Posts tagged Mexican
“One Day” Contrived Love Story
Aug 27th
“Contrived Love Story”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
One Day is a gimmicky love story starring Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess as two British friends who eventually become lovers.
The gimmick is in the construction of the story, which begins on July 15, 2006, and then suddenly flashes back to July 15, 1988, and then shows us what these two people are doing on that day every year from then until now.
The reason that date is significant is that it is known as St. Smithin’s day in Great Britain, and British folklore says that whatever the weather is on that day will continue for the next 40 days.
And the reason that the first date in 1988 is significant is that that is the date that Emma and Dexter became involved after graduation from college and a night out of celebration with mutual friends and fellow graduates.
At the end of the evening, Dexter walks Emma home, and although Dexter thinks they have never met before, Emma says that they have met several times.
One thing leads to another, but then they change their minds about sleeping together and they exchange “Sorry, I’m not good at this” and “That’s fine, maybe we can just be friends.”
And so the story skips to each year on that date of July 15 to show us what they are doing, how their lives have changed, and how their relationship with each other is developing.
Emma wants to be a poet and take London by storm, but London swallows her up, and she ends up working in a Mexican restaurant.
Dexter goes to India and becomes a teacher, but they exchange long letters with each other while he is away.
In 1992 they go on holiday together, but Emma establishes some rules for them, which include separate bedrooms, no flirting, no skinny-dipping, and no playing Scrabble. Some of those rules are broken, and with comic results.
Dexter becomes famous with a television show that he hosts, but audiences love to hate him, which isn’t satisfying.
Both of them get involved with someone else, but they stay in touch and even see each other when Emma moves to Paris, which, of course, is the City of Romance.
One Day is a contrived love story, and maybe you will guess the ending and maybe you won’t, but you will be surprised.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
“A Better Life” A Wonderful Film
Jul 21st
“A Wonderful Film”
“Hotshots” looks at a movie!
A Better Life is a terrific film that deserves as much publicity as it can get, because otherwise audiences will probably overlook it and not give it the attendance it deserves.
It also has a simple story that might not be popular, because it is about the relationship between an undocumented foreigner from Mexico and his teenage son, who live in Los Angeles.
Carlos Galindo has a steady job as a gardener working for another Mexican’s gardening business, and he sleeps on the couch in the living room at home so that his 14-year-old son, Luis, can sleep in the bedroom.
When Carlos finds out that Luis has missed 18 or 19 days of school so far this year, he asks him, “You want to end up like me?” to which Luis answers “No.”
Luis has some resentment toward his father, because he blames Carlos for his mother leaving them, whom Luis never wants to talk about.
Meanwhile, the man for whom Carlos works, Blasco Martinez, wants to retire, and he offers to sell Carlos his beat-up truck so that Carlos can have his own gardening business.
To Carlos, he wouldn’t just be buying a truck. He would be buying the American Dream.
However, not only doesn’t Carlos have the $12,000 that Blasco wants for his truck, but Carlos doesn’t even have a driver’s license, and if he ever gets stopped by the police, he could be deported back to Mexico. That is why Carlos wants to try to stay “invisible.”
Meanwhile, Luis gets suspended from school for fighting, and Carlos is concerned that Luis has a fascination with gangs and might even end up in a gang.
Carlos asks his sister, Anita, for a $12,000 loan, promising to pay the money back and telling her that if it works out, everything is going to change. He won’t have to work on Sunday anymore and can spend more time with Luis, if Luis wants.
Anita loans Carlos the money without telling her husband, who she says is the cheapest man in the world.
So, Carlos buys the truck from Blasco, but his life doesn’t change as he had imagined. Almost immediately, the truck is stolen, and Carlos and Luis have to try to get it back while staying invisible.
A Better Life is a wonderful film.
I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”
Colorado Magazine August 4th – 10th, 2008 – Denver Restaurant Show
Aug 4th
Next up on Colorado Magazine, it’s the Denver Restaurant Show. Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner. Pizza, Mexican or Foreign Food, Bars, Clubs and Breweries, A late night bite or a fine dining experience, we have it all here on this episode of Colorado Magazine. We visit with Cherokee Dining on 12th Ave., Limon Peruvian Restaurant, Pete’s Kitchen, Tonti’s Pizzeria, Ya Hala Mediterranean Grill, Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey, Luke’s A Steak Place, The Falling Rock Tap House, Opus Restaurant and the Soiled Dove, Tavern Lowry and the Tavern Downtown.
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