Welcome to week 3 of a latin man watches some films and tries to write about them. It was a slow week for sure. There were a few events in my life that prevented me from having the free time to watch more. I’m 2 films away from 300. And hopefully i’ll make my goal of 365 by year’s end. I don’t anticipate to be able to keep up the pace in the following years, but if i hover around the 250 per year mark, i’ll be happy.

These are the films I saw since last Friday.

  • Longtime Companion
  • Un Novio Para Mi Mujer (A Boyfriend for My Wife – Argentinian, it’s getting remade for Steve Carrel)
  • Forbidden Planet
  • Louis C.K. Hilarious
  • Get Him To The Greek
  • Dark Passage
  • Steamboat Bill Jr
  • Heavenly Creatures
  • Salvador

Out of those, I’d say that Salvador was my favorite. And I chose to watch it yesterday to mark the opening of Stone’s new film The Chronicles of Wall Street : Money Never Sleeps.
I’ve always been a fan of James Woods, but i never really saw him “acting” in a role that blew me away. Sure, he has presence and charisma to spare. But to really see him act, to live and breathe a character and make it believable, was something of a revelation to me.
His portray of Richard Boyle is mesmerizing. A totally sleazy man in the best way possible. A man who could charm his way through guerrillas, CIA, ambassadors and military leaders while not really getting along with any of them. He pissed everybody off and did questionable things in the process and he still comes off as the most sane person in the flick.

Belushi turns a great supporting role. Someone who’s completely adrift in life who ends up going with Rick on this adventure without having any idea what he’s in for. He ends up in a place that i imagine is exactly where Rick was at the end of his first visit to El Salvador. At ease with the local life and customs, enjoying the cheap booze and women and falling for a local girl. He fits there. He’s comfortable. He can live in El Salvador without being consumed by it’s madness.

John Savage : The Actor was another revelation. His scenes with Boyles in the battlefields were terrific. He really sells the war journalist character and was surprised at how much i loved his performance.

But all the credit has to go to Stone. The motherfucker release El Salvador and Platoon ON THE SAME FUCKING YEAR!
Platoon edges this one a bit for it’s roster of memorable supporting actors and the several battle scenes. But this one has the biggest emotional punch in Rick’s story. It also way harder at demonstrating the terrible fallout of war on the locals. And the damage the US tends to do in the name of Peace and democracy. As long as they were not Communist, they are OK with Uncle Sam.

Tune in next week so I can tell you what i thought of Gone With The Wind. I’m planning on watching that one for my 300th film of the year!