Category: Festivals

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Another entry in the SXSW 24 Beats per Second category, this music documentary follows the lives of mariachis in Mexico. These are not just any mariachis, though. These are ladies who have struggled and faced some adversity in a music world dominated by men. Mariachi songs… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: QUE CARAMBA ES LA VIDA

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Every year that I attend SXSW Film, I try to see films under the 24 Beats Per Second music category. As an ardent fan of music, I enjoy learning more about artists whose music I enjoy, or discovering acts about whom I know nothing. I cannot… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: FOR THOSE ABOUT TO ROCK THE STORY OF RODRIGO Y GABRIELA

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) From writer/director Nacho Vigalondo (Time Crimes, Extraterrestrial), comes this modern day take on a story similar to Hitchcock’s Rear Window.  Elijah Wood stars as Nick Chambers, a starry-eyed movie fan who happens to be the lucky winner of a dream date with movie starlet Jill Goddard… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: OPEN WINDOWS

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) My two favorite midnighter films of the festival involved slashers. One takes a comedic approach (Stage Fright) while the other, titled  Among the Living is dead serious. Even though this movie doesn’t really offer that much originality with the story and plot, I must say I… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: AMONG THE LIVING

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) If one loves slasher horror, comedic musicals, and is quite alright with a movie that spoofs the genres, then this movie is not one to miss. Written and directed by Jerome Sable, and co-written by Eli Batalion, Stage Fright takes place at a musical theater summer… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: STAGE FRIGHT

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) Certainly not for the squeamish, this graphic and sometimes disgusting romantic comedy from Germany takes shocking gross-out humor (similar to that of Trainspotting) to the extreme. Carla Juri stars as Helen Memel, a rebellious young lady, relishes in shocking her divorced parents and anyone she can… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: WETLANDS

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) This particular film was one of those exciting discoveries that I just happen to come across as I just happened to be at the right theater at the right time. After finishing Impossible Light, I had some time to kill before my other planned screenings for… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: THE WILDERNESS OF JAMES

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) I must say that it has taken way too long for a movie about the celebrated labor activist to arrive. Though this film may not be all that Cesar Chavez deserves, it certainly is a valiant and passionate effort by director Diego Luna and his talented… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: CESAR CHAVEZ

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 (Out of 4 Stars) As a fan of science fiction, as well as spoofs of the genre, this was one film I could not pass up at the festival. Also, because I was born in the 1970s and grew up watching Glen A. Larson’s Battlestar Galactica and Buck Rogers in… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: SPACE STATION 76

By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) After being somewhat disappointed with some of the films I had seen so far, this one came as a most pleasant surprise. Based on the Academy Award® winning short film, Curfew, Before I Disappear takes its audience on a night journey that will change the life… Continue reading 2014 SXSW Review: BEFORE I DISAPPEAR