Father Geek here with Coffin Joe Jr.'s Tuesday Latin-AICN column for this week. Lots of info and a bit of an editoral by our resident grave digger... Yeah, give'm what for Joe... they screwed Guillermo del Toro when they took away the great ending of HIS flick and substituted their own lame one a few years back. Ol' Father Geek's tried of that damn crap too... The poor writer, or director gets blamed by the public for the end product when really some asshole suit with a tie so tight all the blood's cut off to their brain deserves to get his lily white butt kicked out of the business... Here's Joe's take on it...

Hey there , how you guys doing ? Coffin Joe Jr. here , with yet another Latin-AICN installment . Some cool info for you this week , hope you dig it .

I got my Crow DVD box set a few days ago , and even though Amazon.com had advertised a commentary track with Alex Proyas as one of the features , it wasn´t a part of "The Crow" DVD . I started to look for an answer to this little riddle , and I discovered some nasty things while searching the web . A lot of movie related sites ( Dark Horizons , DVD File and others ) ran stories on the subject and the official site of writer David J. Schow , had some disturbing revelations about what happened behind the scenes . Basically the producer of the Crow movies , a dork named Jeff Most , nixed the Proyas commentary ( which featured other key players that contributed to the first Crow flick , such as DP Dariusz Wolski ) and a 90 minutes long documentary called "The Crow Chronicles" . It seems Mr.Most has some sort of issue with Proyas , don´t know wether its personal or business related , or whatever , the point is we won´t get the Proyas commentary ( which , by the way WAS RECORDED ).Initially Proyas was completely involved in the making of this special edition DVD , and he wanted complete control over the whole thing to give it a director´s approval ( sort of like those Criterion collection discs that come with a little sticker on the cover , saying the director is happy with the extras and the transfer ) .

You may ask : "Why didn´t Miramax/Dimension tell this Most guy to fuck off , and let Proyas put together the DVD we wanted to see ?" Because , my good friend , Most produces the Crow movies and at the time they were planning that " The Crow - Lazarus " flick , and Most was a producer , so Miramax/Dimension didn´t want to spoil that . Result : Proyas out , Most in .

The funniest fuckin´ thing is that Lazarus is now its own entity , no longer a Crow movie . Are you laughing ? I´m not . You see , this is just further proof that Miramax/Dimension SUCKS . They bought the awesome French flick "Dobermann" a few years ago and they haven´t released it yet ; they released the amazing Scott Reynold´s ( "The Ugly" ) flick "Heaven" in only one theater ; they fucked around very badly with the ending of Del Toro´s "Mimic" , just to say a few of the things they have done to us . The fuckers .
Here´s this week´s news :

US

-Actress Leonor Varela , who was born in Chile , is one of the stars of "Texas Rangers" , directed by Steve Miner ( "Halloween H2O" ) . Other cast members include Marco Leonardi ( "From Dusk till Dawn 3" ) , James Van der Beek , Randy Travis , Tom Skerritt , Dylan McDermott , Rachael Leigh Cook , Alfred Molina , Robert Patrick and Oded Fehr . In the movie we follow the adventures of a group of young cowboys , the "Texas Rangers" , who get together after the American Civil War with one goal in mind : getting rid of all the criminals that plague the West . The release date was originally April 6th , but it has been postponed .
Leonor Varela can also be seen in "The Tailor of Panama" , and the upcoming "Blade 2 : Bloodlust" directed by Mexican horror maestro Guillermo Del Toro .

-Robert Rodriguez´s favorite tough guy , actor Danny Trejo is very busy in 2001 . Besides "Spy Kids" , Trejo is in "Bubble Boy" , "The Salton Sea" and "13 Moons".

"Bubble Boy" , directed by Blair Hayes , tells the warped story of a boy who has lived his entire life in a bubble , because he was born without an immune system , but when he finds out that the one woman he loves is getting married in Niagara Falls , he builds a portable bubble suit so he can go after her , stop the wedding , and get his dream girl . Other cast members include Marley Shelton , Swoosie Kurtz and Jake Gyllenhaal .

The "Salton Sea" , directed by D.J.Caruso , is about a man who witnesses the killing of his wife , and decides to go undercover as a drug dealer in order to avenge her death . Val Kilmer , Vincent D´Onofrio , Meat Loaf , Luiz Guzmán and Anthony LaPaglia also star in this thriller .

Finally , "13 Moons" deals with the mystery of the title , and that´s all they give us for now . The "Fargo" duo , Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare , are part of the cast , along with Sam Rockwell , Jennifer Beals and David Proval . Alexandre Rockwell directs .

ARGENTINA

-Legendary Argentinean director of photography Ricardo Aronovich , who worked with directors such as Louis Malle , Ruy Guerra , Alan Resnais , Ettore Scola , Costa-Gavras and Raoul Ruiz , will be talking about his work on May 3rd at the Museum of Image and Sound in São Paulo , Brazil . Aronovich , who is 71 years old and lives in France , has an impressive curriculum , and besides the discussion of his work , there will be a showcase of important movies he worked on .

-The movie "La Ciénaga" , written and directed by Lucrecia Martel , with a cast that includes Mercedes Morán , Graciela Borges and Martín Adjemian , was selected for the Berlin Film Fest and The Mar del Plata Film Fest , and is currently in theatres in Argentina . The movie about two similar families who are broght together by fate during a blazing hot summer has enjoyed mixed reviews .

BRAZIL

-"Durval's Discos" is the name of Anna Muylaert´s first film . The actress/director , is shooting the movie here in São Paulo , in a neighborhood called Pinheiros , using digital cameras . The movie revolves around an antique records store , its owner and his colorful customers . The title character , Durval , is portrayed by actor Ary França and the rest of cast include Marisa Orth and Etty Fraser ; there are also cameos by local musicians , such as rock n´roll legend Rita Lee ( former lead singer of the 60s band Os Mutantes , which has many famous admirers , like David Byrne and The Beastie Boys ) . Marisa Orth plays Durval´s love interst , Elisabete , and Etty Fraser is Durval´s mother , Carmita . No release date has been set .

CHILE

-The sequel to the Chrsitian flick "Omega Code" , titled "Megiddo : Omega Code 2" , directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith , and starring Udo Kier , Michael York and Michael Biehn , shot in a number of different locations around the world , including Santiago , the capital of Chile .

UNSEEN GEMS

"Felicia´s Journey"

Director : Atom Egoyan

Once again , I can´t believe no one saw this movie . I know it has a slow pace , it takes its time building the suspense , but this isn´t the type of movie that goes for cheap thrills . A careful character study with Bob Hoskins once again delivering a great performance ( this guy just keeps delivering , I mean , "Mona Lisa" , "The Long Good Friday" , even when he is in smaller roles like in Terry Gilliam´s "Brazil" . Forget "Super Mario Bros." even exists . I do . Helps me cope with the pain of having watched it . ) and with young actress Elaine Cassidy showing a range and maturity that are quite rare for such a young performer .

Atom Egoyan comes through , as usual , with restrained direction that relies on smooth camera moves and a great eye for composition . He uses the Irish and English locations to great effect , with the beautiful greens of the countryside , in contrast with the ugly browns of the urban industrial locations .

The story , about a young girl , Felicia ,who runs away from Ireland to England , searching for her boyfriend but ends up not finding him and beginning an unusual relationship with a kind elderly man , played by Hoskins . They both have secrets , and as the story unfolds , we learn about their horrible experiences , with vivid flashbacks , specially for Hoskins´s character , showing his troubled relationship with his mother as a young boy .

I think this movie is Egoyan´s strongest work , even better than "The Sweet Hereafter" or "Exotica" . He seems more confident in going full steam ahead with his fairy tale influences , in a fantastical tone and mood set in a very real enviroment , with a fable type of story as the basis for some pretty disturbing events . A very twisted take on the old loss of innocence tale .
Highly Recommended for fans of detailed character studies or Egoyan fans . It´s available on DVD by the great folks at Artisan , with a perfect transfer , a commentary track by Egoyan and other extras , plus it is very reasonably priced .

I´m done for the week .

Coffin Joe Jr. says : bye .