REVIEW: The 33 [2015]

“Aim to miss” As if being the international feel-good story of 2010 wasn’t enough, the Copiapó mining accident at the San José copper/gold mine in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile included the type of personal, human melodramatic intrigue ripe for cinematic interpretation. Sourced from Hector Tobar‘s non-fiction novel Deep Down Dark (commissioned with each miner’s help so one couldn’t benefit more than another), Patricia Riggen‘s The 33 could be fiction. Mario Sepúlveda (Antonio Banderas) was working his day off, Álex Vega (Mario Casas) was days from fatherhood, and Mario…

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REVIEW: The Proposal [2009]

“The witch is on her broom” It is safe to say, my man-crush on Ryan Reynolds has remained intact after watching his new film The Proposal. It could have gotten ugly being a vehicle for Sandra Bullock, (Reynolds is in fact the “romantic interest”), directed by Anne Fletcher, the woman behind the occasionally entertaining 27 Dresses. Would I have enjoyed myself as much as I did if Reynolds—a Canadian playing an American, opposite an American playing a Canadian—was not there? Probably not. That is what his sarcastic humor does for…

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