Café Media

‘Machete,’ the New Zapatista

cafeadmin@cafemediallc.com (Alejandro Riera) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:36:25 +0000

“Machete” is a film Tea Partiers, what’s left of the Minutemen and supporters of Arizona’s SB-1070 law will love to hate. Latinos everywhere will eat it up (in fact, I can’t think of a better audience to watch the film with). It is, first and foremost, an exploitation film of the best kind: outrageously over-the-top. But “Machete” is also the best piece of agit-prop pop culture I have seen in a long long time.

‘The American’ Who Came In From the Cold

cafeadmin@cafemediallc.com (Alejandro Riera) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 18:55:13 +0000

The trailers for “The American” portray it as a high-octane action movie a la Bourne trilogy. It is anything but. It is cold, detached, in love with long shots, tight close-ups and skewed framing. It favors a classic European style of filmmaking. It likes to take its own sweet time getting to point B from point A.

‘Takers,' Too Stylized for Its Own Good

cafeadmin@cafemediallc.com (Alejandro Riera) — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:11:51 +0000

“Takers” aims high: it wants to be the urban answer to Michael Mann’s “Heat.” But whereas Mann’s 1985 heist thriller starring Robert De Niro and Al Pacino was meticulous and obsessively detailed, “Takers” is a hyperactive, glossy, loud effort that undermines its noble intentions. It’s an impatient film, too eager to reach its final destination at the expense of character development and motivation.

Scott Pilgrim Rocks Ultimate!

cafeadmin@cafemediallc.com (Alejandro Riera) — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 16:44:36 +0000

When Pat Benatar wrote "Love Is a Battlefield" so many years ago, I don’t think she had in mind any mano a mano fights inspired by the Atari and Nintendo games of our youth nor much less the Playstation, Xboxes and Wii of the current generation. “Scott Pilgrim vs The World,” the big screen adaptation of Bryan Lee O’Malley’s six volume graphic novel, brings new meaning to that song and to her legendary "Hit Me With Your Best Shot."