Tag: Elena Anaya

  • ‘Wonder Woman’ is a marvel to see

    ‘Wonder Woman’ is a marvel to see

    Chris Pine and Gal Gadot in ‘Wonder Woman’

    “Not even girls want to be girls so long as our feminine archetype lacks force, strength, and power” – William Moulton Marston, creator of Wonder Woman

    “If you need to stop an asteroid, you call Superman. If you need to solve a mystery, you call Batman. But if you need to end a war, you call Wonder Woman.” – Gail Simone, longest-running female writer of the Wonder Woman comic books

    In the present, “Diana” (Gal Gadot – Keeping Up With the Joneses) receives a package from Wayne Enterprises.  Inside is a very old photograph of Diana and four men, along with a note from Bruce Wayne.  For those who have been living on another planet, Diana/Wonder Woman and Bruce Wayne/Batman were introduced in Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice.

    From there we go back in time to when Diana is a little girl (Lilly Aspell) is living on Themyscira, the island home of the Amazons.  Their queen and her mother, “Hippolyta” (Connie Nielsen – The Great Raid) catches her watching the Amazon Army training under the command of Hippolyta’s sister, “Antiope” (Robin Wright – The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo).  Fast forward a few years we see pre-teen Diana (Emily Carey) beginning to train but still being kept in the dark about the whole truth of who and what she is.  She does learn the story of her origin and how Zeus created a “godkiller” to protect the world from Ares, when he finally returns.

    An adult Diana sees a World War I German airplane crash into the ocean off the shore of the island and rescues its pilot, “Steve Trevor” (Chris Pine – People Like Us).  Trevor was spying on the German Army, trying to find out just what “General Erich Ludendorff” (Danny Huston – Hitchcock) and a brilliant German chemist are up to.  The chemist, “Isabel Maru” (Elena Anaya – The Infiltrator) has the chilling nickname of “Doctor Poison.”  She is working on chemical weapons and is very close to a breakthrough involving a form of mustard gas that gas masks won’t defend against.

    Steve managed to steal her notes and now must get them to London.  But his pursuers attempt to land on Themyscira to capture him and they engage the Amazon Army in battle.  The invaders are all killed, but at a terrible price.  After the Amazons have interrogated Trevor with the Lasso of Truth, Diana takes the God Killer sword, the Lasso of Truth, her shield and the armor that represents the “uniform” of Wonder Woman and takes Steve to London as he requested.

    There they encounter “Sir Patrick Morgan” (David Thewlis – Legend) who is part of the government that is attempting to negotiate an armistice with the Kaiser.  They also meet Steve’s secretary “Etta Candy” (Lucy Davis – Shaun of the Dead) who manages to make Diana look like most British women, albeit an exceptionally lovely one.

    Steve made a deal to take Diana to the front so she can kill Ares and put a stop to the war.  But he is going to do it his way, assembling a small team to try and locate the new lab of Dr. Poison and destroy it before she can supply General Ludendorff with the means to win the war.  With “Sameer” (Said Taghmaoui) and “Charlie” (Ewen Brenner) in tow, Steve’s team meets up with “Chief” (Eugene Brave Rock) who can guide them to the front.

    Ewen Brenner, Said Taghmaoui, Chris Pine, Gal Gadot and Eugene Brave Rock in ‘Wonder Woman’

    If you want to know what happens from this point forward, you must either go and see the movie for yourself, or read another review filled with spoilers.  The remaining part of the story is best experienced personally.  What makes it worth the trip to the movie theater and the price of the ticket is the performance of Gal Gadot.  To use an overused cliché, Ms Gadot was born to play this role.  It isn’t the advances in technology, the superior writing of Allan Heinberg or the spectacular directing job by Patty Jenkins that makes this a terrific movie.  Gal Gadot brings an energy and emotional presence to the screen rarely seen in any movie, let alone a tent pole action flick.

    Yes, the CGI is a bit overdone, a DC Extended Universe trademark.  It won’t detract from seeing the film unless you’re a particularly picky patron of visual imagery.  I can’t wait to see it again, hopefully on an even bigger screen.

    [imdb id = tt0451279]

  • ‘The Infiltrator’ is a good film with great performances

    ‘The Infiltrator’ is a good film with great performances

    Bryan Cranston in 'The Infiltrator'
    Bryan Cranston in ‘The Infiltrator’

    The Infiltrator is based on the true story of Robert Mazur, a U.S. Customs Special Agent who managed to infiltrate the drug cartel of Pablo Escobar.  We’re introduced to Mazur (Bryan Cranston) as he wraps up another successful undercover operation.  Because of what the military would call a “non-combat” injury, he has the option to retire with full benefits.  An option his wife Evelyn (Juliet Aubrey) wants him to grab onto.  But he’s not quite ready to retire.  And he has a brilliant idea.  Rather than try to stem the flow of cocaine into the U.S., he suggests to his boss, Bonni Tischler (Amy Ryan) that they follow the money.  This leads to an operation where Mazur goes undercover as “Bob Musella.”

    Mazur’s fellow Customs Service agent Emir Abreu (John Leguizamo) has a connection with an informer who can introduce Musella to some people who are involved with the Escobar cartel’s money laundering operations.  This leads to an introduction to Gonzalo Mora Jr. (Rubén Ochandiano) and Gonzalo Mora Sr. (Simón Andreu).  To help protect his cover and his life, Mazur arranges for someone he put behind bars to be released to act as his driver/bodyguard during this operation.  “Dominic” (Joseph Gilgun) is street-smart and constantly reminding Mazur of just how big a risk they are all taking.

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    Diane Kruger and Bryan Cranston in ‘The Infiltrator’

    The Moras want to reward Musella and arrange for a hooker to service him.  He begs off, claiming he is engaged to the great love of his life and he won’t risk that relationship.  That’s how another agent, Kathy Ertz, becomes part of the operation.  She’s never been undercover before but she plays the part well.   After some vetting, Bob is introduced to Roberto Alcaino (Benjamin Bratt) a major player in the Escobar organization.  This leads to larger and larger sums of money being laundered and that brings a large international bank into the mix.  The Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) was at one point the 7th largest bank in the world, but was deeply involved in money-laundering.

    There is a lot less action than one might expect in this type of film, but the action sequences that are present are done well from a technical basis.  The best scenes in the film are later in the op when Mazur and Ertz are involved as friends to Alcaino and his wife.

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    Benjamin Bratt in ‘The Infiltrator’

    While the film and its narrative are somewhat pedestrian, the actors rise above the material and deliver outstanding performances.  John Leguizamo is simply spectacular as the wise-cracking, risk-taking Abreu.  Benjamin Bratt nails the role of a high ranking cartel member who is an old-fashioned gentleman truly in love with his wife, with an utter ruthlessness lying just under this gentle facade.  But this is Bryan Cranston’s movie.  As he did in Trumbo he brings a real person to life before our eyes.  He captures the highs and lows of being in a deep-cover assignment, especially in the all too few scenes he has with Juliet Aubrey who plays Mazur’s wife Evelyn.

    SPOILER ALERT – The film takes some poetic license in telling Mazur’s story.  To facilitate the creation of a film, the five years that Robert Mazur spent undercover as part of Operation C-Chase are compressed into a much shorter timeline.  The drive-by shooting where Mazur was in a car with the man who was murdered did not happen.  Nor did the voodoo ritual that adds some real color to the film.  To properly illustrate the success of this Customs Service operation, they seized 3,200 pounds of cocaine, $100 million in cash and put BCCI completely out of business.