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Mission: Impossible III (2006)
The first forgettable movie of the series
Tom Cruise has achieved with this movie to wipe off every trace of the original franchise. This is not Mission Impossible anymore. This is Tom Cruise's ego become into an action movie. A completely forgettable one. Because in MI3 you'll get to see him acting as the average James Bond wannabe which happened to had the luck to have bought the famous and now extinct TV series franchise, just to make his dream come true.
If you happen to see this picture in a theater, you better carry great deals of pop corn and cokes, because a couple of days later you'll find you enjoyed them and that you remember them more than the movie itself. I still expect a better action flick for this season.
War of the Worlds (2005)
What is this movie about?
Extremely disappointing. What was Spielberg thinking of when he decided to make "another" aliens movie? "Close Encounters..." didn't have enough violence? "ET" had too much of a soap opera? Nowadays, if you plan to make a new action/drama picture based on aliens stuff, you need to make sure that you are not going to deceive your audience with a naive argument. Specially if your country is able to wipe off more than once every trace of life on earth without any need of goofy tripods.
If Spielberg would've put the movie in the thirties, maybe it would've had a chance to lose some of its goofiness. Because, whether he wanted to speak on peoples' chance to become heroes, he didn't succeed; whether he wanted to establish a milestone in digital effects, he didn't succeed. WOTW in this sense is completely forgettable.
Not everything is that bad anyway. Dakota Fanning's had a remarkable chance to demonstrate what the cool child actress she is.
Piratas en el Callao (2005)
Meritorious Effort
The story of Piratas en el Callao is simple. A little boy get lost while he is touring a colonial fortress at Callao, the main port of Peru, and then he falls through a time hole back to 17th century when the port was under siege by dutch pirate Jacques L'Hermite. He meets friends and will try to make a difference defending the city.
While the story could sound interesting for people who were kids back in the sixties (the time when the boy is supposed he got lost and also a time when the writer of the original story was a boy too), nowadays it takes more than that to wow the audience, and specially k12 kids. Even so the movie succeeds at making the youngest laugh, while the bigger ones try to imagine the making of such a meritorious effort.
Because Peru doesn't have an animation industry. Not even the producers did have access to high end animation tools common in Hollywood like motion capture or procedural animation systems for clothing, hair, or sea simulations. But they did have the guts to start that industry with this movie, and it looks like they have the talent and the willing to match the standards of its American animated features counterparts as time goes by. Good news for them is that they didn't need such an arms collection to enter the Chinese market, as the movie will make it in China at the end of this year. If you're a Peruvian you should support this remarkable effort. If you're not and you manage to see it, maybe you'll be watching the born of a brand new world-wide power in animation. Who knows? :)
"Piratas en el Callao" is distributed outside Peru as "Piratas en el Pacífico" (Pirates at Pacific).
Bollywood/Hollywood (2002)
A fine piece of Indian musical comedy. Not for the average flick viewer
When I saw the first scenes of this movie, I quickly knew there was something nice going to happen, although I also knew that my sudden interest was not for what was going to happen, but for how it was going to happen. Maybe that's why for most of us moviegoers that do know about Indian movies, the 'how' was full of a smooth and unusual self laughing, telling by the performance of the main actresses performing the mother and the grandma (which have based their careers in the Indian way of rising soap operas to the category of mainstream movies), to whom you would never believe they were also capable to make you laugh by portraying two funny old ladies anxious to get this Ross-like grown kid married.
You have to like Indian music to enjoy it as a musical, so that doesn't count too much. But one of the things that makes it universal is the way it drives us to think about one of the dilemmas in modern couples when they face marriage. What are we after when we look for a lifetime partner?: From a guy perspective, should we accept the randomly crazy, next-door, average Rachael we all come up to get to know some time?, or should we look for the trust and confidence generally associated to old values? In that sense the movie does succeed at providing funny (and musical)moments, beauty, and a happy ending to our own thoughts. I strongly disagree to those who qualify it as a bad movie. Hey, would Casablanca ever have a chance to be a blockbuster nowadays? No way. You have to know about movies to fully enjoy it in the 21st century. With Bollywood/Hollywood it happens exactly the same. You would need to have seen some previous Indian productions to understand the keys and the reflections inside. Otherwise you'll focus only on technical details like the editing or the story timing, which will probably bias your judge unfairly.
Bossa Nova (2000)
A fine set of stimulations to the senses...
This movie exploits the beauty of Rio's beaches and the idea that people around the globe has about them. And I love that. It's also light as long as there aren't big dramas exposed at its highest notes. The teacher has already lost her husband, the lawyer doesn't care too much for her ex-wife (in spite of he appeared drunk at the start of the movie), and his father is about lo loose a dispute with his last wife. An even all characters look like they feel comfortable and unstressed. (That might be what pisses some people off, as they consider the movie is contributing to what they argue is a misconception of the reality of the city).
Listen to the soundtrack. A great number of light weighted bossa nova themes drop in throughout the movie just like a CD track after another, even surpassing the number of those who have been gathered for the soundtrack CD. Listen to the sea tides sounds. There's practically no moment in the picture that you don't hear them. Watch the wind moving trees, bushes and also penetrating the rooms turned into soft breezes. Watch the bright sun light surrounding offices and appartments, all of them sharing the same beautiful sea view.
What the female characters and you'll notice that all of them aren't a romantic cliche by themselves. But they do aspire to cliche livestyles, and that forces you to look into their personas, just to discover how adorable they surprisingly come up to be.
I would've liked to have seen this movie with a Frozen Lemonade and a pair of sunglasses. The experience is the same. If you are generous to take into account a cute and easy going story with some contemporary moral common places, give this movie a chance, and maybe you'll be among those of us who think that no matter its lightness, this picture deserves a place between cult movies.
Michael (1996)
How to live a joyful life
I've seen previous movies of Nora Ephron and I say she has a clever understanding and knows how to touch our deeper strings. Yes, Michael is an unusual angel, but what the hell!. It doesn't matter. What she tells us throughout all her filmography is that we all own the keys to live a joyful life, one based on our simple and primary feelings: the warmth of friendship, the joy of nature, the joy and sharing of every little moment, and the respect and caring for every other person outside us. I think this is an outstanding movie. Try it. You'll love it.
Joey (1997)
Surprising good movie
When you look at casting, you probably won't find great names; but this adventure-comedy flows extremely well without the need of great acting performances. The story is simple and it works because it doesn't take place in USA but in Australia, and also because almost everybody is concerned with the amazing australian kangaroos and its environment. There are great shot compositions, and I suppose its natural to expect more from its director's work.