In Partnership with Maverick Entertainment, Latin Hollywood Films introduces a new brand of stand-up and travel specials. Broads Abroad is a comedy and travel hybrid as the girls get into hilarious fish-out-of-water situations and tour the country’s exotic locations while learning the history of the first colonized city in the Americas. The project was filmed entirely on location in Punta Cana Dominican Republic at the Barcelo Bavaro Grand Resort. 

“We believe in supporting female talent in a big way. The diverse backgrounds of these three comediennes reach all corners of the country and appeal to a mass audience, said Doug Schwab, founder and president of Maverick Entertainment. “We are proud to work with Vicki, Crystal, and Kiki and look forward to audiences seeing this hilarious and unique stand-up special.” 

Melendez is president of Latin Hollywood Films, established in 2000, best known for their hit show Hot Tamales Live! on Showtime Networks. 

Comedian Kiki Melendez pioneered the concept of female-driven comedy on a major network.  

“People called me crazy when I brought forward the idea of an all-female comedic lineup on Hot Tamales Live! Now with Broads Abroad, we come back with the same message: Women are just as funny as men!, exclaimedMelendez “We were set to film in LA, and Vicki and I decided we needed a vacation. We added our bestie Crystal and created a one-of-a-kind travel and stand-up comedy special” said Melendez.  

The show features America’s Got Talent stars Vicki Barbolak currently guest host of  AGT Live in Las Vegas at the Luxor, Crystal Powell who is currently hosting the Magic Mike Live Tour and showrunner Kiki Melendez who has just completed a feature film The Wedding Factory with actor Kuno Becker.

Broads Abroad was created by Melendez and Barbolak.  It was directed by Melendez and Ramon Monchi Herrera. Hosted by Rene Rosado (The Conners) and executive producer Sarkis Semerjyan and producers Julia Carias-Linares, Erica Barrabi and Armando Guereno.

Melendez is repped by Culture Creative Entertainment. Barbolak is repped by Maverick Management and The Gersh Agency.  Crystal Powell is repped by PB Talent.

The post Maverick Entertainment Acquires Comedian Kiki Melendez’ ‘Broads Aboard’ For Distribution first appeared on .

Movie-making dreams took San Antonio-born Danny Ramos to Hollywood. After working in popular television series and films for many years, the Texan actor, producer and screenwriter returned to his hometown to make his feature film directorial debut. That movie, The Margarita Man, is a coming-of-age comedy starring Anthony Guajardo, Jesse Borrego and Danny Trejo, is now streaming on Amazon Prime and other streamers.

The story is inspired by Ramos’s brother, Miguel, who had a side hustle as the guy who rented margarita machines for parties and events in the late 1990s. “Many times, after he delivered the machine and mix, the guests would invite him to stay for the party! He always had funny stories and strange experiences,” recalls the filmmaker. Ramos added that he once jokingly promised his brother that one day he would make a movie about him. It took him quite a few years due to his busy Hollywood career but that jest ultimately and seriously turned into a film.

The script was written by Aaron Lee Lopez and David Reyes, with Ramos supplying the story. Set on a college campus, the story is about a young man who goes to college where his love for a good party gets him cut off financially from his family, forcing him to sell frozen margaritas at parties in order to pay for his schooling. 

BIG NAMES & UP-AND-COMERS
With a long career in the World’s Movie Mecca, Ramos secured top Latino talent for his film.  

Award-winning actor Trejo (Machete, From Dusk Till Dawn) plays the college president. Ramos’s fellow Texan stars Anthony Guajardo (The Walking Dead) and Jesse Borrego (Fame, Con-Air) play brothers Jimmy and Miguel Martinez. The cast also features the seasoned and prolific Pepe Serna, who has appeared in more than 100 films that include Scarface, Silverado and American Me, starring Al Pacino, Kevin Costner and Edward James Olmos, respectively. Also appearing in the film are Valeria Jauregui (Colossal Youth), Arlene Cavazos (It Came Upon a Midnight Clear) and Shira Lazar (Celeste & Jesse Forever).

Ramos had worked with Borrego on another project and Serna joined as both an actor and one of the film’s producers. Coming full circle, Ramos returned to his alma mater, San Antonio College, to film The Margarita Man. “Stepping back on campus, this time with a camera crew, that was a proud moment, one I won’t forget,” he said with pride in his voice.

The acting and production bug bit him in his teen years when he also discovered he could wear many creative hats. 

In high school, he joined the school’s Drama Club with the goal of becoming an actor. “All the students were actors on stage and at the same time had to work on the production crew,” he recalls. “I would jump from saying my lines on stage to backstage to operate the lighting board. It was crazy but a lot of fun and you learned a lot quickly.” He became fascinated with the behind-the-scenes production. 

Ramos was also a big fan of Entertainment Tonight, the entertainment news TV program. “Sometimes they would visit a movie set and show what was happening behind the camera,” recalls of the popular series. “I would see the lights and camera crew, and now and then, a guy with a clapboard shouting, ‘Quiet on the set! We’re rolling!’ And I thought, ‘That’s what I want to do.’”

A FILMMAKER IS BORN
Serious about a career in Hollywood, Ramos enrolled at San Antonio College and majored in radio, television and film. When Dick Clark Productions came to Texas for ABC Celebrity All-Stars at SeaWorld, Danny joined the production as an intern and was soon hired on in the all-important Cue Card Department. That was his first professional job as a freelance production crew member. Soon after that, Lifetime Network set up shop in San Antonio for the show Attitudes, a soap opera talk show and Ramos then joined the Directors Guild of America as a 2nd assistant director/unit production manager.

When word got out that the Selena movie, starring Jennifer Lopez and Edward James Olmos, was going to be filmed in San Antonio, Ramos mailed his resume to the production office. Weeks later, he got a call from the film’s producer, Moctezuma Esparza. “I had just finished working on a film called The Big Green as a key set production assistant and as a second AD on (the) second unit, and Mr. Esparza was looking for local hires and Latinos with production experience,” says Ramos. “I had some great experience, but had not been a second-second assistant director, which is what they needed at the time.” 

FILM ADMINISTRATIVE WORK
The San Antonio native got the Selena job, handling all the paperwork associated with actors on the set–schedules, production reports, accounting and time cards, often feeling lost in a whirlwind of paperwork. But he preserved and survived. “I just got through it,” he says. “It’s the kind of job where the job description just happens to you.”

Ramos’s advice to newbies coming onto a production, “Take it all in. Ask questions. Learn as quickly as you can and hold on! Then take what you’ve learned from that experience and build on it for the next gig.”

That’s exactly what the filmmaker did, building a solid filmmaking foundation one job at a time and knowing almost every production position on a film set. All that proved helpful when directing The Margarita Man. 

Celebrating his movie’s release, Ramos is promoting the “Margarita Man Weekend” September 15 through 19, offering audiences the opportunity to send in their favorite margarita recipe to win a bottle of premium tequila–the prime ingredient in any margarita. Just send your favorite margarita recipe to MargaritaManMovie@yahoo.com

The Margarita Man is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video, TubiTV and IMDB-TV. The DVD is available to purchase on Walmart, Amazon, Best Buy as well as Turner Classic Movies’ website, www.shop.TCM.com.

The post Danny Ramos Makes Feature Directorial Debut With ‘The Margarita Man’  first appeared on .

Oscar-nominated and Emmy-winning filmmaker Matthew Heineman (A Private War, Cartel Land) has released the trailer of The Boy From Medellín, a documentary about top-selling reggaeton artist J Balvin. 

The Amazon Original film follows the Latin Grammy-winning singer, whose real name is Jose Alvaro Osorio Balvin, as he prepares for what may be one of the most important performances of his career—a sold-out stadium show in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia. But political unrest explodes in the streets just days before the concert date and J Balvin must wrestle with his responsibility as an artist to his country and his legions of fans around the globe.

The film captures the artist behind the scenes in a tense time of his life, compounding his struggles with anxiety and depression that have plagued him for years. The Boy From Medellín was shot entirely in a dramatic week leading up to the concert. 

J Balvin is a reggaeton superstar who has reportedly sold more than 35 million records worldwide. He has won four Latin Grammys, five Billboard Latin Music Awards, two MTV Video Music Awards and four Latin American Music Awards. He has also been nominated twice for the Grammy Award.

The doc will be available globally on May 7 on Amazon Prime Video. The film was directed and produced by Heineman and exec produced by Fabio Acosta, Scooter Braun, Allison Kaye, Scott Manson, Jennifer McDaniels, Jenna Millman, Juan Diego Villegas and J Balvin himself.

Top Featured Photo: J Balvin in ‘The Boy From Medellín.’ (Credit: SCV JB Concert Doc Project, LLC)

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“Coming 2 America” proves the only thing worse than a sequel to a classic 1980s film is a sequel that tries to bring the franchise up to contemporary standards.
Like a Tesla that punches you in the face as a replacement for functioning brakes, no one asked for this.

The original 1988 “Coming to America” was a cultural classic. It not only inspired black audiences but defined Eddie Murphy’s success in the era. The first film was an admirable story about love and traditions that ended with a satisfying conclusion. Given its status, Hollywood has longed to cash in on a sequel. After 30 years, Paramount Pictures finally greenlit one — only to have COVID undercut its plans.
With no theatrical release in play, “Coming 2 America” was sold to Amazon Prime Video and after its release, it is clear why nobody asked for a sequel.

The Rundown: “Coming 2 America” is set 30 years after the original film. Prince Akeem (Eddie Murphy) of Zamunda is summoned before his dying father, King Jaffe Joffer (James Earl Jones). Akeem has three daughters, but conflict builds as Zamundian tradition demands that only a male successor can inherit the throne.
Akeem is later shocked to learn he has an illegitimate son from his initial visit to New York City over 30 years ago. Akeem and his royal aide Semmi (Arsenio Hall) travel again to Queens to meet the prince’s son, Lavelle Junson (Jermaine Fowler), and bring him to Zamunda to claim his throne.
Lavelle’s homecoming doesn’t go well. He struggles with a sister who doesn’t want him around, a woman he loves but can’t marry, and expectations an American man isn’t ready to meet.
Bright Spots: The film’s strength is its first act. The establishing shots of Zamunda and its inhabitants are based on the costume designs of fictional nations like Wakanda, where the style is bright and inspiring. Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall aren’t much different from the previous film, but their playful banter is certain to bring out chuckles and even a laugh-out-loud moment.

Wesley Snipes plays the leader of a nation called Nextdoria, and his performance is so over the top, he is the only character consistently funny from start to finish. Actors Jermaine Fowler and KiKi Layne offer strong performances, but are undercut by their limited roles. If given a bigger spotlight, the duo could have been the hidden gold this film desperately needed. Frankly, aside from them, there isn’t much aside to praise.
Weak Spots: “Coming 2 America” is a horribly written comedy that justifies all the fears fans had about a sequel. There is no John Landis (co-director of the original), and Eddie Murphy isn’t as involved in the story. This time around, there are three screenwriters: the original duo of Barry W. Blaustein and David Sheffield, along with “Black-ish” creator Kenya Barris. The film is written as a course correction of the first movie because the 1980s weren’t as woke and politically correct as today.
The central plot is focused on the sexist traditions of Zamunda; the country won’t allow a woman to be its leader. Instead, it tries to build up a burnout from Queens, due solely to his male birthright. Also, the dialogue constantly makes references to how sexist the original film was. Apparently, the writers thought shaming a beloved fan favorite for black audiences because it’s not up to progressive standards would win them over.
A story dipped in progressivism is only one of the film’s problems. Originality is an issue. The core story is simply a rehash of the first movie, done in reverse. Instead of Eddie coming to America to find love, his son comes to Zamunda to do the same. There are many callbacks to the original, which just reminds the viewer that it was a much funnier movie. And that the sequel is a train wreck.

Every cheap trick the filmmakers thought would be a hit with fans is visible — including the running gag of McDowell’s, the fictional fast-food restaurant from the original that was only mildly funny once. The introduction of Akeem’s warrior daughters is only in service of the ending gag. Finally, the comedy styles of Tracy Morgan and Leslie Jones are flat.
The Takeaway: “Coming 2 America” is a film that never needed to exist. The best-case scenario would have been setting up a story for future characters that allowed for world building and high jinks. But the sequel can’t get out of its own way long enough to craft a credible story line. At this point, audiences can only pray Hollywood doesn’t try to revisit the franchise when Murphy turns 80. Poor James Earl Jones.
See or Skip: If you loved the 1988 original, “Coming 2 America” begs the question: “How does it feel to have lived long enough to see all of your favorite franchises go down in flames?”
(Edited by Fern Siegel and Matthew B. Hall)

The post ‘Coming 2 America’ Review: The Sequel Nobody Wanted, With Good Reason appeared first on Zenger News.

The post ‘Coming 2 America’ Review: The Sequel Nobody Wanted, With Good Reason first appeared on .

By Justina Bonilla

Blumhouse Television, in partnership with Amazon Prime Video, released a film series of original horror films for the month of October under the banner “Welcome to the Blumhouse”. These films include The Lie, Black Box, Evil Eye, and Nocturne.

Among the four films is the psychological sci-fi thriller Black Box. Directed by Emmanuel Osei-Kuffour and written by Stephen Herman and Osei-Kuffour, the films follows newly widowed father Nolan (Mamoudou Athie) and his young daughter Ava (Amanda Christine).

Nolan tries to rebuild his and Ava’s lives, after a car tragic accident which caused the loss of his wife and severely damaged his memory. Desperate for a way to get his memory back, Nolan subjects himself to a experimental memory treatment called Black Box, by the renowned specialist Dr. Lilian Brooks (Phylicia Rashad). However, the longer Nolan participates in Black Box, the more he sees visions that force him to face memories and fears beyond his worst imagination.   

Visually bringing to life both the outside world and the inner world of Nolan’s mind is Mexican cinematographer Hilda Mercado. In an exclusive interview with Mercado, she shares with us her passion for photography, her cinematography career, and her participation in Black Box.

A SUMMER IN BRITAIN
Originally from Mexico, Mercado first developed her passion for still photography at age 15, when she went to England to learn English during a summer. Along with her English classes, Mercado participated in journalism courses. “That’s where it started unconsciously because I had to [tell] a story with images,” she recalls.

Continuing her education, Mercado earned a bachelor’s degree in communications. Initially, she was pursuing advertising. However, when she experienced films classes, she made the conscious decision to pursue cinematography. “I fell in love with the process of reading a story, and how are we going to visually support that story,” she says. “I love to think about the lenses and each lens has a personality. And how we just choose those lenses.”

Mercado further elaborated on her passion for cinematography. “I love to think about lighting,” she says. “I love to read the script, to break it down. That whole process that you are thinking about a story. How you are going to light it. Then you actually see it. I love that process.” She adds, “I love the collaboration. I love to sit down and to talk to the director and the production designer.”

THE POWER OF COLORS
Understanding the strength of colors in storytelling is another essential aspect of cinematography. Mercado emphasized, “I like that we play with color. Because color tells a story. The way you dress, or something that changes within the story. I like to design the movies on what I hear from the director, based on color. It’s not only the look, but also [the] person. What are the colors that surround this person in their life, in the story?”

“Colors are emotions,” Mercado says. “Are we going to support the characters of the stories with pastels colors in their house or maybe not? Maybe it’s the lack of color?”. She gives an example. “Maybe, this [character] is boring. And we portray that with the greys. Maybe something changes in their life and we put a red flower in the [background].”

To strengthen her knowledge and abilities as a cinematographer and camera operator, Mercado also participated in numerous International film and video workshops in Rockpoint, Maine, which focused on camera and lighting. Later, she earned her master’s in fine arts in cinematography from the distinguished American Film Institute of Los Angeles. She is also a member of the exclusive Mexican Society of Cinematographers, AMC.

CAMERAWOMAN CREDITS
As a camera operator, Mercado has worked on numerous television programs and films, including the popular true crime documentary television program 48-Hours, the Netflix pop-culture phenomenon Stranger Things, the critically acclaimed The Nice Guys, the award winning winning I, Tonya, and the cult-classic comedy Kung Pow: Enter the Fist.

As a cinematographer, Mercado has contributed her talent to a variety of projects, from commercials, short films, and television series to documentaries and feature films such as the television series Dead Silent and The Resident, the documentary Women Behind the Camera, and the Brawny campaign for #strenghthasnogender.

Mercado became involved with Black Box through the cinematographer of Evil Eye, Yaron Levy, whom she met at AFI. Levy introduced her to Blumhouse as the cinematographer that he felt best fit Black Box. After reading the Black Box script, Mercado indeed wanted to be a part of the project. “There’s so many challenges,” she says. “There’s so many themes. There’s so many colors.”
About collaborating with director Osei-Kuffour, Mercado says “It was nice to work with him, because he already had a lot of things [thought out].” With an array of visual ideas already connected to this script, Mercado was able to create the vivid scenes to compliment this visually complex story.

“I love that challenge of the different worlds, the different looks and the different spaces,” she says. Among the multiple Black Box scenes, two of Mercado’s favorite take place at a the church and an apartment, scenes set in the subconscious mind of Nolan.

In terms of effects for Black Box, more emphasis was put on practical effects, with very minimal CG visual effects, according to the cinematographer. “(In) a lot of transitions, we were just [using] a dolly and pushing it in and back, [with] different lighting cues,” she says. “At the very beginning [we] were in one room, and then just doing the transition with our dolly, then ended up in another lighting cue. And then, digital effects would blend the beginning and the end. But everything we did [with] practical [effects]”.

PROMINENT MEXICAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS
With the rise and notoriety of Mexican cinematographers in American cinema, such as Emmanuel Lubezki, Guillermo Navarro, Alfonzo Cuaron, and Rodrigo Prieto, Mercado sees Mexican culture as a major influence in this field. “I believe that culturally, Mexico has a lot of color, a lot of texture, a lot of flavor, and a lot of smells,” she says. “I think from the beginning we are basically surrounded by that. That influences how we see the world. How we use that to help tell the story.”

With Mercado’s ability to blend every aspect of the story into a pageantry of color, moods and textures to display each vivid scene, she creatures a distinctive visual experience. We look forward to seeing her work expand into other television and feature film projects.

Black Box is available to stream or buy/rent on Amazon Prime Video.

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Film Review By Roberto Leal

The Infiltrators is not a Hollywood blockbuster about an elite team of undercover cops who infiltrate drug cartels, the Klan or socialist PTA meetings in San Francisco. As the old saying goes: Truth is stranger than fiction. The Infiltrators filmmakers, Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra, have crafted a little gem of a story that features heroes equal to any in the Marvel Comic Book Universe.

In 1973, the world hailed the publication of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s The Gulag Archipelago. Solzhenitsyn’s book detailed the horrors of the Soviet Union’s vast prison system that locked up political dissidents, like Solzhenitsyn, homosexuals and other social misfits. A self-righteous America pointed an accusatory finger at the Soviet Union and bragged: “Thank God, we’re not like that!”

Fast forward to present day America along our southern border and witness the explosive growth of for-profit (because we’re capitalist, not communists) detention centers where up to 40,000 undocumented immigrants languish, often for years, in what can rightly be called The Latino Gulag Archipelago.

The Infiltrators tells the true, inspiring story of young, undocumented Dreamers, who intentionally let themselves be taken by the Border Patrol, to a detention center in Broward County, Florida, where undocumented immigrants await deportation. The Dreamers, as members of the National Immigration Youth Alliance (NIYA), use protests, online petitions, and pressure on local politicians, to stop the deportations of the detainees, who are being held for minor offenses.

We follow Marco (Maynor Alvarado) as he covertly works in the detention center to stop deportations and secure releases. The mild-mannered, but resolute Marco must maneuver carefully to avoid his cover being blown and winding up in solitary confinement and obscurity.

When Marco finds out there are 100 women being held in the detention center, the NIYA team on the outside decide to send Viridiana (Chelsea Rendon) inside to coordinate the Dreamer’s mission with Marco. Complications arise when Marco and Viridiana are found out by the Border Patrol. Afterall, The Infiltrators is a thriller. What would a thriller be without obstacles, danger and complications?

But the Infiltrators, which won the Next Section Audience Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, has won critical acclaim for its brilliant cross genre approach in creating a powerful documentary/thriller. It’s an effective story-telling technique. Oliver Stone did it successfully in JFK (1991). Rob Reiner’s rockumentary, Spinal Tap, (1994), used it to great comic effect. But the makers of The Infiltrators, have taken the documentary/narrative film structure, and to quote Emeril Lagasse, “kicked it up a notch.”

The real-life documentary footage of the Dreamers protesting outside the detention center and the re-enactments of the actual events inside, have been masterfully and seamlessly edited together into one cohesive whole. At no point in The Infiltrators can you tell where the documentary ends, and the re-enactment begins. This is a tribute to the first-rate editing and cinematography.

In any good thriller, pacing is an important factor. However, the suspense and tension cannot be too constant or hyperbolic, or the effect is lost. But the amount of suspense and tension must be just enough, and the plot points strategically placed to keep the audience in their seats for the narrative ride.  

Directors Alex Rivera and Cristina Ibarra surely must be acolytes of The Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.  Like Hitchcock, Rivera and Ibarra deftly combine the musical score, understated acting, along with excellent pacing, to allow the suspense to play out in an even-handed and measured way 

I was glad to see that screenwriters Alex Rivera and Aldo Velasco avoided the temptation to paint the Border Patrol and Guards as cartoonish, evil villains. Of course, the Border Patrol and detention center Guards are uniformly big, imposing characters who can quickly turn tough and menacing when the situation calls for it.

Conversely, the Dreamers are not portrayed as annoyingly noble, altruistic, goody-two-shoes. Maynor Alvarado’s performance, as Marco, is especially noteworthy. Marco is a bookish type who is more suited to infiltrating a public library, not a hostile immigrant detention center. Marco is quiet and unassuming, but he’s absolutely committed to the mission of the Dreamers and the NIYA.

Alvarado, a veteran of TV shows like, Gray’s Anatomy, NCIS: Los Angeles and Brooklyn Nine-Nine, can do a lot just with his eyes. When Marco shows up at the door of the detention center to intentionally get himself taken in by the Border Patrol, his face clearly reveals his anxiety and inner conflict. Maynor Alvarado’s Marco is the kind of hero you find yourself enthusiastically rooting for.

Chelsea Rendon (Viridiana) made her feature film debut at the tender age of 7, in No Turning Back, a role which garnered her several awards.  She is currently a series regular on VIDA hit drama on the Starz Network. Rendon has perfected her craft in a wide range of TV and film roles. What I liked best about Rendon’s performance of Viridiana is the sheer lack of artifice. She’s obviously a natural born actress.  You are never aware that Rendon is acting. She is Viridiana.

The supporting cast adds depth, texture and authenticity to The Infiltrators. My only criticism of The Infiltrators is why wasn’t it made into a feature length film or a mini-series on Netflix? Everything eventually winds up on Netflix. As a struggling screenwriter, I’d love to be on the writing staff of The Infiltrators mini-series.  Oh well, I guess that makes me a very old Dreamer.

In the opening scene of The Infiltrators, we hear Marco, in voice-over narration say: “Last year, I was reading Kafka. This year, I’m living it.”

The Infiltrators ends on the night of the 2016 presidential election. Marco’s statement has proven to be painfully prophetic. The hateful, racist policies of the Incredible Hoax, currently occupying the White House, has turned our southern border into a disgraceful chain of concentration camps that would turn Eichmann green with envy.

Now, with the specter of the Trumpvirus infecting the immigrants imprisoned down there, we need heroes, like Marco and Viridiana and the NIYA, to spring into action and do their thing, so I can have material to write the screenplay to The Infiltrators: The Sequel.

The Infiltrators is an Oscilloscope Laboratories release. Due to the Trumpvirus Pandemic that has put the kibosh on folks going to the movies, the theatrical premiere date is still TBD. However, The Infiltrators will be available On Demand on June 2.

The post Dreamers Confront a Latino Gulag In “The Infiltrators” first appeared on .

Written by Roberto Leal

Since the election of our Hoax President, we certainly have been living in “interesting” times. When my kids were little, they were never allowed to criticize their mother’s cooking. It they didn’t like something that was served to them, they were only allowed to sardonically, but very politely observe:

“Oh, this is interesting.”

And so, it’s in interesting times we now find ourselves deeply mired in this worrisome pandemic. Regrettably, many of our favorite places for fun, leisure and recreation are being closed or cancelled: restaurants, bars, sporting events, and especially for a film fanatic like me, movie theaters.

Gracias a Dios for my 60-inch, flat screen TV and access to several streaming platforms. For semi-reclusive writers, like me, the internet has made it possible for me to never leave my little studio apartment. All my worldly needs; meds, food, clothes, porn, can be found on the InterWebs, and three of the four can be delivered directly to my home.

“May you live in interesting times”

Ancient Chinese Curse

Certainly, a prolonged, nation-wide, period of sheltering in place, as it’s being called, will inevitably result in extreme cases of cabin fever. Thanks to those ubiquitous streaming platforms, let me offer three Latino entertainment cures, now playing, to help alleviate those sheltering in place blues.

SIDEWALLS (Medianeras) – Hulu

There’s nothing like a good romantic comedy to lift the spirits and re-affirm the basic human need for meaningful relationships. Writer/director Gustavo Taretto’s Sidewalls tells us the story of two slightly deranged tekkies, web designer, Martín (Javier Drolas), and architect, Mariana (Pilar López de Ayala) who live right across the street from each other in high-rise apartments in Buenos Aires. Martín and Mariana are like the two proverbial ships that pass each other in the night. However, these two rudderless boats pass each other during the day, strolling down the sidewalk, swimming in the same pool and while sipping an espresso in the same coffee shop. Will these two lonely “ships” ever sail off together into the sunset? Watch this clever romantic comedy and find out. Sidewalls is currently streaming on HULU.

Extra to Stream: Trailer

GENTEFIED – Netflix

Family, food and tradition. Those are the three principal ingredients in any good Chicano comedy. Gentefied, offers all three ingredients, along with a generous side dish of laughs, served up in the usual huge portions you get in a family-owned, Mexican restaurant.

Inter-generational conflicts arise when two young cousins decide to modernize their grandfather’s Boyle Heights taco shop. It’s the age-old struggle between tradition versus trendy, igniting comedy sparks to fly in the process. Gentified, stars Kerrie Martin, Joaquín Cosío, J.J. Soría, and Carlos Santos, plus a supporting Latino cast of quirky characters adding to the fun. Gentefied is the right place to celebrate some good, old-fashioned Chicano family fun and upscale, gentrified tacos. But I’ll stick with the carne asada tacos with cilantro y cebolla and pass on the alfalfa sprouts and yogurt.

Extras to stream: Meet The Cast Behind The Season

SIX DREAMS – Amazon Prime

This pandemic has put the kibosh on all major sporting events. So now we’re stuck watching re-runs of pro basketball and football games from last year and beyond. I swear I saw Bronko Nagurski run for a touchdown the other day. I’ve even been reduced to watching the World Series of Poker and I don’t even play cards. I’m not even good with greeting cards.

But I love soccer, or more correctly fútbol. Professional soccer is the biggest international sport on the planet. It’s especially popular in all Latin America, Portugal and Spain. These Latin countries consistently produce the best teams and greatest players in the sport. It’s especially true of Spain, which won the 2010 World Cup and is always a contender.

Six Dreams, an Amazon Prime series, takes us behind the scenes to see the Spanish Football League (La Liga) through the lives of six individuals; team president, coach, sports director and athletes. From the board room, locker room, living room, to the pitch, Six Dreams is an intimate and detailed examination of the pressures and passions on and off the field of this greatest of world sports. Six Dreams scores a winning ¡GO-O-O-OL!

Six Dreams Stars: Carlos Carretero, Quinque Cárcel, Amaia Gorostiza

Extras to Stream: Trailer

Enjoy!

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