Here we go. El Ladron has been digitally remastered, the audio’s been remastered, the credits are new… of course, none of this means much because, well, this is the re-release release. So, for about… 99.9% of you, aside from those of you in the sequel, this is all new.

The El Ladron storyline evolved for the sequel, and it’s far more epic than this 2.1 actors on-screen. I can’t wait to finish editing and releasing the next installment! Hope you’re just as excited as I am.

If you somehow missed the synopsis:

Synopsis: Rico “Diablo” Carranzo’s shipment of product was stolen, he’s found the thief, and is going to make him pay. The thief is a henchman on his own goon squad, cousin to his second in command, El Martillo. The Diablo way is punishment by death, and the trigger man has to be family. El Ladron is going to be an example of how bad ass Diablo truly is.

Add’l Details, Cast, and Crew:

Plot: A drug dealer seeks punishment from a no-good thief within his own crew.
Genre: Action / Crime Drama
Director: Enrique Gutierrez
Cast:

• Enrique Gutierrez - Diablo Carranzo
• Jason Weddington - El Martillo
• Gabe -El Ladron

Year: 2002
Company: Wisdom Productions/Enrique Gutierrez

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I love movie trailers… Hell, I even love movies, even though I gave a little trouble to The Dark Knight for falling short of buzz generated expectations. Check these upcoming flicks out:

Righteous Kill - Robert DeNiro & Al Pacino … enough said.

X-Files: I Want to Believe - Really? Ok, we need more X-Files, though I’m a little worried about this installment holding true to the integrity of the X-Files… Who cares though, its the X-Files.

City of Ember - Billy Murray? Alright, so this movie just looks like something to not walk into the theater without any expectations in your pocket, and you’ll walk about 2 hours poorer. Never know though, it might be Dark City with a higher budget… Totally possible.

Eagle Eye - I like the premise… What can I say, and - Shea’s a good actor in my book, even though he was in the debauchery “they” tried to pass off as the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

Punisher - First thought was … Titus Polo? Is that you? Yes, it’s Ray Stevenson, in yet ANOTHER Punisher movie. Marvel is going to keep trying to get this right, aren’t they? Third time may be the charm, you never know.

Babylon A.D. - Let’s take Riddick, change the stage, and swipe the song from Requiem for a Dream and call it a movie! Vin Diesel’s newest looks like something to eat popcorn to.

Bloodline - A documentary about uncovering the truth about Jesus and Mary Magdalene… or at least attempting to. Can’t go wrong with conspiracy theory flicks, especially a documentary one.

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The movie buzz of the week, The Dark Knight, in case you somehow missed it, opened this past weekend, and the box offices got inundated with oodles of cash as a result. As a follow-up film to Batman Begins, my expectations were pretty high, topped off with rave reviews about the film from literally everyone and their mothers about Ledger’s performance, and the landscape of the film, transcending comic-book movie styles, and bringing so much awesome to your eyes you’ll be filled with film-glee.

Ok, so… what did I miss? After 2 hours, the movie left me wanting a solidified storyline, it was built up so much, that by the time the film started to wind down, I simply thought, “Wow, this movie has potential, but how much more time can they go on building it up without cutting to the chase?”… and it just never delivered. I’ve looked at my watch in 3 movies, that I can remember. Return of the King (the end sequence(s)), Attack of the Clones, and now - The Dark Knight.

The acting was great, and I’m a firm believer that anytime you can over-dramatize your voice, you’re going to sound cooler. “Venti non-fat latte easy foam with an add shot” would sound awesome in Christian Bale’s Batman voice, don’t you think?

Character stuff:

The Harvey Dent/Two Face character execution? Weak sauce, and though the special effects job they did on his face were completely awesome, and the “creation” of the the character was pretty well planned out, Aaron Eckhart pretty much annoyed me with his craptacular performance, even more than Tommy Lee Jones (theatrical as it were) when he was Two Face…

Scarecrow? Really? In the film for two minutes? Perhaps a little saving grace would have been some further character development with Cillian Murphy’s acting skills - other than concentrating on the fact that Batman has a LARP-based fanboy crew that follows in his footsteps?

Massaging in the new Rachel Dawes… Need I mention that I hate it when they use a secondary “looks sorta like” actor/actress for movies? Maggie Gyllenhaal, great actress, but to be a Katie Homes knockoff? Kind of insulting.

Joker: Totally awesome, could have been so much better. It’s simple. The psychie of Ledger’s character is twisted as the ring-leader for presenting sociological, psychological, philisophical challenges throughout the story etc… But why mimic the cores of Hannibal Lector, Jigsaw, and Waingro, while tossing in some “my daddy beats mommy” junk, without authentically generating a pure sociopath? The Dark Knight HINTS at it, they get close to mentioning it, they get close to developing it… but… like the rest of the movie, they simply elude, and never deliver.

I don’t know. I liked the movie, it’s definitely watchable, it’s definitely entertaining - and perhaps I just need to see it again. As far as I know now, it fell short, it could have been the most awesome Batman movie ever… but “eh”. The realism added by using Chicago as a backdrop was a neat idea, but um, this is Batman - give me Gotham City (Tim Burton’s rendition of Gotham in the first Batman movie was glorious, in my book).

My overall conclusion:

Yes, this movie applies more of a sense of reality, gritty raw, dark, sinister, etc.. etc… but if it was going to jump down that hole, it should have at least gotten to a solid storyline smoother, cleaner, and sooner. I was more impressed with Ironman than I was with The Dark Knight. In fact, that was the first thought when the credits started, “This movie was entertainment, but wasn’t nearly as good as Ironman“. I liked the way it looked, I liked the way it felt, it just didn’t deliver substance outside of a “wicked awesome” Joker that actually could have been better.

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A little late, but still delivered as promised, the trailer for the Digitally Remastered, Re-release… Release of El Ladron, an epic tale of thievery, gun play, great acting … yea, and some of the coolest not-so-special effects ever. Rooting for the bad guy in this movie should be pretty easy, since everyone’s bad, and it’s only 8 minutes long.

El Ladron: Coming July 2008 (view Trailer here)

Plot: A drug dealer seeks punishment from a no-good thief within his own crew.
Genre: Action / Crime Drama
Director: Enrique Gutierrez
Cast:

• Enrique Gutierrez - Diablo Carranzo
• Jason Weddington - El Martillo
• Gabe -El Ladron

Year: 2002
Company: Wisdom Productions/Enrique Gutierrez

As some of you are aware, the release of “El Ladron” is only happening thanks to the creation and the resurrection of the idea via the making of the sequel, El Ladron II - Venganza de Diablo.

El Ladron II - Venganza de Diablo: Coming August 2008

Plot: Rival drug dealers square off in a fight to the death.
Genre: Action / Crime Drama
Director: Enrique Gutierrez
Cast:

• Rob Schlayer - El Ladron
• Enrique Gutierrez (@nrek) - Diablo Carranzo
• Dan Tentler (@viss) - Loco Cuco
• Rich Alexander - Suerte
• Danny Massaro - Mingo
• Sarah Johnson (@nomatophobia) -”Coneja” Fani
• Risa Patterson (@reesuh) -  Chelo Botas
• Anne Halsey (@sgrmagnolia) -  Puta Drogadicta
• Billy Marsh (@cannibal) - Cuchillo

Year: 2008
Company: Aten Syndicate
Production Notes: July 12th, the shooting is wrapped. In post-production.

There were talks of a prequal, which I started writing already, and a spin off movie of one of the characters (Mingo)… This is going to be a lot more fun than it already has been, and it’s already been a greatly awesome time.

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