Rating: «« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 147 min.

Another week, another comic-book-related beat-down between famous superheroes. This week it’s X-Men: Apocalypse, the sixth title in the popular Marvel series and the third of more recent slate of films featuring younger versions of the characters. This tale is set in the ’80s and depicts perhaps the most dangerous adversary the mutants have encountered. So, does it keep the prequel winning-streak alive?

Well, it certainly isn’t as strong as the two previous chapters, which took unique approaches to the comic-book material that included time-travel and an exploration of the complex relationship between two characters who would eventually become adversaries. By comparison, this follow-up is a rather standard and straight-forward effort, featuring a nasty antagonist bent on nothing more than world destruction and domination.

A prologue in ancient Egypt introduces Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac), the world’s first and most powerful mutant. This villain is a megalomaniacal type who can transfer his consciousness into other living beings and gain their powers, giving him unending life and ever-growing abilities. After centuries in suspended animation, the mutant is reawakened in the 1980’s and violently makes his presence felt.

Power mad, Apocalypse decides that the modern world is filled with false Gods — he seeks to destroy it all, take control and rebuild as the planet’s true deity. He ensnares the assistance of Magneto (Michael Fassbender), Psylocke (Olivia Munn), Angel (Ben Hardy), and Storm (Alexandra Shipp) to do so. This leaves Professor X (James McAvoy), young mutants like Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), Beast (Nicholas Hoult), Nightcrawler (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and Quicksilver (Evan Peters) tasked with saving the world.

Those referenced above are only the tip of the iceberg and there are far more characters, mutants, and subplots that enter the fray. As expected, even some series vets pop up for a scene or two to loosely tie all of the movies together. Each one has issues and troubled pasts (sometimes with each other) that are introduced or elaborated on, adding to a lengthy narrative. There are probably about 15 or 16 central roles. It’s excessive even by the overfilled standards we’re now used to seeing in these superhero adaptations.

At least time is taken with each role to develop the mutants, even if it results in an extended running time. Of course, some elements work better than others. There is a blooming romance and a few moments of inner torment that we’ve seen many times before with these characters. Their personal drama is so familiar (most viewers will have seen variations of this five times before) that it doesn’t have the impact it should.

However, two of the more eccentric characters do engage and ultimately steal the show — Quicksilver and Nightcrawler. They both have very different but likable personalities, more unusual personal issues and fascinating, visually dynamic powers. Again, a mansion-set slow-motion sequence featuring the former may be the highlight of the movie.

And Isaac as Apocalypse does the best he can in a difficult part, caked in make-up, written in a muted manner and generally lacking in bad-guy charisma. At least he doesn’t succumb to histrionics. He’s an intimidating adversary who wipes people out without a second thought and leaves them half-encased in walls or the ground. Additionally, there are some fun neon-tinged visuals that hark back to the ’80s. Most importantly, the action itself is clear and easy to follow.

In the end, X-Men: Apocalypse is a middle-of-the-road effort in the series and suffers from too many characters and subplots. Still, I think some of the press surrounding the movie has been a bit harsh. For all its faults, it is a well-made and reasonably entertaining superhero flick. With the behemoth Marvel Universe now in full swing, these characters may be starting to look out of fashion, but their adventures should still please casual moviegoers.

By Glenn Kay
For the Sun

Rating: ««« out of 4 stars

Running Time: 116 min.

Writer/director Shane Black is probably the reigning champ of buddy pictures. He wrote Lethal Weapon (1987) and the underrated (if you ask me), The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996). Black has also been responsible for numerous and sometimes uncredited script rewrites on titles like Predator (1987).

Black’s witty, tough-guy banter is as good as it gets and he’s parlayed it into further success by scripting and directing more recent flicks. The hysterical Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Iron Man 3 (2013) are good examples. His latest, The Nice Guys, features two more misfits bickering their way through a murder mystery.

Holland March (Ryan Gosling) is a hard-drinking widower working as a private investigator and raising his daughter Holly (Angourie Rice). Jackson Healy (Russell Crowe) is a small-time enforcer who takes money to beat people up.

When Rice is employed to threaten and dissuade March from following up on a case involving a missing niece, he does so coolly and efficiently. But when other underworld figures put the shakedown on Healy, he approaches the weary PI to help figure out what is going on. The case forces the odd pair to traverse through some seedy elements — specifically, the adult film and automotive industries.

This project isn’t as strong as Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, but it does have some assets. In fact, the complicated conspiracy plot that unfolds isn’t the reason to watch; sure, it’s a reasonably enjoyable crime tale that takes a couple of unusual twists and turns, but this isn’t a mind-blowing whodunit with a shocking reveal. Instead, it’s the cast and dialogue that elevate the material. Gosling and Crowe are clearly having a great time with the script and their unscrupulous characters. They milk every barb and bizarre situation for all its worth.

The trailers may have dulled some of the impact of a few comedic moments, but there are several laughs you won’t see coming. Despite being a PI, March isn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer. Besides regularly endangering the life of his child, he’s not a wordsmith and a few of his attempts at insight (one comment in particular involving Adolf Hitler) are amusingly obtuse.

Early on, there’s a great scene involving a B&E gone horribly wrong. As the falls and mishaps add up, March even begins to assume he might be indestructible. Gosling isn’t too goofy in the part and meets the silliness with a likable sad-sack quality. Healy is level-headed by comparison, garnering a lot of laughs from his blunt and brutish reactions to unfriendly individuals. His more roguish qualities are counterbalanced nicely by a friendship with March’s daughter.

Together, the two eke laughs out of every long pause, unexpected comment and tangential conversation that occurs. The ’70s production design and fashions are a hoot, too, leading to running jokes about Richard Nixon and giant killer bees that are amusingly paid off late in the film.

Admittedly, with writing like this that features extended bickering, the pacing is shaggy in spots and there are a few slow sections as the motivations of characters are slowly unveiled. Thankfully, the leads seem to be having such a great time that the feeling becomes infectious. Personally, while it doesn’t hit the heights of the director’s best efforts, there’s still plenty of good tough-guy laughs in The Nice Guys to warrant a recommendation.

By Glenn Kay
For the Sun

Specter haunts the dreams of children, adults alike

The 2019 movie “The Curse of La Llorona” portrays the legendary ghost of La Llorona as a scary spirit that stalks the night and hunts for children. As the old tale goes, her own children drowned in a river many years ago, which set off a tragic chain reaction.

But according to people who grew up with parents and grandparents telling them the Hispanic story, pop culture has completely lost the true essence of the cautionary tale of La Llorona.

Rosalia Pacheco grew up listening to the story of La Llorona, and feels a connection with the woman who many consider a harbinger of death.

In an interview with the Sun, she laid out the issues she has with the film, and what she considers a misrepresentation of the haunting figure.

“The movies that have been done so far have been very against, or contrary – in my view – to what I grew up with and what the meaning behind these stories is,” Pacheco said.

According to the myth, La Llorona married a wealthy Spaniard and the couple bore two children. But the relationship went terribly wrong when she learned that her husband cheated on her.

The stories vary on the ending; with one saying that she decided to drown her children as an act of revenge, and then decided to kill herself as well. Another version says that the children accidentally drowned, and she committed suicide out of grief.

Each version of the story ends with people being able to hear La Llorona crying and searching for her dead children at night.

Pacheco grew up listening to her parents share the story of La Llorona.  Her father, Ray John de Aragon, penned the book  “The Legend of La Llorona,” and her mother Rosa Maria Calles wrote a play called “Tale of the Wailing Woman.”

Now Pacheco has her own role in telling the legend; she tours around New Mexico with her show “La Llorona, the Wailing Woman,” in which she sings songs and tells people the different versions of the story of La Llorona. The New Mexico Humanities Council sponsors Pacheco’s show.

Pacheco ends her presentation by putting on a mask that makes her look more like La Llorona, and then she interacts with the audience as the character and answers questions. She said the audience enriches the program with their questions and their own stories about their connections to La Llorona.

Pacheco said the tale of La Llorona serves as more of a cautionary tale in Hispanic culture rather than a scary one.

“The story of La Llorona reminds us that we have to be safe, especially near ditches or rivers that could be very full,” Pacheco said.  “This story is a cautionary tale that has been used for generations to remind us of that need to be careful in places like that.”

Markos Chavez, the director of  UNM-Gallup  Zollinger Library, also grew up hearing the story of La Llorona from his family members. He said his mom’s side of the family told it as a cautionary tale as well.

“The reason they would tell us these stories is because it’s kind of a way to get you to behave and do what you’re told,” Chavez said. “Your grandparents would tell you this to make sure you don’t sneak out at night or go and do things when you’re not supposed to. They would say that if you get caught out there that La Llorona will find you and take you away because she’s looking for her missing kids.”

Pacheco said that the true focus of the story has nothing to do with murder.

“It’s stereotyped as this horrible story that presents women and motherhood in a negative light,” Pacheco said. “It is used as a scare tactic for children to obey. That doesn’t come from within the people who grew up with the story.”

Meanwhile, Pacheco said she sees the story as a teaching tool rather than a spooky tale.

“Cautionary tales are a genre of myths or stories that teach a lesson that are cautionary that tell you ‘Okay, there’s this danger that you need to stay away from.’ There’s a reason for cautionary tales and a reason they’ve been passed down in oral tradition, not just in Hispanic communities but in every group of people throughout the world,” she said.

She said the age-old story can still teach modern folks a thing or two — people still drown in the Rio Grande or get their cars stuck in flooded ditches.

Pacheco just finished up her presentations for the year. She will be scheduling more for the spring of 2023, but those dates are pending.

More information about Pacheco’s presentation can be found on the New Mexico Humanities Council’s website under Public Programs.

By Molly Ann Howell
Sun Correspondent

Teaching kids their ABCs at Jefferson Elementary School

As Mrs. Lori Trujillo talks about her career as a teacher of nearly 13 years, she helps students fit the missing letters on an alphabet puzzle type exercise, gently asking each kindergarten student where that “P”  “T” or “S” letter belongs.

She offers a warm smile of encouragement and positive reinforcement to her young pupils. Learning the alphabet and some basic writing skills are just a small part of teaching kindergarten, said Trujillo, who was selected as Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe’s November Teacher of the Month.

Trujillo explained that learning how to talk a student through these alphabet lessons creates a connection to what’s on paper. As a young student approached her with his assignment she had him utter the letter “B” multiple times so he could readily make the sound-to-letter connection.

It’s one of the many joys of laying out a roadmap for the youngest of students, as Trujillo says their “eyes are so open” in wonderment of their environment.

“They say what’s on their mind and they’re honest,” she added.

Trujillo, who was raised in Albuquerque, is practically a New Mexico native. Her family re-located from Illinois to the Land of Enchantment when she was a child. She began her career in education as a teaching assistant, and has done her share of library work, tutoring and substitute teaching.

She fondly recalled one of her first jobs in education, which entailed watching over middle school students who were in a bit a trouble.

“They called me the suspension lady,” she said, giving away a big smile.

In 1997, she made the move with her husband to Gallup. Some years later, she would graduate from college thanks to the GOALS 2000 program.

“I was very fortunate,” she said, of being accepted into the competitive degree program.

GOALS 2000 was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. Congress appropriated millions of dollars to pay for the education of would-be teachers.

With her college education completed, Trujillo was hired at Jefferson Elementary School where her primary focus has been on early childhood education. When she first started teaching, the school was experimenting with combining grade levels.

So, she taught some K-1 combined classes and taught one or both grades until she was assigned to the kindergarten level exclusively.

“I like working with them at the early stages,” she said.

And she gets the pleasure of familiarizing her students with technology in the classroom. A lot has changed, she said, over the course of her 26 years of working in education.

Gone are the days of library microfiche and index cards. Students and teachers are expected to possess computer skills.

“Even kindergarteners are expected to take a test on a computer,” she said.

While being technologically savvy has its advantages in the digital age, Trujillo said she wants kids to not only talk, but to touch things so they can best connect with their surroundings.

“I do agree with technology,” she said. “Its’ the way of the world. But it doesn’t’ allow them to touch and feel, and talk with one another.”

It’s that problem-solving attitude that keeps her moving forward with technological and educational advancements.

Trujillo lauds her coworkers for creating a dynamic work environment.

“We have a wonderful staff here,” she said. “Everyone is willing to sacrifice and to do their part to make this such a good school.”

She encourages anyone interested in teaching to start out as a teaching assistant or work at a local school in some capacity to get a feel of the classroom and overall environment. Her experiences prior to college helped her to hit the ground running after earning her teaching degree.

To nominate your favorite teacher or professor, drop by Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe, 306 S. Second St., and fill out short form stating why your teacher is the best in the west – or at least Gallup.

By Babette Herrmann
Sun Editor