A Mexican crime drama directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Adriana Barraza.
Various people and groups were present at a car accident. Their stories are shown leading up to it and afterward. A young man and his friend were into dog fighting, a model was switching husbands and a poor man has many dogs.
This is one of the movies that I saw a long time ago, have a copy of and never ended up writing about. The plot was complex, but clearly presented. It also made me care what happened next. There were lots of characters, but they were developed and most of them changed. I cared what happened to them as well. Everything sounded fine, but I was reading subtitles most of the duration anyway. They were not so quick and thick as to divert my attention from the video elements. There was a lot of handheld camera, but it looked professional, like Breaking Bad. I really liked this and got into it the first time I saw it, but rewatching after so many years did not pull me in as much. I rate it good. You should probably watch it.
A French Mexican British acid western directed by Jan Kounen, based on a comic by Jean Giraud A.K.A. Moebius, starring Vincent Cassel, Juliette Lewis and Michael Madsen.
Treasure hunters have founs a map to the Native American sacred mountain. The sheriff recognizes one of them as an old enemy and tries to stop him. Luckily, the sheriff is friends with the local shaman, who helps him.
This was like a western, but more. The cowboys were rougher and tougher and there was Indian magic. The plot held my attention very well because there was always something going on. The characters were pretty good, but I would have cast a more extroverted hero. Michael Madsen played a good villain, but should have had more dialogue. Video was high quality and very creative. There was a wide range of shot lengths and camera placements. There were also some CG dream sequences which were very convincing. It was alright that it didn't look photorealistic because it was only used for dream material and worked well like that. Audio was good. I could hear the dialogue, there was appropriate music and I found subtitles which included English as well as all of the foreign language parts. I rate this best, mostly for plot and video. Watch it!
A Mexican American adventure directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Jaime Fernandez.
The Robinson Crusoe story: An Englishman is shipwrecked on an island for many years and eventually befriends a victim he saves from cannibals.
This was a basic telling of the story. I read the book a while ago and liked it. It seemed that the book had Robinson in a more humbling experience, but this film had him keep his bravado and arrogance. I don't remember the dog and cat being in the book, but I could be wrong. This was recorded on shitty film, not the Technicolor/Cinemascope good stuff. Hence, although it was in color, it looked pretty bad. It looked dirty to tell the truth. If this were being written for school, I would have to discuss western colonialism ideas and why Robinson treated Friday like a slave. He did, but that's how the book was written in 1719. I rate this adequate, but it's going in my Shipwrecked folder with the Cast Aways and Swept Aways. Watch it if you like desert island survival flicks as much as I do.
A Mexican comedy directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Luis Alcoriza.
A rich man is drunk all the time, spends too much money and doesn't care about anything. His family all sit around and do nothing. When his brother hears of the problems going on, he convinces the family to move into a poor neighborhood while Spendy McSloshster is passed out. He eventually figures out that he is being lied to and plays the same joke on his family, saying that he really did lose all of his money.
What a unique plot! That was the best part. I've seen revenge, quests, oh no there are monsters, the Fern Gully/Avatar nature deal, check out my super powers, but joke reversal is not done often. We even had dynamic characters! Pretty much everyone changed from the beginning to the end, except the fat, offended extra woman who got called a man. I can't really say too much about dialogue because of the language difference, but acting was spot-on and convincing. As with most Bunuel films, the costumes and sets/locations were nothing special. What I did like about sets was the window washer's platform where the main character tries to jump off a building. Camera-work and editing were pretty straight forward and old fashioned. Lots of medium and long shots with a few close-ups for variety and heightened emotion. The camera coming into focus when the main character wakes up was very appropriate. Audio was a little on the rough side. All of the dialogue was clipping like the sound effects in an old kung fu movie. IMDb lists a rating of 7.3/10 and Rotten Tomatoes lists an Audience Score of 75% for an average (if you couldn't figure this out) of 74%. Yeah, the Bunuel flick that I like gets a C and all the rest get As. Great. I'm rating this good for being unique instead of the same old horse puckey that gets recycled by every other film and it's sequels. Eventually, people might realize that good movies are not the same as other movies. Being different is what makes them good.
A Mexican drama directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Ernesto Alonso and Rita Macedo.
A man believes that a music box gives him the power to wish people dead.
Boring. Again, Bunuel made an hour and a half long episode of The Twilight Zone. The plot would have fit nicely in 20 minutes if his lack of success in romance and a few deaths were skipped. As is, it took too long to communicate too little. There were 3 characters: Archibaldo, "the woman" and "her husband/father". These latter 2 roles were filled multiple times by different people. I found the dialogue a little dry and dull for a movie about supposed murder. The acting was all done very professionally though. It is very rare for me to watch a film with sets and costumes as mundane as the ones used in this. It was just regular clothes and regular places, nothing out of the ordinary. The camera-work, staging and shot composition were exceptional. I think that may be the only reason to watch this. There was a good variety of long and close shots, with most being somewhere in the middle. There were also some creative low angle shots and shots of items that the main character is looking at. That was the thing to do at the time: Character looks and we see what he is looking at. There was a botched special effect of the main character remembering the death of his governess in which blood is coming from off-screen instead of from the governess. Audio was in Spanish and I got good English subtitles, so it was another situation of half-understanding the spoken dialogue while also reading it. IMDb lists a rating of 7.9/10 and Rotten Tomatoes lists 100% Tomatometer with 93% Audience Score for an average of 90.6%. I disagree. People love it and I don't see what all the fuss is about. I rate this poor because I think it was too mundane and boring to be worth filming in the first place.
A Mexican drama directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Jorge Mistral.
Two young women are living with a rich insect collector. One of them is his wife. Her long lost lover returns from a journey and this causes problems. The other problem is the drunken man from whom the insect collector got so much money. When not putting pins through moths, rich boy goes to terrorize this poor sod and try to take his home, causing Mr. Drinky to get violent.
It's really weird to half-understand the spoken language of a film while reading subtitles. The plot started out really weak and prissy, but it got way more interesting and gritty as it went. Obviously, I don't remember the characters' names, but I could identify them very easily. Even the butt-ugly maid and silent boy were identifiable characters. Dialogue flew by at an alarming pace. English speakers think Spanish sounds fast, but the subtitles were almost flickering they changed so quickly. Add to that understanding about half of the spoken Spanish and it's clear why I forgot names. The sets and costumes seemed like a mishmash of whatever European clothing and buildings could be found in Mexico at the time. I'm not saying they looked bad, just a little desultory. The video quality is what looked bad. It was grainy, noisy, blurry and dark. The shots seemed to be composed thoughtfully though. Speaking in the audio department, dialogue seemed to be at the correct level, but sound effects were more towards '70s kung fu style clipping. IMDb lists a rating of 6.8/10, AllMovie lists an AllMovie Rating of 2.5/5 with 4/5 User Rating and Rotten Tomatoes lists 67% Audience Score for an average of 66.25%. I would argue for a little bit higher grade just for ease of character identification. There are lots of films that could learn much from this! I rate it poor. This is what happens when I watch a movie, work, and then try to write about it. If you really need to see Mr. Drinky get tormented by the bug collector, go ahead and watch it.
A French Mexican adventure directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Simone Signoret, Charles Vanel, Georges Marchal and Michel Piccoli.
A revolution starts because the government takes over mining claims in South America. An old man and a stranger who is new in town are blamed for it, so they leave with the man's daughter and prostitute mistress as well as a local priest. They take one of the military men hostage and head into the rain forest. He escapes with their food and meets up with other soldiers before being shot. The group is left to find their way out of the jungle with no supplies.
This was slow to start, but I liked it more as it went on. The plot started off looking like a Sergio Leone fistful of revolution epic, but turned into wilderness survival for the better. The characters were relatively static, but what interested me was that their relationships with one another changed over time. The hero was a typical Indiana Jones dude who came into town like Trinity. Dialogue was all in French, but I found good English subtitles. I thought the acting was spot-on, but stereotypical like the characters. The world already had tons of western cowboys to model the hero and romantic interest after, as well as the old man in 1956. Costumes looked like a standard western, but sets and filming locations went far beyond that old Texas town. There was lots of jungle B-roll and the locations for scenes in the jungle looked good too. I really like those big, weird-shaped trees. Camera-work was definitely to my liking and very much Sergio Leone style. There were lots of long shots showing distance and space, but not many close-ups. Doing a quick click-through, I hear no non-diegetic music. The dialogue would have been the correct volume if I needed to hear some French and the sound effects were mixed loud, but not clipping. IMDb has a rating of 6.9/10 listed and Rotten Tomatoes has 92% Tomatometer with 60% Audience Score for an average of 73.66%. I would go a little bit higher than that and was glad that Rotten Tomatoes had such a high site score for it. I rate this adequate and would recommend it if you want to see a Sergio Leone film starring Indiana Jones on a jungle survival adventure.
A Mexican thriller directed by Luis Bunuel, starring Silvia Pinal.
Rich dinner guests are trapped in a room of the house where they attended the party. Even though the door is open, they cannot leave. They run out of water and food, lose their humanity and turn against one another.
It was an interesting premise that seems like it would have made a good Twilight Zone episode. An hour and a half seemed a little long though. The plot does develop more fully than my brief description, with different characters acting their parts in the psycho-drama. All of the characters were rich, white and well-dressed, making them difficult to differentiate at times. The doctor always stood out for his age and relative sanity. I could understand a word or few of the Spanish dialogue, but found good English subtitles. The only problem was that "Y" was replaced with "T". The dwarves of Conde Petie in Final Fantasy IX get "hungert", Not Mexican aristocracy. I thought the actors did a great job of going crazy. One woman pulled out her hair and everyone looked haggard in their suits and gowns. Needless to say, not too many sets. There was an exterior and a dining room at the beginning and a church at the end. There were also some exterior shots spread throughout as people outside could not enter the house. Everything else was in the room. Camera-work was not the best I've seen, even accounting for black and white. That honor goes to Fire over England, a dull, but beautifully shot film. I thought the shots stayed too much in mid-range without getting very close or far away and the general compositions just didn't do it for me. There was a disembodied hand special effect and some creative double exposures or layering to make a dream sequence. The audio seemed on for dialogue and there was not much noticeable music (seems to be the current trend). The gritty style and surrealist subject matter definitely reminded me of Un Chien Andalou. IMDb has an 8.2/10 rating listed, AllMovie has 4.5/5 in both AllMovie and user ratings and Rotten Tomatoes has 96% Tomatometer with 93% Audience Score for an average of 90.2%. Why this gets a consensus A- and A Chinese Ghost Story (1987) gets a consensus C- is beyond me, but that doesn't happen here. Not on my blog! I would say it should be reversed. This gets my o.k. rating because I don't think it's as magnificent as everyone else apparently does.
A Mexican Argentinian crime animation directed by Gustavo Cova.
A violent man who used to be a soldier works for a mafia boss as a hit man. A woman who used to be in a relationship with the boss witnessed a crime and is supposed to testify in court. There is conflict over this witness and a new hit man is hired to fight the original one.
This reminded me of Sin City (2005). I think some of the scenes were direct copies of visual elements from that film. The plot was a little too convoluted for an animation. Who was on whose side and who is working for the mafia boss got confusing. The characters were obviously similar to Sin City, especially Boogie himself. The animation style reminded me of City of Rott (2006) in that it was very computerized and high contrast. There was a psychedelic dream sequence in which a Disney style setting became violent and was labelled "war land". The audio was very good for a film not originally in English. The voices fit and there was appropriate soundtrack music mixed at a correct level. Overall, a very well-made and enjoyable animated film, even if it was not entirely original. I rate this awesome. Watch it!
A Mexican horror fantasy directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook and Margarita Isabel.
A antiques dealer accidentally discovers that he owns a device made by an alchemist for immortality. A wealthy and sick man has a younger relative trying to track down the device because he owns the instruction manual for it.
This was half in Spanish and half in English. The plot was interesting, but not as I would have made it. The characters were good and the viewer wants the heroes to win. Pacing felt a little odd, possibly too dynamic. The video style started out very clear and correctly exposed, but transitioned to all too dark and underexposed by the end. This did correlate with the main character's condition, but I still didn't like it. Overall, not too shabby. I rate this adequate. You may want to check it out.
A Mexican American science fiction directed by Guillermo del Toro, starring Idris Elba, Rinko Kikuchi and Ron Perlman.
Giant monsters are coming out of a portal in the ocean and people create and drive giant robots to fight them.
Robots fighting monsters? Pretty cool! The plot and characters held my attention between special effects fight scenes. The style was a little too "new movie" for me, with fast camera movements and fast editing cuts. The robots were alright, but the monsters were amazing. The 2 hour duration seemed a little long to me. Overall, watch it for the monsters. I rate this good.
A Mexican adventure written by Fernando Arrabal and directed by Alejandro Jodorowsky.
A boy is told of a mythical city called "Tar" that is supposedly a paradise that will still exist when all other cities have been destroyed. A girl is abused by theater performers and becomes paralyzed from the waist down. Later in life, these characters are in a relationship and all the cities have been destroyed. The young man pushes his girlfriend on a cart through a post-apocalyptic wasteland, in search of the city of Tar. They encounter various groups of people engaged in strange activities as they travel.
This was Jodorowsky's first full-length film and the least coherent of his work. The characters are clear and very well developed, but the plot is extremely murky. The pacing ranges from way too slow to extremely fast and the style is VERY Jodorowsky. The music is a definite indication of what was to come in his later works, complete with horrible creaking and hight-pitched woodwind/reed instrumentation. There was nudity which included female anatomy points for Lis and no genital mutilation (except of a doll). Overall, I would say it's worth watching if you're into the whole Jodorowsky deal. I rate it awesome because his shit is infallible and he can do no wrong in my eyes.
A Mexican Italian adventure by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Claudio Argento.
A boy is a circus performer whose parents are having issues. The father is an alcoholic and the mother leads a false religion. The boy falls in love with a girl circus performer of his own age, but they are separated when his father cuts off the mother's arms before committing suicide. Later in life, the main character works for his mother as her arms. Fortunately for him, all is not as it seems.
I call this an adventure because it's one of those Jodorowskian mind fuckers that almost fits my label of "psychedelic spiritual journey". Claudio Argento's presence had me worried because of his involvement in his brother, Dario's films. I HATED Suspiria. Fortunately, he was unable to wreck Alejandro's greatness. The plot was all twist, all the time and characters were extremely dynamic. The video style was a little crisper and darker than most A.J. films, but the audio was very much in line with his other work. There were some compositing/layering/editing effects like people disappearing or fading out and lots of blood. Pacing was moderate/appropriate, but generally quick. Overall, not Jodorowsky's best work, but not bad. I would call this one of his moderately cool films in comparison to the rest of his filmography. Of course, it's him so I rate it awesome. Watch this if you've seen Holy Mountain, El Topo, The Dance of Reality, Fando y Lis and Tusk and still want more, but before The Rainbow Thief and La Cravate.
A Mexican western directed by Jose Bolanos, starring James Westerfield.
An orphan who is raised by a gravedigger falls in love with a prostitute who is in a relationship with an outlaw. The outlaw robs a bank stagecoach full of money, but cannot open it. The prostitute leaves him and is picked up in the desert by an escaped slave.
The plot was not clearly communicated and did not make sense. Individual scenes made some sense and were shot well, but did not form a coherent whole. The audio and video were good and it had that gritty '70s western style. I'm rating it tolerable because it was a very well-made hunk of junk.
A Mexican exploitation film directed by Juan Lopez Moctezuma.
A British man with a friend, friend's girlfriend and the girlfriend's father go to visit an insane asylum/dungeon in France. As the plot develops, it goes from an asylum with protective guards outside to a place where the inmates do whatever they want to a place that is ruled by the leader of the inmates.
This is the cheap type of shit that tries to be crazy and psychedelic so hard that it fails miserably. The video was all dark and underexposed. The audio was annoying and distorted in most places. If they had even gone to the trouble of checking light and sound levels, it would have been a much better film. The simple plot got lost in a ceaseless barrage of sub-plots and meaningless scenes. The main characters were easy to identify, but difficult to keep track of. The only thing that was done right was female nudity. There were some breasts to be seen, and pointy ones at that. I rate this bad and would advise against viewing it.
A Mexican American western directed by Elliott Nugent, starring Mickey Rooney.
The younger of 2 brothers searches for his elder sibling in Mexico, where he supposedly owns a silver mine. Come to find out, the older brother is an outlaw. A ranger teams up with the younger brother to capture the older without being killed by him and save the woman the outlaw has selected to marry.
The only thing that I agree with is the younger brother complaining about having bad luck with women and always getting the big ones. He refers to them as whales and I can sympathize. The rest of the movie sucked pretty bad. Mickey Rooney is too much of a pansy to be in a western and the plot wasn't all that great. What it really lacked was style. What I mean by this is that you could turn the film on at any point in it's duration and even if you've seen it, not be able to identify it. I'm rating this bad, but no hard feelings. It's just another bit of the rough that I have to pass in my search for diamonds.
