The time Taissa Farmiga revolutionized horror cinema without anyone noticing

 

Taissa Farmiga has established herself as a clear star of the horror genre. His passage through multiple seasons of American Horror Story , his work in the reboot of The Twilight Zone  or his passage through the saga The Conjuring with the spin-offs of The Nun exemplify it: But, beyond all these commercial productions released by all high in cinemas or on major television networks, it has also surprised in lesser-known products that had a direct premiere in domestic format, such as The Last Girl .

It is not surprising that a project like this was given little confidence, since we are talking about a film with such disparate elements that it was unimaginable that something like this could work on a commercial level . Its proposal revolved around a group of teenagers who cross the screen of a cinema and end up in the action of a slasher , facing the murderer and looking for a way to return to reality while facing the strange rules that govern in that universe. filmic.

It was a parody of classics of the genre such as Friday the 13th , Nightmare on Hell Street , Halloween and the concept of the “final girl” or “final survivor”, the typical female character who avoids sex, drugs or wrong behavior. whose sense of responsibility helps him survive and defeat the murderer. Taking this rule into account, the protagonists of The Last Girl had to try to stay alive by fleeing from any problematic action and trying to complete the action of the film in which they are trapped as stipulated in the script, otherwise they would be trapped. in an infinite loop with the scenes repeating over and over again.

Perhaps, its parody concept meant that it was not taken very seriously, but the truth is that we are talking about one of the most reputable horror films of the last decade . No matter how much risk this disparate mix between comedy, horror, film within a film, tributes or time loops entailed, The Last Girl managed to fit everything together with surprising inventiveness, escaping from the commonplaces of this type of stories to impact Where you least expect it.

Jeremy Allen White, the fashionable star who found his springboard to fame in his therapy

 

Jeremy Allen White is the actor of the moment. Not only does he have the critics devoted to his talent, the industry at his feet and the media interest on his part after confirming his romance with Rosalía with the photos of a kiss in the middle of the street in Los Angeles, but he has just confirmed his position in Hollywood sweeping its series at the Emmy and Golden Globes in a matter of a few days.

Because the success of The Bear , the series for which he has just won both awards for Best Actor in a Drama Series, has exposed his talent to the international public, positioning him as one of the great promises of the moment practically of the night. in the morning.

The character of Carmy , a meticulous chef  who carries trauma to the surface in the middle of a chaotic restaurant, gave him the opportunity to shine in a big way in intense sequences that require unparalleled talent, although before he showed us his charisma in series like Shameless or Homecomin g and even in another artistic field during his adolescence.

Many may not know it, but this 32-year-old performer who is on the lips of half the world had aspirations that, before being an actor, focused on another discipline. As he has said in interviews, such as the one granted to Interview Magazine in 2016, his parents enrolled him in all kinds of activities when he was a child, such as soccer, wrestling, baseball and dance, the latter being where he found an oasis of happiness and talent that motivated him to want to develop a professional career in dance . 

"I love to dance. I trained as a dancer when I was young: jazz, ballet, tap. Going out dancing with friends is what I like to do the most. “I pull out all my old moves,” said Jeremy Allen White. “All my friends make fun of me because I have a very specific dance that I do when the tempo changes. I guess it would be described as a strange sashay-tap thing. But if I could dance forever, that would be great .”

The forgotten Mexican version of 'The Snow Society' that survivors hated

 

With The Snow Society  sweeping Netflix , it is inevitable that Alive (or Live!) will return to the conversation , the Hollywood film that adapted the tragedy of the plane crash in the Andes in 1993 with a cast of stars such as Ethan Hawke , Josh Hamilton or John Malkovich. The comparisons with the new film by JA Bayona , which stands as one of the favorites for the Oscar for Best Foreign Film, bring to the table debates such as, for example, which of the two titles is of higher quality, which is more truthful to the events, which is more respectful or which pays better tribute to the victims of the accident.

However, as our vision is so focused on the hegemony of the mecca of cinema, few tend to remember that before The Snow Society or Alive there was already another film that brought this story to our screens. In fact, it was a Mexican production released a few years after the tragedy and, in that decade of the '70s when commercial cinema was still taking its first steps in extreme proposals, it aroused a strong impact due to the issue of anthropophagy . for how he dealt with the survivors surviving by eating the flesh of the deceased. Although in a bad way.

Titled Survivors of the Andes , it was made in Mexico in 1976 by René Cardona , a legendary director from the golden age of Mexican cinema who crossed all types of genres with films such as Santo contra el rey del corazón , La llorona , El enmascarado de plata , The horrifying human beast or Duel in El Dorado and who we also saw as an actor in classics like Allá en el rancho grande . Like The Snow Society or Alive , this title was based on previous literary material, based on the book Survive written in 1973 by Clay Blair Jr. It is not that in the narrative it represented a huge difference with what these other two films did later, although in its dramatic treatment it did have another approach, and a quite controversial one that even bothered the real survivors.  

Perhaps due to a tight budget, the film was quite flat when it came to translating the real story to the screen . With a duration of less than an hour and a half, it barely has room to develop its characters. It relies heavily on a voice-over in overexplanatory passages that are far from creating an emotional depth at the level of what we have seen in The Snow Society . To compensate for this, the film resorts to artificial resources to shock , such as a pounding soundtrack or excessive recreation in the most morbid passages of the event, such as the question of feeding on the bodies of the victims.

The memory of 'Mean Girls' that in the new film takes on another meaning

 

Mean Girls marked a before and after in high school cinema. It's not that it invented anything, but its freshness in addressing adolescent stereotypes through an ingenious script, comic points that were recorded for posterity or a charismatic cast led by Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams , made it an unrepeatable classic. of comedy.

You just have to see how established it has been in popular culture since its premiere in 2004, how much the teenage generation that enjoyed it still lives surrendered to “pink Wednesdays” or phrases like “It's so fetch!” and that it is almost impossible to walk around the internet without finding some reference, meme or phrase to the film. Therefore, with the announcement of a new version for 2024, it was difficult to imagine a product that emulated these sensations .

Making a teenage title today and adapting it to a new youth audience was going to bring with it the modification of its original essence . Basically, because the objective of Paramount Pictures, the producer behind Mean Girls , was to bring this story to new viewers and repeat the success of yesteryear, not so much to focus on nostalgia to attract the public cloistered in the film of yesteryear and deliver a product with nothing. new to offer.

Therefore, it was easy to think that the new adaptation would have every chance of disturbing the good memory that many of us have of the 2000s classic, with changes that would squeak at us and make us put our hands on our heads because they were not directed towards our generation and break the image of the original film. But this has not been the case, because the memory of the Mean Girls of Lindsay Lohan, Rachel McAdams or Amanda Seyfreid keeps it intact. In fact, he uses it actively and takes it towards new meanings that make this new film another unforgettable experience.

The ideal movie to watch when you're feeling down thanks to an approach that deserves to win the Oscar

 

To describe a recently released film as a new cinema classic is a big word, but anyone who enjoys a story like Those Who Remain , which is already a favorite for the Oscars , will not hesitate to apply this qualification. This film starring Paul Giamatti , Dominic Sessa , Da'Vine Joy Randolph and directed by Alexander Payne ( Sideways , The Descendants...) , offers us a Christmas story of those that we always want to enjoy on these dates, although not just any one. , rather one that breaks with the conventions of this type of cinema with a bittersweet comedy capable of waking us up from our worst mood .

Those Who Stay revolves around a Christmas celebration, but not one of those full of good vibes, happy wishes, fabulous family gatherings or dream experiences about the meaning of these holidays. We are placed in a boarding school in the '70s where a very grumpy teacher must spend Christmas taking care of a group of students who have nowhere to go . This will lead to each person's traumas forging unexpected bonds, which will make it easier for them to face the black side of this holiday.

We are presented with profiles of characters who, due to issues of class, family, race or due to dramas of the time such as the Vietnam War, carry internal conflicts due to which these dates choke them, people and realities that we often find difficult to understand when staying in the superficiality of, for example, this type of celebrations. The film uses Christmas in a symbolic way to talk about society , how incomprehensible and frivolous it can be and how sometimes it takes us to cloister ourselves in order to later label ourselves and leave ourselves aside.

Thanks to an overflowing humanity, all it needs is to lovingly develop its protagonists to weave the story and conquer us . There are no highlights or speeches to convey its message, simply a journey through the experiences of its characters that, thanks to the virtues of dramatic comedy, becomes enjoyable and very identifiable for viewers. Those who know Alexander Payne's films will know what I'm talking about, because The Leftovers draws on the same approach as the director's other acclaimed films such as Sideways or Nebraska .

Madame Web | Top reviews, reviews and ratings

 At the moment, Hollywood suffers from a trend that is affecting contemporary cinema, the urgency of creating shared universes in a series of films that are excessively high-grossing. All production companies try to emulate the success of Avengers: Endgame (95%) or Spider-Man: No Way Home (92%) and this ambition means that creative decisions remain in the background, giving priority to commercial decisions that end in a lot of heartless movies.

With the idea of ​​creating its own shared universe, Sony has been making films of villains or secondary characters from the world of Spider-Man, unfortunately with very negative results (speaking specifically of live-action films, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (100 %) and its sequel are excellent). From the moderately entertaining Venom (35%) to the disastrous Morbius (21%) they have not gotten a good movie and Madame Web (14%) seems to be one more in the collection of failures.

What is 'Madame Web' about?

Cassandra "Cassie" Webb ( Dakota Johnson ) is a paramedic in Manhattan who after suffering a near-death accident develops powers of clairvoyance. Having visions of three girls who will be attacked, she decides to help them, only to discover that the three have an important destiny. Julia Cornwall ( Sydney Sweeney ), Anya Corazon ( Isabela Merced ) and Mattie Franklin ( Celeste O'Connor ) will become superheroes in the future and Ezequiel Zims ( Tahar Rahim ) tries to prevent it. To help them Cassie will have to face her past where she may be the key to being victorious.

Madame Web seems to suffer from all the flaws that made Morbius a failure, a haphazard script, a confusing narrative, poor visual effects, and good actors trapped in a bad movie. Critics emphasize the waste of great potential, as several comment that the plot could well have developed into a great story, but instead they took the path of clichés. The general consensus is that it is a bad movie, whether it is entertaining enough will be a matter of what mood you are in when you see it, if you decide to see it.

What do the critics say about 'Madame Web'?

Zendaya's robotic look at Dune 2 premiere provokes memes

 

Actress Zendaya caused a stir on social networks, after the robotic look she wore during the premiere of Dune 2 in London.

The futuristic design is from the emblematic French brand Mugler, with which the American actress wears a silver-tone robot suit, with transparent plates on some parts of the body such as the buttocks, legs and abdomen.

Given this, social media users created the best memes to take advantage of the moment.

Through the X platform, Internet users spread the most original memes of the event.

Some couldn't help but relate the actress to a famous Star Wars character.

While others remembered the legendary movie "Metropolis."

Likewise, a sector of the public knows that Zendaya's clothing can be used as armor.

Finally, some created their own Dune 2 tape.

The long-awaited film by director Denis Villeneuve will be released on February 29 in theaters throughout Mexico, so pre-sales began on February 8.

Netflix's Avatar: The Last Airbender 'is fantastic', say critics' first reactions

 Due to the love that fans have for the original animated series, there was a lot of skepticism surrounding Netflix's live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender , especially since the creators of the animated show left their position as showrunners of the new series. due to creative differences. However, initial reactions from critics on social media have begun to emerge, offering a generally positive view.

The series follows the story of Aang, the last Avatar and master of the four elements, in a world divided by war and the struggle for power. Accompanied by his friends Katara and Sokka, Aang embarks on a journey to master control of the elements and restore balance to a world torn by conflict.

Avatar: The Last Airbender poster (Image: IMDb)

Early reactions from critics have been mostly positive, highlighting several aspects of the series. The direction of the series is praised, with special attention to the action scenes and visual effects that bring to life the control of elements ( bending ), a fundamental part of the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender . In addition, the fidelity to the original material and the inclusion of new elements that enrich the story known to fans stand out.