Father Geek herewith the latest from ol' Coffin Joe Jr. and Latin-AICN...

Now, on to the regular column...

Hey there, Coffin Joe Jr. here for another week of news and reviews from the Latin world of filmmaking. I saw a few movies over the weekend, including "Final Fantasy - The Spirits Within", "Driven", "Crimson Rivers" (review at the end of this very column), "Swordfish" and "Planet of the Apes". Dug "Final Fantasy" (although it wasn´t what I was expecting), liked "Planet of the Apes" (script sucked though, and what´s with the "Braveheart" tone there? The guy just wanted to get the fuck out of the planet for the love of God, not be a hero), really liked "Crimson Rivers", hated "Driven" (too much soap opera, not enough racing action), and I think "Swordfish" has its moments (the moments where we see.............. BOOBIES! I´m sorry).

Read on my creepy little friends.

USA

-Go to the following address for a script review of the next Jennifer Lopez vehicle, the thriller "Enough", directed by Michael Apted: Click Here Now

-The Salma Hayek flick "In the Time of the Butterflies", which co-stars Latin pop star Marc Anthony, is going to premiere in the U.S. on the cable channel Showtime and not in theatres.

-The sequel to one of this summer´s biggest hits, Robert Rodriguez´s "Spy Kids", has a tentative title in "Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams". The release date for this one, which Rodriguez will start shooting very shortly, is August 7th 2002.

MEXICO

-Alfonso Cuarón´s ("Great Expectations", "Little Princess") "Y tu Mamá También" is part of the official selection for this year´s Venice Festival.

BRAZIL

-The 29th Gramado Brazilian and Latin Film Festival has ended and the winners are:

LATIN FILMS COMPETITION:

Special Jury Mention

Jean Pierre Noher ("Un Amor de Borges", dir: Javier Torre, Argentina)

Best Film (Popular Jury)

"Yoyes" (dir: Helena Taberna, Spain)

Best Film (Official Jury)

"Un Amor de Borges" (dir: Javier Torre, Argentina)

Best Film (Critics Vote)

"Un Amor de Borges" (dir: Javier Torre, Argentina)

BRAZILIAN FILMS COMPETITION:

Best Film (Official Jury)

"Memórias Póstumas" (dir: André Klotzel)

Best Film (Critics Vote)

"Memórias Póstumas", (dir: André Klotzel)

Best Film (Popular Jury)

"Netto Perde Sua Alma" (dir: Beto Souza e Tabajara Ruas)

Best Director

André Klotzel for "Memórias Póstumas"

Best Actress

Isabel Guerón ("Buffo & Spallanzani", dir: Flávio R. Tambellini)

Best Actor

Tony Ramos ("Buffo & Spallanzani", dir: Flávio R. Tambellini)

Best Supporting Actress

Sônia Braga ("Memórias Póstumas", dir: André Klotzel)

Best Supporting Actor

Juca de Oliveira ("Buffo & Spallanzani", dir: Flávio R. Tambellini)

Best Music Score

Celau Moreira for "Netto Perde sua Alma"

Special Jury Prize

"Netto Perde sua Alma" (dir: Beto Souza e Tabajara Ruas)

Best Art Direction

Gualter Pupo Filho for "Buffo & Spallanzani"

Best Cinematography

Jacques Cheuiche for "Urbania"

Best Editing

Lígia Walper for "Netto Perde sua Alma"

Best Screenplay

André Klotzel for "Memórias Póstumas"

COFFIN JOE JR. MOVIE REVIEWS

"The Crimson Rivers" (2001 - France) Director: Mathieu Kassovitz

Who doesn´t like a good, stylish thriller? I love them. The Crimson Rivers is a fine example of a good, stylish thriller. It has the visuals, the story is certainly intriguing, there´s a few cool action scenes in there, lots of cool detective work by two very cool actors ( Jean "Leon" Reno and Vincent "Dobermann" Cassel), a beautiful setting (The French Alps), a complicated plot with lots of twists and turns, the pace is steady and never gets boring without rushing things either. Is it perfect? Sorry it does stumble in the end. You know, the big revelation scene, where the killer tells us and the heroes about his/her reasons for the whole affair. That last crucial scene is basically one HUGE cliché. A HUGE disappointment. The movie shines all the way until end, but doesn´t wrap it up in a convincing manner. There´s still one of coolest scenes visually, and it´s one hell of FX sequence that comes out of nowhere, in that closing scene, but it does not hide the fact that the film ends on a dumb note as far as the plot is concerned. Before this final scene the entire movie is more or less one of the best suspense flicks I´ve seen since "Seven". The bodies of the victim´s are nasty my friends, superb work by the FX make-up staff, with some gruesome bruises and cuts. Not for the sensitive folks. The good old mandatory fight sequence, which doesn´t have anything to do with this movie in terms of tone, besides the fact that it´s gratuitous and not necessary at all in the context it´s placed, is very Hong Kong-ish (and, get this it is staged like a fight in a videogame. See the movie and you´ll know what I mean.)

The performances are fine all across the board. Jean Reno is amazing as usual, and Cassel is one of the coolest actors in the world. Yes, they do the old, experienced cop versus the young rookie cop routine in the movie, but it works because they are so damn talented. I bought it. One thing that bugged me though was that it takes forever for their characters to actually meet each other, and that was kind of a frustrating thing. After thirty minutes of seeing them working alone on each of their assignments you just beg to watch them meet and get the plot moving. When they finally do, it gets the movie going in a whole new direction, from suspense thriller to buddy cop flick and keeps juggling those genres until the end. It works very well and these fellas have the chemistry required to pull it off.

Kassovitz is very good with composition and uses the stunning French countryside locations for they are worth. He indulges in some fancy camera moves occasionally, and keeps things going, so praise to the French fella. He could have worked on the script a bit more, some of vital plot points are really confusing, but other than that good work by the director. Highly Recommended by your spooky pal Coffin Joe Jr.

I´m done for this week.

Coffin Joe Jr. says: bye.