el chicano

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THE PROCESS: A Word With ‘Man Down’, ‘The Raid’ And ‘Point Blank’ Screenwriter Adam G. Simon

Well, the new year has begun and I’ve all but remained vigilant of any and all legitimate news regarding director Joe Carnahan’s development on The Raid given how much of my own time I’ve invested in covering this film – from pestering XYZ Films’ Todd Brown for info to covering as much ground on Indonesian films within the genre as possible. Needless to say, not everyone is convinced just yet, even as Carnahan and partner Frank Grillo went public in interviews a few years ago to state their intent; I tend to rub it in a few faces of folks that I know because, in all honesty, one can never really, or always, tell how good or bad a movie is unless they’ve seen it, or how the reviews are in whole or even if they take reviews seriously enough. For this, I’ve personally been urging caution for fans to […]

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EL CHICANO Poster (crop)

New EL CHICANO Poster: Beware The Myth, Beware The Mask

Much to stunt professional and prolific showrunner Ben Bray’s credit, the premiere of his feature debut at last year’s exiting installment of the Los Angeles Film Festival for El Chicano would be one for the history books. Injudiciously, there are some festivals whose curators remained recalitrant on showcasing a latin superhero film as much as Bray insists that it’s more than a generic crime thriller set in the barrio. For all intents and purposes this week, he’ll be making that case with a premiere at the Palm Springs Film Festival in California on Tuesday at 7:30pm and on Wednesday at 4:00pm. You can view a full listing of the films here for the festival which runs through January 14. In lieu of the screening of El Chicano, we also have a brand new poster which you can view just beneath, along with the wind-up and the pitch from the festival: […]

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FIVE-A-DAY COUNTDOWN: The Standoff At Sparrow Creek, Donnybrook, Boss Level, Point Blank, and El Chicano

Our list continues once again as we round out the next five in our daily raft of five titles totaling 100 movies to keep an eye out for in 2019! The Standoff At Sparrow Creek: Audiences at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival got first dibs on Henry Dunham’s feature directing debut, centered on an ex-cop-turned-militia man whose investigation of a funeral shooting turns inward to his own encampment. Dunham penned the script which became one of the bests listed in 2015 Black List of unproduced screeenplays. Date pending. Donnybrook: Actor Frank Grillo also managed to get in some Fall film festival screentime in Toronto with the premiere of Tim Sutton’s bare-fisted brawler drama. Jamie Bell and the aforementioned James Badge Dale also star in the gritty fight flick. Date pending. Boss Level: By early 2019 the gears should begin turning for Joe Carnahan’s WarParty reinstallation of The Raid that […]

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EL CHICANO from Ben Bray

First Look At Vigilante Thriller, EL CHICANO, Heeds An Omnious Warning

Things are brewing slowly for stuntman and coordinator Ben Bray whose feature directing debut, El Chicano, is currently on par for an in-competition premiere in the La Muse section of the L.A. Film Festival next month. The social media campaign has already begun and thus, a new still of what looks to be the enigmatic title character can be seen in a new post which you can view below. Bray makes his debut from a script he wrote with WarParty’s own Joe Carnahan, set in East L.A. and centered on a cop drawn into the exploits of a mysterious crime fighting vigilante while investigating his ex-con brother’s death. Raúl Castillo stars along with George Lopez, Aimee Garcia, Emilio Rivera, David Castañeda, Marlene Forte, Jose Pablo Cantillo and Sal Lopez. Carnahan is producing the film via his WarParty banner alongside Frank Grillo and producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. The L.A. Film Festival […]

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East L.A. Crime Drama, EL CHICANO, Taps Ben Bray To Direct, WarParty To Produce

Nearing forty five years as a stunt professional with several televsion and shortfilm directing credits in his wake, filmmaker and stunt coordinator Ben Bray is now setting the stage for his feature directing debut, El Chicano. The film marks Bray’s latest partnership with producer Joe Carnahan whose WarParty banner just secured its WarChest Fund with help from a Calgary-based investment group in Alberta, Canada for four-to-five films budgeting under $20 million dollars. via Variety: The new pic tells the story of two fraternal twin brothers, Pedro and Diego Hernandez, both raised in the toughest barrio of East L.A. Pedro is 10 years old, and a Vato Loco in the making, while his brother Diego follows his brother’s stylistic lead and influence but is, at the same time, his diametric opposite in both bearing and character: Pedro is the dark to Diego’s light, but as young chavalitos on the mean streets […]

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