MOVIES

The American seals show their bravery in “Act of Valor”

By Jenny Alvarez

Photos By Alfonso De Elias.

When a mission to recover a kidnapped CIA operative unexpectedly results in the discovery of an imminent, terrifying global threat, an elite team of highly trained Navy Seals must immediately embark on a heart-stopping secret operation, the outcome of which will determine the fate of us all.

This movie gives you an idea what the movie was about. Truely inspiring especially in all the roles of each character has in the plot. The abundance of evil people everywhere assures there will always be a need for brave, and dedicated warriors prepared to give their last full measure to defend that freedom! Even they speak fast sometimes with some war terms they’re still risking their lives, in order to protect innocent people of possible facts that affects USA.

A simple tale in “The Hidden Blade”

By Jenny Alvarez

Photo Courtesy

From director Yamada Yoji (The Twilight Samurai) comes The Hidden Blade (a.k.a. Kakushi Ken Oni no Tsume) is the epic tale of a samurai raised to respect tradition and a demanding moral code. After a political coup fails he is ordered to prove his innocence by finding and killing a former friend, samurai and brilliant swordsman. He secretly enlists the help of their former master who entrusted him with the secret of The Hidden Blade. Now he must choose between duty and honor.

Definitely, is a Yamada’s delicate drama with swordplay with the mythic ideal of the samurai culture so in the main characters with their personalities reflect bravery and loyalty in themes of evolution and change and how it affected the traditional Japanese lifestyle while also learning new military strategies, particularly the mastery of Western artillery, during the mid-19th Century. Munezo (Masatoshi Nagase) also has a personal complication. He is secretly in love–so secretly, he may not even admit it to himself–with his family’s maid, the sweet and beautiful country girl, Kie (Takako Matsu). His passion leads him to rescue her from a loveless marriage after she leaves his household; the samurai even shocks propriety by carrying away the low-caste young woman on his back. The cast is impressive Masatoshi Nagase, Takako Matsu and Hidetaka Yoshioka are the most talented actors in this genre. Many takes are full of action so this movie is one of those that are worth watching so you can get it on June 19^th in DVD and blu-ray with Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 5.1, Cantonese: Dolby Digital 2.0 with subtitles in Mandarin (Traditional), English and Spanish.

Everyone has a different gift in “Crooked Arrows”

By Jenny Alvarez

Photo Courtesy

A mixed-blood Native American, Joe Logan, eager to modernize his reservation, must first prove himself to his father, the traditionalist Tribal Chairman, by rediscovering his spirit. He is tasked with coaching the reservation’s high school lacrosse team which competes against the better equipped and better trained players of the elite Prep School League. Joe inspires the Native American boys and teaches them the true meaning of tribal pride. Ignited by their heritage and believing in their new-found potential, coach and team climb an uphill battle to the state championship finals against their privileged prep school rivals.

Obviously is a movie with a predictable plot, but it works because the action sequences are engaging enough for novices to the sport and authentic enough to satisfy the true believers. Kids and teens will learn about Native American culture, including the fact that Native Americans invented lacrosse especially where the Native American heritage is examined in modern times. In general terms, is a family-friendly entertainment and the filmmakers had the good sense to cast real lacrosse players.

Directed by Steve Rash (American Pie Presents Band Camp), Crooked Arrows stars Brandon Routh (Superman Returns) and Gil Birmingham (Twilight).  The film was produced by J. Todd Harris (The Kids Are All Right), Mitchell Peck (Priest), and Adam Leff (The Last Action Hero).  In addition, the movie features top lacrosse players from around the country, including a team » It is open in limited release on June 1^st in NY and LA.

Would you like to have a Cellmate in case of being a prisoner?

By Jenny Álvarez

Photo Cortesy

Set in 1970s Texas, Cellmates tells the story of hardened Ku Klux Klansman, Leroy Lowe (Tom Sizemore), who has risen through the ranks to be crowned ‘Grand Dragon’ of the State of Texas.  Unfortunately for him, the government has started cracking down on the organization’s activities and it isn’t long before Leroy is sent to the Low Lee Tuna Prison Work Farm to serve time…harvesting potatoes.  Worlds quickly collide when farm owner Warden Merville (Stacy Keach) forces Leroy to share a prison cell with eccentric Mexican field laborer Emilio Ortiz (Hector Jimenez) as part of his penitence. None too happy with the arrangement, Leroy sets out to make things very difficult for Emilio in the cramped quarters, but Emilio’s chatty disposition slowly chips away at Leroy’s gruff exterior. When an unlikely friendship develops, Leroy comes to realize how his ignorant past has distorted his view of the world, and what he must now do to make things right.

An offbeat comedy with heart, Cellmates is co-written, directed and produced by Jesse Baget.  The film stars veteran actors Tom Sizemore and Stacy Keach; Mexican actors Hector Jimenez and Olga Segura; and a special appearance by comedic actor Kevin Farley. This movie is a comedy with satirical humor related to race relations in this country. But the real fun here comes from Stacy Keach as a warden who tries (and fails) to instill a mania for potato farming on his highly skeptical prisoners or when Leroy falls in love and his cellmate serves as the translator for an illicit exchange of love letters. This could easily have come off as far too silly, but in the context of the tone of the film — it all works very nicely. Definitely this movie will make you smile and fans of good movies will receive it with enthusiastic applause. This movie opens in limited release on June 1^st.

A Japanese movie comes with "The Secret World of Arrietty''

Reviewed by Jenny Alvarez

Photo courtesy

 A great storytelling comes with  a teeny-size 14-year-old girl who lives with her family beneath the ­floorboards of a big house and the human-size boy who befriends her, is adapted from British author Mary Norton’s wonderful ­children’s fantasy novels, The Borrowers. The lyrical animation, with its meditative attention to nature, bears the unique stamp of Japan’s Studio Ghibli, cofounded by the great ­Spirited Away animator Hayao Miyazaki.

“Polisse” will not disturb the Parisian Child Protection

Reviewed by Jenny Alvarez

Photo: Courtesy

The daily grind for the cops of the Police Department’s Juvenile Protection Unit (Riccardo Scamarcio, Marina Foïs, Maïwenn Le Besco, joey starr) taking in child molesters, busting underage pickpockets and chewing over relationship issues at lunch; interrogating abusive parents, taking statements from children, confronting the excesses of teen sexuality, enjoying solidarity with colleagues and laughing uncontrollably at the most unthinkable moments. Knowing the worst exists and living with it!

There are interesting ideas in the main dialogue with disturbing content, this movie reflects French drama about a courageous team of men and women in a Parisian Child Protection Unit. However, every sequence has a great intensity, which has the paradoxical effect of lessening the overall oomph. Many real social facts are part in each case that this team has to face such as: rape, sexual abuse, child endangerment, underage prostitution and even a boy who’s put up for sale. Sometimes the infamy is the bureaucracy itself, which can’t be roused to protect the vulnerable.

Simple solutions often elude these cops, who work the multiethnic, relatively downscale neighborhoods of northeast Paris. Most of the victims are hopeless especially infants and some of these officers develop work relationships that are more intense than others.

Fred, the group’s hypersensitive wild card, is going to have a hard time facing the scrutiny of Melissa, a photographer on a Ministry of the Interior assignment to document the unit. Even there are some shocking moments, especially with the crimes mentioned here would seem horrific to anyone with a pulse, but it’s all the more disturbing on the real life happens so is highly recommended. This movie opens in limited release on May 18^th

Real people in real situations in Where Do We Go Now?

By GalaTView Staff

Photos Courtesy

Set in a remote village where the church and the mosque stand side by side, Where Do We Go Now? follows the antics of the town’s women to keep their blowhard men from starting a religious war. Women heartsick over sons, husbands and fathers lost to previous flare-ups unite to distract their men with clever ruses, from faking a miracle to hiring a troop of Ukrainian strippers.

Many sons, fathers, and husbands died, and now the women are despondent having buried their loved ones. In an effort to quell the tensions that are beginning to rise, the town’s female population bands together to not just outsmart the men, but – better yet – to keep the peace between the religions. They distract the men with creative ruses – everything from faking a miracle (one of the funniest scenes in the film) to hiring a troupe of cute Ukrainian belly dancers. This movie also includes racial, religious and political tensions well treated especially with humourous and loving ladies have proved to be the true heroines of this hard-hitting film.

A comedy-drama in Girl in Progress

Review by Jenny Alvarez

Photo By Alfonso de Elias.

Eva Mendes plays Grace, a single mother working two jobs who has no time to help her daughter grow up. She is too busy juggling work, bills, and the very married Dr. Harford, to give her daughter, Ansiedad (Cierra Ramirez) the attention she desperately needs. When Ansiedad’s English teacher, Ms. Armstrong, introduces her students to classic coming-of-age stories, Ansiedad is inspired to skip adolescence and jump-start her life without mom. While Grace becomes preoccupied with the increasing affections of her co-worker, Mission Impossible (Eugenio Derbez), Ansiedad enlists the help of her loyal friend, Tavita, to plot her shortcut to “adulthood”. But as her misguided plan unravels, Ansiedad and Grace must learn that sometimes growing-up means acting your age.

This movie is something you don’t see every day, She is a parent with good intentions that fails to exhibit good behavior. Ansiedad researches adolescent rites of passage and maps them out on her bulletin board, planning to demonstrate potential and blow it and infiltrate the popular crowd and betray her best friend and lose her virginity in the course of a couple weeks.

You will be “Safe” with Jason Statham

Review by Jenny Alvarez

Photo Courtesy

A second-rate cage fighter on the mixed martial arts circuit, Luke Wright lives a numbing life of routine beatings and chump change… until the day he blows a rigged fight. Wanting to make an example of him, the Russian Mafia murders his family and banishes him from his life forever, leaving Luke to wander the streets of New York destitute, haunted by guilt, and tormented by the knowledge that he will always be watched, and anyone he develops a relationship with will also be killed. But when he witnesses a frightened twelve-year-old Chinese girl, Mei, being pursued by the same gangsters who killed his wife, Luke impulsively jumps to action… and straight into the heart of a deadly high-stakes war

Safe does a smart job of playing to Statham’s strengths in its action sequences. This movie is full of predictable scenes with few gunfights.

Luke (Jason Statham) is a brave man who faces all Russian gangsters who kidnapped Mei (Catherine Chan). Both Statham and Chan work really well together. Then you consider the many political implications. We eventually meet the slimy mayor (Chris Sarandon), who of course is involved because this thing goes all the way to the top, and the cops (including Robert John Burke as the Captain) who resent Luke for ratting them out for their corrupt behavior years ago. The only bad point for this movie is when Mei is involved in many blood and bullets scenes but Jason Statham makes this movie worthy of the full range of his talent and everybody ought to be good at something, and when it comes to this kind of thing, Statham is very good, indeed. This is released on April 27^th in many American movie theaters.

A dog will become in your "Darling Companion"

By Jenny Álvarez

Photo Alfonso De Elías.

This movie will be launched on April 20^th. On the side of a busy freeway, a woman finds the love, devotion, commitment, and courage she needs – all wrapped up in a bloodied stray dog who becomes her ‘darling companion.’ When the beloved canine goes missing, a shaggy-dog search adventure plays out, drawing together friends and family and rekindling a lifelong love. It will be especially meaningful to anyone who has been part of a family. In general the cast is really good mainly the acting is perfect-Beth (Diane Keaton) is at her mature best. When Joseph (Kevin Kline) becomes distracted by a phone call during a walk with Freeway, the dog disappears. Furious, is the best part due Beth is emotionally all over the place, inexplicably rueful of Joseph, and has an irrational fixation on Freeway. This movie isn’t about men and women, it’s about believability. Kline comes off as a stand-up guy that simply has little patience for odd behavior.

Although titled Darling Companion this is by no means a “Dog Movie”. Ultimately it is about relationships in a fairly idealistic American family that only some of which are interesting. For those that are not huge fans of love stories especially ones that seem to be on the sad side because those to me are not easy to watch. However, if it was a film based on humor and love and as a viewer you would really enjoy it.