aaronalmarez

I saw some of "Porque El Amor Manda"("Love Rules")when I was in Mexico(Hermosillo, Sonora)back in October. During some of that trip which was from October 8-12, this telenovela had just premiered by Televisa and was shown on "Canal de las Estrellas's" Hermosillo affiliate. But I only saw bits and pieces of the novela during that time. Now, nearly 6 months later, "Porque El Amor Manda" is now being shown here in the U.S. on Univision. Although it's been shown here in the U.S. for a few weeks, it seems good so far. The actors and actresses such as Fernando Colunga, Blanca Soto(in her Televisa debut), Carmen Salinas, Julissa, Alejandro Avila, Jorge Aravena, Erick Elias, Violeta Isfel, Kika Edgar, Ruben Cerda, Ricardo Fastlicht, Ricardo Margaleff, Ninel Conde, and Maria Elisa Camargo, I've seen act in other telenovelas from Televisa and maybe Venevision, RTI-Telemundo, and maybe RCN in the past and are pretty good actors and actresses as well. The theme song which is performed by dance group 3 Ball MTY who have the hits, "Intentalo" and "Besos Al Aire" is good and just as catchy as their aforementioned hits. And like many telenovelas from Televisa, "Porque El Amor Manda" is a remake. The original version was entitled "El Secretario" and was from Colombia and produced by Caracol productions. I've seen some of the first episode of that original version on Youtube for which I did notice the similarities between the original Colombian version and its Mexican counterpart. But I'm pretty sure that Telefutura will probably air "El Secretario" on that network sometime in the near future. Like I said before, "Porque El Amor Manda" seems pretty good in the short time that it's been shown here in the U.S.A. and I'm waiting to see how the rest of this telenovela turns out during its duration as well.

Just like "Casino" has been considered the "so-called" sequel to "Goodfellas", in my opinion, "Carlito's Way" is basically the "so-called" sequel to "Scarface." The reasons for that explanation is because of the stars and similar story lines of each movie. With "Goodfellas" and "Casino", both movies starred Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci and were directed by Martin Scorsese. When it comes to both "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way", both movies star Al Pacino and were directed by Brian De Palma. And even actors that played minor roles in one movie appear in some capacity in their counterparts. Also in the past, there were weekends were I would watch both sets of movies together but on separate days from each other. But of course, there are differences between "Tony Montana" and "Carlito Brigante." "Tony Montana" was basically a Cuban refugee hoodlum who along with other Cuban refugees, arrives in Miami, Florida during the "Mariel Boat Lift" in 1980 and within a few years becomes the top drug lord in Miami and uses cocaine as a source of power. But that particular drug also contributes to his downfall in the end. With "Carlito Brigante", he's a Nuyorican(Puerto Rican New Yorker) ex drug lord who returns to the streets of New York City in 1975 after serving 5 years of a 30 year prison sentence. Now planning to live a legitimate crime free life, he also tries to rekindle his relationship with Gail(Penelope Ann Miller) that he had before his imprisonment. But there are two causes to Carlito's downfall. The first is his lawyer, David Kleinfeld(Sean Penn)who not only has a very bad cocaine addiction but is corrupt and is also a retaliatory target of incarcerated Italian mob boss, Tony "Tony T" Taglialucci(Frank Minucci), another one of his clients. Carlito's second downfall is "Benny Blanco" who is a young, inexperienced punk who is trying to rise up in the drug trade by trying to surpass Carlito and is played by actor/comedian John Leguizamo, respectively. But in the end, is it Carlito himself that contributes to his downfall just for having a loyal trust in Kleinfeld and Pachanga(Luis Guzman), an old friend from his past. "Carlito's Way" was released in 1993 for which it was 10 years apart from "Scarface"(which was released in 1983). And another difference between each movie is the musical score. With "Scarface", the score was conducted by Giorgio Moroder and was synthesizer based. With "Carlito's Way", the score was conducted by Patrick Doyle and was more symphonic/orchestra based. But the soundtrack also consisted of songs from 1970's Disco groups such as KC and the Sunshine Band, The O Jays, The Hues Corporation, The Bee Gees, LaBelle, etc. that fit the time period of the movie(1975). And the soundtrack also consisted of songs from Latin music artists such as Celia Cruz, Hector Lavoe, Willie Colon, and Santana as well. And besides the other aforementioned actors, the other actors that comprised the cast such as James Rebhorn, Viggo Mortensen, Adrian Pasdar, Joseph Siravo, Richard Foronjy, John Ortiz, Ingrid Rogers and the late Argentinian comedic actor, Jorge Porcel(in his only American acting appearance) also put in good performances in this movie. And besides Al Pacino, other "Scarface" alumni such as Al Israel(Hector), Angel Salazar(Chi Chi), Cesar Cordova(Cuban cook), and Mike Moran(Nick the Pig)also make brief cameos in "Carlito's Way." Just like he perfected the Cuban accent for "Tony Montana" in "Scarface", Pacino perfects the Nuyorican accent for "Carlito Brigante" in "Carlito's Way", even if he is an Italian-American actor. Although "Carlito's Way: Rise to Power" was, in my opinion, a good prequel starring Jay Hernandez as a young "Carlito" in his early years, it will never compare to the original film from 1993. "Carlito's Way", in my opinion, is another great gangster film that should be included in the ranks with "The Godfather" trilogy, "Once Upon a Time in America", "Goodfellas", "Casino", "A Bronx Tale", and of course, "Scarface"(both versions from 1932 and 1983/Al Pacino respectively). Also, look out for a director's trademark that director Brian De Palma left in both movies that involves a gun that includes a silencer and an arm in a sling. Of course, both "Scarface" and "Carlito's Way" have to be watched together side by side to find that director's trademark along with its symbolism.

I remember stumbling upon an episode of "El Juego de la Vida" when I was channel surfing one afternoon in September, 2002 and settled on KMEX-34(Univision's L.A./Southern California affiliate). What I saw of that one episode looked good. And after watching that one episode, I decided to start watching this novela. Although "El Juego" had been on for sometime, I continued to watch it but I would only watch it whenever I got the chance. This telenovela introduced me to the many actors(young and old) that comprised the cast such as Valentino Lanus, Ana Layevska, Sara Maldonado, Luis Gimeno, Mariana Karr, Tina Romero, Raul Araiza, Jr. and others for which I would see them act in other telenovelas post and even pre "El Juego de la Vida." For a long time, I had hoped that either Univision would re-air "El Juego" in their late night "Grandes Historias" series or Telefutura because that subnetwork of Univision usually re-airs old telenovelas from Televisa all of the time. And I even looked out for a DVD of this novela for a long time as well. Unfortunately, either network or a DVD of "El Juego" came about. Sometime this past August, I was able to watch "El Juego" on Youtube. I was glad I was able to see the novela from the beginning on this website for which I was able to watch the first 20 episodes. Then about a few months ago, I got word through the website, "Telenovela World" that Telefutura would re-air "El Juego de la Vida" on weekday mornings at 8 a.m. After receiving that information, I was happy that it was returning to TV and I even had the novela set to record on my DVR. And although I saw the first 20 episodes on Youtube previously, I decided to start watching the whole novela again for which I'm also glad I have the opportunity to watch "El Juego" from start to finish. "El Juego de la Vida" was not only the first telenovela for teens that I saw(others such as "Clase 406", "CLAP", "Rebelde", "Codigo Postal", etc. would follow afterwards) but this particular telenovela got me to become a fan of watching telenovelas in general(from either Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia) as well.