Damian Alcazar Archives

Review: ‘Blue Beetle,’ starring Xolo Maridueña, Adriana Barraza, Damían Alcázar, Raoul Max Trujillo, Susan Sarandon and George Lopez

August 16, 2023

by Carla Hay

Xolo Maridueña in “Blue Beetle” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Comics)

Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto

Some language in Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place primarily in the fictional U.S. city of Palmera City, the sci-fi/fantasy/action film “Blue Beetle” (based on the DC Comics character) features a Latin and white cast of characters (with a few African Americans and Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Recent college graduate Jaime Reyes has his body invaded by a super-powered beetle scarab, and he becomes the superhero Blue Beetle, battling his evil former boss who wants the scarab to create an oppressive army of robotic enforcers.

Culture Audience: “Blue Beetle” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of superhero movies, the film’s headliners and adventurous stories about underrepresented people who are the stories’ protagonists.

Elpidia Carrillo, George Lopez, Xolo Maridueña, Belissa Escobedo and Damián Alcázar in “Bue Beetle” (Photo by Hopper Stone/Warnet Bros. Pictures)

“Blue Beetle” sometimes gets trapped in a familiar superhero formula, but the movie’s comedic charm, rollicking style and authentic chemistry among the cast members are a winning combination. As an origin story, “Blue Beetle” won’t rank among the very best for superhero movies based on DC Comics, because there are a few too many superhero movie stereotypes in “Blue Beetle’s” action scenes. However, “Blue Beetle” has enough uniqueness and charisma in its characters that will give this movie a loyal fan base.

Directed by Ángel Manuel Soto and written by Gareth Dunnet-Alcocer, “Blue Beetle” tells the story of 22-year-old Jaime Reyes (played by Xolo Maridueña), an optimistic recent college graduate who has returned to his hometown of Palmera City, a fictional U.S. city based partially on El Paso Texas. DC Comics’ “Blue Beetle” stories have more than one person who is the character of Blue Beetle: archaeologist Dan Garrett (a character that debuted in 1939); inventor Ted Kord (debuted in 1966); and Jaime Reyes (debuted in 2006), a Mexican American who lives in El Paso.

In the “Blue Beetle” movie, Jaime (who is the first person in his family to graduate from college) has come back home to live in a family household that is going through some drastic changes. Jaime lives with his supportive parents Alberto Reyes (played by Damían Alcázar) and Rocio Reyes (played by Elpidia Carrillo); Alberto’s sassy mother Nana Reyes (played by Adriana Barraza); Jaime’s 17-year-old outspoken sister Milagro “Millie” Reyes (played by Belissa Escobedo); and Alberto’s eccentric brother Rudy Reyes (played by George Lopez).

Soon after arriving home, Jaime finds out that the family will be moving out of the house in the near future because the family can no longer afford the house rent, which has “tripled” due to gentrification. The family’s auto body shop is going out of business. Alberto is also recovering from a recent heart attack. Jaime is shocked to hear this news and asks why his family didn’t tell him sooner. They say it’s because they didn’t want anything to distract Jaime from his studies at school.

Jaime is hopeful that his college degree will help him get a job that pays enough to get the family out of these financial problems. He’s also hoping to go to law school someday. “I’ll get the money to save this place,” Jaime confidently tells Milagro. She isn’t so sure this goal will be as easy as Jaime thinks it will be. In the meantime, Jaime and Milagro work in sanitation and groundskeeping at Kord Industries, a massively successful technology corporation whose specialty is security.

The leader of Kord Industries is the ruthless and cruel Victoria Kord (played by Susan Sarandon), who took over the company after her brother Ted Kord disappeared. Ted inherited the company from his father. Victoria is still bitter and jealous that Ted got this inheritance. The opening scene of “Blue Beetle” shows Victoria and some of her minions discovering something near an asteroid that has fallen on Earth. Victoria gleefully says, “I’ve been looking for this for 15 years!”

Viewers later see that what they found is a blue beetle (about the size of a hand) called the Scarab, which has extraordinary powers and a mind of its own. Victoria wants the Scarab for a new Kord Industries invention: One Man Army Corps, a group of super-powered robots described as “the future of private policing.” Victoria’s brooding, hulking henchman named Conrad Carpax (played by Raoul Max Trujillo) is her most-trusted right-hand man to do her dirty work. Victoria’s leading scientist who works for her is Dr. Sanchez (played by Harvey Guillén), a long-suffering employee who experiences some of Victoria’s noticeable racism.

Not everyone is happy with Victoria’s plans for One Man Army Corps. Ted’s smart and independent daughter Jenny Kord (played by Bruna Marquezine), who is in her early 20s and is originally from Brazil, is the complete opposite of Victoria, when it comes to their outlooks on life. Jenny cares about humanity, the environment, and having socially responsible and ethical business practices. Jenny suspects but can’t prove that Victoria is behind her father Ted’s disappearance. (Jenny’s mother died years ago.)

Over the course of the movie, Jenny and Victoria clash in a number of ways. Anything that Victoria wants to do, Jenny wants to dismantle. Jenny isn’t afraid to openly defy her domineering aunt, who becomes infuriated and vengeful when she sees how far Jenny is willing to go to stop Victoria from Victoria’s nefarious plans. Early on in the movie, Victoria snarls to Jenny: “You are nothing to this company. You are a brat … Your father abandoned this company, and he abandoned me.

At first, Jaime is eager to impress Victoria. When Jaime sees Victoria on the company property, he tries to get her attention, but Victoria doesn’t even notice Jaime and other low-paid workers at the company. Milagro is with Jaime when he tries and fails to get Victoria’s attention. Milagro comments to Jaime: “We’re invisible to people like that.”

It isn’t long before Jaime and Jenny meet when Jenny is at Kord Industries headquarters. Jaime’s attraction to her is immediate. Jenny plays it cool, but it’s obvious that she will be Jaime’s love interest. Perpetually skeptical Milagro thinks that Jenny is out of Jaime’s league and tells Jaime, Milagro assumes that Jenny is just another spoiled rich kid who wouldn’t want to associate with people in the Reyes family. Through a series of events, Jaime will cross paths with Jenny until they both find out that they have a common goal.

Jaime and Milagro get fired after Jaime tries to defend Jenny during an argument between Jenny and Victoria. Later, Jenny (disguised as a Kord Industries lab worker) steals a security key card to gain entrance to the lab where the Scarab is being secretly kept. Jenny then takes the Scarab, which she knows Victoria needs to make the One Man Army Corps. However, Dr. Sanchez (who was not in the lab during this theft) comes back and sees the Scarab has been stolen and quickly gives a security breach alert.

The Kord Industries building goes on a security lockdown, but Jenny quickly gives the Scarab (which is in a box) to an unwitting Jaime, who is headed for the exit with other visitors, who have been told to evacuate the building. Jenny tells Jaime that what’s in the box is an important secret, and she warns him not to open the box. But, of course, as shown in the “Blue Beetle” trailers, Jaime opens the box when he’s at home with his family.

The Scarab enters Jaime’s body (painfully), and he becomes the Blue Beetle, a superhero with physical characteristics of a giant beetle and a blue superhero suit of armor. This transformation is shown in the “Blue Beetle” trailers, so there’s no mystery about it. After the Scarab melds with Jaime’s body, he can hear the voice of the Scarab as being an entity called Khaji-Da (voiced by Becky G), who gives Jaime/Blue Beetle advice on what to do when he’s in superhero mode.

The rest of “Blue Beetle” goes through a lot of over-used superhero movie motions of “we have to save the world from an evil villain.” However, thanks to engaging dialogue (some of it is hilarious, some of it is hokey) and a likable rapport between the Reyes family members, “Blue Beetle” can be very enjoyable to watch. It’s suspenseful and dramatic in all the right places.

Maridueña, who was previously best known for his supporting role as Miguel Diaz in Netflix’s “Cobra Kai” karate drama series, gives a star-making performance in “Blue Beetle.” He perfectly embodies Jaime’s amiable personality, which is a mixture of hopeful, curious and insecure about what he perceives as his shortcomings. Maridueña also adeptly handles the wide range of emotions that Jaime goes through in the movie.

It should come as no surprise that Lopez, who has a long history in comedy, gets the best and funniest lines in the movie as Uncle Rudy, who just happens to be an underappreciated tech whiz. Barraza as Jaime’s seemingly mild-mannered grandmother also has a few moments to shine in ways that aren’t too surprising, since the movie keeps dropping hints that there’s more to Nana Reyes than being a kind grandmother. Alcázar, who portrays the easygoing Alberto, has some well-acted heartfelt moments in scenes between Alberto and Jaime, who inherited is father’s positive attitude.

Victoria obviously represents corporate greed that’s out of control. Sarandon plays this villain role to the hilt, but Victoria might not impress some viewers who like superhero movies to have chief villains with superpowers. “Blue Beetle” also has some commentary and observations (but not preaching) about racism, such as a scene where Jaime goes to a Kord Industries reception area, because he has a meeting with Jenny, and the snooty receptionist (played by Brianna Lewis) automatically assumes that Jaime is a delivery person.

The visual effects in “Blue Beetle” are perfectly fine, but they’re not going to win major awards. Some of the action scenes are clumsily staged and could have been better, in terms of visual style and how events unfold in the screenplay. A mid-credits scene in “Blue Beetle” hints that a certain character will be in a “Blue Beetle” sequel, while the end-credits scene in “Blue Beetle” is a bit of fluff that has no bearing on any DC Comics movie. Overall, “Blue Beetle” is a solid superhero movie that doesn’t have a lot of originality in its “good versus evil” story, but the movie has appealing messages about family unity during tough times that can resonate with audiences of many different backgrounds.

Warner Bros. Pictures will release “Blue Beetle” in U.S. cinemas on August 18, 2023.

Review: ‘¡Que Viva México!’ (2023), starring Damián Alcázar, Alfonso Herrera, Joaquín Cosio, Ana de la Reguera, Ana Martín and Angelina Peláez

March 24, 2023

by Carla Hay

Ana Martín, Damián Alcázar, Ana de la Reguera and Alfonso Herrera in “¡Que Viva México!” (Photo by Juan Rosas/Sony Pictures International Productions)

“¡Que Viva México!” (2023)

Directed by Luis Estrada

Spanish with subtitles

Culture Representation: Taking place in Mexico City and the ficitional city of La Prosperidad, Mexico, the comedy film “¡Que Viva México!” features a predominantly Latino cast of characters (with some white people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: An upper-middle-class factory manager, who wants to forget that he came from a poor family, goes back to his hometown with his wife, two children and maid, after his paternal grandfather dies and leaves an inheritance of valuable gold that starts a family feud.

Culture Audience: “¡Que Viva México!” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners and like watching long-winded, unimaginative and tacky comedies.

Pictured in front row, from left to right: Damián Alcázar, Angelína Peláez, Alfonso Herrera and Ana de la Reguera in “¡Que Viva México!” (Photo by Juan Rosas/Sony Pictures International Productions)

What’s worse than a crude, repetitive, unfunny comedy that has nothing interesting to say? A crude, repetitive, unfunny comedy that has nothing interesting to say and drags on for 191 minutes. In other words, avoid this garbage movie at all costs. Yes, you read that correctly: the time-wasting “¡Que Viva México!” is three hours and 11 minutes long, which is annoyingly too long for a movie that is this stupid.

Directed by Luis Estrada (who co-wrote the movie’s terrible screenplay with Jaime Sampietro), “¡Que Viva México!” (which means “Hurray, Mexico!” in Spanish) was originally supposed to be a Netflix movie with a release date of November 16, 2022, the same date that the movie was scheduled for release in cinemas and on Netflix. But something went wrong with this distribution deal. Estrada (who is also the movie’s producer) has given interviews saying that he signed a deal with Sony Pictures International Productions for the theatrical release of “¡Que Viva México!” Netflix still retains streaming rights for the movie.

In the beginning of “¡Que Viva México!,” arrogant and selfish Pancho Reyes (played by Alfonso Herrera) is a senior general manager at a textile company’s main factory in Mexico City, where he oversees several workers. He is feared but not respected by his subordinates. In order to cut costs, Pancho has been firing employees, and the employees who remain must take on a heaver workload. Pancho takes delight in deciding how many people will be part of the layoffs because he likes having that power.

Pancho’s boss Jaime Sampaolo (played by José Sefami), who owns the company, is even more egotistical and ruthless than Pancho. The politically conservative Jamie hates unions, paying fair living wages, and liberal politicians. Jamie is also a misogynistic jerk who expects female employees to be nothing more than sexual playthings for their male bosses. Needless to say, Jaime hates the #MeToo movement, as he complains about it in a rant to Pancho.

One day, Jaime calls Pancho into Jaime’s office and praises Pancho on achieving high productivity for the company. Jaime doesn’t care how many employees were laid off by Pancho, as long as the company’s profits keep increasing. Jaime tells Pancho that Pancho is on track to be promoted to general corporate manager.

Throughout “¡Que Viva México!,” Pancho has nightmares that are phony scenes made to look like they are really happening to Pancho at the time, but then the scenes are revealed to be Pancho having a bad dream. These “nightmare” scenes are very gimmicky and quickly grow tiresome. These “nightmare” scenes are also lazy and unimaginative ways of stretching the total running time for the movie.

“¡Que Viva México!” opens with one such nightmare scenario, where Pancho and his snobby wife Maria Elena, nicknamed Mari (played by Ana de la Reguera), are having a black-tie dinner with other guests at what looks like a country club or high-end resort. Jaime congratulates Pancho for being a senior general manager at the company, despite coming from a shady background. One of the movie’s main themes is that Pancho is ashamed of his working-class family whom he left behind in his hometown of the fictional La Prosperidad, Mexico. Pancho thinks these family members are trashy.

Suddenly, this stuffy party is interrupted by two elderly men carrying rifles and pointing these guns at the guests. These intruders are Pancho’s father Rosendo Reyes (played by Damián Alcázar) and Rosendo’s father Francisco (played by Joaquín Cosio), who both say that they don’t want any money. Pancho’s father and paternal grandfather say that they just want revenge for Pancho being so ungrateful for their sacrifices, such as paying for Pancho’s college education. Just as it looks like Pancho will be shot, he wakes up from this nightmare.

Mari knows about Pancho’s nightmares, and she keeps telling him to go see a therapist. In response, Pancho yells at her and says that she shouldn’t judge him because he knows all about how her “white trash family” got their money. Mari’s nationality is Mexican, but there are several mentions in the movie that she identifies her race as white, because her family is descended from white Europeans.

Mari is a hollow stereotype of a self-absorbed and materialistic “trophy wife.” Mari is also very rude to the family’s maid Lupita (played by Sonia Couoh), who has a kind and easygoing personality. For example, when Lupita makes a harmless comment about something in the household, Mari tells Pancho in a mean-spirited hushed tone that Lupita is being difficult. “She thinks she’s one of us,” hisses Mari.

Pancho and Mari have two children: son Tony (played by Raphael Camarena) and daughter Cati (played by Mayte Fernández), who look like they might be twins, although the movie doesn’t really say for sure. The children are about 7 or 8 years old. These kids are also the only characters in the movie who aren’t made to look foolish or awful. All of the other cast members play into how their characters were written: as bad parodies.

One day, Pancho gets several calls at home and at work from his father Rosendo. Pancho keeps deliberately avoiding these calls because he doesn’t want to talk to his father. In fact, he doesn’t really want anything to do with his family members who still live in shabby living conditions in La Prosperidad, including his mother Dolores (played by Ana Martin). Pancho hasn’t had contact with these relatives in many years. He hasn’t even met most of them yet.

However, Pancho eventually takes Rosendo’s call and finds out that Rosendo’s father Francisco died a few days earlier. Francisco was a miner, and the family has found out that Francisco had a secret will. There is speculation that Francisco, who was always looking for gold treasure, might have hidden gold that will be passed on to someone in the family through an inheritance.

Therefore, Pancho agrees to go to La Prosperidad out of greed, not out of grief. He decides to ask for a three-week leave of absence from his job. Mari, Tony, Cati and Lupita are also on this trip. Pancho’s relatives live in an isolated, underdeveloped area. And you know what that means.

Because this moronic movie is very phony-looking and illogical, “¡Que Viva México!” contrives the story around Pancho and his family entourage being “forced” to live in squalid conditions in the family compound, where there are no indoor toilets, no cell phone service and no Internet service. Viewers are supposed to believe that Pancho and Mari can’t figure out a way to find a comfortable hotel.

The Reyes family in La Prosperidad is a large, boisterous and argumentative clan. All these extra characters are mainly in the movie to have several people yell at each other in conflicts that mostly go nowhere. It’s yet another way that “¡Que Viva México!” wastes a lot of time. Pancho sees most of these relatives for the first time in several years when he goes to La Prosperidad for Francisco’s funeral and to see what he can get from whatever inheritance was left for Pancho. A corrupt priest named Father Ambrosio (also played by Alcázar) plays a big role in what happens in the story.

The members of this La Prosperidad family include Pancho’s six siblings: brother Rosendo Jr., nicknamed Rosendito (also played by Cosio), who grabs Pancho by Pancho’s genitals when Pancho and Rosendito see each other for the first time in years; sister Socorro (played by Zaide Silvia Gutiérrez), who is described as a “religious prude” by her father; brother Hilario (played by Luis Fernando Peña), who is called “the artist of the family”; brother Rufino (played by Álex Perea), who is described as “the black sheep of the family” and who immediately grabs Mari in a sexually suggestive manner; transgender sister Jacinta (played by Cuauhtli Jiménez), whose former name was Jacinto; and pregnant, unmarried sister Bartola (played by Vico Escorcia), who has six other children. All of Bartola’s children have different deadbeat fathers.

The significant others of Pancho’s siblings include Socorro’s “poet” husband Cruz (played by Enrique Arreola), who uses crutches and who used to be a teacher; Hilario’s wife Pánfila (played by Natalia Quiroz), who is so forgettable that Rosendo Sr. can’t remember her name; Rufino’s promiscuous girlfriend Gloria López (played by Mayra Hermosillo), who immediately flirts with Pancho; and Jacinta’s husband Guadalupe “El Lupe” Flores (played by Fermín Martínez), who pretends to be a loving partner but is actually abusive. Rounding out this dysfunctional family are Francisco’s widow Pascuala (played by Angelina Peláez); Rosendo’s brother Regino (also played by Alcázar); and Regino’s son Reginito (also played by Cosio), who is very competitive with his cousins.

“¡Que Viva México!” has a lot of sexist and tacky scenes where any woman under the age of 50 is treated as a target for sexual harassment, or depicted as existing only to give sexual pleasure to men. Pancho has no qualms about cheating on Mari, but when he finds out that she might be tempted to cheat on him, he goes ballistic with jealousy and rage. Mari’s decisions on whether or not to cheat on Pancho are always made when she’s drunk, so the movie has a loathsome scenarios where certain people try to shame, embarrass, or take advantage of Mari while her judgment is impaired by alcohol.

“¡Que Viva México!” also has several crass scenarios involving bodily functions. A low point is when someone defecates on Francisco’s grave, and the movie shows the graphic details, with no discreet editing. What that person does to Francisco’s grave is like what “¡Que Viva México!” does to any viewer’s hope that “¡Que Viva México!” could actually turn into a good movie.

Sony Pictures International Productions released “¡Que Viva México!” in select U.S. cinemas on March 24, 2023. The movie was released in Mexico on March 23, 2023. Netflix will premiere “¡Que Viva México!” on May 11, 2023.