Father Geek es aqui! Que tal, CineLocos? Well, here's ol' Coffin Joe Jrs regular Latin-AICN column for this Tuesday, pero prima I have this note from Todd in San Francisco that I received at Geek Headquarters this week...

I liked Juan Garcia Esquivel's music a lot, and I just found out he has died. Don't know if you know anything about him but I hear there is a movie in the works about his life. (Thank God) Anyway, thought I would pass this along to you anyway. I have most of his CD's and there is really something to him. If you get a chance take a listen. His tunes are.....well amazing.

Todd

Click here to go to Father Geek's "Esquivel!" tribute.

Now here's Coffin Joe, Jr...

Hi, Coffin Joe Jr. here for another edition of Latin-AICN.

Wow, I got burned last week by those nice, polite, wise, and literate bunch of folks who wrote what they thought about my best of 2001 lists in the column´s TalkBack. A lot of insightful, constructive remarks, there, which have enhanced my life and made me a better individual. No, really. Thank you TalkBackers, you guys are enlightened beings who guide us all into a new age of superior knowledge and rational thought. Sarcasm is such a sweet medicine. Yes it is indeed.

Anyway, here´s this week´s news and reviews:

CHILE

Here´s an interesting article, in Spanish, regarding the debut of Chilean soccer star Zamorano in the movies, which originally appeared in the Terra website´s Cine news (www.terra.com). Thanks to our new spy Rico for this scoop:

"Del estadio a la pantalla

Proponen a Iván Zamorano filmar cinta sobre amor y fútbol

El delantero del club Mexicano América, Iván "Bam-Bam" Zamorano, podría convertirse en actor de cine si acoge la invitación del director Sebastián Araya para protagonizar su película "Azul y blanco". El cineasta chileno declaró a Las Ultimas Noticias que "la próxima semana va estar todo claro (respecto de la participación de Zamorano en el filme), pero ahora me gustaría no hacer comentarios. A veces se anuncian cosas en la prensa y después se caen".

Araya lleva más de cinco años tratando de concretar el proyecto, en el cual la eventual participación del ex capitán de la selección chilena pretende anotar un verdadero golazo.

El gran gancho para seducir al "Bam-Bam" es la trama futbolera del guión, pues la historia se centra en el romance entre una joven hincha del club Colo-Colo y un fanático de Universidad de Chile, los dos equipos más populares e históricos rivales del balompié nacional.

La trama es una recreación a la chilena de "Romeo y Julieta", en la que los equipos actúan como dos familias opuestas al mejor estilo de capuletos y montescos, trasladando el drama de Verona a los estadios de Santiago. "El fútbol es la excusa para esta historia de amor imposible", que también tiene algo de "acción, de familia, de sangre. Es una tragedia, pero también hay mucha ironía", relató el realizador, quien estudió en el Sundance Institute de Estados Unidos.

No es la primera vez que directores chilenos buscan la imagen y, sobre todo, la popularidad de este futbolista, pues ya en 1998 el conocido cineasta Miguel Littin intentó convencerlo -sin éxito- para que participara en su película "Tierra del Fuego".

Según Littin, en el filme había un papel que calzaba a la perfección con Zamorano, un indio ona, y además se codearía en el set con figuras como Ornella Mutti, Antonio Banderas y Jeremy Irons, aunque al final sólo la italiana llegó a filmar al sur de Chile."

BRAZIL

-Actor Rodrigo Santoro, who can be currently seen in the U.S. on Walter Salles´ "Behind the Sun", has signed on to star in director Hector Babenco´s ("Kiss of the Spider-Woman", "Pixote") latest film, titled "Estação Carandiru". The movie is based on the book of the same name by doctor Drauzio Varella, about his experiences in the largest penitential complex in Latin America. Principal photography starts in February in the old Vera Cruz Studios, located in São Bernardo do Campo. The main cast has 37 actors, which will be announced until the end of the week.

COFFIN JOE JR.´S MOVIE REVIEWS

"Storytelling", Director: Todd Solondz

This is yet another Todd Solondz film about miserable people, doing awful things to each other.It is supposed to be witty criticism on our values, society, violence, family, the modern individual. Yeah, whatever. I just don´t think Mr. Solonz movies are that good. "Welcome to the Dollhouse" was sort of funny, but not much else. I thought "Happiness" was ok, not nearly as good as other people said it was, because it pushed a few buttons, but it never really got to the bottom of things, motivations were shallow and too simple for unreasonably stupid actions, so it never disturbed me, because it didn´t feel true. "Storytelling" is even more restrained. I thought that after "Happiness" he would go nuts with this one and really try to upset people, but I´m sad to say he didn´t. Controversy is a big part of the allure of his movies in my humble opinion. "Storytelling" is not that edgy, it doesn´t even take shots at easy targets who are in the movie just to be mocked and ridiculed. Very boring stuff.

Furthermore, the movie is visually inept, and it relies on a pretty weak cast to carry the proceedings. Using pretentious gimmicks, like setting two differents realities (fiction and non-fiction) as an integral part of the story (!?) only makes matters worse, and sinks this film in its own self-indulgence. The first part, the fictional one, is better than the latter one, I´ll give Solondz that. It was shorter, maybe that´s why I liked it better. Sorry, that was mean, but necessary. The only saving grace of the second story was John Goodman. What hurts most about the second act is the self-referential nature of it, with director Solondz kinda using an alter ego of sorts to talk about God knows what. Violence in real life, violence in movies, revenge, his artsy-fartsy movies and their place in the world? It´s a fucking mess. At least the first story was somewhat focused, pedestrian, but focused.

See, I don´t know if the alledged cuts this movie suffered (mainly the James Van der Beek stuff people talked about) are to blame for this turkey. Maybe they could make this movie slightly more interesting, but I just don´t think it would turn it into something much better. Sorry, but I just don´t see that happening. Who knows, the unrated version might come out on DVD in a few months, and I´ll see a completely different film, but I think that´s not the case here. Hey, if you enjoyed his previous efforts, please, do yourself a favor and go see this one. It´s pretty similar. Everyone else, I don´t know if I can recommend it.

One last thing: Selma Blair is cute and all, alright, whatever, but God, she can not act. She is beyond annoying in this movie. Jesus.

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.