Tag Archive for 'Melonie Diaz'

Raising Victor Vargas

Published
by
Chalupa
on August 4, 2008
in Comedy, Coming of age, Drama, New York and Romance
. 0 Comments

I’m not really sure why I added this one to my Netflix queue.  I think it was suggested to me as something I might like.  Writen, directed and produced by Peter Sollett - you might recognize his name in conjunction with a new film coming out, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist starring the ever-funny Michael Cera.  I wasn’t really sure what to think of this film.  I think part of the confusion was with the title.  Raising Victor Vargas would imply it might be about Victor growing up or his parents raising him or something.  The story starts off with Victor being ashamed everyone in the neighborhood knows he’s dating a “fat chick.”  So he heads to the pool with his sidekick to try and change his reputation.  We eventually get clued in to his interesting homelife and his grandmother who is raising him.  So I thought maybe the story would be centered on the grandmother, but it wasn’t.  I want to say I didn’t understand the point of the story, but that just sounds bad…even though I still feel that way.

If you check out the cast list on IMDB, you’ll notice that most of the characters real names are also their character names.  I’ve always though that must make the acting a little bit easier.  The two people I recognized were Melonie Diaz from Be Kind, Rewind, and Victor Rasuk from Lords of Dogtown and I’m Reed Fish.  I appreciated the effort put into accents and vernacular.  It seemed to fit the time and place, or maybe it’s just what I’m used to from watching TV.

Overall I wasn’t really thrilled with this one.  I know movies can just be entertainment; they dont’ have to always teach you a lesson.  This one didn’t seem to have a lesson, there wasn’t any major closure, there didn’t even seem to be much of a character change in anyone.

Rating: ★★½☆☆

Be Kind Rewind

Published
by
Chalupa
on February 26, 2008
in Comedy and Filmmaking
. 2 Comments

If you’re any fan of Jack Black, you should probably see this. If you’re a fan of Mos Def, you should probably see this. Lastly, if you even remotely liked Michel Gondry’s previous films, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Dave Chappelle’s Block Party or The Science of Sleep, you should probably see this.

Be Kind Rewind was the one movie I had been looking forward to seeing so far in 2008. I’m glad to say it didn’t disappoint one bit. Mos Def, Mike, works for Danny Glover, Mr. Fletcher in his video store. The building is facing being condemned and torn down by the city to pave the way for improvements. The store doesn’t see that much business, but it’s definitely a big part of the community. Mr. Fletcher goes on a short trip to strategize how to make the store more money, to pay for the required improvements, and leaves just one instruction, “Keep Jerry Out.” Jerry, played by Jack Black, is a bit of a bumbling fool hell-bent on his conspiracy theories. One night while trying to sabotage the government Jerry becomes oddly magnetized and, without knowing, erases all the tapes in Mr. Fletcher’s store.

One customer, who happens to be close friends with Mr. Fletcher, demands she gets Ghostbusters by 7:00pm or she’s telling the boss. Hilarity ensues as Mike and Jerry try to come up with a copy of Ghostbusters to keep the problem on the “down low” until they can fix it.

Rated PG-13, I would say this is a movie the whole family can enjoy…and I actually mean it. I’m not talking about Bambi or one of those other silly movies for kids that I get roped into seeing during the holidays every once in a while. I’m sure all of you know how hilarious Jack Black is, but I also think it’s worth pointing out Mos Def. As a musician-gone-actor, I’ve been pretty impressed with his performances. Usually people in the entertainment business who try to diversify their talents don’t do so well. Remember when Michael Jordan tried to play baseball? Even if Mos Def hasn’t been in a particularly great film, I feel like he’s always done his part to the best of his abilities - just like Samuel L. Jackson.

I can’t recommend this film enough. Go out and see it today, if it’s in your area, or keep your eyes peeled for when it hits the shelves on DVD. I loved this movie.

3/5/08 - Here are some “sweded” fan movies a friend gave me a link to.

Rating: ★★★★★

Raising Victor Vargas

Published
by
Neville
on September 10, 2004
in Comedy, Drama and Romance
. 0 Comments

While in L.A. in the spring of 2003, there was a movie dancing around independent and art-house theaters that I never caught. I wanted to see it, but just hadn’t gotten around to it. It’s funny when people like me start to feel bad about not seeing movies they know they should see. Anyways, this past spring, my sister and I rented “Raising Victor Vargas” and only got through about 30 minutes of it before I took her look of ‘what are we watching?’ to heart. I politely stopped it and was frustrated that I had rented a movie that I knew I wouldn’t end up finishing that weekend.

Last night though, I was scanning channels and saw the movie playing on HBO and surprisingly it was exactly where I had left off. So I watched and slowly liked the movie more and more as it went along.

I won’t say much b/c I’ve already blabbed too much, but this is a coming-of-age story about a young high school kid who wants to be in love. The cast is luminous, with a flare for realism both in looks and speech, however, it never becomes dull or uninteresting. These kids are living here in America, but most of us haven’t had the chance to see them. So here it is. And just a little hint if you plan to go rent it: blockbuster has it for sale for $4.99 right now on previously viewed DVD so if you want, you could just buy it and if you don’t like it you could return it back / trade it in for $5 of blockbuster credit…meaning, it would be a freebie. Just a suggestion. (Oh and if you do rent it, look for Victor and his real life brother who plays his brother in the film…their subtle relationship is one of the more endearing parts of the film…even though it’s not the primary focus of the story).