Valley of the Dead: MalnaZidos

tags: movie, Netflix streaming. Spanish, zombies

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Valley of the Dead is a Spanish zombie movie set during the Spanish Civil War. Two opposing sides agree to a temporary alliance to deal with an army of the dead created by the Nazis. It uses a historical setting and I like it for its combination of zombies and smart comedic dialog but tells a good story. My only complaint is the English subtitles. Why are the names of people translated into English. Example: one guy named Mecha is translated to Fuse. It's a nickname like the female Matacuras (priest killer) but still. Just leave the Spanish names, not the English translated.

Recommended for zombie movie fans.

Through My Window

tags: dramedy, Netflix streaming, Spanish, teen romance

⭐⭐

from IMDB

Raquel's longtime crush on her next-door neighbor turns into something more when he starts developing feelings for her, despite his family's objections.

When I was young, I watched a lot of High School rom-com movies, Molly Ringwald's Sixteen Candles is my all-time favorite. Pretty In Pink is okay too. This movie from Spain based on a Wattpad book has teenage romance and it reminds me a lot of Pretty In Pink. The similarities: the main female character Raquel has a single parent, a mother. Raquel has a male best friend, Yoshi, who is just like Duckie, always declaring his love for her and that they will eventually marry. But just like Andie, Raquel thinks she is in love with the neighbor, Ares. I was waiting for Yoshi to declare "His name is Ares? That is not a name! That's a major appliance! Or something similar. Ares is a wuss just like Blane although in this movie there is no Steff and his rich friends. The people who do not approve of Raquel are Ares's father and older brother. Rich snobby family, ordinary girl. Cliché much? Ah, and there's the prom too where she went alone. 

The script and acting are lame, IMHO. Too contrived and the boy Ares suddenly has a family sob story that makes him even more pathetic. The only difference from Pretty In Pink is there is a lot of teen sex in this movie plus some nudity.

Not recommended.

Xtremo

Spanish movie Xtremo streaming on Netflix

118 minutes

European Spanish with English subtitles 

tags: action, crime family, revenge

⭐⭐⭐

Maximo and Maria are the adopted children and Lucero is the real son of a crime family head. The father favors Max to lead his crime family and naturally Lucero is jealous just like in the movie Gladiator. Maximo and Maximus. Probably an homage to the movie. Max’s brother Lucero betrayed their family, killing their father and Max's son and leaving Max for dead. Two years later Max is retired but itching for revenge and is teaming up with his sister Maria to take down Lucero and his operation. 

Max trains in martial arts in a car shop garage, he even has a Wushu wooden dummy. One day he helped teenager Leo, a small time drug seller in his school. Leo is being used by one of Lucero's men to lure the rival criminal Russians. After Lucero's men brutally killed Leo's family, Max begins a killing spree of Lucero's men.

The bloody mash-up of Asian and European crime family action movie is IMHO better than John Wick although the story, dialog, and acting are on par with John Wick - mediocre. 

Watch it for the action alone. And clever use of garage tools.

Recommended: Korean revenge drama with similar theme also streaming on Netflix - Night In Paradise - has the best bloody ending and a little better than Xtremo.

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Unknown Origins

tags: action, comedy, Netflix streaming, parody, Spanish movie, superheroes

⭐⭐⭐⭐ 

from IMDB

Heroes do not exist. David, a young policeman who has recently moved to Madrid, is forced to collaborate with Jorge Elías - an endearing freak and owner of a comic book shop - in order to solve a series of atrocious murders that recreate the secret origins of the classic superheroes. Each grotesque murder is a piece of a jigsaw puzzle that has the streets of Madrid as a backdrop, but whose complete image they are unable to distinguish. Jorge's encyclopedic knowledge about the comic world and the unexpected discovery of David's dark past will be fundamental in helping them solve the enigma hidden behind the awful crimes. The clues will guide them through the Spanish capital, along a labyrinth designed by a disturbed criminal mind and the only person who knows how to find the exit. Will they be able to unravel the tangled mess of clues and win the game against the troubled criminal that tries to manipulate them? They say that, sometimes, it is necessary to put on a suit and get out ...

If you see it with very low expectations like I did, you'll probably enjoy this 96 minute action comedy from Spain, Origenes Secretos. It won't win any awards but it made me laugh a little. I got maybe almost all of the comic book, movie, and TV characters mentioned including some Japanese anime like Gantz:O and Berserk. It's easy to guess who the villain is.

This movie is not serious at all although not slapstick either. Watch it in the original European Spanish language with English subtitles.  

The Platform

tags: Netflix streaming, parable, Spanish movie


The Platform is a Spanish movie called El Hoyo (The Hole) which is set in an underground prison. It is a gray square vertical or tower-like structure with a hole in the middle for a platform. 2 prisoners are housed on each level. The platform goes down to feed the prisoners once a day. They are given 2 minutes to eat their fill but cannot keep any for later or they get punished either by being frozen or fried by extreme heat, then the platform goes down to the next level. The food are prepared meticulously by a chef and his cooks, a feast fit for kings. Those on the upper levels have the best choice and as the platform descends much lower, all the great food and wine are depleted because the prisoners on the upper levels do not care if the prisoners below them have nothing to eat. They are selfish people thinking only of themselves and their needs. The result is chaos, madness, suicides, people killing each other, cannibalism. Once a month prisoners wake up on another level, higher or lower determined by the "administration". With this arrangement one would expect the prisoners to be more aware of the golden rule and be considerate of the people below but no, they still act like animals once they are on the upper level. 

All the prisoners, either volunteers or criminals, are asked for their favorite food and allowed one thing to bring inside. The main character is Goreng who wakes up on level 48. BTW, in Indonesian language goreng means fried as in Nasi Goreng - Fried Rice. I'm not sure if this has a significance to the story. Maybe he's going to fry in hell or his brain will get fried in this hell hole? Anyway, Goreng did not commit any crime; he volunteered in exchange for an accredited certificate or diploma. He brought a copy of Don Quixote to read while inside and indicated his favorite food is snail (escargot), caracol in Spanish. One day, a plate of snails appears on the platform and Goreng notices that nobody touched it because it was obviously prepared just for him. If the prisoners eat only their declared preferred food, there wouldn't be food shortage in prison. He and his new cellmate, the woman who interviewed him when he applied for prison stay, who also volunteered to be a prisoner decide to reform the chaotic prison platform. The woman prepares 2 plates with enough food for the prisoners below and asks them to do the same so that there will be enough food left for the people on the lowest level. It fails as expected because people are greedy and don't think rationally.

I think this movie is maybe a parable on the 7 deadly sins. The movie has religious references regarding eating someone's body and drinking his blood thereby becoming part of that person (holy communion and wine?). I have no idea what it means though. Goreng also ate pages of Don Quixote. Maybe he ate this part of the book because he's one of only 3 prisoners who don't take advantage when transferred to a high level so prisoners on lower level may eat: 

"The person who possesses wealth is not made happy by having it but by spending it, and not spending it haphazardly but in knowing how to spend it well” — Don Quixote 

This movie needs a second viewing to fully understand it.

Recommended for viewers who are apt to over analyze movies and books.

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The greed and chaos in the movie remind me of the current global situation with people hoarding food and paper products because of the Chinese flu. They never consider that other people also need these essentials.