly stated who was responsible), paramedics treated wounded and tire fires which are quite a sight to see.
Thought-provoking, spotlighting another part of the world, out of the ordinary. Director Garry Keane said it took a lot of editing of 250 hours of footage over several years to make this 90 minute movie. No wonder it beat the Sundance odds: 14,500 entries for 100 spots.
* * * * *
One does not primarily go to Sundance to view what will be available in the local Multiplex in a month or two. Rather, be expecting to have an eye-opening movie experience. Maybe you'll like it and maybe you won't.
Gaza is at heart a documentary, but edited with a narrative arc that made it seems like a layered story line with several families. All the stories involving living in Gaza, described as a 25 mile by 7 mile area, blocked to the north by Israel, blocked to the south by Egypt and blocked by the Mediterranean Sea, where Israel ships enforce a 3 mile limit.
As a result of this siege, prompted by a 2014 war and election of Hamas-backed leadership, Israel has withdrawn all of its settlements in Gaza. While humanitarian aid does come in, the local citizens must make do with what they have to raise families, earn a living and hope for a better tomorrow.
Some of the families featured were the Bakr family, where the husband strives to make a living as a fisherman, while living in a refugee camp with 3 wives and 20 children. Another man featured is a taxi driver who has recently been imprisoned for 20 months in a debtors prison. Another is a young teenage girl who plays her cello and hopes to study abroad if the opportunity ever comes. The thought of going to America is like going to the moon for her.
Andrew McConnell, Director of Photography did an excellent job with the various everyday shots, from the basics of getting a haircut or having a cup of coffee to military jet bombings (not explicitly stated who was responsible), paramedics treated wounded and tire fires which are quite a sight to see.
Thought-provoking, spotlighting another part of the world, out of the ordinary. Director Garry Keane said it took a lot of editing of 250 hours of footage over several years to make this 90 minute movie. No wonder it beat the Sundance odds: 14,500 entries for 100 spots.
* * * * *
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