Genres

Visitors Review

2012-05-23 23:27:13

Boring

This review is from: A Matador's Mistress [Blu-ray] (Blu-ray) As the title says; the whole movie is just about Manolete's Mistress.The movie is boring and shows nothing about the art of bullfighting.Everybody in the movie achieves at giving their worst possible acting.Hard to beliee that Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz both have won Oscars.The biggest disappointment besides the screenplay is the direction.I couldn't wait for it to be over.However; the quality of the BluRay is good, very good picture quality and very good sound.

2012-05-23 20:47:51

Bull!

Other than a poorly written pointless, if not dishonoring, storyline; disjointed editing (important pieces of the story missing or cut); wooden acting so what is there to like about this movie? The bull! The most natural actor, arguably - Oscar nominee material, in the movie came to the screen with enthusiasm, emotive courage, aggression, strength of character, gracefulness, head and tail held high grandeur and superbly articulated grunty/snorty lines. Sadly, his finest moment of victory or honorable bull heaven was denied to us at the end, his won over viewing fans. Whatever happened to the often highlighted, best supporting actor, dog?

jotix100 2012-05-20 16:29:53

Bull &^$#! (shot)

Something happened with this film on its way to the screen. For a bigbudget picture, the biopic about Manolete, one of Spain's most renown,and charismatic bullfighters, it does not have the spark it needed toignite its action. The man at the center of the story and the temptressthat was the love of his life, are seen in flashbacks as Manolete goesto his final appearance in the bullring. The basic problem of "Manolete" is the casting of Adrian Brody, anactor that usually gives good performances, but in this film, heappears wooden and devoid of life, for a man that faced death with eachnew bullfight he entered. The figure of the larger than life matadordoes not come across, the way director Menno Meyjes decided to give thepicture. In contrast, Penelope Cruz, playing Lupe, Manolete's mistress,counteracts by playing her with the fire that her character is supposedto have. There is no chemistry between Mr. Brody and Ms. Cruz. Thesupporting cast is basically an after thought, especially a staticSantiago Segura and Juan Echenove.See it at your own risk.

2012-05-20 09:20:21

Cool, interesting film

This film is cool, and interesting and well done - not "el stinko" as someone else wrote. Penelope Cruz is amazing as always, and Adrian Brody looks so much like the real Manoleto, it's uncanny ... It's their love story, set against the struggles of being a bullfighter ... She wanted him to give it up, but he resisted, and of course, lost his life. I actually had a hard time watching the culminating scene ending in Manoleto's fatal injury ... though I knew how it would turn out. It was cool to see a film based on such an interesting and beloved man/bullfighter. He's certainly captured the hearts of so many, and this film gave us a peek into his love and world.

2012-05-16 13:59:01

Great love story

Adrien Brody nd Penelope Cruz are paired in a visually pleasing movie about the real life love story between a famous spanish matador and his lover. It is a story of a beauty and the beast, two people who come from poverty and fight for their survival in this world any way they can. In the process, they meet each other and madly fall in love. Although a fearless matador, Manolete is deep down insecure and indecisive. His feelings of duty towards supporting his mother and his unmarried sisters is definitely an obstacle to his relationship with beautiful Lupe who has a shady past but deep down loves him dearly.Their physhological make up makes them a great couple. Their love for each other is passionate and unrelenting. Nothing can get in a way except fortheir own selves. I absolutely adored the story about their courtship. Everyone and everything that can get in a way of their relationship does. But this is an obsessive love, all consuming for both of them. In the end, all that can separate them is death.Lovely costumes and absolutely fabulous spanish music.

2012-05-16 10:33:40

This one gets the bull by the horns.

Brody and Cruz have good onscreen chemistry, and this movie plays like a good book reads.....lots of story to enjoy......I would say that this movie and Cruz's recent "Volver" are 2 that you might investigate along with a 3rd sleeper entitled "Elegy" which came out the same year as "A Matador's Mistress" (2008)....all 3 of these movies are very good, bordering on excellent......take a look.

alison-868-991935 2012-05-14 00:50:30

This movie failed because it was taken from the original writer and distorted

Nice costumes and great actors do not make a movie great. A good storydoes. Too bad the original writer, Bill Crown, was bumped out of theprocess by those who hijacked the project. I guess Karma decided thefate of the film. 1200 pages of research were prepared but obviously not used. This is astory about a real man living in real times. Taking poetic liberties isfine, but there has to be authenticity for a film like this to work.Brody hot off his Oscar was perfectly suited to the role. PenelopeCruise, wisely selected as the love interest also internationallyrecognized, should have brought forth faithful followers. A formulathat would have worked had not the intentions of the story been skewedso far off mark.

2012-05-13 11:17:32

'To be a great Torero you have to be a little bit in love with death.'

Probably of all the matadors of history Manuel Laureano Rodríguez Sánchez (4 July 1917 - 28 August 1947) known as "Manolete" is the most famous. 'He rose to prominence shortly after the Spanish Civil War and is considered by some to be the greatest bullfighter of all time. His style was sober and serious, with few concessions to the gallery, and he excelled at the 'suerte de matar'--the kill. Manolete's contribution to bullfighting included being able to stand very still while passing the bull close to his body and, rather than giving the passes separately, he was able to remain in one spot and link four or five consecutive passes together into compact series. He popularized a pass with the muleta called the "Manoletina," which is normally given just before entering to kill with the sword. In addition to all of the major bullrings of Spain, he had very important triumphs in Plaza Mexico. He died following a goring in the right upper leg as he killed the fifth bull of the day, the Miura bull Islero, an event that left Spain in a state of shock. Manolete received his fatal goring in the town of Linares where he appeared alongside the up-and-coming matador Luis Miguel Dominguín, who, after Manolete's death, proclaimed himself to be number one. In response to Manolete's death, General Francisco Franco, then dictator of Spain, ordered three days of "national mourning", during which only funeral dirges were heard on the radio.' Writer/Director Menno Meyjes ('Max', 'Foreign Student', 'Empire of the Sun', 'The Color Purple', 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade', etc) seems to have taken that fact that all the world knows of Manolete and instead of creating a biographical account of the man's life he instead opted to provide a sensitive meditation about love and obsession and death. For many this film will not work as it is not a recreation of facts, either about Manolete or his lover Lupe Sino or the historical atmosphere of Spain at the time of the story, but for those who appreciate the music and the scents and the passion of Spain, this film will satisfy. The film begins with the decision of Manolete (Adrien Brody, who looks very much like the character Manolete!) leaving his peasant life to go to learn bullfighting under the tutelage of Pepe Camará (Juan Echanove). Despite the fears of those who consider the young man not fit to enter the realm of Toreros, Pepe convinces Manolete to persevere - and to become a Torero he must avoid drugs, alcohol and women. But as Manolete enters the bullrings of Cordova and Madrid and Mexico he gains the status of a star and becomes infatuated with the beautiful Lupe Sino (Penélope Cruz). Despite Pepe's warnings the two become lovers, have moments of profound passion as well as moments of infidelity on the part of Lupe. Manolete is conflicted between the love of his mother and the love of Lupe and Lupe is afraid Manolete flirts with death each time he enters the ring. Finally in Linares in 1947 he competes with Luis Miguel Dominguín (Nacho Aldegue), is gored and dies from his wounds. The film ends with the famous march of the pallbearers bearing Manolete beneath a rain of red rose petals as the world mourns the death of a hero - and Lupe disappears into nothingness. No spoilers here because this all is a documented history that everyone knows. The performance by Adrien Brody is subtle and underplayed adding to the dignity of a memory. Cruz is an exotic if overplayed Lupe. The cinematography by Robert D. Yeoman is breathtakingly beautiful and the mournful music by Gabriel Yared and Dan Jones is pitch perfect for the effect director Meyjes has created. As the credits roll at the end there is a hauntingly beautiful Canto Jundo sung by an unnamed female singer. It is a perfect ending to this meditative remembrance of a hero. Grady Harp, May 11

2012-05-13 13:48:43

Good and Bad

This review is from: A Matador's Mistress (DVD) This movie is not a good movie...unless you are a fan of bullfighting. The story of Manolete as depicted in this movies is sloppy. It does not show Manolete's rise to stardom and becoming Spain's hero. It quickly and directly goes from meeting Lupe, meeting his manager and then poof, he's a star.What is good about this movie is some of the old footage of the real Manolete in the ring. The fashions and the world of bullfighting as it was 60 years ago are a delight to watch. Penelope Cruz is always wonderful but the relationship portrayed with el diestro Manolete is mostly fiction. Adrien Brody's resemblance to Manolete is nothing short of uncanny.

2012-05-13 08:35:09

Great story

This review is from: A Matador's Mistress (DVD) I love reading bio s. If I find a DVD on a book I've read, I'll buy it. Adrian Brody and Cruz were wonderful in the movie. My wish is to have seen this matador in person. I was to visit Spain a few months ago. Manolete's home, etc. were high on my list of places to see.

Tony Heck 2012-05-10 11:05:39

Good acting, good scenery, good bullfighting scenes, OK movie. Slow but moving in parts, worth a watch. I say B-

"I'm just your mistress, Death is your wife." A true story about thelove between Matador Manolete (Brody) and the woman he falls in lovewith Lupe Sino (Cruz). When aging bullfighter Manolete is told that ayounger matador is as good or better then he is, he begins to try andcheat death even more. Will the love of Lupe help him in the ring, orendanger him? This is another very slow moving movie. The acting isvery good and the scenery and bullfights are fun to watch and look at,but it just doesn't really seem to go anywhere sometimes. This movie isat its core a love story, mixed in with the action of the bullfight.There is actual footage of the real Manolete mixed in with the filmedscenes that is a very nice touch and adds to the experience. Notknowing anything about the real people or story I have no idea howaccurate this is, but the love at times is tested to the limits.Overall I would say this is more of a movie that women will enjoy morethen men, but it's not a horrible thing to have to sit through. I havesat through much, much worse. A very OK movie, nothing to special. Igive it a B-.Would I watch again? - I don't think I will.

2012-05-09 20:11:21

Disappointing

Even tho I found this movie by stumbling upon it I was looking forward to watching it because Penelope Cruz is one of my favorite actresses. However, I was totally disappointed. The story made no sense as it wandered from one scene to the next with no continuity. I never could figure out how the scene where Lupe had scrawled a message on the mirror fit in with the rest of the movie. The entire 'love' between the two seemed forced and not real. Talk about miscasting! Adrien Brody may look like Manolete, but the chemistry between him and Cruz simply did not exist. The scenery was beautiful--that's about all that was worthwhile about this film.

2012-05-08 17:04:40

Why Didn't This Movie Win Any Oscars"

This was one of those terrific movies with a great cast that really pulled me into the story and the romance. Fantastic sets and costumes. It really felt and looked like the 1940's. Get this movie!

2012-05-08 10:06:15

Not Enough Bull...

I have been fascinated with the legendary Manolete since I saw a picture of him in a book in my high school Spanish class decades ago. When I found Adrien Brody was playing him in what I thought would be a long overdue film biography, I was quite excited. He looks very much like him, and has the acting chops to portray the great torero. But what I saw was a cliched romance that could have been on Lifetime or the Oxygen network, except it had more expensive production values. Why didn't the scriptwriters, director, etc., delve into the story behind what was the most famous bullfighter of all time? Is it because they think Americans of today don't know who he was? This could be true. In our society you have people who don't remember who the last two Presidents were. But then, why bother to make the film at all? Who wants to see a seedy love affair between two not very interesting Spaniards?The real Manolete was fascinating. He set new standards for the art of bullfighting. He was an elegant, enigmatic, graceful master of his craft that was part of his heredity, his bloodline. He was equal to the most famous celebrities of his and our time. There was a wealth of material to tap on, but instead a rather sordid, poor man's Hemingway-styled love affair is the whole story.The few moments Brody gets to show his stuff, when he first steps into the ring in "shoes that don't move" and arches his back with instinctive authority, and when he does cape work so softly and eloquently in front of Penelope Cruz, are about the only time you are allowed a vision of the great matador.The climactic fight in Linares with the equally doomed bull "Islero", is chopped up too, cutting to shots of Cruz driving frantically to the ring.I know it took a long time to release this film. It even has had a few different titles. Too bad it didn't have a different script.This is one time they should have gone long on the bull. And I mean the ones with the horns.

2012-05-08 07:44:45

The Matador's Mistriss

This review is from: A Matador's Mistress (DVD) I've been a fan of Manolete's for years. I remember reading that Adrian Brody was making a film, and couldn't wait for it to be shown at theatres. Sad to say, it never was released. When I looked it up on Amazon.Com I quickly purchased it. It was fantastic!

2012-05-07 20:31:52

Short on Manolete, extremely short on bullfighting, and long on Penelope Cruz

Remembered as one of the world's greatest matadors, I thought thatthere might be some clues into this person, or into what might drawsomeone to the controversial world of the bullring. Instead the storymade Manolete out to be a love-sick puppy, somewhat clueless, andfocused entirely on dying. (Don't know if this is really a spoiler,since the film begins with his funeral.) The cinematography is beautiful. The acting itself is good, and AdrianBrody is a scary dead-ringer, so to speak, for the man himself.Penelope Cruz is also good as the passionate temptress. Hollywood, ofcourse, has to focus entirely on the woman's figure, and the turbulentromance, at the exclusion of all else that probably made up what was afascinating life. I wouldn't watch it again.

2012-05-07 03:53:29

Disapponting

This review is from: A Matador's Mistress (DVD) When I first heard that this film was being made, I was thrilled. Then when I couldn't see it in theatres I was upset but knew that eventually I would get to see it on DVD and now I wished I'd never seen it at all. I don't even know what this was. It was so horribly edited and chopped up that I had no idea what was going on. I've read reviews from people in other countries who saw the movie in the theatre and this video is NOT that movie. What a shame for both Adrien Brody and Penelope Cruz. This dvd does not do their careers justice.

2012-05-06 17:04:59

El stinko!

This movie had no reason to be this terrible. Good actors. Great story line. Beautiful location. Horrible movie. This was supposed to be a love story but seemingly only one of the participants was in love. The matador was beloved but that never showed until the very end. During the story it seemed he was just famous. None of the characters were fully developed. The main character goes from trying to become a bullfighter to being a famous bullfighter but one never sees his rise as a bullfighter. It seemed like all of a sudden he was famous. There was supposed to be this great love affair but it seemed like they were just sleeping together and he liked it more than she did. On the surface it doesn't seem that it would be that hard to tell a story of a bull fighter who fell in love but this movie really did a terrible job. This movie never completely told any story. Actually the movie El Cantante did a much better job of character development and telling a story. I read that the US version of this movie is 60 minutes less than the version that was released overseas so somewhere in the world this may have been a good movie.

2012-05-06 09:59:42

How come, I did not heart this movie?

I tell you why:1. The director had all five star cliches he could party with:2. The matador, played by an absolutely elegant Adrien Brody3. The seductress with a past, that would drive men crazy- although the oh so beautiful Penelope did not need a fake ass to make her remarkable in that sense (that was kind of embarrassing.) Here, she blends Sophia Loren, Paz Vega and "Gilda".4. The matador constant furious attraction for love-and-death5. Spain6. Passion7. Blood8. The traps and hardship behind success9. The mother figure disputing the man with the seductressToo many ingredients for a quick meal! He assembled enough to make an epic story. Instead, he had to condense it all in a short time, so that you feel like there is no main knot in the drama to be solved: a little bit of infidelity, a little bit of family issues, a little bit of the matador art by itself, and then a little bit of her past to add trouble here and there, but no depth in any questions. The actors do good and look so good, that we do wish we could relate to the characters more, maybe feel the passion that drives lovers into the dark pits of existence, but the chemistry does not happen. Visually glamorous. Bad dialogues. No convincing emotion.My suggestion: watch it before you buy it. See if it rocks your world.

2012-05-05 20:39:23

AWFUL

This was so badly written that I quite watching it about half way through. It was also derivetive and boring and both leads looked as though they wished they were in a different movie. Urgh.