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• Director: Craig Gillespie
• Genre: Comedy/Drama
• Year: 2007

More and more I am surprised by Juno’s nomination to best picture, when there were movies like this and “Into the Wild” that easily obscure it. Nothing against Juno, it is a fun, entertaining movie to watch with sadly over the top, exaggerated humor and unrealistic dialogue. Did I find it funny? Yes. Would I watch it again? Probably. Would I say it was one of 2007 Best Pictures? Definitely not. Lars and the Real Girl, on the other hand, is one that I would definitely have placed in there. If it was the comedy angle that they were looking for, then the comedy that Lars provides is far more original, believable, sincere and heartfelt.

Lars and the Real Girl is, underneath it all a very moving love story, except that, this time, the girl is a blow up doll acquired from the internet and not a real human. I know, immediately bells, whistles and alarms go off the moment one reads ‘blow up doll’ particularly when we are talking about a completely anatomically correct blow up doll, but allow me to reassure you that there is not an ounce of indecency in this movie, aside from the fact that the doll was intended to be a sexual companion and not the object of a young man’s affections; and yet, she becomes that and so much more. When unstable Lars, trying to get over his own past begins his ‘relationship’ with Bianca (the doll), nobody knew what to make of it, much less realize how much she would touch the lives of others.

In a comedic look at what is the very real and unfortunate problem of delusion, Craig Gillespie delivers a laugh-out-loud film that is at the same time moving, touching and full of simplistic beauty. With a realistic setting, believable content, a strong plot and great acting, this movie is easily one of my favorites of the year and much more worthy of a nomination than Juno ever should have been.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Notes: Aside from some language and some sex related content, this movie is quite clean.
Quote: Gus: Pretend that she’s real? I’m just not gonna do it.
Dagmar: She is real.
Gus: Well…
Dagmar: She’s right out there.
Gus: Right, right, I get that, but I’m just not gonna, you know…
Dagmar: You won’t be able to change his mind, anyway. Bianca’s in town for a reason.
Gus: But - but…
Dagmar: It’s not really a choice.
Karin: Okay. Okay, all right, we’ll do it, whatever it takes.
Gus: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And everyone’s gonna laugh at him.
Dagmar: And you.

• Director: Matías Bize
• Genre: Drama
• Year: 2005

It is difficult to top Linklater in this genre, the content heavy, dialogue driven, simply set type drama that submerge you into a situation and leave you engaged for the duration of the film. He did it twice with Before Sunrise and with Before Sunset and he did it also in Tape, all of which are movies that I greatly enjoyed.

Matías Bize makes an attempt to do the same and while he is largely successful at it, it seems that he falls short of the achievements Richard Linklater got to. Of course, this is unfair, in that one would be putting Bize against a pretty high bar to begin with. This film is pretty good, considering that the entire cast is two people, practically strangers and the set is essentially a bed (there is only one short scene in which they are in the tub, the rest of the movie literally takes place while they are in bed).

Daniela and Bruno clearly do not know each other, this much is uncovered immediately after their first sexual bout with opens up the film, where Bruno is having to dig and prod to remember the girls name. Interesting then, how much room is covered in this one night, which is credible up to a point, but that is where certain strings in the material begin to show and snap. There is some content that is forced in the film, too easily brushed off to be completely realistic and on the part of the director, a certain number of predictable shots threaten to dismember the artistic tower of cards he is building.

I am probably being far too picky with this, it is still a very enjoyable movie, with an interesting situation and character development and as one would expect from a film that takes place in bed, some steamy sex as well. I only want to warn the viewer that they should not expect Linklater material. Go in with lower standards and likely you will enjoy this movie just fine.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Notes: Explicit sexuality. Spanish with English subtitles

• Director: Juan Antonio Bayona
• Genre: Horror/Thriller/Mystery/Drama/Foreign
• Year: 2007

Good horror films are hard to come by though, good horror, foreign films are much easier to find, which is a shame, because with the budget Hollywood has, the visual effects they can create would be the perfect instrument to deliver nice, scary, spine tingling films, but all they seem to churn out is the same old formulaic crap. Let’s be honest, when was the last horror film you saw that scared the crap out of you that was actually from the US? For me? I want to say that there is something I saw after Event Horizon that scared me, but all the examples I can come up with are European or Asian.

In any case, a foreign horror film is something I typically will jump right into simply because I know they are going to deliver something that I normally will not catch from the mainstream stuff. El Orfanato was no exception and the fact that it was presented by Guillermo del Toro only seemed to reinforce my faith in it. I had seen a couple of trailers, enough to make me shiver.

The idea here is that a woman and her family return to an now abandoned orphanage, with every intention of adopting a handful more kids, aside from their current adopted son, and look after them in that old mansion. it seems to Laura (Belén Rueda; Mar Adentro) that this is the perfect place to raise a few children, the way she once was as a child, near the sea and with plenty of ground to play in. However, when her child begins to insist on his new invisible friends, Laura begins to worry and yet, it takes the child’s disappearance to spur her into action, in a race to find him and uncover the veil of enigma that surrounds the entire grounds.

It is a solid horror flick with enough suspense to keep you watching with interest and good solid acting, even in the part of the children. All in all a solid plot, good cinematography, good usage of sound. The only thing that seemed up in the air was the ending, not a bad one, I do not think but it certainly sparked some discussion among the people that watched it with me. Definitely a watch!

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Scary moments, frightening imagery, adult situations. Spanish with English subtitles

• Director: Sidney Lumet
• Genre: Drama/Crime/Thriller
• Year: 2007

Jeebus, this movie is messed up in various accounts, but I have to say that as time progresses I am more and more impressed with Phillip Seymour Hoffman (why did I just get the feeling to call him Dustin?) and his choice of films. Here is a guy that is clearly not picking his roles because of the money that comes attached to it but by the solidity of the script. So far he has not disappointed me, even in MI3 he was one hell of a bad guy. In any case, both him and Ethan Hawke do a fantastic job playing Andy and Hank Hanson, two brothers both down on their luck, struggling with life and, sleeping with the same woman. Right off the bat, things are not exactly prime and shiny and they only seem to deteriorate further when Andy suggests the bright idea of getting rid of their economic woes by robbing their parent’s jewelry store. The plan if flawless and perfect, he claims, and of course, that only means that as the movie unfolds, the plan will be anything but that.

As a thriller and drama, this movie shines, with great directing and acting on pretty much everybody in the cast. The story is told alternatively through Andy’s eyes and Hanks eyes and occasionally through Charles Hanson’s eyes (their father). The plot does not unfold linearly either, through a series of flashbacks you are given bits of information that all come together towards the unforgiving end. Not exactly a feel good movie, this is the sort of film with enough grit to make it memorable.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5
Notes: Language, criminal activity, explicit sexuality and nudity (Marisa Tomei is half naked in half of her scenes) and drug usage.
Quotes: Andy: The thing about real estate accounting is that you can, you can, add down the page or across the page and everything works out. Everyday, everything adds up. The, the total is always the sum of its parts. It’s, uh, clean. It’s clear. Neat, absolute. But my life, it, uh, it doesn’t add up. It, uh… Nothing connects to anything else. It’s, uh… I’m not, I’m not the sum of my parts. All my parts don’t add up to one… to one me, I guess.
Justin: Get a shrink or a wife.
Andy: Uh, I got a wife.
Justin: Get a shrink.

• Director: Adam Green, Joel Moore
• Genre: Drama/Thriller
• Year: 2007

Somebody made the mistake of calling this a horror when they introduced it to me. Unfair because when you go in with a certain mindset for a specific genre and you do not get it, you tend to get somewhat irked. Thankfully, this movie is a good enough thriller to make up for the lack of horror that it never even had to begin with.

Limited with its set and cast, this movie is relatively simplistic and certainly runs along the independent film vein, and at some points, particularly in the writing and directing the relative inexperience seems to poke its curious little head out. In the grand scheme of things, however, that is not so much of a problem.

At the heart of this story we have a complete social reject named Mason, which is surprisingly much more likable than his ‘normal’ counterparts who work at an insurance company. One gets the sense that the only reason Mason has a job is the fact that his best and really only friend is the boss and has taken him under his protective wing. At the same time, there is a new hire that seems to have an eye for the unique and takes a liking to Mason. Amber, as she is called, becomes another staple in Mason’s often incoherent and oddly obsessed life, which heavily revolves around a series of paitings which he seems to cycle over and over and over. Soon enough, however, Amber begins to realize that dealing with Mason is something she walked into blindly and entirely unprepared for.

A good thriller, even if the acting does not always deliver. In the end it is still an enjoyable and intriguing film with a good effort in cinematography. All in all a solid movie worth the watch.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Notes: Brief nudity, language and some adult situations.
Quote: Amber: So anyway. Now that I have conquered my current job, what should I do next? I am thinking feminist or astronaut. Probably go with feminist, I’m afraid of heights.
Mason: Ah, what does a feminist do?
Amber: Mostly just bitches about stuff.

• Director: Jon Favreau
• Genre: Action/Adventure/Drama/Sci-fi/Thriller
• Year: 2008

The way I see this, its like what Transformers was supposed to be. A better Transformers, yes. You got the big, bad ass robots, you got the excitement and the explosions and all the good stuff people go see in action movies and then you add to it what Transformers did not have, namely a good plot and good acting. That is not to say this movie was perfect, in fact I had a couple of problems with it, but in the large scale of things, when looking at films like this one, those are factors that matter little. The bottom line is that Iron Man is a hell of an enjoyable movie to watch and this is coming from a person that never was an Iron Man fan.

Essentially, in one big film, you get the progression that leads to Iron Man the hero, starting with an event that sees to the kidnapping of Tony Starks, weapons-builder extraordinaire, by what amounts to a rogue band of terrorists (as opposed to the none rogue type). Some may balk at the thought that Mark I and Mark II are breezed right past in favor of the Mark III suit. In my opinion, it was probably the best thing that they could have done for the movie. Yes, there is something exciting about the progression of the suite, but in a blockbuster, you just want to get to the part where the armor is kick ass.

At the helm of this in the acting area is the great Robert Downey Jr, who has made one hell of a comeback after the controversies of the nineties and whom I must say is quickly becoming one of my favorite all time actors. He brings to the personality of Tony Starks a certain confidence and wittiness that frankly most other films are lacking. This makes me wonder, if they ever make a Deadpool film, they are going to have a hard time topping Downey Jr’s character here.

As I said before, this movie is not perfect and not to be dissected by a critical eye. In the end, it is still a comic book based film meant to entertain more than it is meant to change your life…or at least your point of view. However, it must be said that in that vein of things, Iron man is well ahead of the class!

Rating: 4 out of 5
Notes: Some violence, nothing too crazy but still…
Quote: Tony Stark: Is it better to be feared or respected? I say, is it too much to ask for both?

• Author: Vladimir Nabokov
• Category: Fiction

A classic and one that I had placed in my list for a long while now and just never dared to buy. I did not realize just how bad it must look for me to go and read Lolita after reading Oryx and Crake, which as I mentioned dealt with some issues of child pornography. Bad freaking timing…I swear that is all it was. But anyway, as Nabokov explains through his fictional introduction, this book is not pornographic and so, if that is what you are expecting, you better put the book down and go read something else. This is in fact…a love story. Not to say it is not a messed up love story, because it is about a fully adult male and a twelve year old girl, which…regardless of how you look at it, is all sorts of wrong.

The interesting thing here, is that if you replace pedophilia with just about any other taboo romance, it becomes one hell of a romantic concept. What Nabokov has done is gone for the jugular and touched on the most unacceptable of taboos and in turn given it one of the most beautifully worded romance stories. But…I do underscore the romance, which, initially was beginning to wear on me. While this looked to be a happy story, I actually considered putting the book down, mostly because I do not do romance so well. This too, Nabokov seems to have planned nicely, because just as I though this book may be too much of a love story for me, the author throws in the wrench into everything he has methodically built up. And in my opinion, that saves the story, where the happy ending seems forever ruined and the mystery begins.

Having now finished and being able to contemplate it from afar, the book rounds up nicely. It does some things with language which are just absolutely stunning and while I could do with a little bit less of romance and a bit more of the mystery, I do think this is a very good book and recognize it as such.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 (I am sure this is 5 out of 5 for most people, but for my taste? I docked half a point)
Notes: Umm…taboo romance, but you already know the deal.

• Author: Margaret Atwood
• Category: Fiction

In what is probably described as a Sci-fi/post apocalyptic novel, Atwood gives us a frighteningly realistic bleak vision of the future, in which we follow the last of the humans, a bearded, naked man who clothes himself with a sheet, and who goes by the name of Snowman.

As we meet him, the world is a hell of a mess and though he is the last human, we soon learn he is not the last…humanoid creature. Innocent, naive, friendly people referred to by Snowman as Crakers live in the same area, walking around shamelessly naked and living in complete harmony in their territory. The animals, are familiar, but they are not the animals you and I would know and within a small amount of time we realize just how much of the world has changed.

Thankfully, we have Snowman, who once used to be known as Jimmy and who is haunted enough by his memories for us to see, little by little, how this future came to be, brought upon by ourselves and in a manner that is so realistic, it actually becomes frightening. Often, in the news, I will hear something that sounds like it came out of this book and it sends a chill up my spine. Basically, Atwood has made an effort to create a vision of the future that is entirely attainable if the right pieces fell into place. And when you see the results? It is scary as hell.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Notes: The topic of pornography comes up, specifically the topic of child pornography, which is likely to make most normal people cringe. Worry not, she does not dwell in the details, but it is something that comes on early in Jimmy’s life which turns out to be something significant by the end.

• Author: Miguel García Márquez
• Category: Fiction - Magical Realism/Drama

Not the first time I read the book, to be honest. My dad had actually recommended it to me back in High School and I had indeed picked it up and read it cover to cover, mostly during one long swim meet weekend, between heats. However, reading it now, almost fifteen years later, I wonder if I really read it the first time, or if I really knew what exactly it was that I was reading. Though certain concepts remained the same, there was a lot here I did not remember and which struck me as brand new. Certainly one can chuck it up to a forgetful memory, a lot of ish does happen in over a decade, but I was still struck by how this book took me by surprise all over again.

As the title implies, this book is about Solitude, one hundred years of it, in fact and all of it centered around the Buendia family, starting with Jose Aureliano Buendia and his wife, Ursula, who are part of the group of people that founded a tiny town named Macondo in the middle of the bog. Largely untouched by the outside world, Macondo develops under it’s own self imposed structure and law and the families grow. However, our point of view is always kept through the eyes of the Buendia’s.

Ironically enough the very concept of Solitude was entirely lost to me as a high school student. Probably because I was still submerged in an environment where the idea had not taken root. Reading it now, the entire story is soaked in it, solitude suffocates every character in a way that even with the humor, the tenderness, the beauty that this story encompasses, it is not enough to get past that melancholy feeling.

The book takes us over a whole century of the Buendia family, with Ursula Buendia being the only character that manages to tie it all together until close to the end. Me meet all the Jose’s and all the Arcadios that are born and are introduced to some very interesting women as well like Remedios, Rebeca and Amaranta, all characters fully fleshed out and quirky in their own way to help make of this story an epic.

I highly recommend this one, though be aware for some magical realism, which I guess is what they call this type of story which is set in a real world but where magical reasons for things are often taken as logical explanations for how things actually happen. It is a touch of spice that takes this story to a whole other level of enjoyment.

Rating: 5 out of 5
Notes: There is some adult content here, so be aware that there will be language infused here along with some ideas that are not exactly puritanical.

So here it is, version three point Oh! That’s right, the first installment of focoproject, some of you will remember, was a rather complicated affair through Dreamweaver, far more complicated than it needed to be and a pain in the arse to update, which is why it never really did get updated…or not often anyway. Version deux point oh was the one I had going up until a few days ago, running on rapidweaver which was a hell of a lot simpler, but still only updatable on rapidweaver, which unfortunately only runs on a Mac. This meant that I could only post on my site when at work, and let’s be honest, the exciting stuff worth posting about does NOT happen at work. It really sucked having to wait to put something up until the following Monday, by which time I most likely would have forgotten.

This brings us to version tres punto zero, which as you can see, is a hell of a lot simpler and running on Wordpress, which I am happy to say allows you to post from pretty much any computer that allows for internet access. At some point I will be adding a gallery page for my sketches and illustrations, I will also be hopefully adding a page for music which would be nice to have on my own site. So, yes, there is still work to be done, but you will also notice that the movie and book reviews that I used to carry on the forum can now be found here. Sadly I have decided to get rid of the forum, where I was doing most of my posting but unfortunately not where all of the traffic was going. All of those reviews have been moved over here (a lengthy task when you are transferring all that stuff manually) which you can easily access by clicking on the categories link on the side bar. You can also use the search field on the upper part of the sidebar to look up any genre or movie/book title and this will conveniently pull it up for you (assuming I have it); and of course you are still welcome to leave your thoughts and comments by simply clicking on the post title and typing it up! So this will hopefully make things easier for everybody and will also create more traffic where the traffic should be.

Lastly, I must give credit where credit is due, so thanks Todd for 1) letting me know about wordpress, which will save me lots of headaches and 2) for letting my site kick it in your server. Having said that, welcome to the new website, I hope you enjoy it and while you can expect changes soon, they should not affect the functionality of the website, it will only add more goodies to it.

So, in the words of some random astronaut whom I do not know, as far as this website is concerned: “Houston, we are go!”

Fco.