ma-cortes

Belén Rueda plays Lucía, a middle-aged, upper-class woman who believes she leads a model life and has a perfect family, with a wealthy husband (Gonzalo de Castro) and an obedient, lawyer son (Alfonso Ramos). But everything falls apart when she meets her son's girlfriend (Carolina Yuste) and her family, leaving her to question what a perfect family really is. When she meets her potential future relatives, a lower-class family, her world changes, since they are not at all what she imagined for him. Things take a turn for the worse when she has a romantic encounter with the girlfriend's father, Miguel (José Coronado).

The second feature film by director Arantxa Echevarria after the multi-awarded "Carmen y Lola", which also stars Carolina Yuste. A star-studded cast led by Belén Rueda, José Coronado and Gonzalo de Castro in a story with brief dramatic touches, full of entaglements, plot twists, misunderstandings, snobs, 'chonis', and a slap in the face of personal, family and social reality. The main starring is Belén Rueda , who gives a decent acting as the perfectionist, narcissistic and domineering mother who hides, beneath her haughty facade, a deep insecurity. Belén continues to prove herself one of the best actresses in Spain, with each film she appears in -although somewhat older, already in her sixties- , but she is capable of displaying great versatility, knowing how to give each role her innate elegance and utmost talent. Belén is an expert actress in mystery and horror movies, although she has not ruled out other genres, such as comedy, as demonstrates in this one "The perfect family". She has starred in blockbuster films such as: "Los ojos de Julia (Julia's eyes)", "El Orfanato ( The orphanage), "Durante la tormenta", "El Pacto (The pacto), "El cuaderno de Sara (Sarah's notebook)", "Órbita 9", "No Dormirás", "The Body (The body)" or recent, "Caída Libre (Free fall)". The movie also features performances by Gonzalo Ramos, Pepa Arniote, and, of course, Carolina Yuste, recent Goya winner for her acting in "La infiltrada".

The motion picture was professionally directed by Arantxa Echevarria, although it has some falls in rhythm, and the comic situations that arise are hampared by being too artificial, lacking spontaneity. Arantxa has also directed "Carmen y Lola", "Chinas", "Politically incorrect" and the multi-Goya winning film "La infiltrada", alongside her favorite actress Carolina Yuste. Score: 5,5/10. Acceptable and passable movie, recommeded for fans of Belén Rueda, José Coronado and Carolina Yuste.

The film starts with land baron David Braxton (John McLian) who hangs one of the best friends of outlaw Tom Logan (Jack Nicholson). Cattle rustler Logan and his gang (Harry Dean Stanton, Frederic Forrest, Randy Quaid, John P. Ryan) seek vengeance and that's why Tom buys a ranch to use it like a front. However, when the leader falls in love for his neighbour's daughter (Kathleen Lloyd). The latter hires a regulator, Lee Clayton (Marlon Brando), in order to stop the cattle thefts at any cost. David Braxton as well as Clayton want the outlaws out of there. Then the outlaws on the run from the relentless 'regulator'. He stalks his prey in a dress and poke bonnet. But he is also a legalised killer, an expert with a stylized rifle but preferring to use a harpoon shaped like a crucifix. And his gloating sadism shades into hints of bizarre perversion when he dedicates a love song and a kiss to his horse. One steals, one kills, one loves, one dies!.

This is one of the strangest Westerns of the 70s with a very clear vision of the unsettling roles played by fear and violence in the taming of the wilderness, and the tone gradually darkens to a kind of horror. Thomas McGuane wrote the script for this outlandish tale of Montana ranchers and rustlers fighting over livestock and land in the 1880s. Promising combination of storyline, big name cast, John Williams' musical score, Michael Butler's cinematography and filmmaker Arthur Penn unfortunately yields rather mediocre and disappointing results, though both Nicholson and Brando chew up scenario to their hearts' content. For all its potential with a great director and awesome cast, this Western really lets you down. Nicholson is decent as the outlaw attempting to make a clean start. Marlon Brando, on the other hand, is a little inconsistent in a rare role as a merciless bounty hunter who's tracking Nicholson. Along with the always great Nicholson and Brando, there are notorious and familiar secondary actors with long cinematic careers, such as: Rand Quaid, Frederic Forrest, Harry Dean Stanton, John P. Ryan, San Gilman, Richard Bradford, Luana Anders, Steve Franken, among others.

The motion picture was professionaly but unevenly directed by Arthur Penn. He was a good filmmaker, getting some successes and a few flops, such as: "The miracle worker", "Mickey one", "The chase", "Alice's restaurant", "Night moves", "Target", "Dead of winter", "Penn and Teller get killed", "The portrait", "Inside". His big hit was "Bonnie and Clyde" and he made three Westerns: "The left-handed gun" starring Paul Newman, "Little big man" with Dustin Hoffman and " The Missouri Breaks". Rating: 6/10. Acceptable and passable but no a remarkable movie. Especially recommended for Jack Nicholson and Marlon Brando fans.

A thriiling and acceptable follow-up with plenty of gunplay, stars Sergeant Brandon Beckett (Chad Michael Collins) -son of master gunnery Thomas Becket- is a military working for UN special forces in the Congo Republic, he receives orders to rescue a farmer trapped into an enemy territory. When he and his team arrive at the farm, a sniper suddenly fires and injures the soldiers. Beckett returns to his base and attempts to seek vengeance by murdering the sniper. Meanwhile, Brandon falls in love with lieutenant Ellen Abramowitz (Annabel Wright). Becket also meets his father's friend, sniper instructor Richard Miller (Billy Zane) who becomes his mentor.

A by-now fairly familiar story that's full of frantic action, violence, crossfire, plot twists and turns. There's action enough, but the choreography is somewhat mediocre with too many camera movements and plot is cursory or shallow at best. Fourth entry of "Sniper", this time starring Brandon Beckett: Chad Michael Collins , who is passable as Thomas Beckett's aforementioned son, Tom Berenguer, who is nowhere to be seen. The saga began in 1993 with 'Sniper' by Luis Llosa (Mario Vargas Llosa's nephew), an action film taking elements of 'Rambo' and 'Commando'. Twenty years later this sequel goes on focusing on sniper action scenes, but this time is set in the Central African Republic of the Congo, although it was actually filmed in South Africa. Dealing with the usual mission in which our starring attempts to find out the guilty of the death in his squadron, along the way, the smooth running of the operation is swiftly jeopardised by growing tension, betrayal and other shortfalls. While ordinary starring Tom Berenguer doesn't appears, replaced by his son Chad Michael Collins, and returning Billy Zane who had an essential role in the original 'Sniper' and now as a kind of mentor and protector of Brandon. The film didn't premiered in USA cinemas, it was direct to DVD, or streaming.

The exciting 'Sniper saga' is made up of: "Sniper" 1992 by Luis Llosa, stars Tom Berenguer, Billy Zane, J. T. Walsh, Aden Young, Dale Dye, dealing with Beckett goes in search of his target, a politician planning a coup with the help of a drug Lord. "Sniper 2" , 2002, by Craig R. Baxley, stars Tom Berenguer, Bookem Woodbine, Dan Butler, Linden Ashby, in which Beckett is called on for one last assignment, to kill a Servian general who's committing atrocíties on the Muslim population. "Sniper 3" , 2004, by P. J. Pesce with Tom Berenguer, Denis Ardnt, Byron Mann, in which Beckett is given another mission: to go Vietnam in order to smack down an old friend, John Doman, who has become a dangerous terrorist rebel . "Sniper Reloaded", 2011, by Claudio Fah, with Billy Zane, Chad Michael Murray, Annabel Wright. "Sniper: Legacy", 2014, by Don Michael Paul with Tom Berenguer, Chad Michael Collins, Doug Allen, Nestor Serrano, Dennis Haysbert, Mercedes Mashon, in which a sniper plans to kill military leaders and one of them is Thomas Beckett, the main target is to discover the murderer, and a decoy is used to hunt the sniper.