Hey there CineLocos...

Father Geek esta aqui un otra vez, along with Coffin Joe Jr. to bring you this Tuesday's issue of The Latin-AICN Column... First I have this interesting litte bit of info...

It seems that Disney Corp. has cut the original title from the English dub of Hayao Miyazaki's LAPUTA and is only promoting it as "Castle in the Sky" because Disney's language experts have determined that "Laputa" means "filthy whore" (or something simular) in Spanish. I don't know, but Father Geek's 1950's streets of San Antonio upbringing taught me alot of my basic Espanol skills, among them the multiple uses of the word "Puta". I don't think I ever heard any one say, or write on a wall "Laputa" during my life in SA, or travels south of the border, however I guess "La Puta" (2 words, not one) could be used by a grammarian with a mad on.

Well, enough of that... Here's Coffin Joe...

How you guys doing, Coffin Joe Jr. here, for another week of Latin-AICN. We got some cool stuff this week, so dig in my creepy little fiends:

BRAZIL

-Director Walter Salles ("Central Station") has a new movie coming out in Brazil this September, "Abril Despedaçado", which now has the international title "Behind the Sun" and it has been selected as one of the movies competing for the Golden Lion in this year´s Venice Film Festival.

MEXICO

-Click on the links for some pretty neat stuff (in Spanish) on Alfonso Cuarón´s ("Great Expectations") latest, titled "Y tu Mamá También" which is playing in Mexico and a number of other Latin countries already.

Check this article, published by Planeta Alternativo, at: This Site

There´s one review at Noticine: Click Here

Another one at Cine Cartelera: Just Click

The DP on "Y tu Mamá También" is Emanuel Lubezki, who worked on "Sleepy Hollow" and "Things You can Tell just by Looking at Her".

SPAIN

-Alejandro Amenabar´s "The Others", starring the beautiful Nicole Kidman and to released by Miramax in the U.S. on August 10th, is another one of the flicks in competition at this year´s Venice Film Festival. American fans of Amenabar can now pre-order a copy of the "Open your Eyes" ("Abre los Ojos") region 1 DVD at any online store. The disc will be out on August 21st, courtesy of Artisan Entertainment. "Thesis", Amenabar´s breakout film, is also available on DVD in the U.S., and if you liked "8 mm", you will cream in your pants while watching this one. Check it out.

-Lions Gate Films will release "Faust", the first film out Spain´s genre studio Fantastic Factory, straight-to-video in the United States. The movie, directed by veteran producer/director Brian Yuzna ("Bride of the Re-Animator", "Progeny", "Society") is coming out on August 28th, on VHS and region 1 DVD, which will likely be a special edition. This is just the first release of the Fantastic Factory studio, with more on the way, like Jack Sholder´s ("The Hidden") "Arachnid", Stuart Gordon´s ("Re-Animator", "From Beyond") "Dagon", Jaume Belaguero´s ("The Nameless") "Darkness" and the new installment in the Re-Animator series of movies.

Also, Lions Gate/Trimark has a special edition DVD of Yuzna´s zombie love story, "Return of the Living Dead 3", coming out on August 28th as well. It will include two commentary tracks (one by Yuzna and Mindy Clarke, the other by the FX guy, I think it´s Steven Johnson, who´s working on "Blade 2" and did "Virus", "Species" and a bunch of other stuff). If you´re a fan, please do yourself a favor and pick up a copy when it hits stores. (COFFIN JOE JR. NOTE: Mindy Clarke rocks in "Night of the Living Dead 3".)

COFFIN JOE JR. MOVIE REVIEWS

"2001 - A SPACE TRAVESTY" Director: Allan A. Goldstein

Jesus, the things I have to do for Latin-AICN. I just could not believe my eyes when I arrived at the movie theater, because there were other people waiting in line (I kid you not), to watch this "movie". You know, sometimes your expectations are so low that you may end up enjoying something that you would completely despise otherwise. When I saw Van Damme´s "Replicant" a few months ago, I wasn´t particularly looking forward to it, but I gave it a shot anyways because Ringo Lam was directing, and the movie is not that bad, it´s actually one of Van Damme´s best flicks. It´s a real shame Artisan is dumping it as a straight-to-video release in the North America. Well, let´s get back to this review.

I decided to give "2001 - A Space Travesty" a shot, just for the heck of it as well. I regret that decision now. I enjoy dumb comedies like the "Naked Gun" movies, "Airplane", "Hot Shot", all those flicks. The fact is that lately the movies in this particular genre have been really bad. "Mafia" anyone? "Baseketball"? "Wrongfully Accused"? Yep, they all sucked pretty bad. They are just not funny. Simple as that. Leslie Nielsen has made a living out these "movies" in the last twenty years (no one remembers him in "Creepshow" or his serious acting before he started working with the Zucker brothers, Pat Proft, and the rest of the gang of lunatics). Some of the stuff he does is great ("Naked Gun", "Airplane", even "Spy Hard" had its moments), but his last few offerings were real disappointments ("Mr. Magoo" tops the list of bombs for me).

I´m sorry to say that "2001 - A Space Travesty" is not his comeback. This movie has very little to do with "2001 - A Space Odissey". The "plot" deals with the American president being kidnapped by aliens and it is Nielsen´s character who has to rescue him. I know it sounds kinda funny, with potential for some cool visual gags and all that other stuff they throw at audiences in these movies, but the jokes are just not funny. Maybe if you´re eight you might find something amusing about it, I mean there were some kids in the audience who were laughing when an opera singer got a giant cucumber rocketed in his ass. If that´s your cup of tea, by all means go see it. Adult members of the audience had one, maybe two, laughs and a couple of smiles during a movie that runs for almost 100 minutes and throws everything but the kitchen sink on your face. They tried, but almost the whole thing just doesn´t work. Avoid it like the plague. I mean that.

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.