When I saw the opening credits state that this was an ESPN Film, my hopes dropped. Wow! Was I ever impressed. This documentary chronicles the lives of two of Columbia's most prolific men: Pablo Escobar the drug lord and Andrés Escobar the soccer star and the amazing symbiotic relationship they both had with their nation and each other.
Official Site | IMDB
Missing is based on the true story of an American who went missing during the Chilean military coup of 1973. Jack Lemmon plays his father and Sissy Spacek plays his wife. Together they search for clues as to where he could have disappeared to.
It's too bad that it takes an American to go missing for anyone to care about the thousands of Chileans who disappeared in Pinochet's Chile. At least it does bring out the American involvement in the illegal government takeover.
Costa-Gavras (Amen) wrote and directed the film. It's not sentimental or polemic. It focuses on the stories of a few people and through them he reveals the horrors of the coup.
IMDB
A powerful film from Argentina about vengeance and justice, corruption and persistence. I enjoyed that no one was guiltless and the lack of closure at the end.
IMDB
This is a fascinating film that attempts to present modern society as no less savage than primitive South American tribal culture.
A prison drama with a fantasy element delivers surprising depth.
When the opening sequence of an animated film can bring tears of sadness to your eyes, you expect a powerful experience out of the whole thing. Up doesn't quite deliver what I expected, but it didn't leave me completely dissatisfied.
This is a collection of eleven films of 11 minutes 9 seconds 1 frame each all on the subject of the terrorist attacks of 11.9.01 in NYC. Each film is from a different country and by a different director.
If the first half of Che Guevara's biopic is his rise to fame, the second half documents his demise.
An interesting blend between myth and reality, Dead Letter Office is a sweet and quirky film set in Australia.
Number four. It didn't top number three in my opinion, but it was a great ride.
World War II is finally over for Dr. Jones and he works for the CIA now as he searches for relics that the Soviets covet. In this episode, he must prevent a psychic spy from discovering the lost city of El Dorado in South America. He is joined by a teenager, Mutt, and the leading lady of Raiders.
The stunts continue as normal with plenty of new ones to please the appetite. Indiana is clearly superhuman and he's fun to watch. I did notice that Harrison Ford's voice faltered quite a bit, it's not as commanding as it used to be.
Spielberg clearly knows what he's doing: no sex, hardly any profanity, the violence is fake, it's only a little scary, but it's edge of your seat cinema.
Truth: Greed kills. Knowledge is better than money.
Official Site | IMDB
This is a flashy view of undercover police work. I was sort of expecting the cops to be planning their stakeouts on the beach surrounded by girls in bikinis, but not so. Instead we get an emotionally charged story about work becoming personal.
Despite its intention, the film is an action movie at the core. There are gun fights, love scenes, and high speed boats. We are transported to the exotic sites of Columbia, Haiti, Cuba and Miami. The villains are ruthless and the stakes are very high. Michael Mann gives us great cinematography too.
On the level of predictability, the film does very well at keeping us guessing. Only on the issue of the fate of some characters can we fully predict the outcome. As I am not an undercover officer, I wasn't good at foretelling the next move.
Truth: It is easy to recognize the humanity in your nemesis if you get close enough.
Official Site | IMDB
Jeff Bridges plays a slightly arrogant captain of a school ship in this true story of a naval tragedy. The crew is made up of high school boys from rich families. Each of those crew descriptors should imply a hue and tone for the movie.
In the tradition of Dead Poets Society, we are called on to sympathize with these boys with shaky home lives and to agree with the unorthodox teaching and mentoring meted out by their captain. To skew things even more, the story occurs in 1960-61, so there are cultural aspects too (the kids smoke, it's a big deal to stand up to your parents, parents have a great deal to say about their sons' futures, liability issues are faint).
In the decades since, people and society have changed, but not much. The richness of the film lies in the journey and the relationships that are fostered by it. There is a realism and a vulnerability portrayed that really tugs at your heart and your sense of adventure.
Truth: Young men are drawn to adventure, close relationships and responsibility. It is best fostered by some rite of passage in community.
The "Truth" feature on this blog is a new one. As I watch films critically, I always seek to draw whatever truth I can from the story. For me it is one of the beautiful aspects of watching stories unfold and characters act. I tend to ignore the lies.
IMDB
Thrillers have come a long way since Marathon Man. Dustin Hoffman plays a graduate student caught in a web of international politics, theft, and deception in New York City. He does a good job playing naïve and the bad guys are bad.
Unlike today's mystery thrillers, this one leaves a bit more left unsaid - we never find out what the father was accused of and we never learn what the full connection between the temptress is to the antagonists. I like not knowing everything - it keeps me watching to the last second.
Also unlike today's fast paced, technology focused thrillers, this one moves much slower. The film seems to make a few nods to some Bond films with the dentist villain who tortures his victims using his profession, but the effects of the torture are much more realistic and you get the sense that this is really happening or really could happen.
The climax of the film really challenged me and my own values. Would I have had the courage to do what Hoffman's character does?
IMDB
I had no expectations heading into this movie (it was just one of two films playing in English - ironically, it's set in Columbia). I found out afterwards that the author is the same as A Hundred Years of Solitude, a book people continue to recommend to me. I'm sure the book was much better.
We flow quietly and almost uneventfully from a youthful infatuation through obsession into old age as young love is extinguished on one side. The film is a 150 minute dissertation on the difference between working at an almost loveless relationship and unreasonable infatuation - and doesn't flatter either side.
The acting in this film is gentle and unforced. The characters are what the viewers don't buy. (Again, the book probably presents a more believable Florentino - a man who yearns his whole life for the woman he becomes infatuated with at a young age and hardly knows). The woman is placid. The antagonist, her husband, is mildly pompous. The protagonist, our lonely Florentino, is empty, bored, and ruined.
On the whole, despite honest efforts at beautiful scenery, great acting, sensational costumes and an exhilirating soundtrack, the film is based on an empty story - at least to me, in this moment.
Official Site | IMDB
As my middle name is Ché, I have a soft spot in my heart for Ernesto "Ché" Guevera de la Serna. This film is based on his diaries from a trip around South America in his early twenties. Ernesto was nearly finished his medical degree when he embarked onto a motorcycle with his older buddy Alberto Granado.
The journey is one of molding and transformation for the future revolutionary. He witnesses the hardship of the indigenous and marginalized. He learns the importance of organizing and unifying the people of Latin America. And probably the most important, he learns to love people.
The film itself is a gorgeous tapestry of mountain ranges, fields, rivers, cities and inhabitants. It is difficult not to fall in love with the continent when you meet the friendly (though some are crustier than others) and rugged people of the south. The scenes are accompanied by perhaps one of the most beautiful soundtracks I have ever heard - a blend of traditional acoustic guitars and bluesy electric guitars.
Also striking is the authenticity of everything. Real lepers and non-actor Peruvians take an active role in defining the story. The two main characters' dialogue is rife with profanity and tenderness. We get a sense that we too can be transformed if we step out and take a look around and are simply honest with ourselves and others.
Official Site | IMDB
.... 
