"Many pray to get out. He charges"

Title: Escape Plan 

Year: 2013 

Genre: Action, Mystery, Thriller 

Director: Mikael Håfström 

Writer: Miles Chapman (screenplay), Jason Keller (written by), Miles Chapman (story) 

Runtime: 115min 

Cast: Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jim Caviezel, Faran Tahir, Amy Ryan, Sam Neil, Vincent D' Onofrio, 50 Cent 

Prod: Summit Entertainment, Emmett / Furla Films, Mark Canton Productions, Envision Entertainment, Boies / Schiller Film Group, Atmosphere Entertainment MM 

Budget: $50 millions approx. 

If there´s something that audiences like is to have an innocent man, but witty and with tons of patience, trying to escape from confinement. It becomes even nicer if he´s yet to deal with a despicable jail staff plus a corrupt warden. 

Escape Plan has made use of this old formula, although adapting it to an action movie, using two of the toughest guys in the genre. 

The opening minutes has us looking at an inmate, clearly willing to escape. Something he will accomplish by doing his thing and with help from the outside, but for then giving himself up again. 

Ray Breslin (Sylvester Stallone) has actually got nothing, to be called a criminal. A security expert and a sort of Houdini, he dedicates to seek for flaws in the prison system. Always with Hush (50 Cent) and Abigail (Amy Ryan) in his team, plus his three golden rules: to know the layout, understand the routine and have help from the outside or inside. Breslin is a genius escapist, about to take an ugly job, with variations he doesn´t know and where the only thing he´s got clear is that the character he is to play is terrorist Anthony Portos. 

Unexpectedly kidnapped, Breslin is taken to his new destination under sedation, not been able to see where he is going, to communicate it, and leaving his teammates with their hands tied. For the first time, Breslin must work in the dark. 

Escape Plan takes us to a high-tech prison with transparent cells, masked guards, cameras everywhere and even motion sensors. How to get out? I wonder if Harry Houdini would have known. 

Having just got in, Bresil receives the valuable advice "make friends", just before being saved by inmate Rottmayer, his "friend", when he was about to be attacked by thugs. 

The former governor of California, Arnold Schawrzenegger, is who plays this Rottmayer, a prisoner who is too nice, reliable and cooperative, after just having introduced himself, and who ends up making of the escape, lot more viable than what we have hoped it to be. As a matter of fact, when it is finally explained why he´s joined the newcomer, his presence on screen ends up resulting very forced. Arnold contributes so that the escape isn´t for Breslin, the big challenge we had initially expected. I believe I say it all when I add that without Arnold, the action would have taken too long to be waited. 

But at no time Escape Plan intends to be a realistic drama, or to deepen on the human bond, when deprived from freedom. To what it appeals is to entertain, but in the most basic sense. If Breslin hadn´t counted on with any of his rules, his level of planning would have been much higher, and the plot, more compelling. Nor can be said that the jail is so unbreakable, when there´s no one to check the inmates, foreign objects detectors or serious guards who are not distracted so easy. 

When action´s arrived, dozens of highly trained guards are unable to hit their targets, while Breslin or Javed (Faran Tahir), another breakaway companion have no inconvenient doing it, as if they were suddenly shooting experts.

To complete this hostile scenario is that Hobbes appears (Jim Caviezel) as the corrupt warden who cares nothing about his prisoners, and whose not lacking the desire to torment them. It is probably even necessary to be like this, as to run such a place. 

If building-up is what we don´t see much, action we do see and in good quantity. From a small fist fight between Stallone and Schwarzenegger, to a heads up with Drake (Vinnie Jones), a sadistic guard full of hatred. 

Escape Plan is ideal for the fans of brute strength, trickery and gunfire. If what we wanted instead, was a drama with human suffering, and showing us what living unfairly in confinement is it like, Frank Darabont´s Shawshank Redemption (1994) would have been a much better option. 

My rating: 6/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"Let´s cut it out with numbers"

Title: She's out of my league 

Year: 2010 

Genre: Comedy, Romance 

Director: Jim Field Smith 

Writer: Sean Anders, John Morris 

Runtime: 104min

Cast: Jay Baruchel, Alice Eve, TJ Miller, Mike Vogel, Nate Torrence, Lindsey Sloane, Krysten Ritter 

Prod.: DreamWorks SKG, Mosaic Media Group 

Budget: $20 millions approx. 

I doubt She´s out of my league could become part of the list of favorite movies of any movie lover. If I had to describe it in very few words, I could summarize it to: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl fight and boy and girl make up. That would not reveal the big spoiler, in a film that is very predictable. 

I must, however recognize, that being there many forgettable titles, and of similar characteristics, they hadn´t previously managed to call my attention like this one did. It´s name itself already gives us clues about a subject that could be appealing. 

She´s out of my league is about Kirk (Jay Barucel), a young, half attractive guy that unwittingly ends up dating a girl who is beautiful. Kirk, a security guard from the Pittsburgh airport, has the desire of making up with his ex-girlfriend Marnie (Lindsay Sloane). Her, a very pretty girl, but who is not as pretty on her inside. The point is that Marnie is already with another guy and has no interest in Kirk. From this, and the fact that Kirk is not the big deal, leads us to ask ourselves what girl could like him. 

Shortly afterwards, Kirk realizes that a passenger, with whom he had had a couple of words with before, has forgotten her cell at the airport. It´ll be in this way that, for giving it back to her he comes to see her again, and so Molly (Alice Eve) notices that there´s something about this guy that she likes. 

Then comes, one of the more interesting scenes in the film. Kirk and his friends Stainer (TJ Miller), Jack (Mike Vogel) and Devon (Nate Torrence) discuss while bowling, how weird would be that Kirk could date a girl who ´s a 10. Kirk listens to his friends giving scores to each other, in what apparently; he is being the most unlucky. They all agree in that he could barely reach a 6, giving his personality. 

From here on, it is very clear where the plot revolves. While the bond between Molly and Kirk keeps strengthened, nobody explains how this guy is going out with such a beauty. It´s not the lack of support from family and friends, what´s really surprising, but that Kirk himself finds it hard to believe his own luck. 

We live in a society, sometimes very superficial, were at times we make people into numbers, something that doesn´t help. Such is the case that, about to get intimate, Kirk shows up his incomprehension and lack of self-esteem, claiming not to understand what is happening. But what is it there to understand? Is what Molly doesn´t quite get. Which is, that a girl who Kirk and his friends have described as perfect, has decided to go out with a guy who is barely attractive, physically speaking, and therefore, not good enough to be with her. This offends Molly, because she doesn´t see things this way cause she´s been seen more than just a pretty face. 

This scene is set quite well and possess a dialogue that is consistent. Unlike other moments where we hear very poorly focused conversations and jokes that are absurd. 

Things, after the separation, happen as expected. Kirk now´s got tools to get back with his ex. An unhappy bitch that doesn´t deserve him, but who´s got Kirk for her anyways. It is then, that his friends decide to help him get Molly back, because they also take thought about it. Stainer, sometimes an idiot, now acts fine. Giving him a speech, he highlights Kirk all he´s worth, both as a friend, and as a human being, and how he should be with that girl that made him happy. He makes him see that both, he and Kirk were wrong, and that he fully deserves to be with her. 

Overall, from the beginning you can foresee the end of a plot which, although carried with some clumsiness, leaves us with a good message. It is also worth to mention that, at no time is boring, which to me is even the most important aspect.

My rating: 5/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"Love can only be seen through the heart"

Title: Blind Dating

Year: 2006

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Director: James Keach

Writer: Christopher Theo

Runtime: 95min

Cast: Chris Pine, Anjali Jay, Eddie Kaye Thomas, Jane Seymour, Stephen Tobolowski

Prod.: Samuel Goldwyn Films, Films Milcoz, Catfish Productions, Blind Guy Films, Theta Films

Being born premature Andy (Chris Pine) is doomed not to have a normal life. Lacking the faculty to see, with all of that it means, makes him not to have yet been with a girl, when he´s reached 22.

Blind Dating is a romantic comedy where there has been given more thought to its title (a very good pun, that gives clues about the movie), than to the kind of humor included, sometimes very silly. When we see, at first, Andy as a boy, running like a crazy through a park and crashing into a tree, one wonders what the purpose was, exactly. Scenes like this were not necessary. Where has there been children seen doing that?

Andy faces now a crucial stage, and where he must be brave and take risks. The blindness that has forced him to see the world in a different way could be reversed, according to doctors, although there is no history to prove it.

Together, it has been opened to him the chance of going out with girls, and where he has got on his side, to be a good-looking guy. Here the risk is emotional, if ever he could get hurt, if his disability was to scare them away. Let us also agree, and being realistic, that if other than being blind, he hadn´t been handsome, quite difficult he would have had it with this girls. So, in terms of casting Pine, they were great.

He sets then on finding candidates, while tests whether his qualified or nor for surgery, which works as a sub plot. All this part of preparations is dealt with delicacy, saving the comedy for his dates or for the sessions with his therapist, Dr. Evans (Jane Seymour).

Andy has got the help of his well-meaning brother Larry (Eddie Kaye Thomas). It´ll be him who introduces Andy to the lucky ones, as well as putting his limo at his service. The downside is that every girl brought by him is either very fast or very crazy, someone who will charge them for her time, or someone hyper sensitive. Let´s add to this that Andy wants something serious, while Larry only thinks with his dick. Luckily for Andy, he won´t, however, need his help to find his soul mate, a young Indian woman who works at the center where he is attended.

It is with this young girl, of different race and very different culture, which Andy feels, for the first time that something wonderful can happen. Another point of interest is precisely the culture shock and its implications, since Indian marriages are arranged. But before he falls in love or even goes out with Leeza (Anjali Jay), still await him dates that he would prefer to forget.

While there are funny moments, others could have been avoided for being so forced and unconvincing. The occurrence, for example, of hiding his condition to a young woman results in a scenario that´s too absurd. Anyone with half a brain would have started noticing in his eyes that peculiar look, very different from those who can see. Instead it creates a lack of balance between the two genres in Blind Dating.

As much as we can describe it as a comedy, I think, in fact, is its dramatic component that deserves more attention. Although it´s got the ingredients of every romantic title, not very often the main character is unable to describe his loved one physical look, unless he uses the touch.

It also talks about the importance of self-acceptance, however difficult it may be and even if we suffer from something irreversible and extremely limiting.

My rating: 4/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"Looking too high, they ended up falling deep down"

Title: The Bling Ring 

Year: 2013 

Genre: Crime, Drama 

Director: Sofia Coppola

Writer: Sofia Coppola (writen by), Nancy Jo Sales (based on her article "the suspects wore Louboutines") Runtime: 90min 

Cast: Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Georgia Rock, Leslie Mann 

Produc.: American Zoetrope, NALA Films, Pathé Distribution, StudioCanal, TOBIS Film, Film Tohokushinsha 

Budget: $15 million approx. 

We turn on the TV, and zapping leads us to a channel dedicated to celebrities. Stopping in it, a celebrity being photographed makes us wonder: what would it feel to be in its shoes? 

There are those who, at this moment, are in full space mission with the Curiosity sending information from Martian ground. Meanwhile, for most of us the idea of going to Los Angeles and getting to know how stars live, is as far as the red planet itself. 

But not everyone in LA is a celebrity, and there are, in fact, citizens who have never known what that feels like. And there were once five kids, that being outside of that setting, so much they became obsessed with the glamour seen in magazines that they wanted to be part of it anyway. This would take them to locate their addresses and to verify that they were not at home, to go to steal them. This quintet became known as The Bling Ring. 

Making of this a movie was an occurrence of Sofia Coppola, inspired by an article of the Variety magazine. This was called "the suspect wore Louboutines” and was written by journalist Nancy Jo Sales. It´s topic would so much call, the director´s attention, so much therefore the attention of the director that she immediately would want to secure the rights. As Coppola then would explain, she thought the concept was fascinating and that said a lot about the current culture, which is undeniable. However, her approach, put into images would be so misguided, that would end up boring. 

Marc (name changed for the film) is a shy teenager, who after joining the Indian Hill High School meets Rebecca, a girl obsessed with fame. 

During a party at Rebecca´s, Marc looks stunned as her friend finds unlocked cars, from which she takes money and credit cards. Then Marc makes the mistake of mentioning a wealthy acquaintance of him, who is traveling, and to whose house they go right away, so that Rebecca can steal a Porsche. Counting now, illegally, with new means of payment, they go shopping to acquire the luxurious garments they have always loved in magazines. Rebecca, very self-confident, the one who takes the lead, while Marc, although surprised, follows hers steps. 

Later, the duo and three girls (Nicki, Sam and Chloe) see Kirsten Dunst and Paris Hilton in a nightclub, celebrities whose addresses they look for, in addition with the right moment to go and steal them. With the group of offenders, now assembled before us, invading other people´s property becomes even more exciting. 

Undoubtedly, Sofia Coppola reflects the superficial and materialistic side of a society that values too much, the inside a wallet, compared to a person´s inside. 

Despite this, if one is not passionate about fashion, or curious to know what a millionaire’s place is like, having, scene after scene, guys trying on others peoples clothes and checking out fashion magazines, could become soporific. Having the director included their motivations to inflict the law; her film would have had much more sense. But she just tells this aspect around Marc, a guy with low self-esteem and just recently popular, when he gets arrested. Here is where it comes to play the unfortunate role of social networks, with Marc, who in Facebook sees himself full with friendship invitations, from hundreds of morbid fans. Regarding the derivations of these crimes, although we are told of the price these guys will have to pay, the instance of the judgment is almost entirely skipped through. 

We cannot even say that, on another level , The Bling Ring was more about intrigue, on complex and well planned theft (as in bank robbery movies), and that made it more entertaining. 

To make matters worse, we see Emma Watson giving a misstep in her career, and who after more than acceptable Harry Potter saga, has become part of this boredom. 

My rating: 1/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"For some, what matters is what´s inside"

Title: Corazon de León 

Year: 2013 

Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance 

Director: Marcos Carnevale 

Writer: Betiana Blum (idea), Marcos Carnevale (idea and screenplay) 

Runtime: 94min 

Cast: Julieta Díaz, Guillermo Francella, Mauricio Dayub, Jorgelina Aruzzi, Nicolás Francella, Nora Cárpena

Product.: Argentina Sono Film Telefé 

Budget: $2 million approx. 

Many times we see a film that reminds us of another, and this was for me the case of Marcos Carnevale´s Corazón de León. In it, Ivana (Julieta Diaz) is a beautiful woman of normal height, who meets León (Guillermo Francella), a 4' 5" tall, of whom few would have imagined such a conquest. 

By the way, the other movie I remembered was Shallow Hal (2001), of the Farrelly brothers, where Hal (Jack Black), a superficial guy, begins to see people´s inner beauty, after being hypnotized. The paths taken in each case are certainly different, although it is understood that they share the same message. 

The biggest difference between these two comedies is that Carnevale´s is more serious and intelligent. Not that we could ask too much of the Farrelly, considering to be the same from Dumb and Dumber (1994) and Me, myself and Irene (2000). Because yet, having good intentions, Shallow Hal has inconsistencies, forced jokes and improbable situations, that one manages to ignore when already knows who is behind. 

Moreover, in the Argentinean flick, Ivana falls for a León, whom no one but her, sees as normal, or worthy of her time. Similar to Mauricio´s case (Jason Alexander), in Shallow Hal, and who cannot believe his friend is dating someone who, speaking quickly and badly, looks like a whale. Because in the same way that, according to her close ones, Ivana should not go out with a midget, how could have happened to Hal, to be with an obese woman? 

Continuing on this path, Corazón de León, unlike Shallow Hal, explores, not only the importance of what lies beneath the surface, but deepens in the views of both parties. For León is no small thing, to having been able to date a woman without his problem. However, once they are seeing each other, he does not like to be introduced only as a friend. What happens is that for Ivana, this unexpected relationship has now caught her by surprise and she fears of what others might think of her. The issue, thus, becomes which of them should be more flexible and give the other a larger space, to assimilate what they are doing. The thing is that Ivana does not want her to be looked at as a freak, while León aims, not to be kept hidden. For Ivana all of this is very new, while for León discrimination is an everyday thing. 

Carnevale exposes the prejudices of a society where the physically less fortunate have to show up other attributes to offset what for them is missing, and to be taken into account. 

Carnevale makes León as someone wonderful in so many ways, that his attractiveness goes beyond his physical appearance. What, more romantically speaking could be defined as that, what he is missing in inches; he has got plenty in behavior and personality. On the other hand, shows Ivana as stressed and in need of some support that, as she gets it from her partner, no one sees him to be the right choice.

All this will lead to an ending, where she must choose between if she listens to what others say, or if she lets herself to be guided by what she wants. 

My rating: 7/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"To protect your family, first reason with them"

Title: The Purge
Year: 2013
Genre: Horror, C. Fiction. Thriller
Director: James DeMonaco
Writer: James DeMonaco
Runtime: 85min
Cast: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane, Edwin Hodge, Rhys Wakefield, Tony Oller
Produc.: Blumhouse Productions, Platinum Dunes, Universal Internation Pictures (UI), Universal Pictures, Why Not Productions
Budget: $3 million aprox.

The year is 2022 and society has achieved something once thought impossible: to eradicate, almost completely, unemployment and violence. In The Purge, unemployment is actually not explained, while violence is the trigger for the entire plot. 

James DeMonaco imagines what a near future would be like, where the political regime (the "New Founding Fathers of America”) had the population living in peace, with isolated exceptions. Also as part of this, it has been implemented the "annual purge". Nocturnal event, that happens once a year, so that anyone who wants it, can commit their crimes freely. 

As far as I am concerned, I must congratulate the director for trying to be original, although I do not think anyone would settle for one night, to commit a crime. 

James Sandin (Ethan Hawke) is, in this movie, a father who sells security systems. The same one he has placed and now he activates, to protect his family during the purge. 

What James does not know though, is that between the foolish reasoning of his son Charlie (Max Burkholder) , and the mistaken relationships of his daughter Zoe (Adelaide Kane ), the night is about to become very chaotic. 

Starting with the boy, once the doors and windows have been blocked, and that the purge has begun, he disables the security so that a black man (Edwin Hodge) who was asking for help can come in. Based on this, I can only say that Charlie lacks of the sense of survival, for not considering the risk he was exposing his own people too. His father reactivates the system, but when they are no longer alone. 

If what DeMonaco wanted was to get the Sandin into trouble, Charlie´s action in good faith was not the answer. Better to have invented a power failure, to give the stranger a chance to get in by his own means. 

Adding more problems, Zoe has a boyfriend (Tony Oller) that goes out the window when they hear James arrive, but to reappear, armed and vengeful, with his girlfriend´s father in mind. If only he was as good shooter as his objective, perhaps he would have fared better. 

Until here, what we have is a James with complicated kids, and to whom yet, awaits another surprise. 

With the security working, one dead body, a disturbed teenager and a visitor, then appears a group of masked people in front of the house. Dangerously equipped, they express their intentions through their leader (Rhys Wakefield), who speaks from a surveillance camera. He grants the Sandin a two-hour deadline, for there man to be delivered to them. After that period, if nothing has happened they will be forced to kill them all. 

James is now aware that this has gotten out of hand. However, he also keeps in mind that it can still be fixed. 

Nevertheless, the logic in DeMonaco´s characters seems like taken straight out from a world upside down, when Charlie shows the intruder where to hide from his own parents. Or the child has got understanding issues, or he has not yet realized that the thing goes this way: or he dies, or everyone dies. 

When the Sandin finally capture the stranger and tie him up to a chair, here it is clear that Mary Sandin (Lena Headey) is not much more clever than her own son. Why, if not, she would have suddenly decided not to obey the outsiders? That, that it is not humane?, she thinks. But, what about her family´s safety? Not the sharpest knife in the drawer, this Mary, I would say. 

Definitely, DeMonaco uses not very lucid characters, to carry the argument forward. And, in what could end, so much stupidity? In that the group, breaks into the house, given a, not so solid, security system. Then comes the confrontation, with blows, smashing and dead masked men, before the neighbors arrive, to also take advantage of the purge. 

The Purge ends up being about a family of such mentally retarded, that nothing of what happens to them, surprises.

My rating 3/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí

"Same story. Different Aggressor"

Title: Even the rain 

Year: 2010 

Genre: Drama, Historical 

Director: Icíar Bollaín 

Writer: Paul Laverty 

Runtime: 103min 

Cast: Luis Tosar, Gael García Bernal, Juan Carlos Aduviri, Karra Elejalde, Raúl Arévalo, Carlos Santos, Cassandra Ciangherotti, Milena Soliz, Daniel Currás, Vicente Romero 

Produc.: AXN, Alebrije Cine y Video, Canal+ España, Canal+, Consellería de Cultura e Turismo, Eurimages, Haut et Court, Instituto de Crédito Oficial (ICO), Instituto de la Cinematografía y de las Artes Audiovisuales (ICAA), Londra Films P&D, Mandarin Films, Morena Films, Natixis Coficiné, También la lluvia, Televisión Española (TVE), Vaca Films 

Budget: €5 million aprox. 

In Even the rain, Costa (Luis Tosar) and Sebastián (Gael García Bernal) are a producer and a director, who take the shooting of a historical film to the chaotic city of Cochabamba. 

Costa and Sebastian, just about to begin a casting process, find that the attendance has been excessive. Costa then suggests to the director to do a preselection right there, and those who are not selected will be sent back to their homes. Sebastián goes, in this way, discarding candidates, until he meets Daniel (Juan Carlos Aduviri), an individual who claims his right and of all those present, to be seen, as is set in the call sheet. Sebastián, in spite of what the producer thinks, decides to follow the original plan. 

Already in the next scene, producer and director see Daniel´s tape, this small but explosive subject that appeals to Sebastián, though not, to Costa, who foresees problems. Costa, however, fails to dissuade Sebastián of not choosing him as Hatuey, the taíno chief. 

The film, from here, handles an interesting parallel between the aboriginal situation, during the conquest, and the one of the current inhabitants of Cochabamba. In the late fifteenth century the inhabitants of the new continent had been violated for their gold, and today (2000) the same is happening in this town, though on a smaller scale, with the "Water War". The circumstances have now replaced the colonists with a foreign multinational, besides this not being for gold, but because of the privatization of something more important. This parallelism then comprehends the similarity between scenarios, where a race is always attacked, only changing the disputed resource. 

Columbus, at the time, had disembarked to do as he pleased, with no respect for the colonized, and now here, something similar is happening. Costa himself, in a careless and underestimating Daniel, tells in English to an investor, of the misery they are paid, as if highlighting of these people, their ignorance. Costa does not know that Daniel, who is fairly close, understands the language, although, all the same, there will be just an occasion for apologizing. 

In terms of social complaints, no one is left aside. Here there does not exist to treat certain aspects and let others out. Taking a visit from the heads of the crew, to the Bolivian president, we hear one of the best discussions of the movie. What, with this exchange, more than to make it evident, is emphasized to us, is that, even though these filmmakers want to believe that there is nothing wrong with their work, making art and telling their story, they are actually no angels neither. Costa, speaking scenes before with the investor, is a perfect reference. That would be like pointing out that there, they can take advantage of these people without too many complications. Luckily, still hearing his words, we will then see his most sincere and kind side, helping Daniel's daughter in a touching and dramatic ending. 

Something completely different is what happens with their host. This corrupt and racist politician does not plan to give in to the protesters, according to him, unable to reason, among other things, because of them being illiterate, as if that were of any excuse. 

But beyond complaints, this is a movie from the "film within a film" type. A movie that shows us how it is a movie, exactly created. Where the actor has to rehearse his lines and where the time and the shooting schedule are as valuable as the gold for the Spanish, or like the water for the Bolivians. Or where the lack of communication may result in upset actresses, as happens here, and therefore, in unfinished scenes. 

For all this, Even the rain should interest filmmakers and those preparing to become ones, for how it covers the behind the scenes, and where nothing is ever a piece of cake. 

Furthermore, I think it is a good choice for getting to know another chapter of history, if one is interested in the events of the conquest. 

My rating: 7/10

Para acceder a la versión en español haga click aquí