Mirage (2018)

No, not a remake of the 1965 noir. I hadn't heard of this Spanish movie, whose native title is Durante la tormenta ("During the storm"), until I browsed Netflix for something chilling. OK, most sources don't count this as horror, and some don't even call it a thriller, but it certainly involves paranormal phenomena and high-running emotions.

In 2014, in her new house, thirty-something Vera watches a videotape made by a prior resident, preteen Nico, shortly before his accidental death in 1989. An extraordinary thunderstorm at both times allows them to see and hear each other. Vera warns Nico not to make a fatal mistake. Then she discovers a bunch of local changes, most distressingly that she never got together with her would-be husband, David. Nobody else remembers the other timeline, but she hopes to find out what became of Nico and somehow restore what she lost, before the three-day storm ends.

Milly: Queen of Merengue

Another entry in the AFI Latin American film festival, this one not a doc but a bio. It didn't pack the seats to the same degree, having only 20+ IMDb votes so far, but it has a great reputation among its viewers, hence my interest to come with my parents.

In 1996, a middle-aged Milagros "Milly" del Rosario Quezada Borbón is depressed and reclusive. For most of the movie, she reflects on her life starting with her childhood move from the Dominican Republic to New York City (when she was nicknamed Cuquita). In her adolescence, she and her siblings performed rock music in the streets, but they found more success by switching to merengue. As the lead singer, Milly is the most prominent band member, and she proves to stay in the line of work the longest.

The Professionals (1966)

Nothing to do with the British TV series by the same title, nor does it relate to Léon: The Professional. It's a western with a whole posse at the center, something I hadn't seen in a while. If my mood didn't convince me to watch, the fact that it stops streaming on Netflix next week would.

In the late 1910s, a bit later than usual for the genre, wealthy rancher Joe Grant (Ralph Bellamy) hires four talented if unruly individuals -- explosives expert Rico Fardan (Burt Lancaster), general weapons expert Bill Dolworth (Lee Marvin), horse wrangler Hans Ehrengard (Robert Ryan), and scout Jake Sharp (Woody Strode) -- to head into Mexico and retrieve his wife, Maria (Claudia Cardinale), from Jesús Raza (Jack Palance), a former soldier and continuous rebel in the Mexican Revolution. The movie is less than half over when the pros reach Maria, but the plot thickens when they realize that despite Joe's claim, Raza didn't abduct her. She loves him, and her marriage was forced by purchase. Each searcher must decide whether he wants the reward money enough to take her back against her will.

The Match (2026)

As reflected in this blog, I haven't been making much time for movies lately. Fortunately, my dad invited me to a Latin American film festival, which started yesterday (perhaps in honor of Mexican Independence Day). I picked one of the more popular entries, with little regard for the subject or genre.

This is the first documentary I've known to be based on a book. The title refers to a 1986 FIFA World Cup match in Mexico, remembered chiefly for two goals against England by Argentina's Diego Maradona, one spectacular and one controversial. Of course, you can't really spend 91 minutes (about the length of the match) talking about just that, so we get a lot of historical background about the heated rivalry between the two teams, followed by the aftermath.

Get the Gringo (2012)

I think this is the first movie I've seen with Mel Gibson in an acting role to have come out after 2000. Certainly the first after his two notorious scandals of the 2000s. I'm not sure what prompted me to save it to my YouTube watch list, but I know the main reason I chose it: a short runtime.

A robber (Gibson) tries to escape the police by crossing the border, only to get caught by corrupt Mexican cops. Keeping his loot for themselves, they send him to an unorthodox prison that's basically a walled-off, crime-ridden village, complete with families and a rich-poor gap. Not an easy place for an American to survive, but as a former U.S. Army sniper, he has skills to draw the attention of the de facto leaders....

The Invite (2026)

I was hoping to see Young Washington this evening, but it's already gone from the nearest theaters. Among the available showings I hadn't seen, TI looked most popular. Maybe just as well, for promising something extra different from my expensive, humorless previous viewing. Not that I could tell much from one- or two-sentence summaries; it sounded vaguely like it could be Bad Shabbos minus Judaism.

Angela (Olivia Wilde, who also directs) invites upstairs couple Hawk (Edward Norton) and Piña (Penélope Cruz) to visit her San Francisco apartment, without the timely awareness or approval of her husband, Joe (Seth Rogen). She wants to make up for them having to tolerate renovation noises by showing them the results, and maybe she and Joe will finally have friends again. Joe would rather give them a piece of his mind about their noises, from sex at ungodly hours. It turns out that Hawk and Piña host orgies and would be interested in Angela and Joe joining....

Desperado (1995)

I watched most of El Mariachi in junior high Spanish class and the rest in young adulthood. It didn't particularly grab me, but it worked pretty well on $7,000. When Netflix suggested the immediate sequel, I got curious how different it would be with a budget 100 times higher.

EM had ended with the unnamed title character (subsequently played by Antonio Banderas) killing drug lord Moco (Peter Marquardt), who had killed the guitarist's love interest and shot him in the left hand. Alas, his thirst for vengeance has not been quenched; he now seeks Moco's boss, Bucho (Joaquim de Almeida). El Mariachi's buddy Buscemi (yup, Steve Buscemi) discovers compelling evidence of which small town holds Bucho's base of operations. It doesn't take long for a trail of destruction to put Bucho on high alert. Meanwhile, El Mariachi must have a type, because he falls for yet another drug lord affiliate, bookstore owner Carolina (Salma Hayek, paired with Banderas for the first time), who tends his wounds.

The Rip (2026)

I knew this was getting a middling reception from general audiences, but someone had recommended it earlier in the day. Besides, I hadn't seen Matt Damon and Ben Affleck together since Dogma in 1999. And this was the only movie left on my Netflix list that ran less than two hours.

The title is slang for confiscation. A Miami police team under Lt. Dane Dumars (Damon), including Det. Sgt. JD Byrne (Affleck), Det. Mike Ro (Steven Yeun, not to be confused with Mike Rowe), Det. Numa Baptiste (Teyana Taylor), and Det. Lolo Salazar (Catalina Sandino Mareno), searches a decrepit Hialeah house suspected of storing loads of cash for drug dealers, with only one Desi Lopez (Sasha Calle) at home. They find about $20 million, far more than they anticipated. This is not entirely good news for them, because both career criminals and cops might do almost anything for that kind of take. Dumars insists that they count the money on site (trusting any labeled amounts on stacks to save time) but not call it in, and they must prepare for a shootout. Naturally, tensions rise within the team.

Man on Fire (2004)

Not to be confused with Man on Wire, this title had turned me off for a long time. When I saw that I could watch it free on Hulu, I looked it up and found that it was much better received by the general audience than by critics. That gets me curious.

Since holding rich kids for ransom is rampant in Mexico, troubled ex-Marine John Creasy (Denzel Washington), at the advice of a buddy (Christopher Walken), becomes a bodyguard to Lupita or "Pita" (Dakota Fanning), preteen daughter of automaker Samuel Ramos (Marc Anthony). At first he is highly standoffish, but as she urges him to be as sociable as others, he learns to like her. Of course, this wouldn't be much of a story if he never failed at his job....

The Platform (2019)

Of the scary Netflix movies recommended to me that I hadn't seen, this was one of the most highly rated. I opted not to save it for the end of the month because it's not a horror in the usual sense. It presents a nightmarish scenario, yes, but the protagonist is rarely in imminent mortal peril.

The Vertical Self-Management Center, also known as the Pit (a closer translation of the native Spanish title, El Hoyo), consists of stacked cells for two prisoners each, with a big hole in the floors/ceilings for a floating platform. Those on Floor 1 (the top) are treated to a sumptuous feast, Floor 2 gets their leftovers, and so on down the line. Once a month, everyone is gassed unconscious and wakes up on another floor (the number shown on the wall), seemingly chosen at random, albeit with the same cellmate -- if they both survive.

The Mule (2018)

This doesn't seem to have been talked about much since it was brand new. If any aspect stands out, it's the fact that Clint Eastwood has made only one feature since, and that one bombed, whereas TM was reported halfway decent. I chose to watch it largely because it looked different from a bunch of my most recent viewings.

Earl (Eastwood), despite an illustrious ongoing career in horticulture, is hurting for money. At the advice of a "friend of a friend," he gets a shady job transporting bags he's advised not to open. I'm not sure how soon he realizes that his employer is a drug cartel, but he gets surprised at just how much they're entrusting to him. Elderly Anglos with no record even of parking violations make unlikely suspects, so he becomes an MVP, with a lot more comfort than certain other mules. But not everyone in the business is willing to accommodate an employee who doesn't follow strict rules, and one sass to the wrong guy could put him in a trunk. Meanwhile, two DEA agents (Bradley Cooper and Michael Peña) are closing in with help from a reluctant informant (Eugene Cordero), albeit too gradually for the patience of their supervisor (Laurence Fishburne).

Let the Dance Begin (2023)

This may be the first time in eight years that I attended the Latin American Film Festival at AFI. It took my parents' invitation to get my attention. The plot of this entry sounded more fun than most.

Carlos (Darío Grandinetti) is a famous former tango dancer who went on to coach in Spain. One day, his old friend Pichuquito (Jorge Marrale) reports that Carlos's erstwhile wife and tango partner, Margarita (Mercedes Morán), has committed suicide. Carlos flies to Argentina, goes to the funeral, and then learns that "Marga" faked her death, largely because he wouldn't come otherwise. She confesses to lying about an abortion 40 years ago, and she wants his company in visiting their son for the first time since she gave the baby up for adoption. Carlos makes up an excuse to his current wife, Elvira (Pastora Vega, not that one), for not returning on schedule and joins Marga and "Pichu" (not that one) on a two-day road trip.

As you may have guessed, Carlos is very reluctant. First he furiously denies the possibility of a son. He and Marga had not parted on good terms, so he wouldn't put it past her to seek vengeance. Then he worries about riding in a van about as geriatric as its passengers. Elvira gets suspicious and says that he's much needed back home. And setbacks along the way reinforce his conviction that the drive was a mistake.

Wikipedia lists only eight actors in total; IMDb stops at six. It's not like no one else gets spoken lines. My parents and I wouldn't be surprised if most had no professional acting background and were simply geographically convenient. Several minor characters do appear smiling during the end credits.

At any rate, we don't doubt the professionalism of the leads. They really tie the picture together with their complicated feelings, including between Carlos and Pichu. It soon becomes clear that Marga and Pichu continue to share secrets they haven't told Carlos by the start of the journey, which adds to the tragicomic awkwardness.

The theater audience laughed quite a bit. I found the humor just OK. Maybe it works better for people of relevant heritage, of whom there were many in attendance. As it happens, my parents and I had visited Argentina briefly, but only now did we realize how difficult it is for us to understand Argentinians compared with other Spanish speakers, even with subtitles to hint what words they might have used.

Fortunately, the humor was adequate for alleviating my mood in light of the more serious moments. Things move pretty slowly for 99 minutes, but I hardly noticed; the pace no doubt serves its purpose. And for all the characters' flaws that drive each other nuts, we see why they care. As do we.

For a story of three seniors driving across open country, LtDB is engaging. My family may well have chosen the best option in the festival.

The Spirit of the Beehive (1973)

The fact that most if not all of the major characters in this picture use the actors' real names led me to assume that it was an indie. IMDb tells me that it was just to avoid confusion for six-year-old lead actress Ana Torrent. But independent or not, this art film doesn't exactly look expensive.

In Spain circa 1940, Ana and her slightly older sister, Isabel (Isabel Tellería), watch a dubbed airing of the 1931 Frankenstein. Ana takes special interest in the scene where the monster befriends a little girl. Meaning to poke fun at her, Isabel says that the monster is a spirit who can be summoned in real life. Ana fully believes it, or at least wants to, and goes looking in a vacant sheepfold. Outside of her imagination, the closest thing she finds to that spirit is an injured fugitive (Juan Margallo).

Ride the Pink Horse (1947)

For a moment, I expected a quirky western. As it is, I barely understand where the title came from. A character does ride an allegedly pink carousel horse (we can't tell in black and white), but that's not important to the plot, and any symbolism in it is lost on me. Maybe the filmmakers just wanted something that didn't sound like a cookie-cutter noir.

Ex-soldier "Lucky" Gagin (Robert Montgomery, also directing) comes to the New Mexican border town of San Pablo to confront Frank Hugo (Fred Clark), a mob boss who ordered the killing of Gagin's friend "Shorty" over a blackmailing. Gagin's lucky charm is his pistol, but he wants to try his own hand at blackmail rather than vengeful murder. FBI Agent Retz (Art Smith), who's kept tabs on both Gagin and Hugo, advises against this, but given Hugo's historical pull with the government, Gagin doesn't readily trust Retz. Hugo's moll, Marjorie (Andrea King), asks Gagin to raise the ransom and cut her in, but he's not sure what to make of her either.

West Side Story (2021)

You can guess why I was in no hurry to see this. I had rewatched the original movie only a few years ago, plus a stage production a few years before that. And although All Quiet on the Western Front taught me that even a remake of a fine Best Picture can be worthwhile, musicals don't seem to lend themselves to quite as much flexibility. Still, my parents were intrigued, and a majority of critics and viewers dug it. As long as I was on a recent Oscar nod kick, why not?

In the off chance you don't know the story, it's Romeo and Juliet set in 1950s New York. The Romeo is Tony (Ansel Elgort), semi-reformed co-founder of a non-Hispanic White gang called the Jets, who would have nothing more to do with them if not for the urging of old pal and current Jet leader Riff (Mike Faist). The Juliet is Maria (Rachel Zegler), younger sister of Bernardo (David Alvarez), the latter leading a Puerto Rican gang called the Sharks. Officer Krupke (Brian d'Arcy James) has been doing his best to temper the turf war, but the Jets and Sharks are already on the verge of a scheduled rumble when a mixer brings Tony and Maria together, and their fiery love enhances the fiery hate in others....

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022)

The writers of this Marvel Cinematic Universe entry had their work cut out for them with the passing of Chadwick Boseman. I'm not surprised that the general reception has been middling. Still, I've enjoyed superhero flicks with lower ratings, and this one has and is in the running for a lot of awards. I decided to stream it in between my viewings of pictures that don't promise much fun.

A year after her son dies of an unspecified illness, Queen Ramonda (Angela Bassett, up for an Oscar) has not kept his promise of sharing Wakanda's seemingly unmatched tech with the rest of the world, because national governments aren't exactly proving themselves trustworthy. Brilliant MIT undergrad Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne) develops a vibranium detector, and U.S. operatives use it to find some in the sea -- only to get massacred by aquatic mutants from an even more secretive and xenophobic kingdom, Talokan. The Talokan king, familiarly known as Namor (Tenoch Huerta), demands that Wakanda capture Riri for him or face his wrath. Not keen on his idea of justice, Princess Shuri (Letitia Wright) and General Okoye (Danai Gurira) set out to protect Riri. It becomes clear that Namor plans war against surface dwellers around the world but perceives enough commonality to offer an alliance with Wakanda. Shuri strongly disagrees with his campaign, but she has her own anger issues to work through soon enough.

Marshland (2014)

The original Spanish title literally translates to "The Minimal Island." Either way, the point is to call attention to a remote setting, possibly with a symbolic status in light of the bleakness.

Specifically, it's set in or near Spain's Guadalquivir Marshes, reputedly akin to the U.S. Deep South, in 1980. Two promiscuous teen sisters who wanted to move away are soon found murdered in one marsh, having been treated worse than the girls in The Last House on the Left, albeit thankfully not on screen. The two Madrid-based detectives assigned to the case, Juan (Javier Gutiérrez) and Pedro (Raúl Arévalo), have not worked together before and espouse rather different worldviews, but they're both determined to catch the killer(s) before another girl meets a similar fate.

Sorcerer (1977)

The Wages of Fear (1953) became one of my favorite movies when I watched, tho I might think differently upon a rewatch. When I learned that William Friedkin directed a remake right after The French Connection and The Exorcist, I was caught between "That sounds excellent" and "Can it possibly satisfy me after the original?" Further reading tells me it was a sleeper hit, partly because it had the misfortune to debut at the same time as Star Wars, but early critics were also unkind to it. Which way would I go?

TWoF has a rather simple plot: Four financially desperate foreign men take a job transporting two trucks of poorly preserved nitroglycerin hundreds of miles across South American wilderness to put out an oil company's fire. The most immediately obvious change Sorcerer makes to the story is in the details of the four men, all of them now criminal but previously unacquainted, having come to Colombia to hide: Jackie (Roy Scheider), an Irish-American mobster; Victor (Bruno Cremer), a fraudulent French banker; Nilo (Rabal), a Mexican hit man; and Kassem (Amidou), a Palestinian terrorist. Guess that's one way to ensure we don't feel too sorry for them if they don't make it.

Open Your Eyes (1997)

No, it has nothing to do with the movie of the same title from this year. It does have a remake, but that was Vanilla Sky (2001), reputedly not as good. Both versions include Penelope Cruz in the same role; in OYE (a.k.a. Abre los ojos), she's the only actor whose name meant something to me. At least I'd already had a taste of director Alejandro Amenábar with The Others.

César (Eduardo Noriega) is a Madrid aristocrat and quite the lothario, prone even to swiping dates from his friend (Fele Martínez) -- until the day after his 25th birthday. His most recent ex, Nuria (Najwa Nimri), doesn't want him to move on to the likely next girlfriend, Sofía (Cruz), so she talks him into her car and deliberately crashes. Nuria reportedly dies, and César's face is so injured that even the best surgery money can buy can hardly make him presentable again. Sometimes he takes to wearing a rather realistic yet unmoving mask. He hopes that Sofía will still be receptive to him. And then things start to become hard to explain....

Viridiana (1961)

I had not had great experiences with writer-director Luis Buñuel. I found The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie a confusing mess and The Exterminating Angel too absurd to take seriously. Had I recalled his role in writing part of Johnny Got His Gun, I might have refused to watch anything else of his. But sometimes the fact that a picture was once banned makes it tempting, even to those who respect the church that decried it. Besides, I was curious to see how Buñuel would do with something neither in the realm of fantasy nor full of dreams.

The title character (Silvia Pinal) is preparing to become a nun in Spain. She reluctantly accepts an invitation to visit her estranged wealthy uncle, Don Jaime (Fernando Rey), who may not have much longer to live. Viridiana looks so much like her departed aunt that he hatches a terrible plot to have his way with her. That's as far as the Netflix summary goes, but it doesn't do justice to the second half; if you don't mind possible spoilers, read on.