Film Fatale

A friend had only to describe an early scene in EL CANTANTE, Marc Anthony and J. Lo's salsa biopic, for me to dash off to a public screening. A by-the-book musical up-and-downfall bio of salsa king Hector Lavoe (Anthony), the movie's got a hot soundtrack and all the Mad Lib, fill in the blanks woes of troubled musical genius. Family woes-check! Addiction-you got it! But before things go to hell, Lavoe and his lady love (Lopez) cruise Manhattan, snorting cocaine in a record company limo. Whoops! They hit a bump and the white powder goes flying. How they laugh, unaware of the tragedy to come. The movie's a mess, but Marc and J. Lo sure do look like a fun couple.

Not so the Rachel Weisz-Darren Arronovskys, whose Queen Isabella-conquistador fixated, time travellin' what-the-fuck THE FOUNTAIN plays like pillow talk. For some reason, Weisz is photographed in blinding white light, so that no matter which character or time period she's in, she has no pores or skin flaws whatever. Meanwhile Hugh Jackman gets the full dermatalogical treatment, even when he's in the same scene with her. Bottom line: you can tell who the director loves and who's the boy from Oz.