Mexico, along with Spain, have always led the way in the Spanish film market. Unfortunately internal conflicts, differing interests, and a bit of corruption led to the decline of Mexican cinema as a whole all the way through the 80s and into the 90s. In these early 90s, Mexico had a bit of a renaissance in its movie industry and it’s been said that Callejon De Los Milagros began the revolution that brought us Como Agua Para Chocolate, Cronos, Amores Perros, Y Tu Mama Tambien and El Crimen Del Padre Amaro among others. Callejon has a pattern that would be later duplicated with great success by Amores Perros, it weaves a bit of a dark story through three main characters, but without overtly lugubrious visuals. It tells of the hopes that exist in the most destitute of lives and the way those hopes never seem to materialize as hard as it’s tried. It also stars a very young, nubile Salma Hayek in probably her first movie role, after having done much TV before that and one can most definitely see the cute, unrefined looks that would later be polished into the total babe she is today. Even though Callejon as a whole is also a bit unrefined, it’s still worth a look, but if time is to be better spent, then give the other films a try, they are the jewels of Mexican cinema today.
Posts tagged movies
La Cara Oculta & La Piel Que Habito
I’ve been delving back into more and more foreign films, seeing as how that’s the only place original stories come from. I was recently asked how I find out about these films, where do I find them or read about them, what sites I visit, etc. The fact is they just seem to invade my mind from various places. Typically, one film begets another for me, I just see trailers in what I’m watching and that’s how the cycle keeps its rhythm. If i see a commercial on TV that catches my eye, I usually file it away and then I try to keep an eye out for that given film in theaters or Netflix. That pretty much tells how I got a hold of these two movies. One is a Colombian/Spanish production, La Cara Oculta, the other is from Pedro Almodovar, no need for me to explain where that one is from. Both these movies deal with some very dark subjects, dark matter, but they’re both extremely well made, extremely entertaining and with great endings. You would definitely do yourself a favor by catching either one of these or both and don’t be surprised when you see these stories remade in Hollywood.
La Cara Oculta Official Trailer
La Piel Que Habito Official Website
The Cabin In The Woods
Is there anything more disappointing than when a horror film is not scary? Much like Jeepers Creepers, a film that had this extreme potential to be ground-breaking, old style horror, turned out to be a joke, The Cabin In The Woods ended up being the same. It looked like an awesome turn in horror movies, something that hadn’t been seen before but it turned out to be even worse than even the cheapest of B-horror movies. Nothing I hate more than when reality is muddled with technology or with science fiction. Keep the horror real and it’ll work.
Millennium Trilogy
There are truly only a handful of film trilogies out there that actually live up to the expectations, that are great all the way through. These trilogies tend to fall into fantasy or action realms but here’s an awesome trilogy that falls into more of a mystery/thriller category. The Millennium Trilogy consists of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire and The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet’s Nest. Not only are good trilogies rare but even more rare, a foreign one. France put out the Red/White/Blue trilogy a good 20 years ago but even that hype fell way short. These films though, originally from Sweden, excel in a lot of ways. The acting and the action are superb and of course one can’t go wrong when you have Stieg Larsson’s material to draw from. Very highly recommended viewing, have already seen each a couple of times and frankly, I have zero desire to see the remake. The sensational and oddly hot Noomi Rapace will next be seen in Prometheus, continuing that Alien story. Catch them all on Netflix streaming.
Documentaries
We’ve been chatting a bit about documentaries here at work and I’ve also been keeping an eye on Morgan Spurlock’s special: 50 Documentaries To See Before You Die. I’ve seen a bunch of documentaries in my time and while some of them leave you wondering just how much is fact, how much is fiction, one thing’s for sure, there’s nothing as gripping as something based on reality or perceived reality to make an impact. Here are a handful of documentaries you truly must see before you die, in my opinion. In somewhat particular order, here are 10 for you:
Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room
Triumph of The Will
Man On Wire
One Day In September
The King of Kong
Inside Job
Jesus Camp
Devil’s Playground
Who Killed The Electric Car?
American Teen
