Selena (1997)

This 90s biopic is kind of a throwback look at a simpler time and has a 50s feel to it.  Jennifer Lopez is Serena Quintanilla, raised by her father to be the crossover star that he was unable to do due to discrimination.  Rebecca Lee Meza as the young Selena is is well cast as a girl who needs to learn Spanish even though she is Hispanic.  And then Jennifer Lopez does a fine job as the grown Selena, who (spoiler alert) is gone too soon.  The proverbial Candle in the Wind.

Well cast with a full Hispanic cast, which would be significant today and very ahead of its time for the 1990s.  The photography does a good job of capturing the scenes set in South Texas and Monterrey, Mexico.

Edward James Olmos is Abraham Quintanilla, who drives young Selena.  As they say, the biopic is always about the father.  A good job of setting up her to continue his dashed dreams.  Some good father/daughter drama as she grows up from a girl to a woman.  The whole movie moves along at a breezy pace which makes it fun.  And some fine comedic scenes, particularly "Anything for Selenas!"

**** of 5

The Rise of Skywalker * December 2019

Tejano

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

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.

Top Gun 2 * release date is 6/20/2020

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!