Satanic Hispanics.

Review #2086: Satanic Hispanics.

Cast: 

"The Traveler" segment: Efren Ramirez (The Traveler), Greg Grunberg (Detective Arden), and Sonya Eddy (Detective Gibbons) Directed by Mike Mendez. "También Lo Vi” segment: Demian Salomon (Gustavo) Directed by Demián Rugna. “El Vampiro” segment: Hemky Madera (El Vampiro) and Patricia Velasquez (Maribel) Directed by Eduardo Sánchez (#1294 - The Blair Witch Project). “Nahuales” segment: Ari Gallegos (De La Cruz) Directed by Gigi Saul Guerrero. “The Hammer of Zanzibar” segment: Jonah Ray (Malcolm), Jacob Vargas (El Jefe) and Morgana Ignis (King Zombie) Directed by Alejandro Brugues.

Review: 

Admittedly, the title gets your attention. Latino or not, I'm sure we all appreciate an attempt at giving you a bunch of stories for the price of one. The film was originally shown on the festival circuit in the fall of 2022, but it is only now that one can have a chance (if in certain areas, obviously) to see it in a theater, which I had the chance to do on a late Thursday night. There are three writers credited in Pete Barnstrom, Alejandro Mendez, and Lino K. Villa. Viewers that like to delve into even more films than the usual standard may recognize at least one of the five filmmakers present here, whether that involves the obvious one in Eduardo Sanchez (director of the original The Blair Witch Project), or perhaps Mike Mendez (with the aptly titled Big Ass Spider!) or Alejandro Brugues and his Cuban-Spanish zombie production Juan of the Dead (2010), Gigi Saul Guerrero (Bingo Hell) or with the Argentian Demián Rugna (Terrified). 

The first segment is really just the wraparound in between segments, unless you really want to consider the story beyond two bland detectives trying to pay attention to what an alleged immortal is telling them. The film is 105 minutes (credits included), but for the sake of my amusement, I elected to give you a minute count for each little segment. Technically, it is the longest segment, since it has its own climax (involving San La Muerte) and structure (swat team finding a guy cutting his hand leading to a detective meeting before eventually getting to who that figure is going after and you get it) that make it run about 30 minutes when you add it up, but I'll be damned if I can say anything positive about the parts around its title character. Ramirez actually is quite effective, ice cold in mystery that really does seem the type of person who has things beyond the usual comprehension that we humans have. Granted, it is communicated with a number of cliches, but he holds his ground. The same can't be said for his two counterparts (Grunberg and Eddy), who make the whole proceeding seem nearly pointless in even having a wraparound segment, as if Tales from the Crypt (1972) wasn't an ideal way to just do a wraparound segment to "tie it together". It depends on what you think should matter most in an anthology film, a wraparound trying to make a loose connection to the stories to come...or just having a bunch of stories and getting on with it. Any way you put it, "The Traveler" is okay but probably would've been just as fine in a trimmer form.

The second segment ("También Lo Vi") runs at 22 minutes. It involves a prodigy that likes to deal with Rubik's cubes in a really fast manner and (for whatever reason) dabble between Spanish and English within conversation. It ends up being framed as a semi-solid ghost story that plays the one setting it has (a haunted house) to the trimmings you would expect without skimping on those moments of gore (you can say it for the segments minus the Traveler, but hey). The ending is perhaps a bit convenient, but as the title goes, one really can see it too in wondering just what lies beneath puzzles and eyesight. The third segment (“El Vampiro”) runs at 19 minutes. Your milage may vary on the segment, since it is the goofiest of the four that Sanchez has stated was influenced in comedy by letting his star in Madera be himself. Those who find vampire comedies such as, say, Vampira (1974) or Love at First Bite (1979) to beyond their funny bone tastes will probably roll their eyes a bit. However, the jokes that come from a paunchy vampire trying to fiddle his way out of a city amused me with its campy energy, and Madera makes a solid presence of an old fool who finds that beneath all of the cheap thrill of blood is a thrill for being with the blood that has tied him for years. Eh, it isn't exactly the best segment for the horror kicks, but, well, it tickled my interest, so that works out.

 

The fourth segment ("Nahuales") runs at 19 minutes and is probably the most infused in folklore to go with its effects for the eventual climax. The effects stand out the best here in a snarling and violent feature involving spirit beings within ancient Mexican lore. As such, it asks just where the real monster lies beneath the surface. So yes, that is the segment that probably could linger in your head moreso than the others, although it is hard to say just which segment really fits the overall film title more than this one, but this one might have been the best one to fit its own film. The final segment (“The Hammer of Zanzibar”) runs for 19 minutes that deals with trying to deal with a demon after a mishap involving recordings and folks falling into the hand of death, with a mild performance from Ray. Admittedly, one can find it a bit odd that the middle of the segment finds time to spend on a cock-and-bull story about just what a "hammer of Zanzibar" really is that involves a joke that comes and goes and comes and goes and you get the idea. Eh, I do appreciate jokes run into the ground when it seems dumb enough to do so for bad taste, but I won't exactly make fun of someone who thinks of it as something to cringe at and not cringe with. At any rate, it is decently executed when it comes to the overall result, albeit with a lasting twist that perhaps isn't the best punchline possible (there is a line said right after the story ends that is funny, but if you have a hammer that looks like a certain shape, how could you not use said shape for the obvious joke?). As a whole, one will probably find something to appreciate within the attempt to play on Hispanic culture for a meaningful film for those who want something with roots that seem right at home. It is a mediocre anthology film in the manner that you can see in various other examples, one that has a few highs and no true low points to make a passable recommendation for those who linger inward at the sight of the title rather than smirking away. Whether you are the type to say Hispanic on a silly survey question or not (or be the odd man "Other"), this mixed bag of tales may or may not fit the bill in getting a start in the great fall season of spooks and scares. The best saying for the film is that you get "más y menos" of what you hope for at least one tolerable viewing experience.

Overall, I give it 7 out of 10 stars.

A Star is Born (2018).

Review #1583: A Star is Born.

Cast: 

Lady Gaga (Ally Maine), Bradley Cooper (Jackson "Jack" Maine), Sam Elliott (Bobby Maine), Andrew Dice Clay (Lorenzo), Rafi Gavron (Rez Gavron), Anthony Ramos (Ramon), Dave Chappelle (George "Noodles" Stone), Greg Grunberg (Phil), Shangela Laquifa Wadley (Bar Emcee), Willam Belli (Emerald), Ron Rifkin (Carl), Rebecca Field (Gail), with Michael Harney (Wolfie), and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. Directed by Bradley Cooper.

Review: 
"I always knew, goddamn it, I’m gonna have to at some point put it out there, directorial debut. And then I was like, when am I gonna have the guts to do it? And I also knew I could only direct something that I had a point of view about. And I always wanted to tell a love story. I thought, there’s nothing better for me cinematically to able to tell a love story, like a real love story, a broken love story."

Here we are again, seeing the old become new with prominent faces behind it to headline a new take on the traditional stardom story. One starts with the director, who also served as director, co-producer, co-writer (with Eric Roth and Will Fetters), and singer. Bradley Cooper wanted to become an actor when he was introduced to films like The Elephant Man (1980), which he later starred in a Broadway adaptation of. The Philadelphia native studied at Villanova University before transferring and graduating from Georgetown University with studies in English. He trained in acting with the Actors Studio and got into acting on television in 1999 and film soon after. Regular work and some recognition came with the TV series Alias and Wedding Crashers (2005), but it was his starring role with The Hangover (2009), which had two subsequent sequels with him as star alongside films like Silver Linings Playbook (2012) that helped him find prominence as a lead. But of course there are two stars to nearly every film, so enter Lady Gaga. Encouraged as a child to be a "cultured young woman", she learned music from a very young age such as the piano while also doing high school stage productions. She also studied method acting at the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute and Collaborative Arts Project 21, although she dropped out of the latter school to focus on music. Her album The Fame (2008) was her first success, and she has moved on to further success with her music that range from electronic to dance to pop; this is only her second film role (not counting a handful of appearances as herself in documentaries), having had her first prominent television role in American Horror Story: Hotel (2015). 

The strange thing is that I forgot to do this film when it originally came out. Even though I had seen the first two films of the same name, I honestly did not think to do this film because it was quite a busy time to do other stuff (that, and it felt better to cover the other film...which took nearly two years to do). So, why not a quick little rundown of each of the three films: The original film was released in 1937 with a story by William A. Wellman and Robert Carson (with several other writers contributing and direction by Wellman). It is the only one to not have any songs (since it isn't a musical) - as a whole, it was a pretty good movie, tender in its setup between stars Janet Gaynor and Fredric March that was noted for having similar aspects to What Price Hollywood? (1932) alongside inspiration from the marriage of Barbara Stanwyck and Frank Fay. The 1954 remake (written by Moss Hart) was a grand classic with Judy Garland and James Mason as the key stars, dynamic in its music with well-timed direction from George Cukor. The 1976 version (written by John Gregory Dunne, Joan Didion, and Frank Pierson), starring Barbra Streisand & Kris Kristofferson and directed by Frank Pierson, was a monumentally cheesy affair, an ego-trip involving Streisand that can't sell romance nor as a rock star. It shouldn't be a surprise that there had been plans by Warner Brothers to do another A Star is Born for years, with ideas of casting stars being as early as 2000 that looked for directors such as Clint Eastwood and musicians such as Beyoncé; Cooper expressed interest in doing the film despite close friends warning him. 

What we have is a romance between country rock and pop, which seems more fermented in attempts at honesty within addiction and fame that may rank it just as good as the 1954 version if not better. Gaga does well with trying to hew down-to-earth quality in terms of find confidence within dazzling chemistry with Cooper that is enjoyable to see her journey through soulful singing that includes an easy favorite performance with "Shallow" that keeps the line between celebrity and vulnerable at the right distance. Cooper simply makes a welcome debut in directing, one that seems like a personal film for him (as he also struggled with alcohol addiction early in his career), and all that training of singing and music-playing seems to have paid off greatly - he grits his way towards struggle and self-assured damage with the right sense of conviction needed to make a worthy pair come alive with star-crossed romance. Elliott carries his traditional resonant presence and voice with efficiency, easily believable to see interact with Cooper with resolved and unresolved ends of brotherly conflict and love. Clay (a stand-up comedian with various turns in acting - both comedic and drama) proves equally as useful in homespun warmness, useful for what is needed in his scenes with Gaga without becoming sopped in sentimentality. Gavron, Ramos, and Chappelle round out the cast well enough in the edges with what is needed, whether in ambition or devotion. As a whole, it makes a worthwhile 136 minutes in how it makes a fine-tuning on the original structure from before that seems fresh enough to seem necessary while having interesting presence and an engaging soundtrack full of songs (which Cooper and Gaga did live, by the request of the latter) that are pretty enjoyable in earnest grit with a mixture of pop and country rock. It is a welcome remake that contains some grounded performances alongside music and story to make a mostly worthwhile experience with a winning duo at the helm to carry it along.

Overall, I give it 9 out of 10 stars.