Shot in “Mexicoscope” by director Matt Piedmont (TV’s Funny or Die Presents …), the movie casts Ferrell as dumpy ranch hand Armando Alvarez who inadvertently gets mixed up in the drug war between his favored brother, Raul (Diego Luna, Contraband), and Raul’s nemesis (Gael García Bernal, Babel). To further complicate matters, he falls for his […]
Mexico
Posted inArts & Culture
Miss Bala
Maria was also full of praise, earning an Academy Award nomination; Miss Bala was Mexico’s official submission for Best Foreign Language Film at this year’s Oscars, but failed to make the cut. It feels like an inferior duplicate — not vastly inferior, but noticeably, thanks to a running time that grows as repetitive as those […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Cafe central
Incidentally, I realized I loved this type of food while staying at a lodge in Costa Rica some years back that was renowned for its bird watching. The food of Costa Rica, which sits farther down the narrow snake of land that forms Central America, loses some of Guatemala’s spice, but the foundations are there: […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The Feathered Serpent: Complete Series
Something about their video-shot look felt alien; I even found that damned Thames logo animation unnerving. This may explain my lifelong allergy to Benny Hill. But there’s no explaining “The Feathered Serpent,” a 1976 series that was over and done with in a dozen half hours. Whether you saw it then or are experiencing it […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Monsters
True to the film theory that what you don’t see is always more suspenseful than what you do, Gareth Edwards’ first feature pays off in proverbial spades. The low-budget yet spectacular-looking film follows photojournalist Kaulder (Scoot McNairy) as he escorts his publisher’s daughter, Sam (Whitney Able), from Mexico back to the United States. This is […]