A TRUE STORY ABOUT A MODERN MIRACLE. Jaime Escalante (Edward James Olmos), the new math teacher at an East Los Angeles high school, tries to make his working-class Hispanic students achieve something unimaginable. Ramon Menendez made his feature directing debut with this drama that was seen as socially valuable to the degree that the Library … Continue reading Stand and Deliver
THE CELEBRATION OF A LIFETIME. The world premiere of Coco took place in Morelia, Mexico, not Hollywood. During the making of the film, Pixar’s talents went south of the border to learn more about the culture and folk art, to find the right inspiration and local color for their tale about the Day of the … Continue reading Coco: A Visit to the Land of the Dead
30 years after the events in the first movie, K (Ryan Gosling) is a new replicant model who’s working for the LAPD as a blade runner; his latest mission leads to a startling discovery. There really was no need for a new Blade Runner, and the slow-moving, drawn-out story doesn’t take us anywhere new. The … Continue reading Blade Runner 2049
After the final season of Dexter, it’s kind of hard to remember how well received this show was at first. The main title sequence was pure brilliance. Set to Rolfe Kent’s disarmingly offbeat theme, it presented Dexter’s morning routines, but in such a clever way that simple acts of cracking eggs, grinding coffee beans, shaving … Continue reading Dexter: Brother, Friend, Serial Killer
PROTECT THE LAW BY BREAKING IT. When a newspaper tycoon (Tom Wilkinson) dies, his slacker son (Seth Rogen) rises to the occasion… and accidentally becomes a masked crimefighter. Michel Gondry’s foray into comedic superhero movies was heavily panned by critics; it doesn’t live up to its promise as a visually playful romp (not even in … Continue reading The Green Hornet
2008 was the year when Joaquin Phoenix announced to the world that he’d give up acting and become a rap artist; apparently, this was also a time when he stopped shaving and showering. Eventually, the whole thing was revealed as a stunt for this faux documentary that aims to show how artists are not allowed … Continue reading I’m Still Here
MAN HAS MADE HIS MATCH… NOW IT’S HIS PROBLEM. When I first saw this classic science fiction flick, I was thoroughly unimpressed. It looked great, but the story and action were so forgettable that I refused to put in the same category as films like The Terminator (1984) and 2001 (1968). As a sign of its troubled production, Blade Runner has … Continue reading Blade Runner: In Search of Emotions
A BAND OF YOUNG WARRIORS ON THE WINGS OF THEIR GREATEST CHALLENGE! One thousand years have passed since a devastating nuclear war; in a surviving kingdom, princess Nausicaä is fascinated by the dangers surrounding her home, but others want to erase them with extraordinary means. Director Hayao Miyazaki’s first feature shows great concern for environmental … Continue reading Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind
