Family Movie Night with The Jungle Book

Friday nights are often family movie night, whether at the theater or at home. With the snow storm we had no choice but to make it an at home family movie night. 

This Friday, movie night was with my nieces Breylin and Franchesca, and the movie of choice? The Jungle Book: Rumble in the Jungle. As soon as I showed them the DVD package they were crazy with excitement. Breylin grabbed the Mowgli figurine, Franchesca grabbed Baloo and I grabbed the popcorn!

Plot synopsis: There's trouble in the jungle, and as usual, Mowgli and Mani are at the center of it all! While they enjoy their time drumming away at logs in the jungle, Shere Khan plots to put an end to the noise. Meanwhile, Tabaqui is stuck in a well, Appu gets lost, and there's something fishy going on at the Cold Lair… Will Mowgli escape the clutches of the evil Shere Khan, and manage to still have time to join his friends in the jungle rhythm? This action packed feature length film promises to bring you the best of The Jungle Book.

Franchesca is 3 and she wasn't so interested, she kept walking in and out of the room. But Breylin, who is 5, was so into the movie right from beginning to end. She gave it two thumbs up and said her favorite part was the whole movie. She wanted to watch it a second time and we did! It's not like the original movie, but it's definitely good to watch. It's a cute movie for the family to enjoy together, especially kids 4-6 years old. I give it two thumbs up as well. 

The DVD comes with a downloadable activity kit. Breylin and I are saving that for this weekend. The DVD releases exclusively at Walmart for $14.86 (DVD and collectible toys) today, February 12th! The national release is this May 2013.

To learn more about The Jungle Book and other great family movies, visit Phase 4 Films at www.phase4films.com/kaboom.aspx.

Thought this would be interesting....

Maya Entertainment, the Latino-owned film entertainment company, is teaming up with Blockbuster Inc., to support the growing Latino filmmaking industry in the U.S. and spotlight quality examples of its work.

Together, the companies are presenting two programs. The first is a 10-city film festival featuring internationally acclaimed films, actors and filmmakers. The second is Project Goldenlight, a national screenwriting competition.

The film program will include both domestically produced and internationally acclaimed films never before distributed in North America. Films being considered for inclusion feature high-profile Latino actors as well as Latino filmmakers and themes.

Project Goldenlight is a screenwriting competition in which industry experts will select an original screenplay from a pool of contestants to be developed by Martinez, who also manages the development team at Maya. Depending on the output of the project, the final product will be released theatrically and then have an exclusive rental window at participating BLOCKBUSTER stores.

The Project Goldenlight competition is scheduled to launch in the spring through www.LatinoReview.com in association with The National Association of Latino Independent Producers ("NALIP") Producer's Academy.

Whatever Works!

I happen to love, love, love Woody Allen movies. I think I have to add another love, love Woody Allen. So you can imagine my excitment to hear that the new Woody Allen movie will be showing on the opening night of The Tribeca Film Festival April 22.

"Whatever Works" is Woody Allen's first film shot in NYC since 2004. He has filmed overseas, the past couple of movies. This is a comedy starring Larry David (love him too), Evan Rachel Wood, Ed Begley Jr. and Patricia Clarkson. Should be interesting to see Larry David in a Woody Allen movie.

I can't wait to see it!! "Whatever Works" will be released summer 2009.

The Tribeca Film Festival, which was co-founded by Robert De Niro, will run through May 3.

It was only a matter of time

I honestly did not expect this to occur this soon, but In The Heights will be on the silver screen as well as the Broadway stage. Universal Pictures announced yesterday that it has acquired the rights to produce a feature film based on In The Heights. The musical has exhilirated audiences on both on and off Broadway since February 2007 and won four Tony Awards this year.

I have yet to see the musical and now I really need to get my butt there before it hits the screen.

"Have you ever danced with the devil in the moonlight?"

Last night, I finally went to see "The Dark Knight". I LOVED it!! I'm really glad that this movie lived up to the hype. So many times a movie is hyped up and you leave the theater so disappointed. I was much more entertained watching this film than watching "Batman Begins". I'll say this much though, to compare the old Batman movies to the recent films is like apples and oranges. Where "Batman", "Batman Returns", "Batman Forever", and "Batman and Robin" were much more fantastical, colorful, and enteraining, "Begins" and "Dark Knight" are much more real, dark, more like a suspense action film than a superhero film.

Sidetracking from the movie itself, the whole night was interesting to say the least. My experience on the subway on the way to the theater set the tone for the rest of the night. As my friend and I entered the 1 train, we heard screaming from the platform. I immediately thought someone's child was left behind. That was not the case, two ladies were about to miss the train and screamed as if their life depended on it, but they made it on the train.

The strangest thing happened when we arrived at the theater; the concession stand was closed! I must say this is a traumatic experience for movie-goers. How can I possibly go see a suspense action movie without so much as a small popcorn and soda? I hope children didn't go to that theater yesterday. Just imagine the conversation, "mami I want popcorn, candy and soda!", "sorry baby concession stand closed." Might as well have told that child"Santa doesn't exist". Enough with the rant on the concession stand.

Back to the film. Personally, Michael Keaton is my favorite Batman/Bruce Wayne, but Christian Bale does a great job, especially as Bruce Wayne. The late Heath Ledger was excellent as the Joker. I think Jack Nicholson laid the ground work for an amazing Joker. Ledger took that to a dark, psychotic yet still comical place, it was brilliant. The movie finds a balance between, character development with good dialogues and the power action sequences. One of the most important things is that most of the action sequences are done in the old-style with real stuntmen. I also liked the ensemble cast with great actors such as Michael Cane, Morgan Freeman, and Gary Oldman (great movie veterans).

Although I did not love "Batman Begins", it set the wheels in motion for a great sequel. Director Chris Nolan took a comic book character and that character's "world" and made it modern, interesting, and most of all believable. By the end of the movie though, I was excited to see the next installation. I was a little worried that it wouldn't be good, thank god I was wrong. "Dark Knight" does everything that "Batman Begins" did and more. Like most sequels, everyone expects more action minus the story, but "Dark Knight" delivers more action with an intriguing story (in my humble opinion, a good comparision would be the progression from Terminator 1 to Terminator 2). This movie is more of a crime drama than anything. It sucks you in from the beginning and takes you on a ride of plots twists, fast-paced action sequences, and amazing cinematography (I'm all about the cinematography of a movie).

What I love most about Batman in general is the whole psychological aspect; a look into the human psyche, the never ending battle between good and evil, right and wrong, the hope for a better tomorrow, anger and compassion. I simply love that.

At the end of the night, as if I wasn't already disturbed by the crime drama, my friend and I went to the ATM. Lo and behold, there was a homeless man sleeping inside the bank. Let me tell you, my heart rate was jacked and the stupid machine was as slow as can be. All the weird things aside, I must reitirate that I loved "The Dark Knight". My advice...JUST GO WATCH IT!

Tropico de Sangre

Al principio de Julio huvo una conferencia de prensa en el Hard Rock Cafe Santo Domingo donde se hablo de el inicio de la pelicula "Tropico de Sangre". Esta pelicula es basada en la vida de las hermanas Mirabal. Para el que no sabe, las hermanas Mirabal (Minerva, Patria, y María Teresa) son heroínas de Salcedo que enfrentaron con dignidad la tiranía del dictador Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961) en la Republica Dominicana, y fueron asesinadas.

Michelle Rodriguez sera la protagoniza de la pelicula, interpretando a Minerva Mirabal. Ella es productora (su compania Cheshire Kat Productions) junto al empresario Joan Giacinti bajo la direccion del dominicano Juan Deláncer.

"Trópico de Sangre", cuenta con el actor cubano César Evora y la hermana sobreviviente de las heroínas, Dedé Mirabal, quien será el hilo conductor de la pelicula. Celinés Toribio y Claudette Lalí, actrices dominicanas, tendrán roles importantes en esta pelicula.

Muchos piensan que Michelle Rodriguez no es la persona indicada par ser el papel de Minerva Mirabal, pero si una persona tiene un decer tan grande de ser parte de una pelica con un tema tan importante, entonces se le deber de dar una opportunidad. I found this quote from Rodriguez on GranCine.net "Tengo mucho fuego, inteligencia, no soy rastrera y tengo lo necesario para enseñarle al mundo aspectos de una mujer respetuosa como fue Minerva".

Al responder una pregunta sobre su origen, en el Hard Rock Cafe, ya que es de madre dominicana y de padre puertorriqueño, Michelle Rodriguez no dejó oportunidad a las dudas. Ella dijo, “Yo salí de mi madre. De ahí vengo, de Jarabacoa y de la capital”.

En el 2001, Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos, y Marc Anthony, junto a otros grandes actores latinos, protagonizaron la pelicula "En el tiempo de las mariposas", basada en la novela de Julia Álvarez sobre el mismo tema. Although it was a great movie, I have been reading a lot of different opinions about "Tropico de Sangre" on dominican websites/blogs. I must agree this movie is just another perpective of the situation, one that includes our people, our details of the Dominican Republic, and our culture.

"Tropico de Sangre" is set to begin shooting in November in the Dominican Republic and will hit the screen next year 2009. I'm excited to see what will come of this movie!

A night at the movies!

We're in the middle of the summer blockbuster season, and I have yet to go to the movies and check out some films that I really want to see (I blame it all on the recession).

I have yet to see Sex and the City (shame on me) and I didn't get to see Indiana Jones either, but I have to make it a point to see Hellboy II (which came out this past weekend) and The Dark Knight (coming out this Friday, July 18th).

Another summer movie that is sort of pulling me in is The X Files movie opening July 25th. I was never a huge fan of the show, although I would watch from time to time. I saw the movie when it came out on cable, but for some reason I want to see this. Maybe it's the whole secrecy behind the plot line that's intriguing.

It's not at the top of my list for this summer, but I would like to see Tropic Thunder, opening in August. Anything with Ben Stiller, Jack Black, and Robert Downey Jr. should make for a funny ass movie.

I will be sure to give a full report if I ever get my butt to the movie theater this summer!