Father Geek here with ol' Coffin Joe Jr. and another great Latin-AICN... but before I turn you over to Joe here's an interesting bit that crossed my desk a little while ago...

You can call me BabyArm, just up the word in Dallas. I got this from a Formula 1 newsletter (think Indy car or IRL for the rest of the world). Ayrton Senna is perhaps the greatest driver ever and he died in a crash while racing in 1994. He was also extremely popular, especially in his native Brazil, to Pele-esque proportions. The crash led to a massive criminal investigation in Italy against the track owner, car makers, etc., mainly because the public wanted to something to happen in response to their fallen star. Also, please note this is a story of a real person; this is not “Driven 2.”

Here is an article from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/entertainment/film/newsid_1547000/1547619.stm

I’ll keep you up to date if I hear anything else.

Thanks for the site.

Daily F1 Exclusive Newsletter - September 17th - Update

Hollywood star Antonio Banderas is to play Ayrton Senna in a new film chronicling the late Brazilian's life and brilliant career in Grand Prix racing.

The film will centre on Senna's final months before his fatal accident at the San Marino Grand Prix on May 1, 1994, and newspaper reports suggest it could reveal new details about Senna's life and the accident itself.

Banderas has been working with Senna's family, particularly his sister Vivanne to source personal anecdotes.

'There are a lot of things people know but there are also a lot of things that people don't know and that only the family can reveal,' Vivanne Senna told the Observer paper.

'Antonio Banderas wanted us to collaborate and bring that side of things to light - all that Ayrton saw and felt, both on and off the track.'

41-year-old Spaniard Banderas has starred in films such as Spy Kids, Desperado, and "The Mask of Zorro" alongside the renowned Welsh-born star Anthony Hopkins.

Now Here's our man in Sao Paulo... Coffin Joe Jr...

Ok, Coffin Joe Jr. is here for another week of fun from the Latin world of filmmaking. Guys, this last weekend I saw composer Philip Glass playing the soundtrack to the original "Dracula" here in São Paulo, the new one that he composed, which you can check out on the Universal Classic Monsters DVD. It was amazing, once in a lifetime experience.

Things are a bit strange right now in the U.S. and the Middle East, so entertainment news seem to be the last thing on people´s minds, but we´ll try to get your attention away from the current affairs and entertain/inform you guys a bit. Read on.

US

-Salma Hayek is part of the cast of "Hotel", Mike Figgis´s ("Timecode") latest DV opus, which was recently screened at the Toronto Film Festival. Hayek also has "Frida" and "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" set for release next year.

-Robert Rodriguez´s "Spy Kids" is out on DVD today, September 18th. This version is the original theatrical cut, with none of the stuff that is in the special longer cut of the flick. There will be another DVD, a neat special edition, expect the usual cool stuff.

SPAIN

-Legendary Spanish genre actor Paul Naschy stars in a new Spanish slasher movie, called "The Watching Game". Argentinian director Carlos Gil, who did 2nd unit work on the "Indiana Jones" sequels and Hector Babenco´s "Foolish Heart", is at the helm of this tale of a group of high school students who are being targeted by the ghost of a crazy watchman who had already come after the kid´s parents years ago. The movie opened in Spain earlier this year and is currently seeking distribution in North America.

-Check out the trailer to Jack Sholder´s upcoming monster flick "Arachnid" (review next week in this column), produced by Spain´s genre label Fantastic Factory, at this location:

http://www.fantasticfactory.com/arachnid.mov

BRAZIL

-The biggest local box-office hit of all time in Brazil, "Dona Flor e seus Dois Maridos" ("Dona Flor and her Two Husbands"), will be re-released in theatres down here. The film, directed by Bruno Barreto ("One Tough Cop", "Bossa Nova", "Four Days in September"), basically launched Sônia Braga´s career.

INTERNET

-Here´s something for Latin fans of the upcoming "Lord of the Rings" trilogy:

"Suilad, mellyn! The organization of the Beleg Aderthad salutes you.

With this e-mail we want to present you one of the greatest events organized by Tolkien fans to celebrate the release of 'The Fellowship of the Ring', first of the three movies New Zealander director Peter Jackson has filmed adapting 'Lord of the Rings'.

It's well known that the release of this film, the 19th of December 2001, is going to be a mass media phenomenon of great size. The repercussion this release is having both in Internet and traditional media, is at this moment very important.

In many cities, groups of Tolkien fans are being organized to attend the film's release. The world of "tolkiendili" has a long experience in organizing activities related to the works of the Oxford writer, whose 'Lord of The Rings' book is a classic in world's literature. However, the intensity with which those fans are following every new related to the movies foresees those activities will multiply when approaching release's date, 19th of December and also Friday 21st.

Beleg Aderthad, which means Big Gathering, is the result of the intention of most part of these groups to coordinate the activities. By means of the web site http://www.belegaderthad.com, Spanish-speaking Tolkien's fans of every city who desire to organize or participate in some Tolkien related events in the release day are being organized, meeting each other and preparing some activities.

Today, when there are still more than 3 months left for the release date, more than 400 people are participating. We foresee that this number will arrive up to 1,000.

From http://www.belegaderthad.com web site we are coordinating all the efforts, to share ideas and resources to organize those activities. People who are interested are giving their names and location in a form and lately they are being gathered together in zones, in order to meet each other. Soon there will be issued information papers with the program of the activities in every area. In this moment are being made groups in 70 provinces within 12 different countries, in Europe and South America.

Beleg Aderthad is a coordination of Tolkien fans completely free, and has received support from the most important Tolkien associations, such as Sociedad Tolkien Española, Elfenomeno.com web site or different sites and forums related to Tolkien mythology.

If you wish to receive further information about the events that will come with the movie release, that will surely mark an inflexion point in the involvement of cinema-goers (and probably will overpass another media phenomenon like Star Wars- it has been overwhelmed in the internet preview), please visit our site http://www.belegaderthad.com, or ask more information in our e-mail: info@belegaderthad.com.

You will become a witness, the release day, of how the magic of Tolkien's world impregnates every theatre in Spanish-speaking countries.

We are waiting for you in Tolkien fans' Big Gathering! We will see you in the Beleg Aderthad!"

Father Geek Note: If you want to read the above report on LOTR in Espanol. I've printed it in its complete Spanish form at the end of Coffin Joe's column...

COFFIN JOE JR. MOVIE REVIEWS

"Faust - Love of the Damned" (2001-Spain)

Director: Brian Yuzna ("Society", "Return of the Living Dead 3", "Bride of the Re-Animator")

This is the first release of the Fantastic Factory studio that Yuzna has put together in Spain with local producer Julio Fernandez. The budget on the movie is about 5 million dollars and Yuzna has done wonders with that little money. There are cheesy effects every now and then, but overall the whole thing looks polished. This flick, based on the David Quinn/Tim Vigil comic book, is basically a very 80s gore flick, with lots of cool make-up FX by Screaming Mad George. If you like them soaked in blood and guts, with a cool hero, T n´A, and genre thespians, do I have a movie for you. If you are more into great writing, logic, character depth and sense, look elsewhere. Genre fans shouldn´t expect a classic, just have an open mind and be prepared for some gory fun. I dug the hell out of it. Jeffrey Combs is miscast as a cop, but he still pulls it off. Andrew "Wishmaster" Divoff is good too, but the lead actor is just awful, his name is Mark Frost and the guy just HAMS it up. Smirks galore from the fella. He chews the scenery and spits it out during the whole thing. It´s worse than Christopher Walken on acid or Pacino in "Devil´s Advocate" mode. Frost almost ruined the whole affair, but fortunately there´s Yuzna to save the day and give us a stylish flick with really bizarre visuals and some decent action scenes. Like I said, it´s no masterpiece, but if you get a bunch of friends together, some snacks and beer, I guarantee a good time. Fangoria readers line up. "Faust - Love of the Damned" is available in the U.S. on video and special edition DVD by Lion´s Gate Films/Trimark, with a commentary track and other goodies.

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.

Father Geek back again... Here's that LORD OF THE RINGS report in Spanish...

Suilad, mellyn!

Recibid los saludos de la organización de la Beleg Aderthad.

Por medio de este mail queremos presentaros lo que será uno de los eventos más multitudinarios organizado por los aficionados a Tolkien con motivo del estreno de "La Comunidad del Anillo", la primera de las tres películas que el cineasta neozelandés Peter Jackson ha rodado adaptando "El Señor de los Anillos".

Es sabido que el estreno de esta película, el 19 de diciembre del 2001, va a ser un fenómeno mediático de grandes dimensiones. La repercusión que este estreno está teniendo, tanto en Internet como en la prensa tradicional, está siendo ya altísima.

En numerosas ciudades, grupos de fans de Tolkien ya se están organizando para asistir al estreno de esta película. El mundo de los "tolkiendili" tiene ya una larga experiencia en organizar actividades relacionadas con la obra de este escritor de Oxford, cuyo libro "El Señor de los Anillos" es ya un clásico de la literatura mundial. Sin embargo, la intensidad con la que estos aficionados están siguiendo las noticias relativas a la película hacen prever que estas actividades se multiplicarán conforme se acerque la fecha del día 19 o 21, por ser viernes.

La Beleg Aderthad, o Gran Reunión, es el resultado de la intención de muchos de estos grupos de coordinar estas actividades. Por medio de la página web http://www.belegaderthad.com , los fans de Tolkien de cualquier ciudad hispanohablante que desean organizar o participar en algún evento tolkieniano el día del estreno, se están ya organizando, conociéndose entre sí y preparando dichas actividades.

A fecha de hoy, cuando todavía quedan más de tres meses para el estreno, ya son más de 400 las personas que han dado su nombre. Se prevé que el número de personas que finalmente participen en eventos y actividades tolkienianas alrededor de este día se acerque a las 1.000 personas.

Desde la web http://www.belegaderthad.com estamos coordinando todos estos esfuerzos, para compartir ideas y recursos para organizar dichas actividades. Los interesados van dando su nombre y localización en un formulario al efecto, y posteriormente se van agrupando en zonas, y poniéndose en contacto entre sí; y pronto se irán publicitando los programas de actividades que se realicen en cada zona. En este momento ya se están formando grupos en 70 provincias de 12 países distintos, en Europa y Latinoamérica.

La Beleg Aderthad, que es una coordinación de aficionados a Tolkien totalmente gratuita, ha recibido ya el apoyo de las más importantes asociaciones tolkienianas, como la Sociedad Tolkien Española, la página web Elfenomeno.com o diferentes Webs y foros relacionados con la mitología creada por Tolkien.

Si deseas tener más información sobre los eventos que acompañarán el estreno de esta película, que marcarán seguramente un punto de inflexión en la implicación de los aficionados en el mundo del cine, que posible superará a otros fenómenos mediáticos como "La Guerra de las Galaxias", tal y como lo ha superado ya en la promoción por Internet, no dudes en visitar nuestra web, http://www.belegaderthad.com ,o en pedirnos más información en nuestra dirección de correo: info@belegaderthad.com.

Y sed así testigos, el día del estreno, de cómo la magia del mundo de Tolkien impregna las distintas salas cinematográficas de todos los países hispanohablantes.

¡Os esperamos en la Gran Reunión de los tolkienianos! ¡Os esperamos en la Beleg Aderthad!