PAQ Traducciones

Thomas Ripley is a strange but nice guy. He's not nice enough to want his friendship, but he's not irritating enough to turn him away either. He's well-mannered and unobtrusive, though sometimes awkward. And when you realize there's something that definitely doesn't fit, it's too late.... Ripley is a very patient chameleon who very gradually takes on a new form. He's not as ruthless as Lecter or Bateman and he's not even as meticulous and enigmatic as Zodiac. What Tom Ripley has is an absolute calmness and confidence in what he does. He doesn't need to be famous or draw public attention. He just wants to live his life, and live it well. An ancient Italy completely in black and white will be the perfect canvas for this dark story full of characters and situations of colors that we don't see, but they are there. Mr. Ripley is so talented that he will freeze our blood and even exasperate us, but we will not cease to want to accompany him on this journey to the end. Superb performance by Andrew Scott, an Irish actor who here has to speak Italian... with an American accent. Chameleon-like and captivating, just like Ripley. By Pablo A. Aquino

I'll start by saying that I never liked "Gore" movies. I had a teenage phase with the iconic gore/slasher saga "Friday the13th" and other less known VHS bizarre films, but within the horror genre I always leaned towards the horror/sci-fi (Alien, for example) and psychological horror (Sixth Sense) subgenres. Having made this confession, it is fair to say that When Evil Lurks meets all the requirements of the classic Gore to which it pays tribute. The film by the Argentine Demián Rugna tenses you up and makes you nauseous without a care in the world. He bets more on shock than suspense, and on the viewer to discover everything as its protagonist encounters one horror after another. And the bet works. It is true, this film is more solid and intriguing in its first half, since the second half falls into an overabundance of elements not entirely well knotted with each other. But it is undoubtedly a well-produced movie, and leaves Argentina high in the world of this subgenre that has millions of fans. It also leaves us with great expectations about the next steps in Rugna's international career. We will be very attentive, while we pass the rag to clean the blood that this director so generously shares with his audience. By Pablo A. Aquino

"The only man I have ever feared in my life... was a woman, and her name was Griselda Blanco". That phrase set as an introductory title, coming from none other than the Lord of Drugs himself, Pablo Escobar, is a very astute way to set the tone of the series and its main character. Sofia Vergara (lead actress and producer), now in her maturity, surely felt that her Hollywood career should finally take a quality leap and that she should stop being pigeonholed as a "Latin bombshell". Admittedly, it is very paradoxical that she does it with a character that, at first glance, fits all the stereotypes that Americans have of Latinos: the drug dealer. But it is also true that she does it through a very solid performance in which, with some limitations, she leaves everything she has on stage for a series that is undoubtedly very well produced and with a wisely-handled tension. And here we must stop to warn something: This miniseries IS Griselda Blanco, and Griselda Blanco is Sofia Vergara. I'm not saying there aren't interesting supporting characters. There are, and luckily most of them are not one-dimensional. The problem is that they don't rise too high either, the series gives them a structure that is both contained and austere in nuance. Yes, we can see that the detective who becomes obsessed with Griselda also suffers sexist discrimination in her job (which is an apt counterpoint between the two rival characters), and we see how Griselda's partner feels about having to deal with such "intensity" from her ruthless boss and lover. But not much more than that. Perhaps Rivi's character (very well played by the Argentinean Martín Rodríguez) is the one that leaves some scope to play with. The series, then, sets clear limits to those around Griselda and puts all the spotlight on the...villain? It will be up to each viewer to determine if that decision was the one that best suits his or her personal taste. Ultimately, just like the real-life Griselda, Sofia Vergara simply wants to be taken seriously and came here to claim what belongs to her, by hook or by crook. The wisest thing we can do is not to get in her way, let some excesses slide, and enjoy the show. By Pablo A. Aquino

Normally when you see the protagonist of a series or movie getting into one problem after another, you pretend to handle that person as if instead of being a fiction it was a video game that can be controlled with a joystick. The comfort of our armchair gives us an objectivity and detachment that real life in most cases does not provide. For example, our "stable and normal" self would not be harassed by a clearly unbalanced person, nor abused by a serial abuser, but what if that situation finds us vulnerable? What if we were already broken? Maybe we didn't have an outbreak or a definite disorder, but there are certain times in our lives where we simply aren't stepping on solid ground and need people who feel compassion for us, or someone to commiserate with to heal our own wounds while healing others. I am not usually a viewer who is impressed by the phrase "based on true events". Just because the story a film/series tells is based on events that "happened in real life" does not guarantee quality or credibility. But in the particular case of "Baby Reindeer", the fact that the main actor and screenwriter was also the one who lived this story firsthand, gives the series an extra layer of intensity that accompanies each situation. What Richard Gadd (protagonist and victim) did in this series is probably the bravest thing anyone has ever done in the history of cinema. He does 3 things here: he exposes himself crudely, he is self-critical by stripping himself of any moral pedestals, and he raises awareness without low blows or pamphlets. Thus, he leaves us all rethinking every relationship and every exchange we've ever had in our lives. Baby Reindeer is a fiction/reality that makes any reality show look absolutely ridiculous. A daring and original series, messy and imperfect as the life of its protagonist, which is worth watching. By Pablo A. Aquino

A victim of the laziest script in recent years, with a director who copies Star Wars and other franchises in the most blatant and trashy way I've ever seen, Rebel Moon (both 1 and 2) is just embarrassingly bad. Seriously, this movie doesn't even serve as an excuse to eat popcorn. By way of example, this part 2 seeks to "pay off the debt" of not having given each character a backstory in part 1. And what is the path they choose to do this? OK, get this: All the "heroes" sit at a table (like people who just finished having a barbecue) next to each other. And there, one of them says "Well, now each one of us is going to tell how we got here, agreed? Perfect, I'll start". And so begins a sequence in the style of "Participant 1 - flashback, Participant 2 - flashback, etc, etc". With such literalism and absolute lack of creativity, Rebel Moon desperately wants to force us in every scene to feel an absolutely undeserved epic and emotion, and an empathy that it never makes the slightest effort to generate. Director Zack Snyder (creator of "enjoyable" films like Dawn of the Dead, 300 or Justice League) seems to have run out of ideas and feel deep spite that his Rebel Moon project was rejected by Lucas Films a couple of years ago. And thank God it was...

Intensa, valiente, cruda, audaz, llena de sabores y texturas, the Bear es definitivamente una de las mejores series de los últimos tres años. Los actores se desangran en la cocina y en un escenario donde no hay lugar para golpes bajos clásicos ni vueltas de tuerca fáciles. The Bear es una serie sólida en su escritura y demoledora en su ejecución, y (atención espectadores de escasa paciencia) todo el potencial que muestra en la primera temporada lo explota por cada una de sus paredes en la segunda.

Original, fresh, audacious, with a couple of acceptable flaws, "No One Will Save You" is a tense and irresistible sci-fi/horror movie. I can't wait to see more of Brian Duffield's work as a director.

Historia chata, anodina, con una premisa poco verosímil, personajes mal construidos, diálogos vacíos, chistes con poca gracia y, sobretodo, un guión que no nos lleva a absolutamente ningún lado. No es que no los hayamos visto en películas flojas anteriormente, pero dos grandes actores como Whiterspoon y Kutcher merecían algo bastante mejor.

Sí bien The Grey Man tiene grandes escenas de acción y sólidas actuaciones de Gosling y Evans, está película es un compendio de lugares comunes del género con un guión por demás perezoso. Básicamente, Netflix se pega el mismo palazo contra el muro que se pegó con "Ava", con la única diferencia que acá sí las secuencias de pelea son creíbles. Pero nada más que eso... Entretenida pero olvidable.