Sex addiction and love traumas: the striking revelations of This Is Me... Now, Jennifer Lopez's most personal film

 

When Beyoncé released her acclaimed album, Lemonade , in 2016 , she was not only responding, once again, to the prejudices that were held about her as an artist but also taking control of the narrative of the ups and downs of her marriage to Jay Z. With “If life gives you lemons, prepare lemonade” as a leitmotif , the singer moved with ease through different rhythms, but without forgetting what was the driving force behind her project: building something powerful from heartbreak.

As a consequence, Lemonade had its inevitable visual accompaniment, a film tailored to that great album in which Beyoncé went through all the stages of a relationship on the verge of breaking down. From grabbing a bat to destroy a car as a way of achieving catharsis to the reconciliation that comes at the end, with an arduous path traveled, the artist delivered a visually striking work that elevated the album and in which she spoke for herself, without intermediaries, without the need to expose oneself to press questions or resort to damage control. Thus, Lemonade recorded the rawest side of married life, a life in constant movement, a life as extraordinary as it was common. Her protagonist was planted in reality and she became closer to her audience. In the end, it is difficult not to empathize with someone who is not afraid to show her wounds, with someone who shows herself to be human in the face of attacks.

This Friday, Jennifer Lopez released her brand new album, This Is Me…Now and its visual addition, This Is Me…Now : A Love Story , a film directed by Dave Meyers that is already out available on Amazon Prime . As for its objective, it is not far from what Beyoncé did eight years ago: to enhance her recording work with a film that is the purest reflection of it, with an episodic structure in which her compositions shine, and in which can also take advantage of her magnetism as an actress. However, J.LO takes another path on a narrative level. Unlike her colleague, in her feature film - co-written by her with Matt Walton - the heartbreak in love is not approached with nuances but with an astonishing superficiality, as if it were a mere pretext so that the star can, once again, place herself in a place of superiority already seen in his Netflix documentary, Halftime .

This Is Me…Now is the way the artist found to “sell herself” as a lover of love, as a person who sacrificed other aspects of her life in pursuit of finding the purest relationship possible. Therefore, his film, which has musical scenes, sequences worthy of the popular romantic comedies that he has been starring in in recent decades, and dramatic moments that are dissonant with that visual exercise that wants to be kitsch and fails to do so, is neither neither more nor less than the portrait of an odyssey that concludes when Lopez returns to the arms of her true love: Ben Affleck . If this sounds cheesy, it's because the star is actually not afraid to embrace the saccharine, whoever likes it.

Avatar: The Last Airbender | Sokka actor defends the changes to his character and says they cannot be 100% faithful

 

Amid growing anticipation for the live-action adaptation of Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix, one of the key actors in the cast, Ian Ousley , who plays Sokka, has come out in defense of the changes made to his character. After speculation and controversy among fans over the removal of Sokka's "sexism" from the series, Ousley has assured that the core essence of the beloved animated show remains intact in the new version.

Since talk began about the elimination of "sexism" in Sokka's narrative, many fans expressed their concern, arguing that this aspect was fundamental to the development of the character and his evolution throughout the original animated series. However, in a recent interview with Metro.co.uk , Ian Ousley directly addressed these concerns, stating that fans shouldn't be worried about drastic changes to Sokka's essence.

The 21-year-old actor explained that while some elements of the story have been adjusted to fit the live-action format, the essence of Sokka's character remains faithful to the animated original. Ousley emphasized that Sokka is still the same overprotective older brother and brave leader of the Southern Water Tribe, but with some modifications necessary for the new format.

"I think the essence of the character that Sokka is is 100% the character that is portrayed in the live-action version of the show," Ousley stated. "It's obviously different from an animated show to a live-action show in those aspects, but the heart and soul of the animated show is the breath that we're all participating in."

However, maintaining the essence does not imply that they have been 100% faithful. The actor acknowledged that certain aspects of his developmental arc may have been directed in different directions to adapt to the new medium: “We can't fit every arc of every element of the animated show. But its essence is still there.”

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'?