Movie Nation

The old showbiz maxim “Always leave’em begging for more” is pushed beyond its limits in “Mambo Man,” a perfectly charming and utterly predictable Cuban dramedy that is over entirely too soon.

It’s about a Cuban entrepreneur, a pig and tomato farmer and concert promoter, beloved and thriving in his corner of Eastern Cuba, but a man who is out of his depth in the dog-eat-dog New Capitalism sweeping over his island.

JC (Héctor Noas) may gripe about the weather, the government, “The Soviets,” the Chinese and “the gringo trade embargo” (in Spanish with English subtitles). But the 50ish Michael Eisner look-alike is doing OK.

He’s got a nice farm in Bayona, and a very nice house on it where he can keep his wife Rita (Yudexi De La Torre Mesa) and spoil their little girl. He teaches her about “freedom” by buying her a bird a the street market, lecturing her through her tears as he lets the bird go.

JC knows that many with any sort of ambition have already fled the island. But he hosts tourists who visit the farm, does well with his pigs and does well by the many musicians who rely on him for bookings, recording sessions and exposure. The film’s composer, co-writer/director Mo Fini is one of them, appearing as himself, declaring his loyalty.

JC built a life of friends and business relationships built on handshake deals and grew up in a Cuba where you always pick up hitch-hikers, where an engine problem in his ancient Chevy could be solved by that one mechanic in whatever village he and driver David (Alejandro Palomino) often without charge.

Then this “old friend,” Roberto (David Pérez Pérez) with this secret “deal” he wants JC in on. Damned if the hustler isn’t out beating the bushes for cash, from a bank, old friends who owe him a favor — everybody.

His wife weeps. David says “There’s something fishy about it.” And anybody who’s ever seen a movie about a hustler trying to hustle up a big score will tense up, fretting over JC’s trusting ways.

The novelty of “Mambo Man” is the vivid portrait of street life in a changing Cuba. The 50somethings like JC may all seem to know each other — the engineer of the local freight train with his knowing wave, the mechanic who can “fix anything” who eyeballs a busted irrigation pump (jerry rigged with a car motor piston) and says, “It won’t be perfect, but we can get it figured out.”

The magic of “Mambo Man,” performances in clubs and restaurants, concerts and cookouts. Real musicians from the “Buena Vista Social Club” generation sing JC’s praises from the stage.

Rum, cigars, “sugar cane water — natural Viagra” and all this food — mouth watering its way right off the screen — adds to the texture.

Noas (“Sergio & Sergei”), as JC, floats through this world, irked when he’s late but not blowing a fuse, trusting this or that employee or business associate like “my brother,” trading on his good name for the New God of Cuba — cash.

“The Bible says love of money will send us straight to Hell,” he muses. Not that he’s taking the Bible’s advice. Not in today’s Cuba. It’s just that he’s one of the last playing by the old rules.

The parable is simple to the point of simplistic, but Noas makes a most engaging tour guide on this slide down the slippery slope. And the people, places, music and food of Cuba make one long for the day when “the gringo embargo” and travel ban are gone and we can all sample its charms.

Let’s hope the gringos, and the Cubans who emulate them, don’t eat guys like JC for lunch

MPAA Rating: unrated, a little drinking, a little smoking

Cast: Héctor Noas, Yudexi De La Torre Mesa, Alejandro Palomino, David Pérez Pérez and Mo Fini

Credits: Directed by Edesio Alejandro and Mo Fini, script by Mo Fini and Paul Morris. A Corinth Films release.

Running time: 1:23

Per @ERCboxoffice) “WB’s TENET scored a massive $53M debut internationally this weekend, in 41 territories and 20,000+ screens. TOP MARKETS UK ($7.1M) FRA ($6.7M) KOR ($5.1M) GER ($4.2M) https://twitter.com/ERCboxoffice/status/1300124719178371072?s=20

“The New Mutants,” shelved even before Fox made it an orphaned film by selling out to Disney, became a classic “late August release when The Mouse took custody. Dumped in theaters this weekend, a last gasp of X Men rebooted earned $7 million, when $8 to $10 had been projected. Friday’s opening numbers pointed to $8 but it fell off a cliff Saturday.

“Mutants” with a no name cast, earned only $2.9 million in the rest of the world, where more cinemas are open because they had more competent folks handling the pandemic.

“Unhinged,” last weekend’s big (ish) opener, fell off by 34% or so and managed another $2.6.

It’s worth remembering that “Bill & Ted” is a 31 year-old franchise, that all involved and most of those who adore them have gotten that first AARP solicitation in the mail. I’m guessing this one did decent business as a video streaming release. In theaters? $1 million. Whoa. Big bomb.

The Dickens adaptation “The Pesonal History of David Copperfield” did not lure its even older target audience into cinemas. Over $520,000, but on over 2,000 screens. Bad weekend for a good film.

“Words on Bathroom Walls” added $435 to last weekend’s meek total.

Sources, Exhibitor Relations and Box Office Pro.

Yes, it is now Disney+’s “Mulan.” The live-action remake of the animated musical (made in Orlando) based on a Chinese folk legend was headed to theaters, seemed sure to be the blockbuster of the summer, and then Wuhan Don’s blunders killed that idea.

So, Disney+ it is. Hope it’s great. Or at least better than “The One and Only Ivan.”

“Unknown Origins” (Spanish title “Orígenes secretos”) plays like the penultimate draft of a mash-up of “Se7en” and “Kick-Ass,” a not-quite-there script that Netflix let its Spanish division put before the cameras.

Co-writer/director David Galán Galindo, who also wrote the book this is based on, cooked up a serial killer story set in the comic book geek universe.

Yes, there’s a “Big Bang Theory” comic book subculture in Madrid, too.

It’s a rather ungainly blend of glib and grisly, with a few laughs, a heart-tugging moment or two and a screen filled with archetypes and stereotypes, cop movie cliches and comic book nerds.

But as its the sort of movie that plays around with comic book origin stories — with a murderer turning his victims into a lifeless Tony Stark or “Fire Man” (Cough cough, “Human Torch”) — and rewards fans who get references like “Joe Chill” and “Detective #33,” well, it’s worth watching in Spanish before Hollywood takes a shot at a remake.

Javier Rey plays David Valentin, a buttoned-down new detective on the force paired up with the legendary Cosme (Antonio Resines) on the older cop’s “last day on the job.”

They show up at the crime scene where a dead body-builder lies, his corpse an unusual hue, a torn comic book cover one of the clues found there.

The squeamish Valentin barely has time to clean the puke off his shoes when his new boss (Verónica Echegui) shows up to remind Cosme to clean out his desk and turn in his badge. She’s hard to take seriously, not because she’s gorgeous, but because she’s all dolled up in a cosplay costume of her own making. Norma is into this stuff.

But the expert Cosme recommends as Valentin’s sidekick is his sleep-till-noon lump of a son. Jorge (Brays Efe) is the classic “comic book guy” — bearded, bellied, with an astonishing memory for comic book arcana. Valentine is contemptuous of this slovenly dork, even when the dork is in his element. Jorge runs a comic book store.

“In MY shop,” Jorge sneers (in Spanish, with English subtitles), the ‘freak’ here is YOU.”

The reluctant partners, often rescued by the cool and often cosplay-attired Norma, and assisted by the seriously smart-assed coroner (Ernesto Alterio), must face a villain who taunts them, leaves them clues and keeps recreating “origin story” comic book hero corpses. Which character will he conjure up next?

“If only it was based on The Seven Deadly Sins,” Jorge cracks (a “Se7en” joke), “this would be a LOT easier.”

The “buddy” dynamic is classic nerd-earns-the-respect of the at-first-contemptuous “partner,” who refuses to call him a partner. “Sidekick?” Eventually.

Norma gets to make the “We’re not childish. We’re more successful than you, for starters” argument made in every “geeks like us” movie or TV show.

A nice twist is Jorge’s journey. Seeing the obsessed murderer’s geek art tableaux, consulting with underground comic expert “Paco” (Leonardo Sbaraglia), a paranoid recluse who keeps cats and hates people, Jorge sees himself.

This script is close enough to the mark that a funnier Jorge turn and more brittle take on David Valentin might have gotten it over the top.

It’s not as funny as “Kick-Ass,” or most movies that take-off on comics and “origin stories,” and not nearly as grimly desperate as “Se7en.” We feel nothing for the victims and the villain is pretty damned unimpressive when we meet him. Not one tasty bad-guy zinger for him to turn into a catch phrase?

There’s a “real heroes” prologue and an epilogue that tidies up a story that has already reached its comic-book-appropriate ending.

Which is why I say “Unknown Origins” is about one screenplay draft shy of being ready for the screen, no matter what the director and novelist who wrote the book it’s based on thinks.

MPAA Rating: TV-MA, violence, profanity

Cast: Brays Efe, Javier Rey, Verónica Echegui, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Antonio Resines and Ernesto Alterio

Credits: Directed by David Galán Galindo script by David Galán Galindo and Fernando Navarro, based on Galindo’s novel. A Netflix release.

Running time: 1:36

“Entwined” is a moody, handsomely-mounted modern day Greek folk tale that never quite finds the urgency or suspense to lure us in.

It’s about a beautiful, mysterious woman (Anastasia Rafaella Konidi) who lives in the woods, and the new doctor (Prometheus Aleifer) in the village who falls under her spell.

Panos (Aleifer) has just buried his father when he takes the job in Alytis. It’s a primitive place, where you reflexively ask “Is there a phone in the village?” (in Greek, with English subtitles) when you already know the answer is “No.”

He’s all but shunned by the elderly locals, who tell him there’s never been a doctor there before. But there’s this ethereal music emanating from the woods. He hears it at night. And when he hunts for the source, he finds Danae (Konidi) living in primitive conditions, playing 78s on a wind up Victrola.

“I do not trust motorcars or their drivers,” she complains. “I long for the old ways.“

An ugly skin condition gets his attention, but before Panos can treat her, the grumblings of a drunken old man upstairs, “my father,” sends him scurrying. But he’ll be back.

People try to warn him. His brother George (screenwriter John De Holland) gave him the “science doesn’t have all the answers” lecture before he moved. The locals mutter “This is a small village. You are from the city” brush-off.

Never you mind, he returns to the house, confronts the old man, and eventually takes a drink of the face-melting local retsina Danae offers, and dozes off. He awakens to a house where “old ways” have the whiff of ritual. The fire in the hearth?

“This fire must ever be allowed to die!”

Walking back to his truck he gets lost.

“I could almost swear the trees are THICKER.”

Will Panos ever be able to leave? How long will he even try?

“Entwined” has trouble making us fear for the well-intentioned doctor. The sedate pacing, coupled with what feel like low stakes — Danae is never cruel or threatening — almost emasculates the predicament.

Aleifer’s Panos struggles to figure a way out, but never in ways that point to rising panic, desperation.

First-time feature director Minos Nikolakakis gives us a vivid sense of place, parks us in an enchanted wood, but leaves out the menace his hero must feel and face to escape it.

MPAA Rating: unrated, violence, sex, alcohol, some profanity

Cast: Prometheus Aleifer, Anastasia Rafaella Konidi and John De Holland.

Credits: Directed by Minos Nikolakakis, script by John De Holland. A Dark Star release.

Running time: 1:29

His last tweet, folks. (@chadwickboseman) Tweeted: YES @KamalaHarris! 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 #WhenWeAllVote #Vote2020 https://t.co/iOU3duBAcA https://twitter.com/chadwickboseman/status/1293330682119421953?s=20

Man, will this year never end?

Dammit. Had no idea he was sick. Apparently only his family did. He was diagnosed four years ago, and only told his family. He rushed through a string of Marvel movies, made “21 Bridges” and worked with Spike Lee on “Da Five Bloods,” all in those last four years. Like late life Olivier, he piled on the work in a race against time, doing it between surgeries and treatments, his spokesperson said.

He will be remembered for “Black Panther,” a blockbuster that became a cultural phenomenon. But he was wonderful — much better — in “Marshall,” “42”and “Get on Up.”

Way too young to die, an actor of noble bearing just coming into his own. Rest in peace.