good movie
Added 11/2/2009
The music in the movie is great!!! Thats the main reason I wanted to buy this movie...
Hector Lavoe music makes you want to dance when you hear it...
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Good Movie
Added 8/27/2009
I thought it was a good movie ,i liked seeing Marc and Jen work together, very electricfyng (sp)
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
The Jennifer Lopez Show
Added 1/31/2009
Yeah, no kidding this was produced by Lopez herself. The whole thing is like one extended Jennifer Lopez video.
"Look at me, I'm shaking my booty. Look at my hair, look at me smiling, look at me with my period makeup. Look how sexy I am even snorting coke in my wig! I'm even hot in the '70's"
Every scene seemed like an opportunity for Lopez to showcase how gorgous and hot she is...oh, and the director encourages it! In every scene he makes sure to capture Lopez makeup and hair and clothes even if it has no impact whatsoever on the story line. Even if showing her makes no sense. There she is.
This movie was irritating on so many levels. You know that music they play in Mexican Restaurants? Well this whole movie features that kind of white noise. At first it made me hungry for con queso and chips. After that, it just kept reminding me that salsa is really not so great of a musical genre. It all sounds the same and it's hopelessly trite.
And lastly, Marc Anthony. This man is so bad. Such an ugly little rat faced monkey that it was impossible for me to believe he was any sort of 'ladies man' let alone a Latino Rock Star. Are you kidding me? He'd be great as a creepy character actor playing a small role as a janitor or maybe even a pervert of some sort. But to give him 2nd billing in a Jennifer Lopez movie and show him almost as much as Lopez...it made me completely disgusted by this skinny and hideous little man. He's like Gollum sans the cute.
Just skip this J.Lo show and check out a real 'poor me, I'm famous' movie like 'Walk Hard- The Dewey Cox Story'.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
If you love Salsa, you must see this
Added 1/17/2009
Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony both do a phenomenal job in this movie. Jennifer Lopez became her character and once again gives a shockingly good performance. She is an actress that hasn't been given the accolades she deserves. Marc Anthony was also amazing. His singing was top notch as was his acting. If you love Salsa music, this is a must see.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Great movie, I love JLO's and Marc combination! they are a great couple! The movie was awesome! Jennifer Lopez performance is one of the best! Thumbs up!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
amazing performance!!!
Added 9/7/2007
Wow it's incredible how jennifer lopez can get into a character and live it,if you're not familiar with this singer,well watch the movie 'cause he was one of the best salsa performers of his time,right now we can say that Marc Anthony is his pupil,and he is a good student.The music of the movie is in tune with the scenes of the movie and and it makes it kind of sad and retrospective about how his life would end.Great movie and soundtrack,I have never seen jennifer being such a good actress on this movie,sometimes i think this their life (marc and Jen)but with,let's hope a happy ending...watch it it's worth it,can't wait for the dvd.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
Great Music Marred By Cliche Story
Added 8/18/2007
The life of salsa singer Hector Lavoe (Marc Anthony) is told in a series of flashbacks based on interviews with his wife Pucci (Jenifer Lopez). Lavoe arrived in New York, from Puerto Rico, in 1975. He teamed with musician Willie Colon to help create and popularize salsa, a blend of rumba, mambo, merengue and jazz that still remains among the most beloved forms of Latin music. Soon Lavoe descends into a netherworld of sex and drugs, eventually becoming so irresponsible that he loses Colon as a band mate. Lavoe and Pucci struggle through many years of addiction, infidelity and conflict until Lavoe finally dies of AIDS in 1993.
My wife is Latina and a huge fan of salsa. So I was really looking forward to learning more about this the music and it's history. On that level the movie is a great success, with some terrific musical performances and scenes that effectively capture the ambience and excesses of the salsa scene in the 1970's.
Unfortunately, the storyline revolves around a cliche - "musician hits the bigtime and then spirals downward into self-destruction." The biopics about Ray Charles and Johnny Cash also touch on their drug problems. But those movies explored other aspects of the musician's life and personality. Here it all revolves around Lavoe's addiction. Also the underlaying reasons are covered only in brief scenes discussing his mother's death and his estranged relationship with his father. But nothing about Lavoe's background or pyschological issues is ever looked at in a substantial or meaningful way. Instead Lavoe comes across as just another pathetic and miserable junkie that is hard to have sympathy or respect for despite his great musical accomplishments. Even more unlikable is his wife, Pucci, a hot tempered, superficial witch who seems to embody every negative, and usually false, stereotype about Latin women.The real life Pucci couldn't have been as bad as she is made to be in this movie. But, unlike several other reviewers, I did find Anthony convincing as Hector Lavoe. Lopez, in contrast, just seems to be playing an especially cocky and ill tempered version of herself and this interfered with my enjoyment of the movie.
I still consider this a film worth watching for salsa fans and those interested in learning more about the music. But the cliche storyline and unlikable characters do detract from it's overall quality.
3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
|
Better than expected!
Added 8/13/2007
The music and vocals sung by Marc Anthony make this movie excellent despite its shortcomings by the poor directing. The story is excellent and Anthony and Lopez put in superb performances.
I would have given this movie 5 stars except that the directing made it sometimes annoying to know when something was happening. The story is based on an interview with Lavoe's wife (played by Jennifer Lopez in black and white during her story telling segments).
Lavoe was a super-talented singer who along with Johnny Pacheco and Willie Colon began the Salsa Revolution in the 1970's. With all his success he never gains acceptance from his father and that contributes to his downfall into the world of drugs. Drugs also turn him from a fun-loving guy to an abusive husband, an irresponsible parent and an undependable band member. As each woe mounts, everything dear to Lavoe is lost.
His story has a lot of parallels to Jim Morrison another tragic figure in the world of music that let drugs ruin everything.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
|
