ma-cortes

Joselito lives with his mother in a modest fishing village in a small Spanish coastal town. Facing the sea, he dreams of the return of his father, who many years ago left for America in search of his fortune and from whom he has not heard since. One day, Joselito leaves a letter for his grandmother and sets out to sea in an old fishing boat, but finds himself lost on the high seas until he sees a ship on the distance, signaling and shouting to be located. He is finally picked up by the ship sailing to America, arriving in Veracruz. He manages to reach Mexico City, in the process befriending a young mexican orphan, Pulgarcito (Tom Thumb).

This is the first of the Spanish-Mexican co-productions starring Joselito, serving as a real vehicle for the distinguished child prodigy, who performs engaging songs in his own style. Joselito's career was short but prosperous and flourishing. It was the actor and singer Luis Mariano who convinced him to perform together in París and gave him work on French radio and television. Discovered by Antonio del Amo, he directed him in 8 of his 14 films. The success of his first three movies, the so-called "Nightingale trilogy", consisting of "El pequeño ruiseñor", "Saeta del Ruiseñor" y "El ruiseñor de las cumbres", was of immense proportion in Spain, but also in France, Italy, Latin America, and even in Japan, so much so that he became one of the undisputed stars of Spanish cinema, and Pier Paolo Pasolini included one of his songs in the soundtrack of "Mamma Roma". Among his other feature filns it is worth mentioning "La Vida Nueva de Pedrito de Andalucia" by Rafael Gil and "Loca juventud" by Manuel Mur Oti , these films were not the expected hit, so Joselito retired from acting and singing, dedicating himself to other tasks, even working as a mercenary in African countries. Joselito had his Aztec counterpart in the person of Cesáreo Quesadas, Pulgarcito, who would also work in Spain with Marisol in "Ha llegado un angel" and with the not so successful child prodigy Maleni Castro in "¿Chico o Chica?".

The movie was unevenly directed by Rene Cardona. He was a prolific Mexican filmmaker who directed all kinds of genres, with a penchant for typical Aztec dramas, and also made some exploitation films. In fact, one of his greatest hits was "Supervivientes de los Andes", about the famous plane crash in which the Chilean survivors were forced to practice cannibalism. He was succeeded by his son Rene Cardona Jr, who also directed a number of the films in the style of his father. Rene Cardona Sr made several feature films, such as: "Santa Claus, Don Juan Tenorio, Asesino invisible, El enmascarado de plata, Blue Demon, El pueblo del terror, Santo y el tesoro de Dracula, El tesoro de Moctezuma", entre otros.

Travis Block (Liam Neeson) is an undercover FBI operative and a Vietnam War veteran who carries out special assignments for his chief and friend, FBI director Gabriel Robinson (Aidan Quinn). Robinson assigns him a new mission: to bring rogue undercover FBI agent Dusty Crane (Taylor Smith) who allegedly has top secret information. The latter contacts a journalist, Mira Jones (Emmy Raver-Lampman), to pass her a thorny secret about the strange 'Operation Unity'. The latter is a top-secret program that kills innocent civilians. Brock finds himself on a spiral of violence and in the crosshaors of the FBI he once helped protect. There're gonna need more men!

Thrilling and intriguing film with limited action, some pursuits, car crash and crossfire. This is an entertaining and at times passable crime-drama, though somewhat generic, resulting to be worst than other Liam Neeson films in the same style. Liam Neeson does what Liam Neeson does, for better or worse. As always, Liam Neeson is pretty good as a veteran man and FBI operative who is caught-up in a risked and twisted plot, resulting in fateful consequences. Liam playing in his usual style as an ex-Vietnam soldier wanting to lead an honest life, to be retired and be a good grandfather by caring his granddaughter, but things go wrong. In 2010 Liam Neeson began with high-profile roles in big budgets on films plenty of action and violence , such as: "Team A" 2010, "Unknown" 2011, "The Grey" 2011, "Battleship" 2012, , "Taken 1 and Taken 2" 2012, "Cold pursuit" 2019, "The Marksman: 2021. However, this "Blacklight" 2022 is in short budget and inferior than previous ones.

The motion picture was mediocrely directed by Mark Williams and was shot in Camberra, Melbourne, Collinwood, Glenroy , Victoria, Australia. Mark Williams is a notorious producer, such as: "His name is Jeremiah", "Better Man", "Exit", "Victim", "The Canyon", "Malice in wonderland", "Manolete", "Shuttle" , Flawless", "U-Boat" and a craftsman director who has made some nice films, such as: "A Family Man" 2016, and another superior film with Liam Neeson: "The Honest Thief" 2020. "Blacklight" rating: 4.5/10. Blacklight is recommended for Lían Neeson's hardcore fans only.

This clever and freaky film chronicles fear, suspicion, desperation , paranoia of six people: Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Tyler Labine, Deborah Ann Woll, Nick Dodani, Jay Ellis, without relation themselves . They are completely strangers and all of them receive a mysterious box. Inside there's a message promises a chance to free of the routine life and win ten thousand dollar. They unwillingly find themselves locked , slowlingly uncovering what they have in common to survive. They are reunited at a kafkaesque room, from now on, each one plays a part in their thrilling quest to find answers to why they've been closed. The widely varying personality characteristics work together using their abilities and talents to survive the deadly trap which guards the colored room.

The movie succeeds because of the continuous thriller, tension, suspense, as well as a well written script delving into the human psyche in such extreme situations and the the instinctive urge for survival. Psychological thriller with elevated doses of terror, in which with a limited budget -9 million dollars- achived a boxoffice hit. The good thing about this movie is that the director made it on a short budget , onlly having to do a few sets, yet the picture works on many levels but is constantly reconfigured. "Escape room" bears especial resemblance to "Final destination" 2000 by James Wong, Saw 2004 by James Wan, "Fermat's room" 2007 by Luis Piedrahita and Rodrigo Sopeña and "The Cube" 2007 by Vicenzo Natali. There's also a dangerously developed premise about strangers closed attempting to find an exit and resolving enigmas and while using their cerebral or mathematical skills to avoid get smashed or be killed or burnt. Escape Room was well directed by by Adam Robitel ( Insidious, the last key) and stars Taylor Russel (Lost in space series) , Logan Miller (With love, Simon), Deborah Ann Woll ( True Blood series, Daredevil, The Punisher) , among others.

Followed by a similar sequel: "Escape Room: tournament of champions" 2021 by Adam Robitel with Taylor Russell, Logan Miller, Deborah Ann Woll, Tomas Cocquetel, Holland Roland, in which six people once again find locked in another series of escape rooms, and joining forces with two of the original survivors, they soon discover they've all played the game before.