Indiana Jones Tetralogy

Indiana Jones and the
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

I had never seen this picture up
until now and I must say I was missing out on a lot of great stuff motivating
me to create an epic character like Indiana Jones or Jack Sparrow. Raiders
of the Lost Ark is the first entry in a series of films featuring probably
the greatest fictional globetrotter there ever existed. In this first adventure
Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) is first presented to us in the Peruvian jungle
where he is seeking some sort of artifact that he eventually lose to his bitter
rival Belloq (Paul Freeman) a French archeologist, who is later shown to us to
be working for the Nazis on the search for the lost Ark of the Covenant. After
a hard day’s work Indy is asked to find the Ark but first he must stop in Nepal
where he must get a medallion that is being kept by his live interest Marion Ravenwood
(Karen Allen). Afterwards they head to Cairo where they’ll face Belloq and the
Nazis as they search for the mystical Ark.

I have never been a huge fan of
Spielberg because most of his movies are all box office hits and I don’t know I
sometimes feel like he does his movies only for money. But I must say that
after watching this flick I’ve come to love him. Surely I had seen Jaws
and Jurassic Park before, who hasn’t? But this picture was one that I
had never gotten the chance to see, one that features both him and George Lucas
working together on a really awesome flick. Everything in this movie is
certainly spectacular. I, like everybody else, loved the score, the characters
and their backgrounds, the action scenes and of course the comedy relieves.
What else can I say? Nothing else, overall the film is just fantastic two hour
thrill ride that will have you going out and buying yourself a bullwhip, a
leather jacket and a fedora.

Rating:
5 stars out of 5.

Indiana
Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984)

This film might be better than its
predecessor. In the prequel to Raiders of the Lost Ark everyone’s
favorite archeologist is asked by a desperate village to find a mystical stone
which has been stolen by a religious tribe. Indy (portrayed by Harrison Ford)
agrees after learning that this tribe practices black magic, child slavery and
human sacrifice leading him to an adventure of epic proportions with his
friends Short Round (portrayed by Jonathan Ke Quan) and Wilhelmina “Willie”
Scott (portrayed by Kate Capshaw).

Although many will probably disagree
with me, and others probably will, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
might be equal or perhaps even better than the first entry in the Indiana Jones
franchise. I will say this the film has a bit of a darker tone than its
predecessor but it is all relieved by the comedy of Short Round, who is pretty
badass if you ask me as well as a very loveable character, and Willie, who can
be a bit of a bitch at times and at bit annoying but it all adds to the comic
relief of the flick. The movie’s villain is certainly a heck of a lot more
sinister than the ones in the first picture. Mola Ram (portrayed by Amrish
Puri) is a sick bastard, I mean every time he performs a ritual he takes out
the person’s heart out. Any way back to the overall film, like its predecessor
the Temple of Doom has a great score by John Williams and the mise
en-scene is simply great, not to mention Spielberg’s great direction which can
never be doubted. Overall the film is just great and another fun thrill ride
filled with lots of great action, suspense and even a little bit of comedy.

Rating:
5 stars out of 5.

Indiana Jones and the
Last Crusade (1989)

The greatness continues in this one.
In this third entry of the Indiana Jones franchise Harrison Ford returns as
Indiana Jones in a journey far greater than his previous ones. After learning
that his father (portrayed by Sean Connery) is missing after searching for the
mystical Holy Grail Indiana Jones, better known as Junior by his father, goes
to Italy where he hopes to find what led to his father’s misfortune. Sadly Indy
falls into a bigger problem when he learns that the Hitler and the Nazis want
the mystical object to rule the world. Now Dr. Jones along with his father,
Marcus Brody (portrayed by Denholm Elliot) and Sallah (portrayed by John
Rhys-Davies) must get to the grail first before the Nazis do so first.

This third installment in the
brilliant adventure film series is as great as the first two in the franchise
or perhaps even better. The Last Crusade truly shows us that no matter
who Indy is pitted with either a love interest, Short Round or even his father there
will always be some fresh comedic and action performances in each flick. This
entry in the series is certainly the most lightest and certainly the funniest
one in the franchise to this point. Without a doubt The Last Crusade is
also the most religious entry in the series involving the Holy Grail and
whatnot. This picture, like its predecessor, is also really fun thrill ride
which is what Indiana Jones is really about, entertaining a vast audience with
awesome action spectacles, great comedy relief, fantastic storytelling and even
better character developing. Overall the film is just another piece of
Spielberg/Lucas magic that could be watched multiple times and would never get
tired of it.

Rating:
5 stars out of 5.

Indiana Jones and the
Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008)

The latest installment is good but
not as great as its predecessors. In the fourth entry in the famous franchise
Indiana Jones (portrayed by Harrison Ford) with the help of his son Henry Jones
III A.K.A. Mutt Williams (portrayed by Shia LaBeouf) and his future wife Marion
Ravenwood (portrayed by Karen Allen) must take the mystical Crystal Skull to
its sacred temple before a group of Russians led by Irina Spalko (portrayed by
Cate Blanchett) get their hands on it.

Kingdom of Crystal Skull
certainly is a wild and fun thrill ride like all of the Indiana Jones movies.
But there are certain things in the flick that leave me quite uneasy like for
example some of the acting which is a bit off especially John Hurt’s who seems
to be overdoing his character a bit. Also during the plot there’s a bit of a
big hole between “talk and act”, in other words there seems to be a part of the
film where there’s a little of talking and little action. But I guess in a way
that balances out the picture. Other than those few little things this film is
pure awesomeness and it is as entertaining as its predecessors.

Rating:
4.5 stars out of 5.

The Hangover Part II (2011)

The sequel to The Hangover is
hilarious but it tries to redo a few things from its predecessor. In The
Hangover Part II, just like its predecessor, Phil (portrayed by Bradley
Cooper), Stu (portrayed by Ed Helms) and Alan (portrayed by Zach Galifianakis)
must find somebody after a wild night but this time around it isn’t Doug (portrayed
by Justin Bartha) that’s missing. No it is Stu’s future brother-in-law Teddy (portrayed
by Mason Lee) who is missing and with a little a help from Mr. Chow (portrayed
by Ken Jeong), Doug and a little cigarette smoking monkey the Wolfpack must
find the teenager before Stu’s wedding, which is in a couple of days by the
way.

The Hangover Part II, the
sequel to the 2009 comedy hit The Hangover, delivers lots of laughs but
it really lacks the element of surprise by trying to do a lot of stuff done by
the first film, like for example the fact of showing the pictures of the wild
night at the end of the movie while the credits roll and other things I will
not mention cause I don’t wanna ruin the flick for anybody. Now although the
picture lacks this element, the sequel truly has a lot of great new jokes and
the performances by everybody are great. The direction, cinematography and just
about everything else is also great. The only problem with the feature is the
lack of surprise element and that it needs a little more originality.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011)

After watching the Pirates
trilogy just a few days ago I was very excited to watch this flick and I must
say I was a bit disappointed it wasn’t better than the first film, which is my
favorite one in the series. In the latest entry in the Pirates series
after Captain Jack Sparrow (portrayed by Johnny Depp) finds out that an
impostor has been impersonating him in England he decides to find this person.
Once he finds out that it is his ex-lover, and supposed daughter of Blackbeard,
Angela (portrayed by Penelope Cruz) they both embark on a quest to find the
legendary fountain of youth, once she catches Jack off guard of course. Now
that Jack, led by Captain Edward “Blackbeard” Teach (portrayed by Ian McShane),
and go on the search for the they must face threads from the Spaniards and of
the English who are led by Captain Hector Barbossa (portrayed once again by
Geoffrey Rush).

This entry in the series must
probably be the weakest entry yet. Now even though the concept is great and it
is told in a very simple and understandable way, the movie just feels like it
could have given more. In a way it feels that the franchise is sort of losing
its touch, but the picture still delivers, I mean the feature is not a flop by
any means. The thing with the flick is that it feels that it has more potential
and this entry just felt a bit short compared to its predecessors. Now although
the film feels a bit off compared to its predecessor, I think the franchise
might still have some juice to do a new trilogy and if it is in fact done I
think it should end with Jack being happy with Angela and I think that should
be the last movies in the series. I think what this feature needed was more
good action scenes, because none of them are as epic as the ones in the other
flicks, and more participation from Jack the Monkey who brought a lot of comedy
relief, other than Jack Sparrow’s of course. Something I really loved in this
feature was the Blackbeard character who is a real badass. Another thing which
I think needed more developing was the inclusion of the zombie characters which
really wasn’t a huge factor in the movie. Overall the film is just good and
entertaining, it isn’t perfect nor is it worth of an Oscar nomination.

Rating: 3
stars out of 5.

MacGruber (2010)

I had always wanted to see this film
because it seemed hilarious. In this 2010 comedy Will Forte brings his throat
ripping Saturday Night Live (SNL) character MacGruber by pitting him against
his nemesis (Val Kilmer). MacGruber first retired after from his services as a
soldier when his wife (Maya Rudolph) was killed. But now when his former boss
(Poweers Boothe) finds out that MacGruber’s nemesis has a nuclear weapon in
possession he will call the soldier of fortune for some help along with a new
team (Kristen Wiig and Ryan Phillippe).

This flick is funny from beginning
to finish. Even the action scenes in this movie are comical. Just like the Wayne’s
World series and the classic Blues Brothers this SNL based feature
brings just what the audience wants: lots of great jokes splattered in their
faces so they can laugh so hard they’ll maybe pi in their pants. Now although
the picture is very funny, the jokes in it are very raw so the viewer must have
a lot of sense of humor to watch it or else he or she will not enjoy it. Other
than that the flick is perfectly entertaining and over the top funny.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

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A few things about war

In
the battlefield

Paths
are chosen

When
warriors collide

Some
survive and others die

Some
fight for politics

Others
fight for glory

And
others just for money

There’s
always blood

There’s
always pain

There
are many paths to choose

But
some choose to take part in war

They
see the dead

And
comeback with problems

At
least some of them do

Others
see the dead

And
go back to combat

Is
what they prefer to do

Aldo the Puppet Master

I
try to be free, but he has me tied in strings. Aldo is his name, but they call
him The Puppet Master. I have been part of his show for two years now.
Thankfully I am not the main attraction in his act. But my dear friend Angelica
must suffer everyday which, in a way, hurts me as well for she is my girlfriend
and watching her go through this pain hurts me inside. She has been here for a
little over a year. I was trapped under Aldo’s grasp one day when I was alone
in my hands, a group of his minions came destroyed the front door to my house
and they didn’t waste any time trying to hunt me down. They caught me easily
for they had guns filled with sleep serum injections. Angelica on the other
hand was captured one day when she was in the office of a private investigator
called Russell Cera. She had hired him to find me since the police hadn’t found
me yet. The day she was captured was a normal one and everything seemed to be
going like she had planned until Aldo’s minions came to Cera’s office and took
her down easily.

Now
as we try to get out of these strings the Puppet Master sleeps and so do all of
his minions. Twenty minutes have gone by since we started, luckily none of them
have awaken. But we don’t have much time for in a few minutes Aldo will wake up
and begin his daily routine. Please God let us get out safe so we could happily
continue our life together as a couple and hopefully we can get married soon.
We try to take off the strings but they are attached to our backs, so we rip
skin off every time we pull them. Blood drips from our backs as we continue to
move. We try not to yell for our lives are at stake. Angelica is almost free
with just a little push I think she can be completely free. She moans, Aldo
snores and I quickly look at the Puppet Master, luckily he doesn’t wake up. Now
that she is free I tell her to run while I continue to try and break free.
Blood covers the floor as I try to take off the strings and Angelica runs to
find an exit. The Puppet Master wakes up and he looks at me and what I’m trying
to do, I give up with the hopes that my dear Angelica has escaped this devilish
place.

My Hand

Here
it is, my hand

In
it I can see a lot of things

My
past, my present, my future

It
is all there

My
past shows me birth

My
present shows me boredom

My
future shows me rebirth

Here
it is, my hand and in it I see a lot of things

More

As
I look back in life I think

I
should have done more

I
should have read more

I
should have written more

I
should drawn more

Overall
done more

Yes
I did a lot

But
I feel like

I’ve
should have done more

I
should have investigated more

I
should have adventured more

I
should have enjoyed more

Now
that I’m older

I
feel like

I
still need to do more

With
my life do more

Overall
do more

Chains!!!

Chains,
they have me trapped

Mind
blocked I am

Because
my mind has been enchained

Rusty
old iron doesn’t let go of me

Keeping
me tied with old ideas

Ideas
of when I was a child

Ideas
that need some developing

Which
is maybe why these chains don’t let me go

Trapped
in a dark hole from the abyss

Filled
with heroes and villains from unknown dimensions and universes

They
all need some stories and backgrounds

But
I don’t know where to start

Chains
they don’t want to let me go

So
I’m just going to start working on these old ideas

These
ideas fueled by thoughts, dreams and imagination

Will
soon grow to something amazing and inspirational

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Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis (1996)

Schizopolis is bizarre but it
is a very artistic comedy worth viewing. This 1996 experimental comedy by
writer/director Steven Soderbergh tells many plots but the main ones in the
entire flick are: the first one which is about Fletcher Munson (played by
Soderbergh) an office employee who is currently working for Theodore Azimuth
Schwitters, leader of self- help philosophy/religion; the second one is about
Dr. Jeffrey Korchek a dentist who seems to be having an affair with Munson’s
wife; and the third and last one is about Elmo Oxygen a local exterminator who
has sex with most of his clients, including Schwitters’s wife, and at the end
of the movie it can be seen that he tries to kill Schwitters.

This 1996 picture is highly
imaginative, philosophical, goofy, fresh, creative and very unexpected. But
even though the flick brings all of this to the table the audience may have a
hard time understanding what the heck is going on in the entire feature.
However it seems that the film was a deep investigation of Soderbergh’s artistic
influences and views. The things that kept me distracted a bit throughout the
movie were the cinematography and sound which were a bit off. Also the vast
variety of sub-plots can be a bit troubling if one is trying to concentrate on
the three main stories that are going within the picture. Overall the feature
is a good film but it can be a bit difficult to understand.

Rating:
3 stars out of 5.

Spy Kids 3-D - Game Over (2003)

This film is certainly the quirkiest
and weakest one of them all. In the third entry of the popular family movie
franchise Spy Kids by Robert Rodriguez retired O.S.S. (Organization of
Super Spies) agent Juni Cortez (Daryl Sabara) must come out from retirement and
back into action so he can save his sister Carmen (Alexa Vega) who is trapped
inside a virtual video game created by a villain known only as the Toymaker
(Sylvester Stallone). Inside the game Juni meets other players like Arnold
(Ryan Pinkston), Rez (Roberto Vito) and Francis (Bobby Edner) who will help him
find his sister with a little help from his grandfather (Ricardo Montalban)
too.

Now this film like the other Spy
Kids movies is very imaginative, cartoonish and goofy. But I think this
flick just took it way too far to the point where the feature turned into a
piece of crap. Also another thing, there was no need to put in the picture so
many characters as cameos it just fell like Rodriguez had no more ideas for new
characters, although it is kind of nice to see some popular faces but I think
he could have done it in a better way. Also the story isn’t really that great
like the ones in the previous entries, but then again I think it was all for
children’s appeal and to reflect how popular video games were getting. In a way
it’s sort of a metaphor that children shouldn’t just stay at home playing video
games because they’ll basically get sucked in by them. Overall the picture is a
bit entertaining but it is really weak compared to its predecessor, I really
hope Rodriguez has better ideas for the fourth entry which is going to be out
later this year.

Rating:
1.5 stars out of 5.

Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams (2002)

Spy Kids 2: Island of Lost Dreams
offers action, comedy, fantasy and lots of cartoonish characters, just like its
predecessor. In the second entry in the series Carmen and Juni Cortez (Alexa
Vega and Daryl Sabara) are now members of the SPY Kids section of the O.S.S.
(Organization of Secret Spies) and they are having a hard time with their
rival-competitors Gary and Gerti Giggles (Emily Osment and Matt O’Leary) the
children of the double-crossing agent Donnagon Giggles (Mike Judge) who plans
to steal some sort of device that could grant him the power to rule the world.
Now the Cortez siblings must go to a mysterious island near Madagascar, where
genetic scientist Romero (Steve Buscemi) resides, so they can find this
mechanism before Donaggon or his children get to it.

Spy Kids 2 offers a lot of
action, comedy, fantasy and lots of great cartoonish imagination for the whole
family. The movie is just as great as its predecessor, lots of fun but not
perfect. Even though the style of these flicks tends to be cartoonish, the CGI
(Computer-generated imagery) is a bit off and can get you distracted. Also
there’s a few times in the movie where it feels that the story is being told a
bit unbalanced. Don’t get me wrong the plot is easy and simple to follow, but
it could have been a bit more balanced in the way that it’s told. However the
addition of new characters like the grandparents of the Cortez children
(Ricardo Montalban and Holland Taylor) and the Giggles family was a very wise
decision by director Rodriguez because, not only did they form part of the main
plot, but it also brings more to the table and for future sequels. Overall the
picture is great just like its predecessor. It offers great family action,
comedy, characters, plot and visuals although the CGI could have used some
work.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

Spy Kids (2001)

I had never seen this movie because
it was hard for me to accept that Robert Rodriguez would go from making films
like Desperado and From Dusk Till Dawn to making children flicks.
In this 2001 action comedy children’s feature director Robert Rodriguez
presents to us the first adventure of Carmen and Juni Cortez (portrayed by
Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara) the children of international super spies Gregorio
and Ingrid Cortez (portrayed by Antonio Banderas and Carla Gugino). After their
parents have been kidnapped by the manipulated Fegan Floop (portrayed by Alan
Cumming) the Cortez siblings must learn about their parents’ past in a hurry so
they can spring into action and save them from Floop and the evil Alexander
Minion (portrayed by Tony Shalhoub).

Before I had watched this picture I
had previously seen some scenes of Rodriguez’s other children’s flick Shorts,
so I had a bit of an idea of what to expect. Spy Kids offers good
visuals, great comedy and big imagination. The film is good, but I wouldn’t
consider it perfect because even though it may be bring a lot of new stuff to
the table (for example the goofy mutants and robots created by Floop) it is a
bit hard for the audience to digest all of these new things. But even though
they are a bit difficult to digest I think they are very creative, so kudos for
that. The movie overall is very good, it brings you back to your childhood (if
you’re an adult or a teenager) and it makes you want to be a secret agent if
you’re still a kid. One thing I really love about this feature is that
Rodriguez, sticking to the Latino side of him like he does most of the times,
gives us Latino characters which I appreciate very much because it shows me
that someone out there really cares about showing off his roots. So overall it
is a very imaginative movie, like most of Rodriguez’s, and children’s flick perhaps
one of the best of the previous decade.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

Our Family Wedding (2010)

The movie has its few laughs but
overall it’s cheesy and predictable. In this 2010 romantic flick America
Ferrara and Lance Gross play an interracial couple, in this case a Mexican
chick with an African-American dude, who want to get married but both their
families constantly interfere on the plans, some want this and others want that
type of situation, that eventually becomes a huge problem for the young couple.

Our Family Wedding has a cast
that is capable of making a worth watching romantic comedy. But I think they
really didn’t give it their best in this one. America Ferrara in this feature
is beautiful, Forest Whitaker and Carlos Mencia are a little ridiculous, Lance
Gross and the rest of the cast just weren’t really that good. The plot and the
dialogue in this picture are really cheesy and dumb at times, although there a
few funny moments but those could be counted with only one hand. Overall the
film is just plain bad but it does have its few funny moments and when I say few,
I mean very few.

Rating:
1 star out of 5.

Cradle 2 the Grave (2003)

The flick has great action scenes
but that’s just about it. In this 2003 action film, starring Jet Li and rapper
DMX, an intelligence officer must join forces with a thief so they can retrieve
some diamonds all while saving the thief’s daughter and saving the world from a
lunatic who plans to sell the diamonds that have the power to be used as
weapons.

Cradle 2 the Grave offers a
few good jokes, great action scenes and a few other things that can remind you
of the classic exploitation features from the 1960s and 1970s. But the rest of
the movie is just plain ol’ bad. The acting in the picture is awful, the plot
is even worse, the music is terrible, the dialogue is even more terrible than
the plot and don’t even let me get started on the cinematography. Everything in
the flick is just poor the only good things are, like I said, the few jokes,
the action scenes and the few scenes that pay somewhat tribute to the
exploitation genre.

Rating:
1.5 stars out of 5.

The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)

I
think the first two Narnia offer pretty much the same. In this 2008
adaptation of the popular C.S. Lewis children’s novel the four Pevensie
children (portrayed by William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Skandar Keynes and
Georgie Henley) are called back to Narnia and this time they must aid Prince
Caspian (portrayed by Ben Barnes) in his struggle to dethrone his corrupt
uncle, King Miraz (portrayed by Sergio Castellitto), who plans to extinguish
the Narnians.

The
Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
gave the audience a vast world filled with lots of very imaginative characters,
just like this film. In the first movie there are also great visuals, wardrobe,
special effects, sets and a vast roster of highly imaginative characters just
like in this one. But I think the thing that separates these flicks is the fact
that this second entry offers more action scenes than its predecessor, but that
doesn’t make any better or any less bad. The one thing I had a problem with was
the fight between Peter (played by William Moseley) and King Miraz which could
have been shot in a much better way. Another thing that kind of ticked me off a
bit was the song used when the children were leaving Narnia; I mean my God was
it a cheesy moment. Personally I don’t like pop sounding music in epic films.
Other than all of this the feature is just like its predecessor, a good movie
but not a perfect one.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005)

Okay so I hadn’t seen this movie
because it didn’t grab my attention, but now that I have seen it I must say it
was good but not perfect. In this 2005 adaptation of C.S. Lewis popular children’s
novel we get the story of Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy for siblings who have
found a passage to the magical world of Narnia a land which is inhabited by all
sorts of fantastical creatures including talking animals, dwarves, mermaids and
even Santa Claus himself. But the thing is that Narnia is currently being ruled
by the evil White Witch, so now the four children must now fulfill a prophecy
which will get the magical land out of its current state and back to its normal
happy filled way.

I must say this film is very, very
imaginative with all its characters. I never would have imagined creating such
magical place for a feature. Okay, so this flick as far as stories go is very
good, its character are very detailed and simple all at the same time leaving
everybody to enjoy the picture in a better much easier way. Now, although the
story is simple and whatnot it can get a bit boring which is I think the thing
that kind of slows it up. The things that really make this film are its
wardrobe, visuals, setting and its vast roster of very imaginative characters,
not to mention that it is very colorful for this type of movie. Overall the
movie is good but I can’t say that it is perfect because it had me yawning for
quite a while.

Rating:
4 stars out of 5.

Kill Bill Vol. 1 & Vol. 2 (2003 – 2004)

This two-part film has to be the
greatest revenge flick done in a long time, all thanks to master
writer/director Quentin Tarantino. The fourth movie by Tarantino gives us the
epic revenge story of Beatrix Kiddo A.K.A. The Bride A.K.A. Black Mamba an ex-member
of the Deadly Viper Assassination Squad who is targeted by her former boss Bill
after finding out that she is pregnant with his kid and she is getting married
to another guy. This epic action drama pays homage to many film genres like
kung fu cinema, samurai films, Italian spaghetti westerns and exploitation
movies all while making numerous pop culture references and an extensive use of
popular music.

There’s no doubt in my mind that
this is one of the best action flicks of the first decade of the new millennium
and that it is also one of my personal favorites, being that I love Quentin
Tarantino and all. Everything in this movie is great, the acting, directing,
choice of music, cinematography and script, its homage to movie genres and film
movements, its use of anime and its use of buckets of blood and exploitative
violence. The picture in its entirety is just a masterpiece of cinema and
storytelling, just like I have told my friends multiple times “It is a novel
told through the seventh art”.

Rating:
5 stars out of 5.

Fred Claus (2007)

No matter which film you saw first Fred
Claus or Four Christmases you can see Vince Vaughn playing basically
the same type of character in both flicks. In this 2007 holiday themed comedy
we get Mr. Vaughn as Frederick “Fred” Claus the brother of Santa Claus
(portrayed by Paul Giamatti) who now must work in Santa’s shop as a payback
favor, but Saint Nicholas has no idea what he is getting into for his brother
brings him nothing but problems, problems that will lead to almost canceling
Christmas forever by an efficiency expert (portrayed by Kevin Spacey) who has
been waiting for this opportunity ever since he was a child.

Considering that this is a family
film I will say that this is a very well done flick for this type for this
genre. But that doesn’t mean that the feature is a masterpiece or anything like
that. The picture has a great plot for this type of genre, but it deals with
vague acting and directing. The thing that saves it is its story, its
characters and its version of Santa’s little village. But overall the film just
isn’t movie gold; it is just a somewhat fun flick for kids and for the entire
family.

Rating:
2.5 stars out of 5.

Four Christmases (2008)

Vince Vaughn once again plays his
usual laid back “cool guy” type of character in another crappy movie. In this
2008 holiday romantic comedy flick we get Vince Vaughn and Academy Award Winner
Reese Witherspoon as a Californian couple who are forced to spend the holidays
with all of their divorced parents, hence the name Four Christmases, due to the
fact that they can’t go to their usual holiday spot because all the flights in
the San Francisco International Airport have been canceled due to a fogbank. By
spending time with their divorced parents the two main characters start to find
out some “bones” they had in their respective “closets” leaving them to ask a
lot of questions about their relationship.

This film is filled with a great
cast and it can certainly do a whole lot more, but its story, characters and overall
script just plain sucks. I mean the plot is very predictable and the acting by
a lot of the actors is just plain and simple bad. I feel that the movie needed
to be rewritten once again, if it ever was rewritten. It needs more detailed
characters, better dialogue and a highly more imaginative and original plot.
But not everything in the flick is bad there are few things that actually make
you laugh, but they are just too little to surpass badness of this feature.
Overall the picture is just plain bad in its plot, characters and dialogue;
only a few little things are actually funny, but they are very little.

Rating:
1.5 stars out of 5.

Calle 13 – “Entren Los Que Quieran” (2010)

The
first three by Puerto Rican duo Calle 13 were all masterworks of music. Their
self-titled first production was highly influenced by reggaeton which was
probably the most popular musical genre in Latin America at its time; their
second piece Residente o Visitante continued to have a few reggaeton
influences but it was highly more inclined to alternative hip hop and Latin
sounds; their third production Los de Atras Vienen Conmigo completely
said “goodbye” to reggaeton and focused on other musical genres such as
alternative hip hop, cumbia, salsa and even electro; this new production, like
its predecessor, doesn’t have any contact whatsoever with reggaeton and instead
focuses on other world-like genres where there can be found influences from the
usual hip hop, Hawaii, India, Broadway, rock music, merengue and even Western
cinema.

I
had been waiting for a long time to see what would be Calle 13’s new album and
what types of music would this new production explore seeing that in each album
new musical genres were being taken as influences. When it finally came out I
was very excited, I mean quickly went out, bought it and when I put it in my
car I was, first of all, laughing my ass off but then I was completely amazed. Calle 13 just never seizes
to amaze me. This album is way more personal and it focuses more on social
issues like political, death and the use of guns which can be seen in songs
like “La Bala”, “Vamo’ A Portarnos Mal”, “Preparame La Cena” and “Digo Lo Que
Pienso”. A few artists that helped the duo complete this masterpiece are Omar
Rodriguez-Lopez, of The Mars Volta, Seun Kuti and Toto la Momposina. Overall
the album is just a masterwork of music and it has to be one of the greatest
productions from any Latin American and overall artist.

Rating:
5 stars out of 5.