Noise (Ruido) isn’t so much a movie as an emotion, a cry of agony and horror for the lost and disappeared. It’s set in Mexico, but it could be true of any country where the government looks away while money sets the rules and authoritarian regimes terrorize ordinary citizens.
Who is Erin Carter? has action scenes galore, a butt-kicking woman lead, and a couple of women directors. Sounds perfect, but it was merely average or slightly above for the genre. It had its good points. One was the setting in Spain which was gorgeous. The other was the performance by Evin Ahmad in the lead role.
The Lincoln Lawyer takes on a new case in season 2. Manuel Garcia-Rulfo as defense attorney Mickey Haller knows “LA is a great big freeway” and works in the back seat of one of his Lincolns on many days. His style as a defense attorney is to use clever tricks and ploys to win a case.
God’s Crooked Lines (Los renglones torcidos de Dios), a psycholgical thriller from Spain, stars the always excellent Bárbara Lennie as a woman who enters a mental hospital undercover to investigate a murder.
The Valet, a remake of a French comedy, is billed as a romcom. It has plenty of humor but not much romance. It’s more a look at topics like fame and riches vs. family and honest living.
Rare Objects, a new film written, directed, and produced by Katie Holmes, explores the idea that people become more beautiful when they are broken and heal, even with scars still showing.
Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico takes the actress on a long and delicious tour of Mexico from the perspective of great food. She finds the hot culinary capitals and the most renowned chefs to tell the story of Mexico.
Where the Tracks End (El Último Vagón) tells a heartwarming story from Mexico about education, family, and the value of a good book. It stars Adriana Barraza as a teacher in an impoverished Mexican village near a railroad line being built.
The Snow Girl (La chica de nieve) is a dreary Spanish drama about a kidnapped child. Most of the characters are suffering from a trauma of some kind. This dead serious series teems with depressed characters, an abundance of talk about evil men, grieving parents, sexual assault victims, and frightened women and children. There are some spoilers ahead.
Flamin’ Hot has mixed reviews. It’s great or it’s terrible. It’s the truth or it’s a lie. Honestly, I had mixed feelings about it, too. But as the first film directed by Eva Longoria, I thought it was important to take a look for myself.
