Meet the free, proud, independent people of Ukraine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzNxLzFfR5w Nothing but reviews. In excess.
From ZERO to 6 ♥s. 100% ad-free. Run on pure love for movies, documentaries and TV-series. June 2025: Countdown to: Top 10: Best horror comedy movies - Upcoming review: There's Still Tomorrow (2023)
Eagerly anticipating this month ... (6-25)
Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value (2025)
Showing posts with label Adriana Barraza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Adriana Barraza. Show all posts
A cluttered poster for Mark Pellington's Henry Poole Is Here that establishes that the film is set in California
Poole buys a house in Los Angeles, where he intends to drink, be lonely and die in peace from his unnamed fatal illness. But his neighbor sees Jesus on the side of his house; the other neighbor is highly interested in Poole himself; and miracles start to occur.
Henry Poole Is Here is written by Albert Torres (The Fugitive (2020, TV-series)) and directed by Mark Pellington (Going All the Way (1997)).
Radha Mitchell (Bird People (2014)) is too good for this film. Luke Wilson (The Skeleton Twins (2014)) as Poole pulls faces and doesn't entirely seem to believe the script, which is also quite hard-pumped with missionizing cliches. Adriana Barraza (Dark Blood (2021)) is, however, wonderful as the faithful Catholic next door.
The film has plenty of music that it doesn't seem to live up to. Henry Poole Is Here also suffers from an inordinate amount of focus shifts as well as unrealistic endings. It has its heart in the right place but is very far from convincing.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown Box office: 1.9 mil. $
= Uncertain - but likely a mega-flop (projected 0.38 time cost return)
[Henry Poole Is Here premiered 21 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 99 minutes. Shooting took place in California, including in Los Angeles. It opened #16 to an 805k $ first weekend in 527 theaters in North America, where it receded from then on, grossing 1.8 mil. $ (94.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Spain with 29k $ (1.5 %) and UAE with 16k $ (0.8 %). If made on a scant 5 mil. $ budget, the film would rank as a mega-flop with a 0.38 time cost return. Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. Pellington returned with a TV movie and 2 music videos prior to his theatrical return with I Melt with You (2011). Wilson returned in Tenure (2008); Mitchell in The Children of Huang Shi (2008). Henry Poole Is Here is rotten at rotten at 40 % with a 5.20/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Sylvester Stallone's Vietnam hero's arguably becoming a Halloween-type revenge-set human ghoul is obvious in this stylized, great poster for Adrian Grünberg's Rambo: Last Blood
Vietnam veteran John Rambo has build a quiet life for himself on his Arizona ranch, but as a step-father for young woman Gabrielle, he now must alert himself to new strife, as she insists on exploring her alienated father in Mexico. Rambo: Last Blood is written by Matthew Cirulnick (Paid in Full (2002)) and co-writer/star Sylvester Stallone (F.I.S.T (1978)), with Dan Gordon (The Hurricane (1999)) supplying story elements, and directed by Adrian Grünberg (Get the Gringo (2012)). It is the 5th film in the Rambo franchise that has previous chapters; First Blood (1982), Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985), Rambo III (1988) and Rambo (2008). Stallone returns with impressive physique, especially since he is 73 years old today, and his face is a chapter in itself; the hang-dog expression, bulges and furrows that make him look like no other 73 year-old: certainly a life of training, violence (most of it staged), steroids and who knows what cosmetic alterations have made Stallone's face unique to the point where he almost appears a new Halloween monster, right up there with Karloff's Mummy, Dracula and Freddy Krueger. The first scenes show us that Rambo still feels impelled to help out his fellow man when possible, saving a young woman in a raging storm on a mountain. His life with live-in maid Maria and adoptive daughter Gabrielle is as close to idyllic as this traumatized killing machine will ever get. But Rambo lives mostly in his dirt cave system underneath the ranch, a clue to understanding the depths of his knowledge of human darkness. Gabrielle's rebellious trip to Mexico doesn't end well, (the film teaches us to never trust anyone by the name Gizelle, and also shows us that all Mexican men, (which are almost restricted to cops and cartel gangsters in Rambo: Last Blood), are violent, misogynistic rapists. SPOILER Rambo tries to save Gabrielle but the gangsters' evil claims her life, apparently necessary for the elaborately creative death-trap plans that Rambo then sets up at his ranch, luring evil home for his bloody reckoning. No one expects a masterpiece with Rambo V. And there are plenty of things to wonder about and half-way flaws in the writing: Where is the violent rainstorm, when Rambo has ridden back to his ranch on his horse? Why does a casual line from one of the villains about 17,000 girls trafficked by them in a year not get followed up? How did the convoy of armed villains drive straight into the US and to Rambo's ranch? And so on and so forth. These objections are not too important, but what does impede the film are other elements: Paz Vega (Not Forgotten (2009)) is a Mexican journalist, who lost her sister to the cartel and who helps Rambo, - but then leaves the story again. The main cartel villains are two brothers, but as characters and villains they are wholly forgettable. Gabrielle's ordeal and the story on the whole could have done with some more brains; clever writing and unforeseen developments are not Rambo: Last Blood's main forte. But it brings the violent carnage that its pulpy title promises and is still better than the franchise's lowest ebb quality-wise, Rambo III.
Stallone talks about the film in a 3-minute video here
Cost: Unknown Box office: Unknown yet = Unknown yet [Rambo: Last Blood premiered 18 September (Indonesia) and runs 89 minutes. Pre-production was started and stopped several times with different plot ideas since the flop of Rambo (2008). Shooting took place in Bulgaria and Spain from October - December 2018. The film is opening against other major releases Ad Astra and Downtown Abbey. It is opening next week in France, Chile, Colombia, Greece, Croatia, Italy, Portugal and Spain and in Argentina 10 October. Talks of the Rambo franchise's future, coming from Stallone, center on a prequel about the character before and during his time as a soldier in the Vietnam War, which may or may not come to fruition. Grünberg does not have an announced next directing gig. Stallone is announced to star in 3 upcoming films; Tough as They Come, The Expendables 4 and Scarpa. Rambo: Last Blood is rotten at 36 % with a 4.58/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.] What do you think of Rambo: Last Blood?
Alison Lohman is battling ancient evil on the poster for Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell
When loan officer Christine has to reject a loan to a nasty old gypsy lady, she throws a spell on the young, sweet blond, who for the coming 3 days suffers through a true hell, SPOILER only to still end up in, yes, - Hell.
Sam Raimi (Evil Dead II (1987)) is back in the horror genre after many years of Spider-Man (2002; 04; 07) and other movies, with an action- and special effects packed, morbid cocktail, which still doesn't pack a single real shock for me. - The film doesn't really horrify but it matters little, since it entertains like Hell! It is a gleeful and imaginative head-first jump into a pool of colorful no-holds-barred horrors. Drag Me to Hell has some funny and completely absurd scenes, (the in-law family scene is especially memorable.) The script is co-written by brothers Sam and Ivan Raimi (Spider-Man 3). Drag Me to Hell is bolstered by real trooper performances from Alison Lohman (The Vatican Tapes (2015)) and Lorna Raver (First Watch (2003)). It is full of superior effects work, rich imagination and a really really cool 3rd act.
Cost: 30 mil. $ Box office: 90.8 mil. $ = Box office success [Drag Me to Hell received great reviews and debuted at # 4 in North America with a 15.8 mil. $ opening weekend. It ended up grossing 42.1 mil. $ (46 % of the total gross) there. It has since made in excess of 13.9 mil. $ on DVD sales in North America.] What do you think of Drag Me to Hell?
Striking images lined with the title and ultra-simple tagline ('Listen') makes up this poster for Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu's Babel
When a couple of Moroccan boys accidentally shoot an American tourist, it starts an avalanche of events on different continents.
Babel is written by Guillermo Arriaga (En Defensa Propia (2015, short)) and directed by Mexican master filmmaker Alejandro Gonzáles Iñárritu (Amores Perros (2000)), whose 3rd feature it is. It is the 3rd and last film in Arriaga and Iñárritu's Death trilogy, also comprising Amores Perros and 21 Grams (2003). Babel is a unique drawing of the times we live in; the tragedies, the hope and the people around the world, mostly seen as trying to do the right thing. Each working in their own fragment of the wildly divergent world, which is still being held together by some universal instincts and values that we seemingly all share as human beings. Babel lets us into the complexity of our world in the form of an emotionally wild sensual bombardment that took most audiences aback in cinemas the world over in 2006. It is inventively carried out visually, (cinematography by Rodrigo Prieto (Barbie (2023))), story-wise and musically, (Gustavo Santaolalla (Brokeback Mountain (2005)) score is grand.) The film is extremely powerful, due, of course, in equal measure to the tremendous acting performances: Brad Pitt (Fight Club (1999)) gives one of his career's best performances, a gripping portrayal of desperation and grief. Adriana Barraza (Drag Me to Hell (2009)) plays the Mexican sitter with every ounce of her being.
Cost: 25 mil. $ Box office: 135.3 mil. $ = Big hit (returned 5.41 times its cost)
[Babel premiered 23 May (Cannes Film Festival, main competition) and runs 143 minutes. Shooting took place from May - December 2005 in Japan, including in Tokyo, Morocco, including in Casablanca, Mexico and in San Diego, California. Arriaga and Iñárritu fell out prior to the film's premiere; the former was saying that they were co-authors of the trilogy, while the latter stressed that he was the sole auteur behind the films, and consequently banned Arriaga from attending the film's Cannes premiere. The film opened #24 to a 389k $ first weekend in 7 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #6 and in 1,251 theaters, grossing 34.3 mil. $ (25.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Japan with 14.9 mil. $ (11 %) and Spain with 13.9 mil. $ (10.3 %). The film was nominated for 6 Oscars (7 nominations), winning for Best Score. It lost Best Picture to The Departed, Supporting Actress (Rinko Kikuchi (Westworld (2018, TV-series)), Barraza) to Jennifer Hudson in Dreamgirls, Director to Martin Scorsese for The Departed, Original Screenplay to Michael Arndt for Little Miss Sunshine and Editing to The Departed. It won 1/7 BAFTA nominations, 3 prizes in Cannes, was nominated for a César award, won a David di Donatello award, won 1/7 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy and won 2 National Board of Review awards and an AFI award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It additionally made in excess of 31.4 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Iñárritu returned with To Each His Own Cinema (2007, segment) and theatrically himself alone with Biutiful (2010). Pitt returned in Ocean's Thirteen (2007); Cate Blanchett (Hanna (2011)) in The Good German (2006); and Gael García Bernal (Mozart in the Jungle (2014-18)) in Déficit (2007). Babel is fresh at 69 % with a 6.80/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
