Movie Review - The Mother

Director: Niki Caro
Genre: Action/ Thriller
Runtime: 115 minutes
Year: 2023
Starring: Jennifer Lopez, Joseph Fiennes, Gael Garcia Bernal, Lucy Paez, Omari Hardwick
 
Description: While fleeing from dangerous assailants, an assassin (Jennifer Lopez) comes out of hiding to protect her daughter she left earlier in life.

Review: The murderess at the center of “The Mother” is never given a name, simple the mother. And indeed motherhood is the only thing that drives her. The viewers get to know her when she is pregnant and interrogated by the police after her deal with shady individuals Adrian and Hector goes awry. They want revenge after she betrays them, and what better revenge than getting back at the mother through her child?

Jennifer Lopez succeeds well in portraying the mother as a nuanced character. In this dark thriller, everything is heavy and negative, but thankfully Lopez does not adapt her performance to a cliché story. Although she is though in her actions, there is also a warmth in the way she protects her daughter and talks to an old friend. Too bad, then, that the script doesn’t give her much to work with.

“The Mother” neatly takes the expected steps with just enough focus so that it doesn’t become a really bad movie. The action scenes are entertaining enough, although the editing could be a little better at times.

This thriller does not constantly keep you on the edge of your seat, but the pace is fairly even. It is only when the mother teaches her daughter to protect herself that the narrative settles down and thus allows room for the daughter’s development. Just unfortunate that she eventually doesn’t use much of what she has learned.

Lopez already doesn’t have much to work with, but the villains are even more sparsly fleshed out. In his very limited screentime, Gael Garcia Bernal still puts a certain flair and terrifying charisma into his character. Next to him, Joseph Fiennes really falls flat, unfortunate he has the larger role of the two. Bernal is a way better actor.

“The Mother” is a popcorn film that will be forgotten in no time, but it’s by no means a bad movie.  

Rating: 3/ 5

10s Movie Review - No

Director: Pablo Larraín
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 118 minutes
Year: 2012
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Alfredo Castro, Nestor Cantillana, Antonia Zegers

Description: An advertising executive (Gael Garcia Bernal) comes up with a campaign to defeat Augusto Pinochet in Chile’s 1988 referendum.

I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE.
WEEK 48: A MOVIE SET BU SOUTH-AMERICA
 
Review: René Saveedra is doing well: his career is running smoothly and he makes commercials for anyone who offers enough money. He is a man who deep inside still has ideals but manages to hide them away within his professional life. We meet him in 1988 on the eve of a referendum that will decide the country’s future. The United Nations has forced the dictator Pinochet’s regime to call this referendum: with a simple yes or no. Chileans must decide whether or not to keep the man who has been the country’s undisputed leader since 1973.

René is asked to collaborate in the no campaign. The campaigns gets to fill 15 minutes each day leading yp to the referendum with a message against Pinochet’s regime. René knows that taking this job may mean losing his well-to-do position in society but lets his ideals overcome him; he accepts the challenge. He will have to endure much, the main obstacles being the intimidation of the Pinochet regime and the divisions within the members of the No campaign: a motley crew of communists, democrats and anarchists.

Director Pablo Larraín has tried to capture the zeitgeist of the 1980s with every detail of the film. Every little detail has been thought of: fro the clothes and the way the characters speak to the film material used. Parts of the film were filmed with the U-Matic video format. U-Matic was the name of a video cassette that recorded in analog. The footage shows little detail bit is functional. This gives the film an authentic feel and resembles a documentary shot at the time of the No campaign. Gael Garcia Bernal, who plays René, is fantastic in the film. He is an underrated actor.

“No” is a bit slow at times, which is the only downside to the film. This movie is a great study of a period in history not known to many people.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - Werewolf By Night

Director: Michael Giacchino
Genre: Science Fiction/ Action/ Adventure
Runtime: 55 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Gael Garcia Bernal, Laura Donnely, Harriet Sansom Harris, Kirk R. Thatcher, Eugenie Bondurant, Leonardo Nam, Carey Jones
 
I WATCHED THIS MOVIE FOR MY 2022 MOVIE CHALLENGE
WEEK 41: A SUPERHERO MOVIE
 
Description: Follows a lycanthrope superhero (Gael Garcia Bernal) who fights evil using the abilities given to him by a curse brought on by his bloodline.

Review: Halloween is a big thing in the U.S. The holiday itself is celebrated on the last day of October, but the entire month is focused on this spooky celebration. And it is also the perfect time for any spooky series or horror movies to be released. And even Marvel is in on the fun this time, coming out with their first ever Halloween special: “Werewolf by Night”. Little over 50 minutes long, but such a great time. And something completely different than we’re used to from Marvel.

One night, a handful of monster hunters from all over the world come together to compete for the ‘bloodstone’: a useful weapon when slaughtering monsters. The winner gets to have the stone until the next gathering. To determine the winner, they must compete against a monster in a maze, and each other. But one of them is hiding a secret about his own identity, in this company for good reasons.
The film is made to look like an old-fashioned monster movie. The black and white films from the 1930s like “Frankenstein”, “The Mummy” and “The Invisible Man”. Not only because it’s black and white, also because of the style and the way it looks like old film was used.  I love the atmosphere, the classic horror features, it’s clear that first-time director Michael Giacchino is a fan of these classic films. Giacchino, who is known as a composer, logically composed his own score.

Marvel wouldn’t be Marvel if it didn’t add a bit of humor, because this sometimes gory horror film does have it. Especially when the monster in the maze (not spoiling which classic monster this is) has its name revealed. That made me laugh.

I really like when Marvel decides to shine a light on the lesser known Comics. And then do something original with it, something different than what we usually get from them. A Marvel movie that will most likely fly under the radar, but one you should definitely see if you get the chance. And if you don’t like it, it’s not even an hour long, so it won’t hurt.

Rating: 4/ 5

10s Movie Review - Coco

Director: Adrian Molina, Lee Unkrich
Genre: Animation/ Adventure/ Family/ Comedy/ Fantasy
Runtime: 126 minutes
Year: 2017
Starring: Anthony Gonzalez, Gael Garcia Bernal, Benjamin Bratt, Alanna Ubach, Renee Victor, Jaime Camil, Alfonso Arau, Herbert Siguenza, Gabriel Iglesias, Lombardo Boyar, Ana Ofelia Murguia, Natalia Cordova-Buckley, Selene Luna, Edward James Olmos, Sofia Espinosa, Carla Medina

Description: Aspiring musician Miguel, confronted with his family’s ancestral ban on music, enters the Land of the Dead to find his great-great-grandfather, a legendary singer.

Review: Leaving your childhood behind and with it your innocence, just a little bit different from the rest or the complex emotions of a teenager: you can't think of it like that or Pixar knows how to give it an original and especially emotional twist. The strength of the San Francisco-based animation studio is that they are able to turn the most complex subjects into a compelling adventure for the whole family and incorporate different layers.
One of the few certainties of life is death. A difficult task: an animated film about the end and the afterlife. In this mission by Lee Unkrich (“Toy Story 3”) and co-director Adrian Molina, it helps that not all cultures are equally gloomy about death.
In Mexico on Día de Muertos, they celebrate the return of the souls of the dead to earth. For outsiders a strange sensation, but for the Mexicans a part of their life and tradition.
The makers of Pixar's nineteenth feature film succeed in miraculously bridging cultural differences and sketching a universal story of twelve-year-old Miguel. He loves nothing more than making music, but has been banned by his family from producing a single note. Miguel's wheelchair-bound, ancient great-grandmother Coco can still remember the time when her mother lost all faith in love when Coco's father, a musician, left his family.
In the preperations to the Mexican holiday, Miguel visits the grave of the national music hero Ernesto de la Cruz, who was tragically crushed by a huge object during a famous performance and passed on. Miguel is firmly convinced that he is a descendant of the De la Cruz. As if by magic, the boy is sucked into the wondrous world of the dead together with dog Dante.
Pixar is known for its beautifully rounded stories where everything eventually falls into place. Especially in that area Coco is a bit disappointed. Because the bar of Pixar productions is so incredibly high and the sub-division of Disney by the finesse of the storylines head and shoulders above the competitors, the expectations are in advance sky-high. It's just a little less brilliant this time. There are several storylines you can go a long way in (Miguel gets a mission on his plate and comes into contact with dead but colorful characters and family members), but they are sloppy and in a hurry knotted together. Especially towards the end this colorful animation adventure gets a lot of trouble. For young viewers it will all be just a bit too fast and complicated.
Nevertheless, Pixar presents itself once again with an overwhelming visual palette in which you look your eyes out. Where death is a bleak depression in many animated films, in the vision of Unkrich and his people the necropolis where Miguel ends up is a large amusement park that is just as lively as the village where he usually finds himself among the living.
It is remarkable how Unkrich managed not to portray the Mexicans as a caricature. He may have turned on some local voices, including that of Gael García Bernal, but they don't turn on their possible accent boldly. Thank God we don't see siesta-loving lazybones with big sombreros and thick cigars.
Coco is a joy for the eye and a song of praise for family and the bond with the deceased souls. The cross-eyed dog Dante, whose tongue is constantly hanging out of his mouth and is not too bright, is reminiscent of the deranged chicken from “Moana”, but still forms an entertaining sidekick. The whole thing is also enlivened with catchy songs and a very talented young voice actor who has played the role of Miguel.
This may not be Pixar at its best, but it's still a great animated film.

Rating: 4 / 5

Some Random Wallpapers

I have made five new wallpapers, all with different people of movies in them. I'm on a role here, I have a lot of inspiration. I hope you like them.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt

The Notebook

Johnny Depp

The Motorcycle Diaries

Marlon Brando

Let me know what you think. And feel free to use them on your own computer.

Movie Tip #9 - The Motorcycle Diaries

Director: Walter Salles

Starring: Gael García Bernal, Rodrigo De la Serna

Description: "The Motorcycle Diaries" is an adaptation of a journal written by Ernesto "Che" Guevara de la Serna when he was 23 years old. He and his friend, Alberto Granado are typical college students who, seeking fun and adventure before graduation, decide to travel across Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia, and Venezuela in order to do their medical residency at a leper colony.

Review: Che Guevara was a very important man, who did a lot for the people. Even before he became a great leader, he did amazing things to help mankind. It's an inspiring story. You can see how this journey changed Ernesto and which in turn led him to try to change the world. So the tagline of the movie is perfect: 'Before he changed the world, the world changed him'. The acting in this film is first-class: Gael Garcia Bernal performs at his best; however it is Rodrigo de la Serna's performance the one that is simply outstanding; not only he represents Granado's as a funny, outgoing character, but he also highlights Gael's characterization of Guevara. This is a great movie, just watch it!