RIFLE RANGE BOY

Emilia Pérez (2025) Director:  Jacques Audiard mvtimes.com/es/2024/10/29/emilia- perez-film-musical-genre-bender / This musical offering would not have garnered as much airtime if it had not been for an openly transgender individual who won the Best Actress awards at both the Cannes and the Oscars. Interestingly, a female actor (a cis woman) insists on being referred to strictly as an 'actor', not an 'actress'. They are particularly keen on this, demanding to be addressed as 'actors'. I suppose this does not apply to transgender actors. A quick glance at Karla Sofía Gascón's Wikipedia page states her occupation as an actress. For a transgender person, being addressed as female represents the ultimate victory of her transition.  It continues to be one of the most nominated films of the year and the most nominated non-English language film in the Academy's history. When it comes to the basics, this is a gangster film with a twist. The twist is that one can...

Society of the Snow (La sociedad de la nieve, Spanish; 2023) Director: J.A. Bayona We have discussed this movie before. Check here . This is yet another version depicting one of the greatest human stories about survival. On October 13, 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 flew over the Andes from Uruguay to Chile. It was carrying 45 passengers on board, mostly Uruguayan rugby players. It crashed into the most inaccessible part of the mountain. Presumed to be dead by the authorities after failing to find them in their search-and-rescue, the 29 initial survivors were left to fend for themselves. A few died due to their injury, and some in an avalanche that ensued. Exposed to the element and having no food to eat, they had to use the last of their survival skills, teamwork, and spiritual faith to hang on to their dear lives. When food became non-existent, somebody suggested that they eat the remains of the dead. Initially, the passengers thought a rescue mission would ensue. After seeing ...

Y tu mamá también  (And your mother too,  Mexican Spanish, 2001 ) Director: Alfonso Cuarón Interestingly, sex has always assigned the duty of maturing someone and smacking people with the profound answer of the reason for existence. Tinseltown impresses us that sex is the panacea to all our worldly problems. Of course, we all know that sex may also create problems of its own. There was a time when sex was accorded a special status in society. Because of its mysterious nature, which was ill-understood by primitive men, sanctioning permission to indulge in this biological activity was complicated. Many requirements and rituals had to be fulfilled to obtain access. As the societal restrictions became increasingly questioned with no logical explanation in sight, the biological act came to be treated as such, a biological process, not needing frills and pomp. Humans were merely continuing the spread of their seeds for the continuity of species. Slowly sex lost its respected status ...

The Platform (El Hoyo, Spanish, 2019) The recent shopping spree shown by the public before an imminent lockdown following the Covid-19 shows how self-centred and selfish our society is. Some people stock up toilet rolls by the trolleys full just because they do not have to worry whether there is money left to be used for other things. The last thing on their mind is the fear of creating panic buying or that his fellow human will be struggling to get his.  Some will blame the individual for such behaviour, whereas others will say that the system created such monsters. We should be the change that we want, it is easy to say. Unfortunately, we are worried about our survival that we care less for others. Perhaps, we should learn that the joy of being wealthy is not in spending capriciously but using it judiciously. The change in a broken system does not start from high above but from the people lower down the food chain. The ruling class do not see anything in the structure as...

Money Heist (La Casa De Papel, House of Paper) Spanish miniseries, Netflix Season 1-3; 2017- present It is no secret that countries which are secular in their politics perform better in economics. Look around. Nations who appear to showcase Roman Catholic in their day to day running of their lives, e.g. countries in the Iberian peninsula, in Latin America and the Philippines, perform worse off than their Protestant counterparts. We need not talk about Muslim nations or countries struggling to go all conservative to stay relevant.   It seems that nations that look at pleasing the Money God seem more progressive and advanced technologically and socioeconomically. By this, I mean these countries look at acquiring wealth at a level more important than to satisfy the imagined Man in the heaven or the intangible Forces of Nature. They feel money can solve their problems in this life and do not need to follow preset rules on Earth to receive its unassured retribution in another ...

The Secret in their Eyes ( El secreto de sus ojos, Argentina; 2009) What happens when the director of 'House' and 'Law & Order' decides to do a joint venture film between Argentina and Spain? This movie - a thriller with a gruesome murder whilst the legal eagles involved in the cases see love in each others' eyes materialises! It is a lovey dovey movie for the mature, narrating the members involved in the investigation of a senseless rape and murder of a pretty young wife. They thought they had nailed the assailant down. 25 years later, after the assistant counselor (Benjamin Esposito) retires and plans to write a novel about the murder, he discovers that there is more to it than what meets the eye. A scene at railways when they depart ways - Esposito being transferred and the boss soon to be tied the knot! His immediate boss, a young Cornell trained judge 25 years previously, had the hots for him then and the feeling was mutual. Neithe...

Lo Imposible (The Impossible, 2012) Leave it to the film-makers to re-enact even the most difficult of nature's catastrophe, so much so that the survivors re-live and suffer the stresses of the trauma of the event all over again. Like what a 'learned' leader once said, "If Hollywood can make 'Avatar', the powers that control Hollywood can make us believe through all their stories that they wants us to believe! - Holocaust, Osama and all.." In this way, the excellent cinematography made us believe that they actually re-created a tsunami when everything was shot in a giant swimming pool and generous help from computer graphic imaging! This Naomi Watts-Ewan McGregor disaster flick is based on a certain Maria Belon's Christmas family vacation to an exotic tropical paradise location in an island in Thailand. After a peaceful bliss of a Christmas day and family bonding time, tragedy struck the family with 3 young boys on Boxing day of 2004. The lull b...