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Reviews
Argo (2012)
From a world were movies are inside movies
Just after watching Inglorious Basterds I had a beautiful feeling of respect and admiration for the movie industry. What we saw then was history rewritten to revolve around the movie theatre. It was a beautiful mingle of facts and disbelief soaked with references of our culture and love for the cinema.
Argo came with a similar theme of movies inside our movie. The difference lies on the tense and exciting realism Ben Affleck brought into this historical event. Spies, facts, politics and entertainment all play part on this thriller full of realism. Not to be surprise though, since Argo comes from the director of Gone Baby Gone and the Town.
All the events are presented chronologically. One by one Affleck builds up the suspense with the most amazing sophistication. Each event is adding to the development of the story and is surely making us go inch by inch towards the edge of our seat.
As an spectator you are aware of everyone's state of mind and by having certain among of information of what the Iranians are investigating, the tension builds more and more. You know mostly what the TV news (in the movie) are telling you. You just don't know how much they know. You are lost in the middle of a hunt game. For every action that brings the Americans in hiding closer to escape, the Iranians get one step closer to finding their trail. All the actions are difficult and time consuming so the illusion of time passing adds more to the frustration of all characters (and we as spectators). Affleck manages to keep this conduct during the entire conflict, bringing always a subtle piece of information to the wrong hands and getting the characters to the line, about to behave out of desperation and pressure giving us a constant sense of being in front of a ticking bomb with no clock on it. Argo manages to keep this line of storytelling and thrilling emotions right 'till the absolute end of the movie when you're barely breathing out of claustrophobia. A film with a great visual tone, amazing script and wonderful casting. Shoot as if it was done in the 70s and it feels like if you were there in the conflict.
I only have one wish today... Ben, when are you doing the next one?
Warrior (2011)
5 warriors (might have a minor spoiler)
Bought it, watch it, cry with it. A movie about no heroes. It's a movie about human beings.
Five warriors are presented in this movie. The guy fighting the economy, the necessity to survive with his family in the modern world. The other brother, fighting memories and for the honour of someone else. Both sons fighting against their devils from childhood. The old man, Paddy, is that devil from the past and he's fighting hard for a last glimpse of redemption. The wife, fights with desperation for the wellness of her family, wanting her husband to get away from harm.
But the last warrior is you. You will fight with thousands of emotions. All the characters are fighting for the humblest and more beautiful ideals and hence it's impossible to cheer less for anyone. This brings a gigantic complexity to the plot and the final showdown, which, will bring you to wish for every character to achieve their goal, something that the events and structure of the plot render as an impossible.
They're all humans and for that, you can't pick a human over the other...
Brüno (2009)
Sacha Baron Cohen will challenge you...
I can only compare Sacha Baron Cohen with the great Andy Kaufman. Dodgy, strange, unique and sometimes, the only one capable of understanding his jokes.
I think Bruno is the greatest pill for the sickness in the world. Its a "in your face" critic to society racial and social degrading. Sacha creates situations that will challenge your liberal views or disgust your conservative morals all the way through the movie. But this is not the greatness of the film. The marvellous thing is to watch how Sacha Baron Cohen and director Larry Charles debunk moral ambiguity and the disrupted reality of today society by being the impersonation of the worst of what we don't understand.
If you hate gays, he will be the strongest, queerer, more flamboyant gay in the world and more and by being that, he will show you how inhumane you're able to become. By pushing your buttons he will show you a dark side you thought you didn't have.
Great examples: Abdul talking about human charity sitting on someone's back or my favorite, the ultimate fighting scene, that show us how we like violence. I got scare by this scene. Not because of the gay scene but how uncontrollable the people around the ring was. It was the most realistic representation of the Colliseum during the Roman empire, more than any movie or series about Rome out there. Now, that's scary.
This movie is a moral conundrum which I feel thankful to have. A thankful note to a man who's trying to change the world for the better by representing the worst fears we can have.
I thank you Sacha for being there for a society that won't accept it.
El delfín: La historia de un soñador (2009)
People who gave stars... saw the movie?
If there's a place in the universe where people who misbehaves are thrown into, at the Welcome Ceremony this movie is shown... for eternity. To me, Schuldt is the greatest business man in the world since somehow, regardless of his EPIC ineptitude for making movies, he manage to kind of make 3 films (if we consider those transvestites movies)
The animation of The DOPLHIN is repulsive, period. The storyline has no emotion what so ever. Action and drama are presented in the most naive form possible. The Structure is missing. Acting, long gone in the draft of Piratas en el Callao. The cameras are the exact same thing a person does when using a 3D software for the first time. When characters speak they go in and out of the frame constantly. I simply don't understand what is wrong with this BASIC idea of film making! Point of interest... have you ever heard of that? The Depth of Field in the movie is... oh yeah, there's none. So everything is a composite of bad taste and no contrast for elements on screen.
If the budget won't let you improve your animations, rendering and effects, I can give you a great piece of advise Schuldt: Be humble and work hard on the story. HUMBLE.
There are a lot of books Schuldt should read and a lot of movies that are NOT straight for TV that he should watch. People like Schuldt are the reason why I cry for a dislike gadget at Facebook and a NEVER SHARE option in my browser.
If you simply think I'm exaggerating, don't trust me, just go watch the movie and you'll see why this movie don't deserve stars. We, as spectators, deserve an apology.