The Pop Culture of Gus Lequerica

I know this movie shouldn’t be here because it appeared only four years ago in the anthology series Masters of Horror but it’s a really awesome post-apocalyptic zombie movie without being thrown in the George Romero blood thirsty undead. The Dance of the Dead story was written by author Richard Matheson and it didn’t differed from the television adaption made by his son Richard Christian Matheson which the setting of the story is in a middle class nowhere town where Peggy a 17 years old live with her mother Kate after the world was savaged by the effect of a biochemical agent known as Blizz. Peggy is almost unaware of what’s happening in the world because her mother tried to protect her from reality.

The world changed in the past 20 years (as there are references that 2008 was a long time ago) World War 3 killed much of the population, the youth of America is revolting, and there is a strange chemical called Blizz who goes in the rain and whoever Blizz reach it kills the living being almost instantly by burning him to death but there are some side effects produced by Blizz, even if will kill the person it can let the body moving independently from the soul of the individual. Peggy (Jessica Lowndes from 90210 ) lives with her mother Kate(Marilyn Norry from The L World) in a small suburb, they lost their sister Anna and their father under strange circumstances. One day Peggy meet a trio of bikers who are seems to be in a strange business with a shady M.C. (Robert Englund) who is dealing a business in a near town called Meskite where people go to his club called the Doom Room to see a strange show involving dancing corpses who once where victims of the Blizz.

The made for television movie can be found in any video store by a really low price and it’s really worth of watching because it tells a story without relying on heavy special effects but with a great story and some pretty neat talent.

The sequel of Twilight and second movie in the series “New Moon” is a little bit different than the first one directed by Catherine Hardwicke as Catherine took a more romantic approach in the narrative of the movie than Chris Weitz (the new director) who in New Moon moved Catherine’s point of view of the Stephenie Meyer’s books to a more Harry Potter environment to appeal more on the teenagers market in terms of visual aspect as well dialogues but that doesn’t mean the movie is bad.

As in the books the movie takes where the first movie left, on her 18th birthday the Cullens throw a birthday celebration to Bella, everything goes smoothly until Bella paper cuts with one of the presents she receive and the smell of her blood make Jasper overstimulated and he tries to kill Bella because of the smell of her blood. In order to protect Bella, the Cullens decide to move from Fork without any warning to Bella, which leaves Bella depressed and heartbroken because her boyfriend is gone. Soon Bella relearns to enjoy her time alone and learns a couple of new hobbies but she feels the loneliness that Edward left in her heart but doing those thrill hobbies let her to hear Edward voice in her head. Months pass and Bella finds comfort in Jacob Black who slowly ease the pain and void that Edward left but there is a secret that Bella finds out about Jacob really soon that he and his friends are a pack of werewolves who are protecting Bella from Laurent and Victoria due the events of Twilight.

Even with the changes in the narrative dynamics the movie still has many of the romantic elements saw in the first one but those elements that were present in the first movie in a sub-context are in New Moon in a major context taking out the elements of a supernatural thriller into something more melodramatic such as a supernatural romance movie. There sometimes that the screenplay tends to be rather weak and slow making a patience game to the viewer so he or she can know how the movie will end.

The movie itself isn’t disappointing, it’s quite enjoyable to be light and don’t expect a masterpiece of the seventh art as the reason is New Moon is a movie aimed to teenagers and not adults but also if you are a fan don’t expect the same quality that was observed in the first movie because the work of Catherine Hardwicke to take to a new level the Twilight books isn’t there anymore but overall is worth to spend a couple of extra bucks and have a really nice time to go and watch this movie.

The Twilight Saga newest movie broke the midnight record previously established by Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince by achieving US$26.27 Mill and Harry Potter had only US$22.2 Mill showing the movie at midnight of Friday but it has to be seen if New Moon can beat in general to the sequel of Batman: Begins “The Dark Knight” which had US$67.2 Mills on his first day in general but it had only US$18 Mills on the first night at 3.040 theaters opposite to New Moon which opened at 3.514 theaters which maybe can explain why it broke the record in theory, because it opened in more theaters than Harry Potter and Batman: The Dark Knight.

The screenings of Twilight 2 will increase during the weekends to 4.000 theaters which will double the amount of screens that it will be shown up to 8.000 movies approximately.

So another disaster movie by none other than Roland Emerich the same man who brought up many disaster movies such as Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow which both movies have the same ending as this one, a pan scan of Earth to show how much it has changed in some way or another.

As many of his movies there is the same premise where a man foreshadows the end of the world and nobody pay attention to what he said only that he was right in the end, that’s basically the synopsis of this movie which is not good in terms of narrative but is amazing in terms of special effects as they are more elaborate than Independence Day and The Day After Tomorrow and those effects make the movie enjoyable at certain degree because you will get away from the lack of narrative and personality that the characters don’t have.

After watching 2012 it makes me think why all the modern disaster movies follow the same formula at certain degree with maybe the exception of Armageddon which was a little bit different in the visual premises of the destruction of the world. As many disaster movies they show an accelerated rhythm of the destruction of the Earth which occurs in less than 72 hours even so far when science has predicted in many scenarios that will take more than a millennium to happen and even if the Proton Synchrotron malfunctions it will take more than a decade to generate a big catastrophe; probably the only apocalyptic scenario is with a meteorite crash but the odds are so low that it probably won’t happen until a very long time.

The given score to the movie is a 2 over 5 stars for one simple reason it lacks of originality; avoid watching this one because you will be watching a spiritual remake of The Day After Tomorrow or Deep Impact (not the porno) and if you want to watch something that will creep you out because the possibilities of the Impact Event aren’t that far away in this chaotic universe watch the special on the Discovery Channel about the doomsday.

I don’t know why people say this movie is scary, I didn’t jumped from my seat not a single time but probably the reason I don’t find this movies scary it’s because I lived in a much frighting reality where my enemies weren’t invisible threads such as poltergeist or ghost but rather psychopaths and armored killers much like Ichi the Killer which they can kill somebody without remorse or with the minimum hesitation.

At least opposite to the Blair Witch this movie didn’t had strange camera moves that didn’t made feel sick by watching the movie but opposite to the 2012 I didn’t get bored by watching this one. The premise of this movie reminds me a lot of REC which was released in the same year this movie was filmed (2007) where a group of people face a paranormal entity that kills them at the end. Big deal and what a premise, maybe the American horror producers should learn a little bit of the Jhorror, Khorror and Spanish horror cinema to create their own ideas instead of trying to emulate them but maybe they have run out of any fresh ideas because after many sequels and remakes that are on the go the scream cinema is basically the same and don’t say that Hostel is original just check the Asian Guinea Pig series specially the number one movie of the franchise which bears many resembles to Hostel and it was released almost 20 years prior Hostel.

The given score to this movie is a 3.5 over 5, even if don’t show something really scary at least is really enjoyable and the acting is completly credible and I can assure you will go out with a smile after the film ends.

It seems that Chris Pine will be teaming with director D.J. Caruso to an adaptation of the book “The Art of Making Money” a book by Jason Kersten about the life of American counterfeiter Arthur Williams. According to Variety, the movie will be released in an unspecific date next year (2010).

The script will be written by Frank Baldwin who has no relation to any other famous Baldwin, not even to Adam Baldwin or to the Baldwin brothers.

The story seems to be a biopic about Arthur Williams and how he counter-fitted the One Hundred Dollar and how he forged several bills so detailed that it was impossible to distinguish the fake ones between the originals; according to Variety there is not much information about the project nor if Chris Pine will be playing Arthur Williams in the biopic or another central character. 

Wow! (uni)multifaceted actor, producer and action icon Keanu Reeves is going to do comedy and not any kind of comedy but romantic comedy, I guess when your career is on the rocks there is nothing better to do than a romantic comedy to see if you can boost it. Keanu’s new project is Henry’s Crime a co-project co produced by Keanu’s production company Company Film and produced by Stephen Hammel; the film was written by Sacha Gervasi (not relation to Rick Gervais but related to Ginger Spice because they have a love child). The story premise is that Keanu is a lovable man who is framed and blamed for robbing a bank in Buffalo, New York.

What happened to the serious actor and action hero that was loved by many people? I don’t know but I truly miss Keanu in a more action oriented role or a more dramatic role like the Lake House, maybe it’s true his career is crumbling after the Matrix era and when you need to pay the bills you have to do anything… that movie smells so far like a box office bomb. 

I cannot believe that the fourth movie of this dying franchise revitalized the franchise completly and according to the firm Exhibitor Relations the film is head to head with Rob Zombie Halloween 2. So far this is one of the films of the Final Destination series that has topped number one in the box office even surpassing the previous installment Final Destination 3 and has reached US$28.3 million dollars in just two days. How a movie that has used the same formula over and over has reached US$28.3 million dollars in just one weekend it’s impossible to know because in many horror/ gore fan circles the fans despise the Final Destination movies because they lack of originality.

It’s amazing to think that this movie who hasn’t revolutionized the horror/ supernatural genre has reached that quantity of money in just 48 hours but maybe fans and movie goers aren’t expecting too much of the horror cinema lately and they just want to go to something that they don’t have to think too much as the reason is much of the Final Destination movies aren’t original like the 70’s, 80’s and Gallo movies as the new producers and writers they just want to shock people with a few gore and blood shows instead of making them think about the modus operandi of the killer even if the killer is Death herself. These developers aren’t masters of horror they are just amateurs with a big budget. 

Final Destination 4th dethroned Inglorious Basterd that opened last weekend by just 8 million dollar but so far not worldwide because the movie of Quentin Tarantino has grossed US$70 millions world wide. Halloween 2 is in 3d place by US$17 million dollars, followed by District 9 which has grossed US$10.7 million dollars and in fifth place G.I. Joe which has earned US$ 8 million dollars (truly a ticket bomb). My score 2 over 5 stars I just had enough by reading the recap in wikipedia I don’t even recommend watching this movie because it’s just a waste of time just like the second and third part.

The main reason why Beth Ditto rocks, it’s because she is cool by any means and sincere to herself and ideals. Taking a stand against the classical perception of Hollywood beauty, Beth is the opposite of all the size zero bubblegum princess of music; she is a fat, feminist, punk, rocker lesbian who is proud of who she is and she is no shy at the moment of speaking what is in her mind, truly Beth defies all the conventionalism and the best is she can sing and she can rock like one of the best rockers of history. She is really an icon, but beside that she a gal that projects a positive and realistic image of how the common majority of American woman look; not many look perfect and thin like Britney or Angelina; much of the majority looks like Beth, who are big beautiful woman who don’t feel shame of their images and they show their bodies in a proud way. Why Beth Ditto Rocks? Because she is Beth Ditto and not a poser.

Worse idea ever… well not the worse idea ever but surely the most boring one; so who wants to see Heathers #2 I guess no one in their sanity because all the main characters died in the first movie, so maybe Heathers #2 is going to be teen oriented or who knows what, but really 2008 and 2009 are the years of sequels and remakes; almost 70% of the movies of this year and the last one were remakes or retcons and maybe the only one watchable so far is Star Trek. So, who was the “mastermind” behind this lovely idea of resurrect Heathers, the first movie was really good, a piece of the 80’s that went cult, but I guess this remake will go turd as I can’t see anything good coming from the storyline and the cast that is going to star in the movie besides Christian Slater and Winona Ryder… Lame idea in my opinion.

Redefiniendo Viaje a Las Estrellas

Por: Gustavo Lequerica-Calvo

 Uno de los programas de televisión más emblemáticos de todos los tiempos es Star Trek o como es conocido en Español Viaje a las Estrellas; a lo largo de los años el programa ha tenido diferentes encarnaciones, al igual que diferentes películas y diferentes adaptaciones casi cualquier medio imaginable; pero, sin importar el formato la esencia desde su aparición en 1966 siempre se ha mantenido y es la exploración del espacio y la posibilidad de encuentros con diferentes civilizaciones.

 Es difícil pensar en el impacto mediático que ha tenido la franquicia de Viaje a las Estrellas a lo largo de los años, especialmente debido a que la transmisión original del programa solo duro tres años (finales 1966 a 1969) pero en esos tres años influyo en cambio de comportamiento en la producción de nuevos programas al incluir un elenco racialmente diverso y mezclar temas de política (Ej. Guerra Fría) con elementos de ciencia ficción para satisfacer a un público que buscaba algo diferente a los clásicos programas enlatados de comedia.

43 años después, 5 spin-offs, 11 películas é incontables adaptaciones en medios escritos y audiovisuales, la franquicia está cobrando fuerza nuevamente con la nueva adaptación por parte del director J.J. Abrams donde redefine la franquicia sin perder la esencia cómo tal. La nueva película titulada simplemente Star Trek plantea un nuevo inicio a la franquicia sin volver clichés a los personajes y conservando la idea original del programa de televisión como tal. La nueva película es realmente interesante, aparte del guion, los avances en tecnologías de efectos especiales permitieron llevar el imaginario de Star Trek a un nuevo nivel, dándole un aspecto más realista a los mundos visitados por el Enterprise y llevando las aventuras a un nuevo nivel.

Los nuevos actores le dan un toque de frescura a la película y proporcionan un enlace brillante con los actores originales debido a que muestran un comienzo de los personajes en la continuidad de la franquicia, pero valga la redundancia los puristas de la franquicia han puesto un punto interesante en el cual la nueva película departe en aspectos básicos de la serie original, pero igual es una reinterpretación en la cual se explora con mas detalles los años formativos del Capitán Kirk y el señor Spock; y al final es una buena adaptación que revitalizó una de las instituciones de la cultura pop Americana.

Beautiful and Romantic, are some words that can describe the views of Cartagena de Indias, a city that has inspired many artists over the centuries and well a city with a colorful past and well as a colorful present (truly a good setting for an adaptation of Gossip Girl); is know that Cartagena as well as some other points of the coasts had been subjects to illegal narcotrafic sea ports, to the point that that problem became the kidney stone in many cities but that wasn’t a huge dilemma to put a halt on the tourist industry, in fact the city as always enjoyed a good reputation world wide as one of the best destinies for newlywed or childless coupes (fact: the city is not planned as a family oriented, so don’t expect that children will have a good time) as they can find romantic getaways in almost every corner of the old city ; is really fantastic and if you are into history and visiting museums this is the place to be, but if you like bars and clubs you will find a lot of places as the nightlife is really vibrant and can compete with cities like New York and Tokyo, and even better you can go and have a drink in a 300 years old house, there are not many places in America where you can do that, but beside as a well known tourism destiny is a well know city in around the pop culture.

Probably around pop culture buffs, the most popular piece that contains references about the city is the 1984 action/adventure movie Romancing The Stone with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Dany Devito about a novelist who travels to Cartagena (In reality Mexico and I think Guatemala) to deliver a precious gem called The Heart  but in the process she finds herself in the middle of an adventure like the ones she writes about. The movie is extremely cheesy and even if it wasn’t filmed in Cartagena and portrays a weird view about the city (not only in the poster, but in everything because Cartagena don’t have valleys like that, not even in the county line) the movie caused a hit and became a sensation around movie goers of time and put Cartagena in the map (Think of this movie as an Indiana Jones for girls).  Other meta-reference came a few years ago in the popular hit show Family Guy, Barely Legal, where mayor West sends the Quahog police to Cartagena to help Kathleen Turner character. There are other movies as well and in a terrible example there is the interpretation of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie Mr and Ms Smith that makes Bogota looks like a Mexican village; pure ignorance because Bogota is a city similar as New York and not a city where everybody are charros but in a good example away from Mr and Miss Smith there is Love in Time of Cholera who shows the beauty of the city adapted into Garcia Marquez book of the same name.

But recently there has been some controversies about a possible movie with Keanu Reeves that says that a movie in development with name of the city, will portray the city in a negative light and the government is seeking action to prevent damage against the name of the city, I say is something extreme because the gossip goes that is going to be a narc movie (hey San Francisco and Miami and NYC are doing ok after several gang movies, take a look at Scarface or the Epic Godfather) and after doing a research I couldn’t find any information about this movie in any of the entertainment websites beside that is in preproduction; that is why I say that is a mere gossip and the local government is acting apprehensive against the movie makers (but I guess after Collateral Damage any action taken is a good action to prevent any damage) but still I want to know who was the source that said that Cartagena is going to be a narc movie? but if is going to be a Narc Movie the best thing that can be done, is to change the plot as the city hasn’t been with that problem in a large scale like other cities in the world, and at the end the double standard of Hollywood is trying to keep the image of a dangerous place that isn’t Colombia Today .