Hector A. Ruiz

MBA, Project Manager, Tennis Player, Musician, and Author of "How to Destroy a Country"

Category: Movies and TV/Steaming Series Page 1 of 3

The Substance

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On November 12, 2024

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

This is a spoiler-free review.

Every generation or so, a new director with a groundbreaking vision appears in the artistic scene of cinema. Sometimes it is two or three. Lean and Kurosawa, Fellini and Kubrick, Spielberg and Lucas, Lynch and Scorsese, and most recently, Nolan, Anderson and Aronofsky. All of them pioneered in one or many ways the art of visual storytelling. While watching The Substance this past weekend, I kept wondering if Coralie Fargeat is the embodiment of this generation’s new groundbreaking vision for movie-making.

Take Nolan for example: most people will immediately associate his name with The Dark Knight trilogy, Interstellar, or  -most recently- Oppenheimer, with a minority being familiar with Memento or Insomnia. Take David Lynch: well-known thanks to Mulholland Drive, Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet, but not so much for Eraserhead or The elephant man. Or take Aronofsky for Black Swan and The Wrestler, but not so much for Pi or Requiem for a dream, the latter of which I will reference in this review given the amount of similarities it share with The Substance.

With a daring combination of driving inspiration from Kubrick, Fargeat does not eschew on either visual or narrative story telling, instead relying heavily on both special effects and properly executed exaggerated dialogue to appeal to different types of audiences, from those who appreciate the poignant emotion of an ambition tale turned into madness, to those who will enjoy the absurdity of overacting adequately used for comedic effect.

However as I previously stated, it is Requiem for a Dream the true framework that was used for The Substance. If you have seen Requiem and watch the Substance, you will immediately relate to my thesis; if you have not seen Requiem, but you have seen The Substance, and watch Requiem next, you will join me as a proponent of their undeniable connection. I truly liked The Substance, though I am not prepared to say it is great or brilliant movie. The plot was good, creative, and even though the premise is simple, it brings a surprising emotional depth I have not seen in a while. Who could not relate to the thought of being able to live the life of a zenith version of yourself? How far would you go to live that life? How willing would you be to sacrifice part of your well-being to see a better version of yourself triumph in aspects you would not be able to? Alas hope can lead to bad decisions.

I have always thought Demi Moore is a good actress. She had great roles in the late eighties and early nineties with Ghost, A few good men and Nothing but trouble, until she let her ability to capitalize on her name blind herself from selecting good scripts, with a fall from grace that began with Striptease, and kept sinking to new lows with G.I. Jane and Charlie’s Angels. Other than a few glimpses of her glory days shown in Margin call, this is the first time since the early nineties I witnessed her fully utilizing her talents and living up to her potential. In The Substance, she marvelously delivers a heartbreaking yet realistic performance of a huge star past her prime who looks to relive her glory years. You can almost feel that she is not playing the part, but in reality living it. Thanks to Fargeat’s direction, the end product is a film filled with images that leave an permanent imprint on your mind, and a voice that resonates as an hymn to how selfishness leads to self-destruction.

Margaret Qualley also delivers a solid performance, but is not as good as Demi’s. You would expect her character Sue to be a pusillanimous contrast to Demi’s Elisabeth, or at least the single character with a conscience, but I guess it is part of the film’s message: that once you become part of the system, there is no way out. Yet even though Qualley does her best, he is greatly aided by Fargeat’s direction. Going back to the comparison with Requiem, I could not resist to see the paralelisms with Qualley and Jennifer Connelly, and with Demi and Ellen Burstyn (Connelly being far superior than Qualley, and Demi coming close to Burstyn’s performance, but not that close). Since there is no counterpart character for Jared Leto or Marlon Wayans, The Substance stands out as a more multi-faceted individual character study, than Requiem with its hard-hitting theme shared by all four protagonists. When measured against Requiem, The Substance needed the Kronos quartet (it also needed Keith David). The Substance might have better box-office numbers and reach out to a wider audience, but Requiem will always be the better between the two.

Regardless of how unappreciated the early works of great directors are, or how Aronofsky’s Requiem impact in filmmaking might be overlooked and undermined by The Substance’s, Fargeat excels at bringing a fresh perspective to brand new audiences unfamiliar with means and methods pioneered twenty years ago, by paying homage to many shoulders of the greats she stands upon: Kubrick’s framing and cinematography, Aronofsky’s visual techniques, and Waters’ unpredictability. There is also some David Cronenberg in it.

In the end The Substance is one of those films where rating will come down to tastes. Some audiences may find it boring, others interesting, others puzzling, and others too simplistic. I will rate The Substance 7 out of 10. It would have been a solid 8 / 10 had it ended twenty minutes before it did. Unfortunately, its third act tried to outdo The Fly’s, and it ended up slightly resembling Malignant’s, where the audience are left to wonder whether the film’s message was intended for the viewer or the establishment… or both.

A very watchable film I recommend to anyone. Then again, so is Requiem for a Dream.

HR

Alien – In space no one can hear you scream

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On July 12, 2024

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

With the upcoming release of Alien: Romulus, I wanted to go back and share my thoughts on the Alien franchise as a whole, going through every film leading up to Romulus.

My experience with Alien (1979) was both funny and one to remember. The first time I watched it was a weekend night back in the 80s. My parents were passed out in their bedroom. I was seven years old and was experiencing the joy of Star Wars. I loved Star Wars, it was arguably my favorite movie at the time, with nothing coming even close to it. Then came this commercial about this space film that was set on a spaceship that resembled the Millennium Falcon, or an Imperial Destroyer. Me -a naive kid- thought this new movie was the fourth of the Star Wars saga: “A continuation to Return of the Jedi!” – I innocently believed. Boy was I in for a ride. This movie freaked me out so much, I had to sleep with the lights on and FM radio playing dance music for about two months. Eventually as I grew older, I had the opportunity to rewatch Alien, this time from a more adequately mature perspective that allowed me to appreciate its greatness as an art form.

Alien works in so many levels that it is not challenging at all to properly contextualize why it is so great. The first reason I always name is the atmosphere. Right from the start the film’s mood feels unsettling. It takes less than a couple of minutes for the viewer to realize that something is not right. Not even a single line of dialogue is spoken. Instead, Ridley Scott slowly pans the camera throughout a series of hallways, rooms and corridors of a ship that is perfectly designed to convey a sentiment of hostility that will only be matched by the creature the ship’s crew will eventually encounter. The Nostromo is dark, almost silent, and barely features any comfortable amenities. This atmosphere is consistent through the film, which helps in building the tension within the crew of seven who simply want to do their job and get out of the ship as soon as possible. Then you have the crew.

The second reason why Alien is such a memorable film is the realism driven by each character. Contrary to other films in which a member would be given a specific trait (mostly a physical element associated to them), each character relies on their own persona to stand out and imprint an image of their personality on your brain -an image that will always be there-. Take for instance Friday the 13th. I mention Friday the 13th because at its core, they are both the same: slasher films. However in Friday the 13th, it’s almost impossible to name any of the characters, because they are devoid of any personality. They are just there to be killed and that’s it, with the exception of Tommy Jarvis. It should be noted that this is the case for all Friday the 13th films. In Alien however, each character feels like a real person because of how well constructed they are:

  • Dallas is the ship’s captain: he is a guy who wants to do his job. He does not stand out, nor he believes he’s the best pilot in the galaxy. He knows he is the equivalent of a space truck driver.
  • Kane is the second officer in command: he is similar to Dallas, only that he is more of a risk taker. You can see this by how inclined he is to investigate the findings around the Space Jockey’s spaceship.
  • Lambert, the ship’s navigator: a smart crew member who is shown to be an expert in her field, yet someone who is very emotional on matters out of her expertise. You can see this on every scene that features this palpable tension. Lambert is not a good decision maker, but an emotional decision maker.
  • Mechanics Parker and Brett: the former Lambert’s male equivalent emotional persona. He’s the outspoken and gets easily emotionally involved, in contrast to Brett’s quietness. They both only care about money, but they also care about taking care of the Nostromo, because they understand the ship is what provides them with money.
  • Ash, the science officer: completely passionate about anything related to science. An expert in his area -like Lambert- but unemotional, which is only due to the eventual reveal.
  • …and finally Ripley: the ranking officer after Dallas and Kane. A strong straight-forward thinker, she represents the voice that always makes the right decision. Even if sometimes her voice is ignored, you know that she made the right call.

As you can see, not a single character has a weapon, or an item to distinguish themselves from each other. The only thing they have is themselves.

And then the third and final reason why Alien works, is of course the film’s execution led by Scott’s direction: the camera angles, the lighting on the set, the music, the editing. Everything is done so impeccably, there is not a single flaw throughout the entire film (at least not one worth mentioning).

So there you have it. Alien (1979) in a nutshell. 10 out of 10.

HR

Dexter – Season Four Review

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On February 21, 2024

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

After the anti-climatic ending of season 2 and the writing disaster that was season 3, I am guessing the writers were given enough time to come up with a decent plot line for season 4: a worthy rival. This review contains spoilers.

Award winner John Lithgow stars as the Trinity Killer. A methodical serial killer who has been able to stay under the radar for over thirty years by killing in sprees of threes (eventually it is discovered that it is actually four). On top of being able to accomplish his murders without being detected, Trinity is also a family man, which leads to Dexter befriending him in order to understand how to live his new life as a serial killer, family man, and also recent father of a newborn.

Special Agent Lundy is brought back, as he has recently been able to track Trinity to Miami. However in an unexpected turn of events, another great character is killed off, leaving the series with Dexter and Deb carrying the show- since it was obvious that Trinity was going to be killed off too at the end of the season.

I have to say, this was one of the few times in which Dexter felt really threatened by an external force more powerful than him. Perhaps it was Lithgow’s presence that gave Trinity that aura of superiority, wonderfully manifested at the end of episode eleven when he walked into Dexter’s safeguard, Miami Metro’s Police Department.

As it happened with Moser, a fitting finale would have been Trinity getting away, having murdered Rita, and leaving Dexter defeated and craving for revenge, a revenge that could have been deeply explored onto season five and even further. Instead, we were left of with the season I playfully refer to as “Super Mario Dexter”.

Stay tuned for my review of season five.

HR

It’s always sunny in Philadelphia

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On January 14, 2024

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

Last October I went to the Sunny in Philadelphia live podcast staging at Radio City Music Hall. It was a completion of a journey that started fifteen years ago with me thinking it was one of the stupidest shows I had ever seen.

It was a rainy Friday night. I was by myself at home with not much going on. It had been a hectic week at work and all I wanted to do was to sit at home, relax and disconnect myself from the world for a while. I turned on my television -which was rarely the case, as you may or may not know I am not a big television person- and started zapping through the channels looking for something to grab my attention. FX was one of those channels with some unusual creative programming, so it did not surprise me when I caught this odd show that was on: the characters were in the middle of a dialogue which seemed dumb at first glance. Then I remembered that I had seen a couple of clips from the show a few months earlier, and my initial impression was the same, so I paid little attention to it and kept moving on through the rest of the night.

The next day I woke up to clear blue skies and I went out to buy something special for the night. I had enjoyed my Friday, and since heavy rain was forecast starting in the evening, I wanted to stay home again and make Saturday equally enjoyable by cooking something special. Evening time came and I set myself in the kitchen. Once again, I turned the TV on, just to leave some noise in the background while I was preparing my special meal.

Automatic zapping mode went for a couple of rounds, until I do not remember how or why -as I did the night before- landed on FX. This time they were running a Sunny marathon. As I continued preparing my meal, I kept listening and glancing every now and then. I served my food and moved the TV so I could watch the show while enjoying my delicious special dinner. Do not ask me how, but three hours had gone by and I was hooked, and what were initially smiles, became bursts of laughing. “Now I get this show“, I told myself.

Every other person I know who is a Sunny fan, went through the same experience as I did, to greater or lesser degrees. It is a show that at first will not impress you, and will have you question why would something that stupid would air on television. But it has something you cannot put your finger on, that is there and attracts you, and you do not feel bad about particularly rejecting it. Then you start watching it, understanding, and appreciating the quality of the show, until you finally realize the show is nothing short of one of the best shows of all time: the acting is superb, the stories are creative and hilarious, and the overall production is excellent.

If you have not seen Sunny, you are missing a lot in your life. The aspect that I like the most is its realism (realism to an extent). Have you ever wondered of that one or two guys at your office or your socializing circle, who seem to be living their lives without any common sense, and disconnected from reality, and you and your coworkers / friends ask yourselves “What would it look like, to have four or five of those type of guys interacting with each other on a regular basis?” That is Sunny.

About ten years ago a reviewer summarized Sunny in a very quirky, yet accurate way: “Sunny is Seinfeld on crack.” Today, the gang keeps on and slowly but steadily, Sunny is finally gaining the praise and recognition it has always deserved.

HR

Dexter – Season Three Review

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On December 7, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

With Brian Moser and Sgt. Doakes gone, there was nothing the writers could come up for the role of a formidable foe that could be an actual threat to Dexter -at least not for now. Instead, they devised this sort of friendship / partner in crime / eventual betrayal scheme masterminded by a new character, who apparently everyone in Miami Metro knew and was familiar with (except for Dexter), yet no one even had mentioned anything about him in the past two seasons: Miguel Prado, a city prosecutor, wonderfully portrayed by Jimmy Smits, who is quite a good actor but felt somehow out of place in the series.

I did not care much about the side plots, especially Debra’s romantic interest, or the final antagonist: the skinner, a mysterious nobody who skins his victims, and who is also in cahoots with Miguel on the side. Rita also gets more annoying with every episode. I do not think there was anything wrong with Julie Benz, I just thought the character was poorly written. At one point I kind of felt bad for her, since she did a good job with the material given.

The season of course ends with Dexter killing both Miguel and the skinner in what is arguably the most unrealistic series of scenes I had seen up until that point (yes, even more unrealistic than the fire drill, but oh well).

There is really nothing bad in particular to say about season three, but there is also nothing good either. It is a season that meets the minimum requirements and checks all boxes for a passable average show. Nothing more.

Stay tuned for Season Four: Back in track.

HR

Final Top 10 Movies

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On November 21, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

After much thought and internal debate, I came up with my top 10 movies. In no particular order:

  • 2001.
  • Airplane!
  • Blade Runner.
  • Das Boot
  • The Empire Strikes Back.
  • The Godfather.
  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
  • Mulholland Dr.
  • Pulp Fiction.
  • Taxi Driver!

Down the road I may do an individual entry reviewing each one.

HR

Top 10 movies

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On November 2, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

We started a top 10 ranking at my office.

The ranking is solely based on personal preference, not on movies one may rank or think that are the best. My top 10 (in no particular order):

  • The Godfather.
  • The Good, The Bad and The Ugly.
  • 2001.
  • The Empire Strikes Back.
  • Mulholland Drive.
  • Das Boot.
  • Airplane!

…and I am zeroing in the last three spots.

A Nightmare on Elm Street

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On October 21, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

In preparation for Halloween, I recently re-watched the 1984 classic Wes Craven film and wanted to share a few spoiler-free thoughts about it.

First of all, we should take a moment and appreciate the brilliance of the entire concept of a man that kills you in your dreams. With a base as solid as this, the movie is off a terrific start.

Then there is the narrative that drives the film: the building of two worlds -the dream world and the real world- in which some of the characters are connect to, and some are disconnected from. I like that there is a fascinating struggle for both to relate to each other in this plausibility of two worlds that while foreign to each other, are able to affect themselves.

It should also be mentioned that after forty years, the film holds up pretty well and except for a few minimal details, I am sure that anyone watching for the first time would experience the same emotions as anyone did back in the 80s.

If you have not seen this film, do yourself a favor and watch it right now.

HR

Dexter – Season Two Review

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On August 17, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

After the -partly personal preference- disappointing finale of season one for the reasons mentioned on my previous review, my immediate thought was, “How will the writers make season two interesting?” Well, they came up with two ideas: a good idea somewhat properly executed, and a good idea poorly executed. This review will contain spoilers.

The former idea of course refers to the plot of having the “Bay Harbor Butcher” killing’s surface, leading Dexter to be the subject of a major investigation by both the Miami Police Department and the F.B.I., with Sgt. Doakes also carrying his own. I felt that the writers felt they got lucky the series was renewed for a second season, but would not be able to make it a third, so it was probably time to end it with Dexter getting caught.

While the concept is interesting, I think that Dexter was able to escape the investigation way too easily. In one particular climatic scene in which undeniable evidence that Dexter is the Bay Harbor Butcher is about to be discovered by the task force leading the investigation in the building, Dexter resorts to triggering the building’s fire alarm as a means to have everyone evacuate the building, so he can delete the evidence from the computer. What happened next was the building’s personnel immediately got up from their desks and calmly started walking towards the building’s exits. When I saw this happening, I bursted out uncontrollably laughing out loud of the unrealistic portrayal of the situation, because throughout my entire professional career and personal life, I have never seen anybody react that way upon hearing a fire alarm. In my experience, people wait a few minutes, wander aimlessly around for more minutes, until eventually someone calmly says “Hey, this is a fire drill, we need to exit the building“. Even on one occasion when then was a fire in my building, the reaction by everyone was still the same, with the “fire drill” part removed. I am guessing that under a critical life threatening circumstances, people would probably exit quicker. Anyway, Dexter triggered the alarm, everyone leaves in like two seconds, and he is able to erase the incriminating evidence, without anyone even noticing that the evidence was missing after they come back into the building.

The latter good idea poorly executed was the concept of Dexter attending a recovery group, meaning the whole Lyla plot. The actress was ok-ish, but the character was unrealistic. Dexter falling for her also, and allowing her to outsmart him makes the audience think that it was either very unrealistic or ended up making Dexter look too dumb. However, worse than Lyla’s plot, the writers also came up with one of the worst -if not the worst- ideas they could: killing Doakes.

If I was in charge of the writing of this series, I would have -as I mentioned in my previous entry- left Brian alive, roaming in the shadows, showing up on random episodes as a constant threat to Dexter, and… I would have also kept Doakes alive, disgraced from the police force, on the run from the authorities, and also trying to disproove his guilt to reveal Dexter’s.

In summary, season two had a lot of potential, but ended up being a let down. Stay tuned for the next one!

HR

Dexter – Season One review

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On March 12, 2023

In Movies and TV/Steaming Series

I recently re-watched one of Showtime’s biggest hits, Dexter, and wanted to share a few thoughts on it. This review contains spoilers, so be warned.

As you may or may not know, I have never been to keen into drama series, or any type of series other than comedy. The first time I watched Dexter, it was a heavy snowstorm weekend in which my girlfriend at the time was visiting me. Surrounded by feet of snow, she persuaded me to watch this new series about a serial killer of which she was already on the fourth season (Dexter was about to air season six finale, and she wanted to catch up to watch the season ending episode live). With not many options available at my disposal, I tagged along. That said, I will share my experience as I lived it during that dark, snowy and romantic weekend.

I found the first season pleasantly surprising. The series start a bit clumsy, as it normally happens with most series, with main characters trying to find their way through the plot. Dexter himself is a very strong character, whose motivations are easy to understand, which makes him appealing to a lot of audiences. His love interest Rita, starts off well, but unfortunately becomes generic, predictable and downright boring. I did not anticipate her being for too long in the series. I liked Debra and Sgt. Doakes, easily two of the best characters, and arguably the only ones who can go toe-to-toe with Dexter. Generally speaking, I acknowledged the quality of the series.

In terms of flaws or weaknesses, I have to refer to the main antagonist, Brian Moser. I did not see the need of him having to be romantically involved with Debra. He could have been part of the circle, and still be a major menacing presence that overshadowed Dexter’s side gig as a serial killer, which leads me to say that I also did not like that he was killed so early. It would probably have been better if it was written that he was able to escape from Dexter and remain looming Dexter’s life as the seasons went on. My guess is that the writers were not counting on the season being renewed, so they planned the series to have a fitting ending after the first season, which is why the second season starts so abruptly as if it were a brand new series.

More on the second season in a next entry.

HR

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