film"
Great opening and movie experience at Arclight Theaters, Santa Monica
By Alfonso De Elías
Photos Agency& courtesy Arclight
These theaters had a great opening the last Friday 20th and were the best completely upgraded/updated, wide, comfortable seats that recline, clean and have a convenient movie theater which parking lot is really easy to get there (huge structure right next to theater, you always have to go 3-4 floors up, but close elevator in the structure drops you 30 seconds from the theater. They have a great big lobby; the best part is that there are no endless commercials to set through before the trailers begin. As a viewer I suggest to get the fresh caramel popcorn.
Love in the sand would be part of “Sand Dollars”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
Directed by Laura Amelia Guzmán and Israel Cárdenas, “Sand Dollars” (Dólares de Arena) is a great art-house romance starring legendary film actress Geraldine Chaplin (Talk to Her.
In this powerful and haunting ending, an older European woman becomes captivated with a young Dominican woman struggling to make ends meet. Every afternoon Noelí (played by Yanet Mojica), goes to the beaches at Las Terrenas with her boyfriend to look for ways to make a living at the expense of one of the many tourists that wander the beach. As people parade through her life, Noelí has a steady client; Anne, a mature French woman who, as time goes by, has found an ideal refuge on the island to spend her last years. When Noeli’s boyfriend feigns to be her brother, he outlines a plan in which Noelí travels to Paris with the old lady and sends him money every month. For Noelí, the relationship with Anne is one of convenience, but the feelings become more intense as the departure date closes in. Definitely, is a film that shows lack of economic, ethnic, cultural, and gender power in any relationships. Built on the premise that one’s mate is determined by destiny and the belief that even choice cannot override intense attraction but is intense in feelings and damage in a love storm.
Although this a film full of physical jeopardy, all the characters are superb because they really reflect drama and anguish for their lives.
The best spirit of a friendship in “The Peanuts Movie”
By J. Alvarez
Photos Alfonso De Elias
From director Steve Martino and Screenplay by Craig Schulz, Bryan Schulz, Cornelius Uliano, based upon the comic strip by Charles M. Schulz; Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus and the rest of the beloved “Peanuts” gang make their big-screen debut, like they’ve never been seen before, in state of the art 3D animation. Charlie Brown, the world’s most beloved underdog, embarks upon an epic and heroic quest, while his best pal, the lovable beagle Snoopy, takes to the skies to pursue his arch-nemesis, the Red Baron. You will enjoy one of the best new tales made in 3D directly from the imagination of Charles M. Schulz with a music score it is really good with high humor sense and smart jokes. Charlie Brown and Snoopy are the best friends as usual and the main subjects like Never Give Up and be yourself make it delightful. The cast is very impressive Noah Schnapp, Mariel Sheets, Alexander Garfin, Hadley Miller and more are very well structured and have good guide about intonations and emotions. The most important message is that any child deserves the right of living a good life full of adventures combined with a fantasy world with certain realism.
“Jurassic World” is considered the best summer blockbuster
By J. Alvarez
Photos Agency & Alfonso De Elias
Any viewer might have memorable moments in the whole movie, and one of the highlighted is when you see for first time the T-Rex escape or memorable kills. Now is possible in “Jurassic World” 3D and the Jurassic World 3D Blu-ray release. With a great cast such Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Irrfan Khan, Nick Robinson. You will enjoy this film full of features included English Master Audio in English, Spanish and French and English Dolby Digital with some deleted scenes and subtitles with the same languages.
22 years after the original Jurassic Park failed, the new park (also known as Jurassic World) is open for business. After years of studying genetics the scientists on the park genetically engineer a new breed of dinosaur, a genetically modified giant stealth killing machine–escapes containment and goes on a killing spree.
A film full of worthy dialogues and scenes which main message is “Don’t mess with Mother Nature, or the past.” From director Colin Trevorrow. Screenplay, Rick Jaffa, Amanda Silver, Derek Connolly, Trevorrow; story, Jaffa, Silver, based on characters created by Michael Crichton. “Jurassic World” promises to make a difference even many have not considered one of the best. However, it was a solid little thrill show and entertaining, it is. A formulaic and totally predictable film with good visual effects that you can see them more than once and then move on.
“Southpaw” is synonym of hope
By Jenny Alvarez
Photos Agency
One of the best roles of Jake Gyllenhaal who plays Billy Hope during 124 min., in a perfect story where hope turns to trainer Tick Willis to help him get his life back on track after losing his wife in a tragic accident and his daughter to child protection services. The tragedy marks his life centered around a champion prize fighter and all the things related to the ring. Definitely a heartbreaking and emotional film where director Antoine Fuqua (TRAINING DAY) and screenwriters Kurt Sutter (“Sons of Anarchy) and Richard Wenk (THE MECHANIC), reflect the strength of the human being. This boxing melodrama must be part of your Blu-ray collection with this great cast such Jake Gyllenhaal, Rachel McAdams, Oona Laurence and more. As viewer you can enjoy it in English and Spanish Dolby Digital with English and Spanish subtitles.
The worst race relations are reflected in “Mi America”
By GTVW Staff
Photos Agency
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
Photos Agency
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
Photos Agency
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.
