The worst race relations are reflected in “Mi America”

By GTVW Staff

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From Director/screenwriter Robert Fontaine inspired by true stories from around the country, Mi America delivers a harrowing narrative on the conflict between disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers. The film explores the circumstances surrounding a brutal hate crime that has upset the delicate balance of the small, ethnically diverse waterfront city of Braxton in upstate New York. Five Hispanic migrant labors are beaten, shot, then ditched near an abandoned warehouse, by the waterfront. The bodies are discovered six months later.

Rolando Ramirez (played by Fontaine) is a Hispanic-American Detective, and a longtime resident of this community) who has been assigned to this case by chance. Or was it fate? His journey will force him to question his own identity and beliefs on what it means to be a North American, and in turn, attempt to bring those who committed this crime to justice… His former best friends.

Violence against Latinos and the story told in Mi America is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. where the conflict of disenfranchised Americans and immigrant workers has resulted in tragedy. The immigration dilemma and debate continues to rage on as we enter the politically charged battlefield of the 2016 election and Latinos continue to be targeted. This timely and urgent drama offers a potent opportunity to take a closer look at a dire issue in the media.

Mi America offers an on-the-ground look at some of the reality of this conflict. Although this film is not just about a hate crime but about how residents of divided communities, certainly violence against Latinos is not unfamiliar to cities and towns across the U.S. The question is how politicians react when they are ratcheting up the anti-immigration rhetoric.

An electrifying “Truth”

By GTVW Staff

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Written and directed by James Vanderbilt TRUTH is based on the book “Truth and Duty” by Mary Mapes. In the vein of “All The President’s Men” and “The Insider”, it is the incredible true story of Mary Mapes (played by Cate Blanchet), an award-winning CBS News Journalist and Dan Rather’s producer, who broke the Abu-Ghraib prison abuse story, among others.

The film chronicles the story Mapes and Rather uncovered that a sitting US president may have been AWOL from the United States National Guard for over a year during the Vietnam War. When the story blew up in their face, the ensuing scandal ruined Dan Rather’s career, nearly changed a US Presidential election, and almost took down all of CBS News in the process. The “Rathergate” centered film is James Vanderbuilt’s directorial debut and also stars Cate Blanchett, Robert Redford, Topher Grace, Elisabeth Moss, and Dennis Quaid. Truth deals iwith real journalism  and legal ethics and main characters (Redford and Blanchet) shine in the twilight even the story sounds like an old script  where almost anyone at home could check the facts and documents the story fell apart and the ending might surprise more than one.

Historical martial arts tale in “The Assassin”

BY GTVW

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Set in ninth-century China, fuses political struggles and family grudges. The Assassin, his highly anticipated follow-up to 2007’s THE FLIGHT OF THE RED BALLOON. A visually arresting take on traditional wuxia films lensed by frequent collaborator Mark Lee Ping Bing (FLOWERS OF SHANGHAI, IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE, RENOIR) and in Hou’s meticulously composed signature style, and was awarded the Best Director prize.

Nie Yinniang (Shu Qi) is a young woman who, as a child, was abducted from a decorated general and then raised by a nun who trained her in the martial arts. After 13 years of exile, she is now a formidable assassin returning to her home province of Weibo with orders to kill Tian Ji’an (Chang Cheen), Weibo’s governor, to whom she was once betrothed. She must confront her parents, her memories and her long-repressed feelings: will she chose to sacrifice the man she loved or will she break forever with the sacred way of the righteous assassins? Rich with shimmering, breathing texture and punctuated by brief but unforgettable bursts of action, THE ASSASSIN is a martial arts film like none made before it.

A film full of passion with characters that really make you feel action though it plays out in near silence, with costumes and cinematography by Hou’s longtime director of photography Mark Lee Ping Bing with the best outdoors, soundstages and scenes very well structured for each part of the story.

Experimenter is not enough disturbing

By GTVW Staff

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Yale University, 1961. Stanley Milgram (Peter Sarsgaard) designs a psychology experiment that still resonates to this day, in which people think they’re delivering painful electric shocks to an affable stranger (Jim Gaffigan) strapped into a chair in another room. Despite his pleads for mercy, the majority of subjects don’t stop the experiment, administering what they think is a near-fatal electric shock, simply because they’ve been told to do so. With Nazi Adolf Eichmann’s trial airing in living rooms across America, Milgram strikes a nerve in popular culture and the scientific community with his exploration into people’s tendency to comply with authority. Celebrated in some circles, he is also accused of being a deceptive, manipulative monster, but his wife Sasha (Winona Ryder) stands by him through it all.

“The Wine of Summer” will make you to be thirsty

By GTVW Staff

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From director and writer Maria Matteoli, The Wine of Summer will give stand-out performances in each character. James (Ethan Peck), at the age of 27, quits his law career in pursuit of his childhood dream of becoming an actor. While studying acting under the tutelage of Shelley (Marcia Gay Harden), he becomes engrossed in Carlo Lucchesi’s play, Tinto de Verano, which is set in Spain. James’ girlfriend Brit (Kelsey Chow) leaves him, and he spontaneously flies to Spain, where he encounters the misanthropic playwright Lucchesi (Bob E. Wells) at a bookstore in Barcelona. Lucchesi is in a relationship with a much younger woman, Veronica (Elsa Pataky), but still nurtures an old love for his long lost muse, Eliza (Sonia Braga), a novelist, who happens to be visiting her son, Nico (Nicholas Dominic Talvola) a trumpet player who also lives in Barcelona. In the golden backdrop of Spain. Even frustration is one of the main subjects of the film, characters find their fates intertwined and Sonia Braga is amazing in her role. A great film for relaxing in a comfortable coach.

The best heroes are martians in “The Martian”

By GTVW staff

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From Director Ridley Scott and based on a best seller by Andy Weir, this film has a special mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) is presumed dead after a fierce storm and left behind by his crew. But Watney has survived and finds himself stranded and alone on the hostile planet. With only meager supplies, he must draw upon his ingenuity, wit and spirit to subsist and find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive. Millions of miles away, NASA and a team of international scientists work tirelessly to bring “the Martian” home, while his crewmates concurrently plot a daring, if not impossible rescue mission. As these stories of incredible bravery unfold, the world comes together to root for Watney’s safe return. With great performance of Matt Damon and great charisma of cast that includes Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara, Michael Pena, Jeff Daniels, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Donald Glover.

Definitely is a well structured film related to science and human perseverance. It is highly recommended it, even if you’re not so into sci-fi and the story does it justice.

Never forget the worst part of the history in Latin America with Olvidados (Forgotten)

By GTVW staff

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Directed by Mexico’s Carlos Bolado and starring Damián Alcázar, and produced by Carla Ortiz, a Bolivian actress and humanitarian known for her roles in Los Andes No Creen en Dios and The Man Who Shook The Hand of Vicente Fernández, her first film is an epic, historical feature that tackles the dark past of Latin America under military dictatorships in the 70s.

Olvidados follows retired General José Mendieta (Alcázar), who after suffering a heart attack, is haunted by his dark past as an officer in Operation Condor, the CIA-backed campaign of political repression in Latin America that was responsible for executions, torture, and imprisonments in the 1970’s. It is estimated that over 400,000 people were imprisoned and 30,000 forcibly disappeared as a result of these government actions.

In a letter to his son Pablo (Bernardo Peña), Mendieta confesses the role he played in the abduction, persecution, and execution of countless men and women during his posting to Chile. Journalist Marco (Carlotto Cotta) and his pregnant wife Luciá (Carla Ortiz) are among those who were arrested, along with their activist friend Antonio (Tomás Fonzi) and revolutionary Andrea (Ana Calentano). They suffer terribly under Mendieta and his cohort Sanera (Rafael Ferro), which leads to a cascade of betrayals, secrets, and more. Definitely the visceral terror of torture so powerfully with renowned actors from five countries appear in this international production, which specifically address the horrors perpetrated under Operation Condor, a CIA-backed plan introduced by Richard Nixon’s Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, which was responsible for: 50,000 killed; 30,000 “disappeared”; and 400,000 arrested and imprisoned in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, and Uruguay.

Definitely, you will feel the real suffering of Mendieta’s persecution of a journalist, his pregnant wife, and their revolutionary friend in the midst of growing social unrest.

Maurice Pialat shines with 5 classics

By GTVW Staff

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For all fans of independent films,  5 Classics by Maurice Pialat will come as one of the best collections that will be played in Los Angeles from September 25 to October 1 at the Laemmle Royal Movie Theater (11523 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Los Angeles, California 90025).  The iconoclastic French auteur, called “the French Cassavetes,” created films that were, in the words of Film Comment’s Kent Jones “all about the shock—startling, violent, eternally and teasingly promising—of being alive.”

This collection of masterworks includes 1987’s Cannes Palme d’Or winner, “Under the Sun of Satan,” with Gérard Depardieu and Sandrine Bonnaire, “Loulou,” a tale of tortured love with Isabelle Huppert and Depardieu, “Van Gogh,” a chronicle of the last days of the artist, family drama “The Mouth Agape,” with Nathalie Baye, and the slice-of-life film about teenagers in suburban France “Graduate First.”

 “Loulou” will be a masterpiece of subtlety and eroticism

During 117 min, you will discover to Nelly who meets Loulou, a down-and-out young man. After her husband kicks her out, she goes off to live with Loulou. She is soon with child, but Loulou doesn’t change his wayward life, spending time with his pals and pulling off small-time robberies. Deeply hurt by his attitude, Nelly decides not to keep the baby. With a great cast such Isabelle Huppert, Gérard Depardieu, Guy Marchand,  Humbert Baln, Bernard Tronczyk, Christian Boucher, Frédérique Cerbonnet. Gerard Depardieu and Isabelle Huppert reflect their job as the sexiest couple in the history of the cinema.

 “Van Gogh” painted his own life

Cast:  During 158 min. Vincent Van Gogh settles in Auvers-sur-Oise, in the home of Doctor Gachet, an art lover and patron. Vincent keeps painting amidst the conflict with his brother, Theo, and the torments of his failing mental health. He has an affair with Marguerite, his host’s daughter. However, she soon realizes that he doesn’t love her and that his heart beats only for his art.

Definitely, a well structured film full of good scenes with an interesting plot, intelligence and acted with earnest conviction with an experienced cast such Jacques Dutronc, Alexandra London, Gérard Séty, Bernard LeCoq, Corinne Bourdon, Elisa Zylberstein, Leslie Azzoulai.

When cancer gets suffering of a French family in “The Mouth Agape”

During 1h 22m, the viewer will experience pain and suffering after cancer strikes the mother of the family in this French film, everyone in the family expresses a previously invisible caring and tolerance of the others. The father has always been a bit of a drunk, and is forever chasing younger women. Despite that, he and his wife care for each other, and he tends attentively to her in her last days while remaining unchanged in character. The son and daughter-in-law, whose marriage is somewhat sterile, have similarly penetrating interactions with the dying mother. Full of dramatic scenes with a great cast as Nathalie Baye, Philippe Leotard. Definitely, a heartbroken film full of emotions, tolerance and deep feelings strengthened.

Deep feelings of particular teenagers in “Graduate First”

During 85 min in a town in northern France, teenagers sitting for the baccalaureate await the fateful date with anxiety tempered with indifference. The past year has been the scene of their conflicts with adults and teachers alike who consider the exam as the highway to employment. The disillusioned teenagers played by  Sabine Haudepin, Philippe Marlaud, Annick Alane, Michel Caron, all of them will see it more as the dead-end street to unemployment. These teenagers will experience the real labor life, including sacrifice and suffering in a new and modern society.

Controversy in “Under the sun of Satan”

During 100 min, Donissan, a mediocre seminarian, haunted by Evil and the failure of his divine mission, mortifies his body and is unable to establish any rapport with his parishioners. Until the day the abbot meets young Mouchette, who has just committed a mortal sin. Based on Georges Bernanos’s novel, the viewers will enjoy pure drama in each scene. Definitely this great cast Gérard Depardieu, Sandrine Bonnaire, Maurice Pialat, Alain Artur, Yann Dedetmade an excellent performance in each character.

More action at home with Furious 7 Blu-ray

By GTVW Staff

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Continuing the global exploits in the unstoppable franchise built on speed, Vin Diesel, Paul Walker and Dwayne Johnson lead the returning cast under director James Wan in Furious 7. Furious 7 took in a massive $1.51 billion at the worldwide box office, making it one of the top grossing films of the year. Now you will have a great Combo Blu-ray since September 15, 2015. A new, revenge-minded enemy named Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham) has his sights set on Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew. But action is the furthest thing from their minds. Dom is working hard to rebuild his relationship with Letty (Michelle Rodriguez), who has lost her memory. Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) has traded in his street racer for a minivan and is living life as a father with his son Jack (Miller and Charlie Kimsey) and girlfriend Mia (Jordana Brewster).

The film’s screenwriter, Chris Morgan, revealed that he’d decided to make Paul Walker’s character exit more of a retirement during Furious 7.

With great audio in English: DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1, Spanish: DTS 5.1 and French (Canada): DTS 5.1 and subtitles in English SDH, French and Spanish. Your collection will be completed with 50GB Blu-ray Disc in two-disc set (1 BD, 1 DVD) with many settings as UV digital copy, iTunes digital copy, Digital copy and DVD copy. Definitely, a film that worth in passion for action films.

When a good runner becomes part of “Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”

By GTVW Staff

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From director Wes Ball and producers Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Wyck Godfrey, Marty Bowen, Lee Stollman, Joe Hartwick, Jr. with a well structured screenplay by T.S. Nowlin, based upon the novel “The Scorch Trials” by James Dashner.

“Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials”Is the next chapter of the epic “Maze Runner” saga, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers face their greatest challenge yet: searching for clues about the mysterious and powerful organization known as WCKD.  Their journey takes them to the Scorch, a desolate landscape filled with unimaginable obstacles. Teaming up with resistance fighters, the Gladers take on WCKD’s vastly superior forces and uncover its shocking plans for them all.

From the best, young and talented cast such Dylan O’Brien, Kaya Scodelario, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Giancarlo Esposito, Aidan Gillen, Barry Pepper, Lili Taylor, and Patricia Clarkson, this film contextualizes the motive behind the bad guys and how this young victims fight in order to keep their lives. This film is full of exciting and good action scenes which the ending to this one will make you want to see the next side of the story in a new coming film.