By Mark Saldana Rating: 3 Stars (Out of 4) Writer/director Iris Almaraz along with guest writer/director Gustavo Ramos deliver a sweet, hilarious and heart warming portrait of a late blooming, young lady pursuing an adult life on her own. Lulu (Leana Daly), a twenty-something year old woman still lives with her father and stepfamily and… Continue reading Cine Las Americas 16 Review: DELUSIONS OF GRANDEUR
Category: Banner
Review: OBLIVION
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ Some films try too hard to be monumental productions and others not hard enough, so when I first saw the poster for Tom Cruise’s newest film Oblivion (I avoid trailers), my first thought was “oh no, this will be Cruise’s Waterworld,” but I was wrong. Director Joseph Kosinski, who gave… Continue reading Review: OBLIVION
Review: STARBUCK
By Laurie Coker Rating: B+ Before the theatre went dark for the screening of Starbuck, someone told me that Vince Vaughn just wrapped up the American version of the French-Canadian film about a man who donated sperm multiple times in his youth and who discovers that of the 560 plus children conceived, nearly 150 are… Continue reading Review: STARBUCK
Cine Las Americas 16 Review: 3
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) From Uruguay, this film by director Pablo Stoll, tells the story of a true modern, nuclear family. Dentist Rodolfo’s (Humberto De Vargas) most recent relationship has fallen apart and in his loneliness, he attempts to reconnect with his daughter Ana (Anaclara Ferreya Palfy) and his ex-wife… Continue reading Cine Las Americas 16 Review: 3
Cine Las Americas 16 Review: BLANCANIEVES
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) It is a fairy tale that has been told and retold countless times, but never like this. Opening the 16th Annual Cine Las Americas International Film Festival, writer/director Pablo Berger’s version of the Brothers Grimm tale, has a darker, more realistic take than other incarnations and… Continue reading Cine Las Americas 16 Review: BLANCANIEVES
Review: STARBUCK
By Renee’ Collins Rating: 5 (Out of 5 Reels) As his lover announces her pregnancy, David Wozniak/Starbuck (Patrick Huard), a fortysomething slacker receives other life-changing news: 142 people, all of them the result of artificial insemination, have filed a class action lawsuit against him, their biological father (IMDB). This plotline is definitely unique which is… Continue reading Review: STARBUCK
Review: OBLIVION
By Renee’ Collins Rating: 4.5 (Out of 5 Reels) To be honest I was not at all sure what to expect from this film because I thought it was going to be another Tom Cruise testosterone fest but I was pleasantly surprised. A veteran, Jack (Tom Cruise) assigned to extract Earth’s remaining resources begins to… Continue reading Review: OBLIVION
Review: LORDS OF SALEM
By Laurie Coker Rating: F- As part of my midnight features review for SXSW, I covered Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem, so I want to allude to that review, and I’d like to begin this one by saying, even with the passage of time, I still think the film is complete trash. I find it… Continue reading Review: LORDS OF SALEM
Review: STARBUCK
By Mark Saldana Rating: 3.5 (Out of 4 Stars) Typically when a film’s story has a ridiculous or implausible premise, it is a huge turn off for me. Occasionally, though, a film comes along that can take the preposterous and run with it so well that it becomes easy to forget its absurdity. French Canadian… Continue reading Review: STARBUCK
Review: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES
By Laurie Coker Rating: B- For cast appeal alone, The Place Beyond the Pines will draw big and rightly so. Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper highlight the cast and for their efforts all is well with The Place Beyond the Pines. It is, however, director Derek Gianfrance and co-writers Ben Coccio and Darius Marder’s script that falters. It… Continue reading Review: THE PLACE BEYOND THE PINES