October 18, 2022 • 44 mins
This week our producer Josie Meléndez is in the hot seat as Darilyn sits down with both Josie and her co-host Ileana Meléndez to discuss their podcast Filmme Talk. Morenita dives deep into the world of film criticism and how these two badass Boricuas are trying to make it more accessible for other Latine women.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Oh yeah, me hind there. I just want to give
you a heads up. The program you are about to
hear may have some explicit language, it may not. It
also depends on where the vibes and the spirit leads us.
Hope you enjoy. Welcome to more Anita, a deep dive
into the Latin X experience. With more Anita, we want
(00:22):
to create a community and a shared space with you
while sharing knowledge and inspiration. This show is about celebrating
our culture with guests who exemplify the best of us.
I'm Darrylene Castillo Ethane Viatle me hind. The winter is
coming and during this cold season here in beautiful Nuiva,
(00:46):
You're one of my favorite things to do is cuddle
up with my dog babies and my boo and watch
a movie, which is why this episode you are about
to hear is such a good one for this time
of year. We have film Talk in the house. Film
Talk is an audio visual podcast and YouTube channel that
(01:08):
focuses on the analysis of film and television from the
lens of two Caribbean women from Puerto Rico, Eleana Melendez
and our beloved producer here at Mounanita, Josie Melendez. No,
they are not related, but why are these badass women
so freaking dope? One they were the first female critics
(01:30):
from NASLA to be approved as Rotten Tomato critics, and
two they were one of the first female critics to
attend the festival the con in person. They are wrapping
it for the Latino folks on those red carpets and
showing that we too have opinions that deserve to be
heard and noted. On this episode, we discussed how they
(01:52):
met on the island and how seeing a huge lack
of representation lad them to creating their own space, and
how that has led them to becoming some pretty badass
voices in the critic world. Yes, they critique, and they
do it very well, but they have other goals and
visions for themselves, and we dive heavy on that. I
(02:14):
was inspired by this interview for many reasons, and you
yourself will be as well. The sheer fact that they
saw a voice that was missing within a space. They
saw a lack of diversity within opinionated critique groups and
decided to create a space for those who are underrepresented
to amplify their voices. I think if there's any lesson
(02:35):
you take from this episode. It is to create space
for yourself. If you don't see that there is one
for you, don't just wait for it to be made
for you. Do it. Make the space and be about it.
Don't just talk about it. They beat them well. Josie,
(02:58):
our producer for mo Anita, has entered the room with Indiana,
and Josie and Indiana are also both hosts of a
podcast called Film Talk, who also listen. I know, I'm like,
(03:19):
I'm like Josie insert applause there there. Um, I was
just making some jokes because I was like, how do
you pronounce the podcast? Because to me, I was like
few mid but like the cinephile, like the pinky and
the exactly. Um. I was like, this is a bougie
(03:42):
film podcast, ladies and gentlemen, but there's so much to
talk about with you guys, like movies. Um. But also
so proud of you all when I was reading some
facts about you guys, and you guys were the first
female critics to attend the festive. All the con is
it con or cols is? It depends, But most people
(04:06):
depends on who you're talking. I think. So it's just
it's just cans or if you're my dad, you say
Lada's I was like, what, that's insane. First off, it's insane,
but also I feel like not that big of a
like it's kind of sad at the same time because
it's like for female critics de Lasla from Puerto Rico
(04:28):
to actually go and cover Can, like it just kind
of goes to show how little female critics representation there
is on the island. It literally made me tear a
little bit because it was one of those things where
we went and I remember just so many of the
other critics on the island just being so impressed, like
you're going to Can. What the heck? It's so hard.
(04:52):
Will asked around because at last some Puerto Rico, Um,
it's very well known for people to go to the
can market. Yeah, for publicity and all that, but for
some criticism. Like we asked around and there were some
people that have gone with like Anualia, which is the
local newspaper and stuff like that, but we didn't really
hear about any other women. It's always usually men. So
(05:16):
I'm pretty sure that someone at some point must have
gone before us, but we don't know anything about it.
So many people were making such a big deal, and
it was like, this is kind of sad because we
should know this. Yeah right right, but you guys did it,
and like you guys are continuing to do it, which
is badass. And um, I mean every day I'm like,
I love Josie. We're like, we're big, We're big team
(05:39):
Josie over here. Right now we're celebrating because a little
plug for the podcast for the people that don't know,
we made it as the show of the month on
Apple podcast Give it Up for Moment started started from
the bottom. Now we're here a man, Yes, salute to
us as plasa to everybody. August, Carlos and Josie are
(06:02):
huge squad here at so not all um, but beyond that,
how do you guys know each other? Oh we met
in college? Yeah, we met in college. Actually we met
because I don't know if you've heard of like her campus. Um,
it's like this, Um, I don't want to say soroyalty.
(06:24):
It's very much soty branding. Her campus is like this
big platform that has like different chapters in different um colleges,
like Universities Online magazine. Yeah, it's kind of like a
Refinery twenty nine, but for like college women. They called
themselves like the Collegiates UM. So yeah, so her campus
(06:47):
has a chapter in UPR, so we were we became
like part of that chapter. So we became part of
the team and we met through there literally like a
month before her came Maria. We met barely got to
know each other, and then we couldn't see each other
for like two months. Yeah, but we just we met
(07:09):
through there. We rose to like director's positions pretty quickly, yeah,
because I started off as a junior editor and then
like like a couple of weeks or like a month,
they were like your senior editor now, because I was
like pumping out articles so quickly. And that's how I
met Alanna because I would basically like edit the articles
for the entire chapter. And then Eleana specifically worked with
(07:34):
the social media. Yeah, I was a social media director
for a hot minute, and then we actually we founded
the press team that didn't exist for that for that
chapter at the time, and I was like, why doesn't exist,
especially like with everything that's happening on campus, like with
Jerricane Maria, with protests, with budget cuts, like there wasn't
on campus like student Run. I mean there still is
(07:56):
I'm pretty sure there is a student run um like
like you know, press outlet, but it was still very um,
I'm pretty sure at the time, it was very male driven.
It was very male oriented and just it was a
majority of men and male journalists there. And I was like,
we have female journalism students that are here on her campus.
(08:20):
We should give them a platform to be able to
like practice their journalism and what they're doing and actually
cover things from a female perspective. So I was like,
let's just make a press team, which is really just
let's make a press team. So you just make a
separate chat, right, You're like girls girls only. We did have.
(08:41):
That was the fun part of it. It wasn't necessarily
girls only. You had non binary people. You have sometimes
queer mean as well. So it's like, girl it's for
the cheese days and gays, it's for the inclusivity exactly. Yeah.
So we just saw, you know, all these marginalized voices
just not really being given a platform, even on our
own diverse campus. I was like, well, let's just let's
(09:03):
go from there. So yeah, that's kind of how we
we started out, and then we did a road to
Oscars campaign. It's That's how our publication kind of journey
started when it came to like talking about movies, which
was the road to Oscars, which was the first time
that I was like actually excited about the Oscars because
(09:23):
I was covering for something and that was the first
time that I was interested in it because I have
a lot of friends that are like the Oscars are
their sins, they were born hire like hills. Yes, but
I was, I mean, I'm one of the people that
was like Oscars used to be in my life until
(09:43):
I've just never until I got older and then like
realizing that the industry um likes to use me as
a token, and then I was like, I don't like
the Oscars anymore than I went like five years without
watching it, and then I still I'm still like in
a limbo of like watching Awards shows. I still haven't
(10:04):
gotten like the hook of like that exciting energy again.
And I think it's just like maybe because being in
the industry and like feeling the weight of it all,
like it's it's you're also attending the Tony Is, which
is much better, but the Tony's we gotta have you
(10:25):
guys in the Tonys. We gotta get you guys in
the Tony that's the next time film talk. That's in
the Broadway Musical edition. I love this. Oh my god.
Can I be a part of the crew. Can I
be a part of the group chat? Exactly? We just
discussed like Broadway musical adaptations, and like this is why
(10:47):
I love you for that. Actually I want I want
in okay, backstage with the Tony Trophy. Girl, you know,
let's do it. Let's do it. Let's talk about your podcast.
(11:09):
I mean, everybody loves the movie. I love movies. I
just saw Women King. Yeah, completely transformed my life. I
cried throughout the whole thing. I don't know what the
I don't know if it was my hormones, what the
hell I was going through, but that that screens turned
on and like the words started going like the Star Wars,
like the Street of the Words, and I was like,
(11:32):
fans like are you okay? And I'm like okay. But
it just reminds me how when Black Panther came out
where regans were crying up because we watched it back
home in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were crying in the
Black Panther theaters and you'd be like why. And it's
because there's so much of African culture that makes up
the Caribbean, and it was like for a lot of us,
(11:52):
that's like that's the closest we'll get to seeing aspects
of our culture. And so many people that were like
that are actually like black and puitter ego that often
get denied or told like no, don't know what's going on.
It was a good gateway for that kind of conversation.
And I love that we're seeing that now with Woman
(12:13):
King too. Yeah. Yeah, it was just like and even
my sorry babe, but even my fiance, like, you know,
he got he got on the crying train a little bit.
He's like, I'm not, I'm not crying, by the way,
come on and know, there's no manlier thing than crying
in the theater. Honestly, it was such a beautiful movie.
And it also just obviously to see women of color
(12:33):
like in that light and like just kicking ass. Like, honestly,
I'm a crier at the movies. I'll cry over anything.
I'll cry, you know, as as problematic as Wonder Woman was,
I cried with that intro scene. I'm like seeing I'm
seeing all these powerful women. I remember we were. It
(12:55):
was during COVID. We went to see it in a
drive through INMPR, and I just like both of us
were like, these women strong. Look Honestly, it's kind of
sad but also like uplifting because it's like, Wow, the
bar is set so low that just seeing a screen
(13:15):
full of women being strong is something that will get
us emotional because we don't actually see that often, but
it goes to show how the importance of it. Like,
even if we do, I don't know if I'll ever
get used to it, even if the industry does like
somehow miraculously shift more towards being more genuinely inclusive with
UM It's media, but it's just it's just something else.
(13:38):
It hits different. I think that's just like that's like
the simplest way for me to put it. Just hits
different when I am sitting in a theater and I'm seeing, like,
especially women of color, because like you can see something
like I'm not to shade women talking, but like when
you see UM these like oh super quote unquote like
feminist movies that are all just purely exclusively white women,
(14:01):
I can't really connect to that much. I just can't.
It's just not the same. It just doesn't hit the
same because it's kind of like, for some reason there
is like this there's usually I don't want to generalize,
but it is sometimes this air of oh my god,
white women are the only women that exists, are like
they're the only ones oppressed, and it's like, oh, intersexual, no,
feminism doesn't exist. So no, it's just one of those things.
(14:30):
I think, that's all. Yeah, So it's just one of
those you know, talking about movies, like it's one of
those things that I think kind of not to tute
our own horns kind of sets us apart when we
are women talking film because we're not the only women
talking film. Obviously we're not a majority, of course, but
our perspective as women and you know technically women of
(14:51):
color and women of the Caribbean born and raised in
the Caribbean is something that we bring to the table
and we're able to be a little bit more critical
in our lens um and not just kind of accept
whatever quote unquote representation comes our ways, Like oh my god,
you should be like going off about women talking and
like I was not that inspired by women talking, especially
(15:13):
like in Josie. You know, you told me about the
kind of the the source the women that they were
from you is based on a story from Bolivia, and
it's like, that's a lot of American country. Yeah. So
so it's very interesting because it's basically being done as
a gateway for these white actresses to have you know,
(15:33):
that Oscar Bus And it's like, but what about the
actual story story? Yeah, what about the meat of it?
What about the thing? What about the facts? The facts?
What about the facts? What about the context? Let's talk
about the context. That's why when I see things that
are just kind of when they have like these token
castings for these bigger shows, it's kind of hard for
(15:54):
me to be like super excited about it, which is sad.
I don't like to be a cynical person, but it
comes to a point where you're not even cynically, you're
just critical. So I do want to see our stories
being uplifted. I do want to be part of that
driving force that make sure that we do talk about
these things and we do see this media but it's
(16:14):
not it is not something totally inappropriate to criticize it
if it's not done well. Like Cordit the Chronicles, it
was one of those few moments where I was like,
oh my god, this is actually done, like relatively well,
like I actually really enjoyed this. This was filmed a
pr you have like you have Caribbean at least Caribbean
sounding actors, because I feel like that's like the the
(16:37):
bar is set so low when you have people playing uh,
characters from the Caribbean, from the Dominican Republic Puerto Rico, UM,
speaking Spanish, it sounds like Google Translate. It's just not translate.
And when I'm telling to see you right now, when
we get the scripts, when we get the the scripts
to audition for these things, UM, from the actor's perspective,
(17:00):
it literally is Google Translate. Also the other thing, too,
is that that really frustrates me is with Spanish and
with what these scripts are pushing out and giving to us,
the actors. There's two things, okay. One the ones that
give us the English scripts and they're like, you guys translated,
you do it because all Spanish is the same, right,
(17:22):
So you guys, you the actor, you are also a
translator now and now you just translate it yourself, right, Okay.
That pisses me off because where's my translator feeds? And secondly,
we all don't sound the same, you know what I mean, Like,
if there's a specific kind of Spanish you want, then
you need to state that right because now we're talking facts.
(17:42):
Now we're talking sticking to the facts. Secondly, I hate
when it's gool translate Spanish. I hate when I could
read it and I'm like, if I'm supposed to be
cheat gana or whatever is whatever that's giving me here,
and they're gonna use some term that, I'm like, we
would they would never say that. That's not even Let
me call my sis who's may Ghana and she knows.
I'm like, yo is this and she's like, Sis, we
(18:03):
would never say that. I'm like, exactly, I'm the kind
of person that I'm like, I'm just like, we're gonna
say how We're gonna say We're gonna say it properly,
or I'm gonna say it how Darylyn Domnicana says it.
Because you want to hired Darryln Dominicana, then you're gonna
hire Darylin the Minicana. I will say, most of the
time when I do stuff like that, I don't get
hired for the role. And then not only that, and
then when you find out the writing team is all
(18:25):
white American people, and then you're like, that makes sense,
that actually checks out since it happens so often. I
was doing a tape for the series Regular for a
new show that that's coming out on HBO. I won't
say the name of it, but my teacher, his friend
is a writer, and my teacher is a Latino Latino guy,
(18:47):
and he's like, oh, oh yeah, I know this series
coming out on HBO. It's written by all white men.
My friend my friend is one of the white men,
and I'm like, and he's like, Daryl, and do whatever
the funk you want on the self take because they
don't know what the funk they're doing, okay, and it's
that kind of energy. I know some people that have
gotten the role and then since the Latins and specified,
(19:10):
they're like, hey, I'm Puerto Rican? Can I make my
character Puerto Rican? The lecture right right? It feels like
those are like really rare instances, but sometimes they do
work because you can feel that on the other side,
because if they embrace what that actor is bringing into
the role and actually support that and nurture that, then
(19:32):
honestly all for it. But also where's the check? You know,
thank you, That's what I'm saying. And then the shows
that feel authentic, the shows that feel good for us,
right then they're gone, Like what do you guys think
that's about? Oh started, You're like how much time do
(19:52):
we have? Because it's so sad, because um, I was
able to write about this a while ago. You know,
all the good shows with like good representation and just
that are happy, like, yes, there are shows that a
lot of people had problems with, and yes we are
allowed to criticize our shows in our movies because nothing's
perfect and if something is tringful, call it out. But
(20:15):
we are losing these shows that are like we got
so many romcoms recently, like Baker in the Beauty for example,
And yet the shows that get renewed are those like nauticals.
And yes, there is a reality and that it does happen.
We're not going to deny. But why is this the
only thing you want to see? Right? Is so good?
Though I got to be so good? I feel like there,
(20:37):
I feel like I would just watch it for the actors, honestly,
like bad Bunnies, And you guys are the guy the
guy that played I'm sad. I don't know his name,
but like, oh my god, the guy that plays and
he's coming into he he's the new Black panther. Oh,
oh my god. You guys know that, right? Oh my god?
(20:58):
You okay? That man is I'm sorry, yeah, he's my
wallpaper right now. I'm not even joking. He's coming. He's
coming for everyone's next hope. So respectfully presents on screen respectfully.
No if I speak, No, if I speak sometimes I'm like,
(21:18):
I have to be professional. I don't. I don't know,
you know what, let's talk about it. That man period. Fine,
And then just you know, it was just so funny
to see so many people, like even the creator of
that character criticized his body and his body shape is like, oh,
(21:40):
he's not fit enough. And I'm like, sir, where where's
your Where is your Planet fitness gym membership? Your membership?
If you sixty five year old white man, where is it?
I'm no. I mean even my even even like my
fiance was like, oh man, I could, I'm like, I know,
(22:03):
he's that guy. And also what makes him even more
attractive is the fact that he's just been calling out
white people and like the discrimination that's happening nothing like
other people in the industry, And I'm like, it's still
but it's but also he's good, right, so then you're like, damn,
(22:25):
and he's like freaking Oscar like level of actor. Like
I'm hoping they better get another SAG Ensemble nomination. Honestly,
movies out right now. I mean we talked about women King.
That's like really changing the game and shifting the vibe.
But like I'm kind of bored with everything else. Yeah,
it's an interesting season right now. It just I haven't
(22:45):
seen it, but a lot of people are liking it,
even though it only did like four point eight million
in the box office, which is kind of really does
well in the box office nowadays. Let's talk about this
if you're talking crue like right right, but let's talk
about how the film. Okay, like who really goes to
the movies anymore. That's saying like if you have an
AMC membership card, that's probably like the people that are going.
(23:08):
That's why I go to the movies. That's the only
way I can't afford it. Um, that's a big thing.
The movie to the movies uture it is a premium
it's not accessible especially like I still live in Puerto Rico.
It's it's still here. I can go to the movies
for lesson ten bucks, as in like a normal thing,
and that's still something that I have to like, you know,
kind of plan out. It's like, Okay, I'm going to
(23:31):
the movies this weekend. This is my like my little
budget beccodding in the movies in New York. Jesus Christ.
I think something that's really crazy and a lot of
like these big time filmmakers, especially like these white filmmakers
that are just completely ignoring like, oh, people don't go
to the movies anymore, movies, movies anymore. Normal is the
(23:52):
only thing that's working because the families are the ones
that are saving the movie theaters. They're taking their kids,
so they're not in my house as much. But the
thing is that also that's your revenue because it's literally
like family like five and six and that's more than
a hundred bucks. It's volume, right, people have to like like, Okay,
I'm gonna take my kids to see Black Panther. That's like,
I know, like my family we were able to go
(24:13):
to the movies so often because we would go to
like first showings that were like, you know, the budget screening.
I am the ten am that was that is the
show you That's how I grew up. My mom would
literally because my parents would love to take me to
the movies, and that's those are earliest memory. But it's
also like we also get them now, I mean selected movies.
(24:35):
We get him on our couches, right, and like with
the pandemic now everybody's like, honestly, I will say, I
did check if Woman King was streaming you know whatever, dude,
like that whatever it was on, if it was on
a platform, and it wasn't, And I was like, I
have to go to the movies. Then I go to
the movies and then I'm like I walk in and
(24:55):
I feel like I'm transported back in the eighties and
I'm like, hell designed this the or what's going on
in here? Those are the best ones. But wait, I
will say after I got out and like I missed
this man. Nostalgia. This is nostalgia, like this feeling of
like I remember like when my mom used to drop
me off at the mall. Like I know, you guys,
(25:17):
you kids don't know what I'm talking. Yeah. Yeah. Puerto
Rico State guys talking about you, like talking about some
of these other gen z eears on here know what,
Yeah they don't. I don't know about the mall, you know,
(25:39):
but yeah, that nostalgia, like that that energy, like it
just brought it back and me and my fiance I
was like, I was like, we should go to the
movies more often. And also I remember because that was
like a big thing during COVID, right like COVID that
was like how are we going to get? Oh? And
what was the thing that was around before the movie
movie past? Oh my god. I did marketing project and
(26:01):
as an underground on the case that is movie Pass.
Movie Pass is really scandal because let me tell you, wait,
isn't it coming back? Email? I got one of the
exclusive emails telling me that it might be coming back,
and like if I want to be put on the list,
(26:22):
like hello, loyal followers. Know it almost has like cult
status and like the movie movie community because movie Pass
was high key not a scam. I don't want to
see an outright scan if I remember correctly, because it
was like three or four years ago that I studied this,
like an entire semester dedicated to this, like straight up
(26:45):
at in a marketing management class, and their strategy was,
you know, oh, you pay what ten bucks a month
to see, like I don't know, three movies or as
many movies as you want in the movie theater. But
here's the thing. Not it's not like here in Puerto
Rico where there's a monopoly with the movie theater chain.
It's just one movie theater chain you have to deal with.
You got to deal with multiple movie theater chains across
(27:07):
the United States. You have to deal with like independent
movie theaters, and you would have they would have to
like buy blocks of tickets from these theaters and those tickets,
sell them and use them for their members. And it
was just not sustainable because then first at first it
wasn't limited and like, okay, you clearly people are going
(27:28):
to use it. If you're paying tennle or is a
month to watch as many movies as you want, you
bet your little behind that people are going to line
up at the movie theaters almost every day to do
that because you're already paying. And then they limited to
three movies a month, and people still did that, and
it still wasn't profitable enough because most of the money,
(27:49):
the big box office money is that opening weekend, and
then they started limiting that. It's like, oh, you can
use these tickets to see something that's not on opening weekend.
I remember that. Yeah, it's like a whole thing that
it just kept like falling in on itself strategy wise,
So it's just kind of crazy. I'm interested in intrigue
just because I'm so invested already. I'm like, I'm invested
(28:10):
in movie past. It's not even for tea. I just
need to see how the story ends because it's like
to be continued. So I think I think it's interesting.
I have no expectations, so I think that's better than
low expectations. But I'm intrigued. But AMC works for a
MC because it's their chain, it's just exclusively their thing,
so they can control it. They can actually like make
(28:30):
money off of it. But when you're like a third party,
then it's like cooling. I am excited to see where
movie theaters, where all that kind of goes, because I
think it is something that still is special. It still
has a special feel. And I don't want to I
don't want to see it go, you know what I mean?
(28:51):
But and I don't it's just kid me a singlehandedly.
She really is, right, let's talk about it. Doesn't standing up?
Does she sleep? Ever, She's like, it's like, I don't know,
I don't know something. I don't know the Vampire. No.
I notally did that one movie where like literally the
point of the movie was not to fall asleep. What
(29:14):
movie was It's called The Invasion. I think it's from
like two thousand six. Remember the Aliens. You would get
like affected by the aliens, you couldn't fall asleep. And
she like start like sheking caffeine. Yeah, that's how she
just does her career. She like ever since then, she
never broke character, like you know how and cafar now
that they're teaching a class on bad bunny and we
(29:35):
just have to teach a class on the cool kid.
That's it's it's the it's these cultural phenomena that genuinely
you can teach a class on, Like who would have
thought people would go so hard for Nicole Kimman in
this Fierce Pinch breaks you know to the point that
your impact is is when drag queens like famous Drag World,
(29:58):
famous drag queens like Spoof you're commercial and you're went
to see Tricksie and got the Radio City Music Hall
and they literally did an entire spoof. Can you believe
at Radio City Musical? You know how many seats are
in there? So wild for two drag queens changed in
my Dame thing. I saw so many kind of famous
(30:23):
people in, like the queer community there, like g Gorgeous
was there, Judo Birch was there, and I'm like, oh
my god, everybody flew to New York to see these
two biological women just beyond that stage and do some
very interesting quick changes and just spoof. It was called
the spoof was GAMC And I think that's iconic. That's incredible.
(30:44):
Look look how far we look, how far we've come. Honestly,
it was alright, keep going, We're gonna keep going. But
for you guys like um, I mean obviously you've been
(31:07):
on some red carpets and done the thing like do
you guys see yourself going beyond film, like critiquing other
things other than film. You guys are so well versed
in culture and like wheels are turned in. I feel
like this is we're just like this is like our
gateway into filmmaking. It's like, well, if they don't want us,
see how we are who will snake our way in.
(31:28):
We'll start criticizing what they make and then we'll make
anything better. That's this industry. You gotta get in somehow.
And logo you fake it. I made that logo ill
this to see all this, all all these things that
was me because I was like, you know what, I'm
not gonna why would I hire anyone? I already do
(31:49):
this for fun. You're like, this is me, this is
what I do. This is the real me. No, it's
just something that is. It's like, if we're going to
do something, we're going to do it right. We need
it needs to look as fregid as possible. Ever since
there was a lot of people are going to try
to discredit us. And that's what we found. A lot
we've been denied access to a lot of places that
(32:10):
are easily accessible to men, and like, point blank, it's
the truth. And that's definitely been the journey and that's
what we've been trying to change. Um we recently. Our
most recent project is that we are have the Puerto
Rican Critics Association because there wasn't an association before, and
four of us were like, let's make this a thing
(32:31):
because there's a monopoly where traditional outlets are more favored
like radio and newspapers, but showed that we can do
this virtually. We can do this from wherever, and it
shouldn't be limited to like five people. Clearly there are
talent to people doing putting the work in the effort
(32:52):
and for obviously not everyone pursues this like to a
professional degree like we've been doing. We've been pursuing it,
you know, a little bit more professionally, but that doesn't
like take away like from the people that are genuinely
putting in so much effort into their YouTube channel, into
their their written reviews um because it is at the
end of the day where some of us do this
(33:14):
for fun, but also the the great thing about it
is that we have fun with it. It is a
passion for the arts. It is a passion for for
the movies. Like I think that's kind of a common
thread that unites us um as film critics and just
like people who love film in general. And that's what
makes it not always feel like a job to do.
It's just genuinely feels like, oh my god, we're going
(33:35):
to cover this festival that even if it is technically
a work trip like I've never traveled internationally before that
before can like my passport was pristine, My passport was decorative.
So you know, without like pursuing this, like, it would
(33:56):
not have opened as many doors as it has for
us so far. And I feel like it's just kind
of the beginning. Yeah, let aar Yeah, absolutely no. That honestly, Ken,
I think was a turning point for us because, like,
for example, because of film criticism, because we were credited
as pressed for the festival, I was able to pitch
my feature at the festival to a producer. At the
(34:17):
heart of it, like I want to be a screenwriter,
and then I wants to be a screenwriter. We wanted
to get into filmmaking. And one thing that we always
stress is that we do this to pay tribute and
promote and support the people that are paving the way
for us, the people that are doing the work now,
because film criticism is still very much male, is still
(34:37):
very much white, and that's why a lot of films
like The Woman King sometimes did not get the respect
it deserves. And now that we're seeing after the pandemic
really gave access to more people of color doing film criticism,
and that's why we've been seeing better reception for these
films because the people that get it are getting absolutely
absolutely and also not only that, but you guys are.
(34:59):
And it's something that I always talk about, um with
I mean the artists that come through here. It's like
you have to do it and talk about it to
at least put that out there and then not only that,
but be about it. And you guys are both. I
mean I see it every day front seat with what
Josie does with what I need that here, um, and
then how Josie seats about Lana and then what you
guys are doing together within the work that you're doing. Um,
(35:21):
it's evident and it's and y'all are sucking doing it.
And I'm telling you right now as a person who
is behind the camera and in some of these rooms,
like it is necessary. We need you so um, continue
doing the damn work and doing the damn thing um
because it's important and uh, we need better scripts. Honestly,
(35:46):
it's a desert out here sometimes in terms of right
good writers. They need to higher Josie jesus hey for
real though now that I think that's something that we
see often um in this space, especially like you know,
when you're at a film festival. We were in Toronto
just now in September, and you watch like ten eleven,
fifteen movies in a weekend, like in to span a
(36:08):
few days, and you consume so much media and like such,
what is such a common threat is that everybody wants
to be a director. Everybody wants like their name to
be you know, big, loud and proud, which is valid.
But what happens more often than not is like our
reviews tend to be like, oh, it looks great, but
(36:29):
the writing is atrocious. The writing is really it really
needs work. The story needs to be fleshed out, you know,
you know, not to not to name any names, not
to name any names, but like Steven Spielberg's new film,
I mean, it takes a lot for me to the
West Side Story. It was better than The Stablements because
(36:49):
I did not buy with West six Story. But West
Story said, but it's because West Story is an adaptation.
There is a previous story. I mean, it's an adaptation
of an adaptation. There is story. And then with the
Fable Men's like Aana wrote a great review for Screenspec,
but it's it's missing, it's missing a lot, but of
course it's Steven Spielberg, so it's getting praised, of course,
but you know, you know, exactly exactly, we'll believe it
(37:15):
at that. Well, here, this is the moment of the
show that I ask you speed questions, and I love
that Josie's like in the hot seat right now. This
is like a because she's always the one sending me
the questions. It's your turn. Okay, what's a movie you've
(37:35):
seen a thousand times and you enjoy it every time?
First of prey yea oh oh, that's a good one.
I'm gonna go with my background right now. People can't
see it, but it's portrait Relighting on Fire, which is
probably gonna be like, oh my god, is she okay?
And I'm maybe I love, I love, I love. Just
guess me. Every time it's like being emotional, but in
(37:57):
a in a beautifully aesthetic pleasing sense. I just like
when a movie can make me cry every single time,
I'm like, that's good writing. That's how you know the
writing is good. At the same moment you cry, it's
automatic scaring. Okay. If you could have any celebrity, actor, producer, director,
any any celebrity as a guest on your podcast, who
(38:18):
would it be? And why Ryan Johnson tell me? Why
tell me? He's a white man. However I find him.
You guys, we also don't. We don't hate white man,
just like I find him. I find him so fascinating
because he is, like i'd like to think he's an ally.
(38:41):
Every time I hear him speak, I mean, the final
shot with another Adam mus we can't say, but like
glass Onion was good. The way that Ryan Johnson has
such an interesting lens, and I feel like he's one
of those few Maale directors that understands what the female
gaze is and actually knows how to portray it. And
(39:03):
but in his own way. It's not like he's trying
to be like a cheap copycat. I don't know, I
just it just feels like Ryan Johnson is such an
interesting individual and I would love to pick his brain
because you know, he was such a figure of controversy
for making a good Star Wars movie. You know that
(39:23):
people really really just dug their nails into because it
gave the female characters something to work with. I think
that's the peal. He makes few more characters that are people,
they are humans, They are flawed, they are complex, they
are women are actually Leia or Ghana more to work
(39:46):
with in that one movie than the entire franchise put together.
Leia has always been such a good character because of
Carrie Fisher. She's more than just that bikini. She is
more than just that bikini. I mean, Carrie Fisher constantly
would have to rewrite her lines for George Lucas light
pa Queen Um. So I feel like Ryan Johnson then
(40:07):
moving on from that and just making his own franchise
at this point that uplifts women of color and puts
them in this as the focal point in these films,
which is basically what the Knives Out franchise has become.
I think is so interesting, and I feel like I
would just love to have him sit down and just
be like, not to just you know, be a fan girl,
but genuinely sit down and just like pick his brain. Honestly. Yeah.
(40:33):
For me, a very selfish one would be Joseph Quinn
because I think he's neat. He's just the professional. The
selfish one said that instead of Richard Madam, evolution has
taken the ulterior motive. The ulterior motive love that, Okay, ladies.
(41:00):
Last question, what reminds you of home or makes you
feel like home hot as hell, sweat night like the answer, Yeah,
for me, it's my grandmother's cooking because um, right now,
she can't cook as much because of her heart, and
she always makes sure to make me um either or
(41:21):
boyos whenever I go to visit every time, So like
food is just the way to our hearts, is I
think it's it's food. It's walking around and just sweating
your ass off, just existing but enjoying it because you know,
as much, yeah, as much as you're like down, you know,
(41:43):
because of the heat. It's it's something that you learn
to appreciate, especially like I haven't lived anywhere but Puerto
Rico my entire life yet so far, but every time
I leave and it's like cold, Like yeah, it's like
a little relief, I suppose, you know, for the first
couple of days, Like oh, I don't have to depend
on air conditioning. I can like wear a cute fit
with layers. But there's just nothing like home. Is, nothing
(42:07):
like being able to you know, where, like refreshing clothing,
like where my guadia's my style is, you know, my
style is, But that's fine. I love to you know,
I'm I can be feminine, but I can also like
rock and aboio aesthetic and that's what I right now. Yes, yes, indeed,
(42:31):
if we want to follow you, if we want to
like follow your journey. Obviously you have your dope podcast. Um.
Is there anywhere on social media that we can follow
you on? What's the plug? Um? You can follow me
at Captain Melendez on Twitter and letterbox if you want
to see what else I think about movies that don't
get covered on the channel. Um, and yeah, follow film
(42:54):
Talk on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts wherever you consume your podcast.
But people tend to like to watch us and I
think that's neat. And you can follow me at the
Josie Marie on Twitter and letterbox and of course film
talk f I L M M E T A l
K wherever you like getting your podcast. But yes, do
watch us on you tube because Nana is really good
with the editing. Thank you, I love this, Alana. We
(43:16):
might we might need to tax this because we got
some videos that we're talking about from what aneath. That's
so Josie put the plug in on that. Well he is.
Thank you guys so much, for spending some time with us. Josie,
thank you for coming in the hot seat. It's such
a pleasure to hear more about what you do and
thank you for all you do from a meta and
you guys are different being thank you for having us honestly, Yeah,
(43:42):
it's been a pleasure and I just I think that
your voices are so important and it needs to be heard.
So I hope that that's what we're doing here on
what Anita, and I hope that it continues to reach
more people because it's necessary and Monannita is a production
of Sonato in partnership with I Heart Radio's Michael Luda
(44:05):
podcast Network. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
Oh yeah, me hind there. I just want to give
you a heads up. The program you are about to
hear may have some explicit language, it may not. It
also depends on where the vibes and the spirit leads us.
Hope you enjoy. Welcome to more Anita, a deep dive
into the Latin X experience. With more Anita, we want
(00:22):
to create a community and a shared space with you
while sharing knowledge and inspiration. This show is about celebrating
our culture with guests who exemplify the best of us.
I'm Darrylene Castillo Ethane Viatle me hind. The winter is
coming and during this cold season here in beautiful Nuiva,
(00:46):
You're one of my favorite things to do is cuddle
up with my dog babies and my boo and watch
a movie, which is why this episode you are about
to hear is such a good one for this time
of year. We have film Talk in the house. Film
Talk is an audio visual podcast and YouTube channel that
(01:08):
focuses on the analysis of film and television from the
lens of two Caribbean women from Puerto Rico, Eleana Melendez
and our beloved producer here at Mounanita, Josie Melendez. No,
they are not related, but why are these badass women
so freaking dope? One they were the first female critics
(01:30):
from NASLA to be approved as Rotten Tomato critics, and
two they were one of the first female critics to
attend the festival the con in person. They are wrapping
it for the Latino folks on those red carpets and
showing that we too have opinions that deserve to be
heard and noted. On this episode, we discussed how they
(01:52):
met on the island and how seeing a huge lack
of representation lad them to creating their own space, and
how that has led them to becoming some pretty badass
voices in the critic world. Yes, they critique, and they
do it very well, but they have other goals and
visions for themselves, and we dive heavy on that. I
(02:14):
was inspired by this interview for many reasons, and you
yourself will be as well. The sheer fact that they
saw a voice that was missing within a space. They
saw a lack of diversity within opinionated critique groups and
decided to create a space for those who are underrepresented
to amplify their voices. I think if there's any lesson
(02:35):
you take from this episode. It is to create space
for yourself. If you don't see that there is one
for you, don't just wait for it to be made
for you. Do it. Make the space and be about it.
Don't just talk about it. They beat them well. Josie,
(02:58):
our producer for mo Anita, has entered the room with Indiana,
and Josie and Indiana are also both hosts of a
podcast called Film Talk, who also listen. I know, I'm like,
(03:19):
I'm like Josie insert applause there there. Um, I was
just making some jokes because I was like, how do
you pronounce the podcast? Because to me, I was like
few mid but like the cinephile, like the pinky and
the exactly. Um. I was like, this is a bougie
(03:42):
film podcast, ladies and gentlemen, but there's so much to
talk about with you guys, like movies. Um. But also
so proud of you all when I was reading some
facts about you guys, and you guys were the first
female critics to attend the festive. All the con is
it con or cols is? It depends, But most people
(04:06):
depends on who you're talking. I think. So it's just
it's just cans or if you're my dad, you say
Lada's I was like, what, that's insane. First off, it's insane,
but also I feel like not that big of a
like it's kind of sad at the same time because
it's like for female critics de Lasla from Puerto Rico
(04:28):
to actually go and cover Can, like it just kind
of goes to show how little female critics representation there
is on the island. It literally made me tear a
little bit because it was one of those things where
we went and I remember just so many of the
other critics on the island just being so impressed, like
you're going to Can. What the heck? It's so hard.
(04:52):
Will asked around because at last some Puerto Rico, Um,
it's very well known for people to go to the
can market. Yeah, for publicity and all that, but for
some criticism. Like we asked around and there were some
people that have gone with like Anualia, which is the
local newspaper and stuff like that, but we didn't really
hear about any other women. It's always usually men. So
(05:16):
I'm pretty sure that someone at some point must have
gone before us, but we don't know anything about it.
So many people were making such a big deal, and
it was like, this is kind of sad because we
should know this. Yeah right right, but you guys did it,
and like you guys are continuing to do it, which
is badass. And um, I mean every day I'm like,
I love Josie. We're like, we're big, We're big team
(05:39):
Josie over here. Right now we're celebrating because a little
plug for the podcast for the people that don't know,
we made it as the show of the month on
Apple podcast Give it Up for Moment started started from
the bottom. Now we're here a man, Yes, salute to
us as plasa to everybody. August, Carlos and Josie are
(06:02):
huge squad here at so not all um, but beyond that,
how do you guys know each other? Oh we met
in college? Yeah, we met in college. Actually we met
because I don't know if you've heard of like her campus. Um,
it's like this, Um, I don't want to say soroyalty.
(06:24):
It's very much soty branding. Her campus is like this
big platform that has like different chapters in different um colleges,
like Universities Online magazine. Yeah, it's kind of like a
Refinery twenty nine, but for like college women. They called
themselves like the Collegiates UM. So yeah, so her campus
(06:47):
has a chapter in UPR, so we were we became
like part of that chapter. So we became part of
the team and we met through there literally like a
month before her came Maria. We met barely got to
know each other, and then we couldn't see each other
for like two months. Yeah, but we just we met
(07:09):
through there. We rose to like director's positions pretty quickly, yeah,
because I started off as a junior editor and then
like like a couple of weeks or like a month,
they were like your senior editor now, because I was
like pumping out articles so quickly. And that's how I
met Alanna because I would basically like edit the articles
for the entire chapter. And then Eleana specifically worked with
(07:34):
the social media. Yeah, I was a social media director
for a hot minute, and then we actually we founded
the press team that didn't exist for that for that
chapter at the time, and I was like, why doesn't exist,
especially like with everything that's happening on campus, like with
Jerricane Maria, with protests, with budget cuts, like there wasn't
on campus like student Run. I mean there still is
(07:56):
I'm pretty sure there is a student run um like
like you know, press outlet, but it was still very um,
I'm pretty sure at the time, it was very male driven.
It was very male oriented and just it was a
majority of men and male journalists there. And I was like,
we have female journalism students that are here on her campus.
(08:20):
We should give them a platform to be able to
like practice their journalism and what they're doing and actually
cover things from a female perspective. So I was like,
let's just make a press team, which is really just
let's make a press team. So you just make a
separate chat, right, You're like girls girls only. We did have.
(08:41):
That was the fun part of it. It wasn't necessarily
girls only. You had non binary people. You have sometimes
queer mean as well. So it's like, girl it's for
the cheese days and gays, it's for the inclusivity exactly. Yeah.
So we just saw, you know, all these marginalized voices
just not really being given a platform, even on our
own diverse campus. I was like, well, let's just let's
(09:03):
go from there. So yeah, that's kind of how we
we started out, and then we did a road to
Oscars campaign. It's That's how our publication kind of journey
started when it came to like talking about movies, which
was the road to Oscars, which was the first time
that I was like actually excited about the Oscars because
(09:23):
I was covering for something and that was the first
time that I was interested in it because I have
a lot of friends that are like the Oscars are
their sins, they were born hire like hills. Yes, but
I was, I mean, I'm one of the people that
was like Oscars used to be in my life until
(09:43):
I've just never until I got older and then like
realizing that the industry um likes to use me as
a token, and then I was like, I don't like
the Oscars anymore than I went like five years without
watching it, and then I still I'm still like in
a limbo of like watching Awards shows. I still haven't
(10:04):
gotten like the hook of like that exciting energy again.
And I think it's just like maybe because being in
the industry and like feeling the weight of it all,
like it's it's you're also attending the Tony Is, which
is much better, but the Tony's we gotta have you
(10:25):
guys in the Tonys. We gotta get you guys in
the Tony that's the next time film talk. That's in
the Broadway Musical edition. I love this. Oh my god.
Can I be a part of the crew. Can I
be a part of the group chat? Exactly? We just
discussed like Broadway musical adaptations, and like this is why
(10:47):
I love you for that. Actually I want I want
in okay, backstage with the Tony Trophy. Girl, you know,
let's do it. Let's do it. Let's talk about your podcast.
(11:09):
I mean, everybody loves the movie. I love movies. I
just saw Women King. Yeah, completely transformed my life. I
cried throughout the whole thing. I don't know what the
I don't know if it was my hormones, what the
hell I was going through, but that that screens turned
on and like the words started going like the Star Wars,
like the Street of the Words, and I was like,
(11:32):
fans like are you okay? And I'm like okay. But
it just reminds me how when Black Panther came out
where regans were crying up because we watched it back
home in Puerto Rico. Puerto Ricans were crying in the
Black Panther theaters and you'd be like why. And it's
because there's so much of African culture that makes up
the Caribbean, and it was like for a lot of us,
(11:52):
that's like that's the closest we'll get to seeing aspects
of our culture. And so many people that were like
that are actually like black and puitter ego that often
get denied or told like no, don't know what's going on.
It was a good gateway for that kind of conversation.
And I love that we're seeing that now with Woman
(12:13):
King too. Yeah. Yeah, it was just like and even
my sorry babe, but even my fiance, like, you know,
he got he got on the crying train a little bit.
He's like, I'm not, I'm not crying, by the way,
come on and know, there's no manlier thing than crying
in the theater. Honestly, it was such a beautiful movie.
And it also just obviously to see women of color
(12:33):
like in that light and like just kicking ass. Like, honestly,
I'm a crier at the movies. I'll cry over anything.
I'll cry, you know, as as problematic as Wonder Woman was,
I cried with that intro scene. I'm like seeing I'm
seeing all these powerful women. I remember we were. It
(12:55):
was during COVID. We went to see it in a
drive through INMPR, and I just like both of us
were like, these women strong. Look Honestly, it's kind of
sad but also like uplifting because it's like, Wow, the
bar is set so low that just seeing a screen
(13:15):
full of women being strong is something that will get
us emotional because we don't actually see that often, but
it goes to show how the importance of it. Like,
even if we do, I don't know if I'll ever
get used to it, even if the industry does like
somehow miraculously shift more towards being more genuinely inclusive with
UM It's media, but it's just it's just something else.
(13:38):
It hits different. I think that's just like that's like
the simplest way for me to put it. Just hits
different when I am sitting in a theater and I'm seeing, like,
especially women of color, because like you can see something
like I'm not to shade women talking, but like when
you see UM these like oh super quote unquote like
feminist movies that are all just purely exclusively white women,
(14:01):
I can't really connect to that much. I just can't.
It's just not the same. It just doesn't hit the
same because it's kind of like, for some reason there
is like this there's usually I don't want to generalize,
but it is sometimes this air of oh my god,
white women are the only women that exists, are like
they're the only ones oppressed, and it's like, oh, intersexual, no,
feminism doesn't exist. So no, it's just one of those things.
(14:30):
I think, that's all. Yeah, So it's just one of
those you know, talking about movies, like it's one of
those things that I think kind of not to tute
our own horns kind of sets us apart when we
are women talking film because we're not the only women
talking film. Obviously we're not a majority, of course, but
our perspective as women and you know technically women of
(14:51):
color and women of the Caribbean born and raised in
the Caribbean is something that we bring to the table
and we're able to be a little bit more critical
in our lens um and not just kind of accept
whatever quote unquote representation comes our ways, Like oh my god,
you should be like going off about women talking and
like I was not that inspired by women talking, especially
(15:13):
like in Josie. You know, you told me about the
kind of the the source the women that they were
from you is based on a story from Bolivia, and
it's like, that's a lot of American country. Yeah. So
so it's very interesting because it's basically being done as
a gateway for these white actresses to have you know,
(15:33):
that Oscar Bus And it's like, but what about the
actual story story? Yeah, what about the meat of it?
What about the thing? What about the facts? The facts?
What about the facts? What about the context? Let's talk
about the context. That's why when I see things that
are just kind of when they have like these token
castings for these bigger shows, it's kind of hard for
(15:54):
me to be like super excited about it, which is sad.
I don't like to be a cynical person, but it
comes to a point where you're not even cynically, you're
just critical. So I do want to see our stories
being uplifted. I do want to be part of that
driving force that make sure that we do talk about
these things and we do see this media but it's
(16:14):
not it is not something totally inappropriate to criticize it
if it's not done well. Like Cordit the Chronicles, it
was one of those few moments where I was like,
oh my god, this is actually done, like relatively well,
like I actually really enjoyed this. This was filmed a
pr you have like you have Caribbean at least Caribbean
sounding actors, because I feel like that's like the the
(16:37):
bar is set so low when you have people playing uh,
characters from the Caribbean, from the Dominican Republic Puerto Rico, UM,
speaking Spanish, it sounds like Google Translate. It's just not translate.
And when I'm telling to see you right now, when
we get the scripts, when we get the the scripts
to audition for these things, UM, from the actor's perspective,
(17:00):
it literally is Google Translate. Also the other thing, too,
is that that really frustrates me is with Spanish and
with what these scripts are pushing out and giving to us,
the actors. There's two things, okay. One the ones that
give us the English scripts and they're like, you guys translated,
you do it because all Spanish is the same, right,
(17:22):
So you guys, you the actor, you are also a
translator now and now you just translate it yourself, right, Okay.
That pisses me off because where's my translator feeds? And secondly,
we all don't sound the same, you know what I mean, Like,
if there's a specific kind of Spanish you want, then
you need to state that right because now we're talking facts.
(17:42):
Now we're talking sticking to the facts. Secondly, I hate
when it's gool translate Spanish. I hate when I could
read it and I'm like, if I'm supposed to be
cheat gana or whatever is whatever that's giving me here,
and they're gonna use some term that, I'm like, we
would they would never say that. That's not even Let
me call my sis who's may Ghana and she knows.
I'm like, yo is this and she's like, Sis, we
(18:03):
would never say that. I'm like, exactly, I'm the kind
of person that I'm like, I'm just like, we're gonna
say how We're gonna say We're gonna say it properly,
or I'm gonna say it how Darylyn Domnicana says it.
Because you want to hired Darryln Dominicana, then you're gonna
hire Darylin the Minicana. I will say, most of the
time when I do stuff like that, I don't get
hired for the role. And then not only that, and
then when you find out the writing team is all
(18:25):
white American people, and then you're like, that makes sense,
that actually checks out since it happens so often. I
was doing a tape for the series Regular for a
new show that that's coming out on HBO. I won't
say the name of it, but my teacher, his friend
is a writer, and my teacher is a Latino Latino guy,
(18:47):
and he's like, oh, oh yeah, I know this series
coming out on HBO. It's written by all white men.
My friend my friend is one of the white men,
and I'm like, and he's like, Daryl, and do whatever
the funk you want on the self take because they
don't know what the funk they're doing, okay, and it's
that kind of energy. I know some people that have
gotten the role and then since the Latins and specified,
(19:10):
they're like, hey, I'm Puerto Rican? Can I make my
character Puerto Rican? The lecture right right? It feels like
those are like really rare instances, but sometimes they do
work because you can feel that on the other side,
because if they embrace what that actor is bringing into
the role and actually support that and nurture that, then
(19:32):
honestly all for it. But also where's the check? You know,
thank you, That's what I'm saying. And then the shows
that feel authentic, the shows that feel good for us,
right then they're gone, Like what do you guys think
that's about? Oh started, You're like how much time do
(19:52):
we have? Because it's so sad, because um, I was
able to write about this a while ago. You know,
all the good shows with like good representation and just
that are happy, like, yes, there are shows that a
lot of people had problems with, and yes we are
allowed to criticize our shows in our movies because nothing's
perfect and if something is tringful, call it out. But
(20:15):
we are losing these shows that are like we got
so many romcoms recently, like Baker in the Beauty for example,
And yet the shows that get renewed are those like nauticals.
And yes, there is a reality and that it does happen.
We're not going to deny. But why is this the
only thing you want to see? Right? Is so good?
Though I got to be so good? I feel like there,
(20:37):
I feel like I would just watch it for the actors, honestly,
like bad Bunnies, And you guys are the guy the
guy that played I'm sad. I don't know his name,
but like, oh my god, the guy that plays and
he's coming into he he's the new Black panther. Oh,
oh my god. You guys know that, right? Oh my god?
(20:58):
You okay? That man is I'm sorry, yeah, he's my
wallpaper right now. I'm not even joking. He's coming. He's
coming for everyone's next hope. So respectfully presents on screen respectfully.
No if I speak, No, if I speak sometimes I'm like,
(21:18):
I have to be professional. I don't. I don't know,
you know what, let's talk about it. That man period. Fine,
And then just you know, it was just so funny
to see so many people, like even the creator of
that character criticized his body and his body shape is like, oh,
(21:40):
he's not fit enough. And I'm like, sir, where where's
your Where is your Planet fitness gym membership? Your membership?
If you sixty five year old white man, where is it?
I'm no. I mean even my even even like my
fiance was like, oh man, I could, I'm like, I know,
(22:03):
he's that guy. And also what makes him even more
attractive is the fact that he's just been calling out
white people and like the discrimination that's happening nothing like
other people in the industry, And I'm like, it's still
but it's but also he's good, right, so then you're like, damn,
(22:25):
and he's like freaking Oscar like level of actor. Like
I'm hoping they better get another SAG Ensemble nomination. Honestly,
movies out right now. I mean we talked about women King.
That's like really changing the game and shifting the vibe.
But like I'm kind of bored with everything else. Yeah,
it's an interesting season right now. It just I haven't
(22:45):
seen it, but a lot of people are liking it,
even though it only did like four point eight million
in the box office, which is kind of really does
well in the box office nowadays. Let's talk about this
if you're talking crue like right right, but let's talk
about how the film. Okay, like who really goes to
the movies anymore. That's saying like if you have an
AMC membership card, that's probably like the people that are going.
(23:08):
That's why I go to the movies. That's the only
way I can't afford it. Um, that's a big thing.
The movie to the movies uture it is a premium
it's not accessible especially like I still live in Puerto Rico.
It's it's still here. I can go to the movies
for lesson ten bucks, as in like a normal thing,
and that's still something that I have to like, you know,
kind of plan out. It's like, Okay, I'm going to
(23:31):
the movies this weekend. This is my like my little
budget beccodding in the movies in New York. Jesus Christ.
I think something that's really crazy and a lot of
like these big time filmmakers, especially like these white filmmakers
that are just completely ignoring like, oh, people don't go
to the movies anymore, movies, movies anymore. Normal is the
(23:52):
only thing that's working because the families are the ones
that are saving the movie theaters. They're taking their kids,
so they're not in my house as much. But the
thing is that also that's your revenue because it's literally
like family like five and six and that's more than
a hundred bucks. It's volume, right, people have to like like, Okay,
I'm gonna take my kids to see Black Panther. That's like,
I know, like my family we were able to go
(24:13):
to the movies so often because we would go to
like first showings that were like, you know, the budget screening.
I am the ten am that was that is the
show you That's how I grew up. My mom would
literally because my parents would love to take me to
the movies, and that's those are earliest memory. But it's
also like we also get them now, I mean selected movies.
(24:35):
We get him on our couches, right, and like with
the pandemic now everybody's like, honestly, I will say, I
did check if Woman King was streaming you know whatever, dude,
like that whatever it was on, if it was on
a platform, and it wasn't, And I was like, I
have to go to the movies. Then I go to
the movies and then I'm like I walk in and
(24:55):
I feel like I'm transported back in the eighties and
I'm like, hell designed this the or what's going on
in here? Those are the best ones. But wait, I
will say after I got out and like I missed
this man. Nostalgia. This is nostalgia, like this feeling of
like I remember like when my mom used to drop
me off at the mall. Like I know, you guys,
(25:17):
you kids don't know what I'm talking. Yeah. Yeah. Puerto
Rico State guys talking about you, like talking about some
of these other gen z eears on here know what,
Yeah they don't. I don't know about the mall, you know,
(25:39):
but yeah, that nostalgia, like that that energy, like it
just brought it back and me and my fiance I
was like, I was like, we should go to the
movies more often. And also I remember because that was
like a big thing during COVID, right like COVID that
was like how are we going to get? Oh? And
what was the thing that was around before the movie
movie past? Oh my god. I did marketing project and
(26:01):
as an underground on the case that is movie Pass.
Movie Pass is really scandal because let me tell you, wait,
isn't it coming back? Email? I got one of the
exclusive emails telling me that it might be coming back,
and like if I want to be put on the list,
(26:22):
like hello, loyal followers. Know it almost has like cult
status and like the movie movie community because movie Pass
was high key not a scam. I don't want to
see an outright scan if I remember correctly, because it
was like three or four years ago that I studied this,
like an entire semester dedicated to this, like straight up
(26:45):
at in a marketing management class, and their strategy was,
you know, oh, you pay what ten bucks a month
to see, like I don't know, three movies or as
many movies as you want in the movie theater. But
here's the thing. Not it's not like here in Puerto
Rico where there's a monopoly with the movie theater chain.
It's just one movie theater chain you have to deal with.
You got to deal with multiple movie theater chains across
(27:07):
the United States. You have to deal with like independent
movie theaters, and you would have they would have to
like buy blocks of tickets from these theaters and those tickets,
sell them and use them for their members. And it
was just not sustainable because then first at first it
wasn't limited and like, okay, you clearly people are going
(27:28):
to use it. If you're paying tennle or is a
month to watch as many movies as you want, you
bet your little behind that people are going to line
up at the movie theaters almost every day to do
that because you're already paying. And then they limited to
three movies a month, and people still did that, and
it still wasn't profitable enough because most of the money,
(27:49):
the big box office money is that opening weekend, and
then they started limiting that. It's like, oh, you can
use these tickets to see something that's not on opening weekend.
I remember that. Yeah, it's like a whole thing that
it just kept like falling in on itself strategy wise,
So it's just kind of crazy. I'm interested in intrigue
just because I'm so invested already. I'm like, I'm invested
(28:10):
in movie past. It's not even for tea. I just
need to see how the story ends because it's like
to be continued. So I think I think it's interesting.
I have no expectations, so I think that's better than
low expectations. But I'm intrigued. But AMC works for a
MC because it's their chain, it's just exclusively their thing,
so they can control it. They can actually like make
(28:30):
money off of it. But when you're like a third party,
then it's like cooling. I am excited to see where
movie theaters, where all that kind of goes, because I
think it is something that still is special. It still
has a special feel. And I don't want to I
don't want to see it go, you know what I mean?
(28:51):
But and I don't it's just kid me a singlehandedly.
She really is, right, let's talk about it. Doesn't standing up?
Does she sleep? Ever, She's like, it's like, I don't know,
I don't know something. I don't know the Vampire. No.
I notally did that one movie where like literally the
point of the movie was not to fall asleep. What
(29:14):
movie was It's called The Invasion. I think it's from
like two thousand six. Remember the Aliens. You would get
like affected by the aliens, you couldn't fall asleep. And
she like start like sheking caffeine. Yeah, that's how she
just does her career. She like ever since then, she
never broke character, like you know how and cafar now
that they're teaching a class on bad bunny and we
(29:35):
just have to teach a class on the cool kid.
That's it's it's the it's these cultural phenomena that genuinely
you can teach a class on, Like who would have
thought people would go so hard for Nicole Kimman in
this Fierce Pinch breaks you know to the point that
your impact is is when drag queens like famous Drag World,
(29:58):
famous drag queens like Spoof you're commercial and you're went
to see Tricksie and got the Radio City Music Hall
and they literally did an entire spoof. Can you believe
at Radio City Musical? You know how many seats are
in there? So wild for two drag queens changed in
my Dame thing. I saw so many kind of famous
(30:23):
people in, like the queer community there, like g Gorgeous
was there, Judo Birch was there, and I'm like, oh
my god, everybody flew to New York to see these
two biological women just beyond that stage and do some
very interesting quick changes and just spoof. It was called
the spoof was GAMC And I think that's iconic. That's incredible.
(30:44):
Look look how far we look, how far we've come. Honestly,
it was alright, keep going, We're gonna keep going. But
for you guys like um, I mean obviously you've been
(31:07):
on some red carpets and done the thing like do
you guys see yourself going beyond film, like critiquing other
things other than film. You guys are so well versed
in culture and like wheels are turned in. I feel
like this is we're just like this is like our
gateway into filmmaking. It's like, well, if they don't want us,
see how we are who will snake our way in.
(31:28):
We'll start criticizing what they make and then we'll make
anything better. That's this industry. You gotta get in somehow.
And logo you fake it. I made that logo ill
this to see all this, all all these things that
was me because I was like, you know what, I'm
not gonna why would I hire anyone? I already do
(31:49):
this for fun. You're like, this is me, this is
what I do. This is the real me. No, it's
just something that is. It's like, if we're going to
do something, we're going to do it right. We need
it needs to look as fregid as possible. Ever since
there was a lot of people are going to try
to discredit us. And that's what we found. A lot
we've been denied access to a lot of places that
(32:10):
are easily accessible to men, and like, point blank, it's
the truth. And that's definitely been the journey and that's
what we've been trying to change. Um we recently. Our
most recent project is that we are have the Puerto
Rican Critics Association because there wasn't an association before, and
four of us were like, let's make this a thing
(32:31):
because there's a monopoly where traditional outlets are more favored
like radio and newspapers, but showed that we can do
this virtually. We can do this from wherever, and it
shouldn't be limited to like five people. Clearly there are
talent to people doing putting the work in the effort
(32:52):
and for obviously not everyone pursues this like to a
professional degree like we've been doing. We've been pursuing it,
you know, a little bit more professionally, but that doesn't
like take away like from the people that are genuinely
putting in so much effort into their YouTube channel, into
their their written reviews um because it is at the
end of the day where some of us do this
(33:14):
for fun, but also the the great thing about it
is that we have fun with it. It is a
passion for the arts. It is a passion for for
the movies. Like I think that's kind of a common
thread that unites us um as film critics and just
like people who love film in general. And that's what
makes it not always feel like a job to do.
It's just genuinely feels like, oh my god, we're going
(33:35):
to cover this festival that even if it is technically
a work trip like I've never traveled internationally before that
before can like my passport was pristine, My passport was decorative.
So you know, without like pursuing this, like, it would
(33:56):
not have opened as many doors as it has for
us so far. And I feel like it's just kind
of the beginning. Yeah, let aar Yeah, absolutely no. That honestly, Ken,
I think was a turning point for us because, like,
for example, because of film criticism, because we were credited
as pressed for the festival, I was able to pitch
my feature at the festival to a producer. At the
(34:17):
heart of it, like I want to be a screenwriter,
and then I wants to be a screenwriter. We wanted
to get into filmmaking. And one thing that we always
stress is that we do this to pay tribute and
promote and support the people that are paving the way
for us, the people that are doing the work now,
because film criticism is still very much male, is still
(34:37):
very much white, and that's why a lot of films
like The Woman King sometimes did not get the respect
it deserves. And now that we're seeing after the pandemic
really gave access to more people of color doing film criticism,
and that's why we've been seeing better reception for these
films because the people that get it are getting absolutely
absolutely and also not only that, but you guys are.
(34:59):
And it's something that I always talk about, um with
I mean the artists that come through here. It's like
you have to do it and talk about it to
at least put that out there and then not only that,
but be about it. And you guys are both. I
mean I see it every day front seat with what
Josie does with what I need that here, um, and
then how Josie seats about Lana and then what you
guys are doing together within the work that you're doing. Um,
(35:21):
it's evident and it's and y'all are sucking doing it.
And I'm telling you right now as a person who
is behind the camera and in some of these rooms,
like it is necessary. We need you so um, continue
doing the damn work and doing the damn thing um
because it's important and uh, we need better scripts. Honestly,
(35:46):
it's a desert out here sometimes in terms of right
good writers. They need to higher Josie jesus hey for
real though now that I think that's something that we
see often um in this space, especially like you know,
when you're at a film festival. We were in Toronto
just now in September, and you watch like ten eleven,
fifteen movies in a weekend, like in to span a
(36:08):
few days, and you consume so much media and like such,
what is such a common threat is that everybody wants
to be a director. Everybody wants like their name to
be you know, big, loud and proud, which is valid.
But what happens more often than not is like our
reviews tend to be like, oh, it looks great, but
(36:29):
the writing is atrocious. The writing is really it really
needs work. The story needs to be fleshed out, you know,
you know, not to not to name any names, not
to name any names, but like Steven Spielberg's new film,
I mean, it takes a lot for me to the
West Side Story. It was better than The Stablements because
(36:49):
I did not buy with West six Story. But West
Story said, but it's because West Story is an adaptation.
There is a previous story. I mean, it's an adaptation
of an adaptation. There is story. And then with the
Fable Men's like Aana wrote a great review for Screenspec,
but it's it's missing, it's missing a lot, but of
course it's Steven Spielberg, so it's getting praised, of course,
but you know, you know, exactly exactly, we'll believe it
(37:15):
at that. Well, here, this is the moment of the
show that I ask you speed questions, and I love
that Josie's like in the hot seat right now. This
is like a because she's always the one sending me
the questions. It's your turn. Okay, what's a movie you've
(37:35):
seen a thousand times and you enjoy it every time?
First of prey yea oh oh, that's a good one.
I'm gonna go with my background right now. People can't
see it, but it's portrait Relighting on Fire, which is
probably gonna be like, oh my god, is she okay?
And I'm maybe I love, I love, I love. Just
guess me. Every time it's like being emotional, but in
(37:57):
a in a beautifully aesthetic pleasing sense. I just like
when a movie can make me cry every single time,
I'm like, that's good writing. That's how you know the
writing is good. At the same moment you cry, it's
automatic scaring. Okay. If you could have any celebrity, actor, producer, director,
any any celebrity as a guest on your podcast, who
(38:18):
would it be? And why Ryan Johnson tell me? Why
tell me? He's a white man. However I find him.
You guys, we also don't. We don't hate white man,
just like I find him. I find him so fascinating
because he is, like i'd like to think he's an ally.
(38:41):
Every time I hear him speak, I mean, the final
shot with another Adam mus we can't say, but like
glass Onion was good. The way that Ryan Johnson has
such an interesting lens, and I feel like he's one
of those few Maale directors that understands what the female
gaze is and actually knows how to portray it. And
(39:03):
but in his own way. It's not like he's trying
to be like a cheap copycat. I don't know, I
just it just feels like Ryan Johnson is such an
interesting individual and I would love to pick his brain
because you know, he was such a figure of controversy
for making a good Star Wars movie. You know that
(39:23):
people really really just dug their nails into because it
gave the female characters something to work with. I think
that's the peal. He makes few more characters that are people,
they are humans, They are flawed, they are complex, they
are women are actually Leia or Ghana more to work
(39:46):
with in that one movie than the entire franchise put together.
Leia has always been such a good character because of
Carrie Fisher. She's more than just that bikini. She is
more than just that bikini. I mean, Carrie Fisher constantly
would have to rewrite her lines for George Lucas light
pa Queen Um. So I feel like Ryan Johnson then
(40:07):
moving on from that and just making his own franchise
at this point that uplifts women of color and puts
them in this as the focal point in these films,
which is basically what the Knives Out franchise has become.
I think is so interesting, and I feel like I
would just love to have him sit down and just
be like, not to just you know, be a fan girl,
but genuinely sit down and just like pick his brain. Honestly. Yeah.
(40:33):
For me, a very selfish one would be Joseph Quinn
because I think he's neat. He's just the professional. The
selfish one said that instead of Richard Madam, evolution has
taken the ulterior motive. The ulterior motive love that, Okay, ladies.
(41:00):
Last question, what reminds you of home or makes you
feel like home hot as hell, sweat night like the answer, Yeah,
for me, it's my grandmother's cooking because um, right now,
she can't cook as much because of her heart, and
she always makes sure to make me um either or
(41:21):
boyos whenever I go to visit every time, So like
food is just the way to our hearts, is I
think it's it's food. It's walking around and just sweating
your ass off, just existing but enjoying it because you know,
as much, yeah, as much as you're like down, you know,
(41:43):
because of the heat. It's it's something that you learn
to appreciate, especially like I haven't lived anywhere but Puerto
Rico my entire life yet so far, but every time
I leave and it's like cold, Like yeah, it's like
a little relief, I suppose, you know, for the first
couple of days, Like oh, I don't have to depend
on air conditioning. I can like wear a cute fit
with layers. But there's just nothing like home. Is, nothing
(42:07):
like being able to you know, where, like refreshing clothing,
like where my guadia's my style is, you know, my
style is, But that's fine. I love to you know,
I'm I can be feminine, but I can also like
rock and aboio aesthetic and that's what I right now. Yes, yes, indeed,
(42:31):
if we want to follow you, if we want to
like follow your journey. Obviously you have your dope podcast. Um.
Is there anywhere on social media that we can follow
you on? What's the plug? Um? You can follow me
at Captain Melendez on Twitter and letterbox if you want
to see what else I think about movies that don't
get covered on the channel. Um, and yeah, follow film
(42:54):
Talk on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts wherever you consume your podcast.
But people tend to like to watch us and I
think that's neat. And you can follow me at the
Josie Marie on Twitter and letterbox and of course film
talk f I L M M E T A l
K wherever you like getting your podcast. But yes, do
watch us on you tube because Nana is really good
with the editing. Thank you, I love this, Alana. We
(43:16):
might we might need to tax this because we got
some videos that we're talking about from what aneath. That's
so Josie put the plug in on that. Well he is.
Thank you guys so much, for spending some time with us. Josie,
thank you for coming in the hot seat. It's such
a pleasure to hear more about what you do and
thank you for all you do from a meta and
you guys are different being thank you for having us honestly, Yeah,
(43:42):
it's been a pleasure and I just I think that
your voices are so important and it needs to be heard.
So I hope that that's what we're doing here on
what Anita, and I hope that it continues to reach
more people because it's necessary and Monannita is a production
of Sonato in partnership with I Heart Radio's Michael Luda
(44:05):
podcast Network. For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit
the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows.
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