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This November Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on Netflix

We can’t wait to watch this new adaptation of Oscar-winning director Guillermo del Toro of Mary Shelley’s classic tale of Victor Frankenstein, a brilliant but egotistical scientist who brings a creature to life in a …

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Renée Victor Has Passed Away, and We Will All Miss Her

Renée Victor has–will always have–one of those faces. You will recognize her immediately…and not just her face, but her voice, the characters she played, and the strong, brave spirit she always embodied. For almost forty …

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LOCKED Is Intense and Entertaining A talk with the Director

We caught up with the director of LOCKED David Yarovesky (Brightburn, Nightbooks), just before we screened the film with no spoilers. The film took nineteen days to shoot. Watch our quick interview. Synopsis: No escape. No …

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At a Screening of Dog Man the Movie

It was an enjoyable screening with two of the grandsons. The five year old said it was happy and sad at the same time. And he loved it! The twelve year old who has read …

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Unstoppable Streaming on Prime Video

Unstoppable is the inspiring true story of Anthony Robles (Jharrel Jerome) who was born with one leg but whose indomitable spirit and unbreakable resolve empowered him to defy the odds and pursue his dreams. With the …

This November Guillermo del Toro’s Frankenstein on NetflixRenée Victor Has Passed Away, and We Will All Miss HerLOCKED Is Intense and Entertaining A talk with the DirectorAt a Screening of Dog Man the MovieUnstoppable Streaming on Prime Video

Selena Gomez, Victoria Justice (and more?) and “Kid’s Choice Awards” Saturday

It’s always one big, screamy party when Nickelodeon gives out the Kid’s Choice Awards, and here again, live-on-tape on Saturday at 8P on Nickelodeon.

Erik Estrada, Nichole Muñoz in “Chupacabra vs. the Alamo” on SyFy

It promises to be just as wonderfully awful as most of the SyFy movies, but here it is: Erik Estrada (Chips) and Nichole Muñoz (the upcoming Defiance series, also on SyFy) are at the center of an alien invasion that causes a new last stand in Texas on Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, 9P on SyFy an again at 1A very early Sunday morning. Zak Santiago (Cult) and Vanesa Tomasino (Sabrina’s Secret Life) are in there somewhere, too.

Season (Series?) Finales for “Last Man Standing” and “Malibu Country” on ABC Friday

No final word has come down, and both shows are definitely on the bubble for ABC, so enjoy what might be your last go-round with Hector Elizondo as everybody’s best boss on Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing at 8P and Jai Rodriguez as everybody’s favorite gay guy on Reba McIntyre’s Malibu Country at 8:30P. (Frankly, we liked it better when it was called Reba.)

More Selena–No, Seriously!–on “Chelsea Lately” Thursday Night

This is one hard-working girl: first Letterman on Monday, then Fallon on Tuesday, now Chelsea Handler on Thursday on E!. And she’s not done…

Sara Paxton is a Latina with an Identity Problem–Not of Her Own Making

Sara Paxton

Sara Paxton probably looks familiar to you. She’s a beautiful young blonde, turning 25 in April, who’s done fam-fantasies like Aquamarine, horror films (Last House on the Left, and the much classier The Innkeepers, the crazy-violent Shark Night 3D), guest star spots on TV series and a Lifetime TV movie (Blue-Eyed Butcher). She’s actually part of a musical, Lovestruck, premiering on ABC Family in April (the soundtrack has already been released). And she’s a major part of two high-profile films at SXSW this year, the edgy rom-com The Bounceback and an off-kilter thriller called Cheap Thrills, where she plays a crazy, tattoo’d bad girl.

Sara is also Latina. Born in Southern California, her mother is Mexican and she speaks fluent Spanish–has since birth. And try as she might, she can’t get cast as a Latino character–ever.

One of her early roles in Greetings from Tucson

Sara’s part of a small but frustrated group of actors who simply don’t fit the racial stereotype of “Latino” in all its diversity. She’s done nothing to hide her ethnicity; in fact, she celebrates it. But being blonde, blue-eyed, and unaccented just doesn’t fit the frame.

She isn’t alone. Alexis Bledel (Gilmore Girls), JoAnna Garcia Swisher (Reba, Animal Hospital), Julie Gonzalo (Dallas), Bella Thorne, and Sarah Ramos (Parenthood), share a similar problem. Ironically, it’s a dilemma they share with some actress on the other end of the ethnic spectrum–women of color like Zoë Saldaña, Tatyana Ali, and Megan Good who have an equally difficult time finding Latina roles because they simply look “too black.”

Latina Magazine talked with her last year about the dilemma. They asked her why she’s never played a Latina, Paxton said “I’ve tried! Are you kidding me? I’ve gone on auditions and I’ve been like, ‘You know my family’s [Latin]…I’ve spoken a little bit of Spanish, and they’re just like, ‘Ha ha ha–that’s good!’ It’s a battle she’s not ready to quit, but she admits: “They’re not going to hire the ‘white girl’ to play Latina.” Read the rest of this entry »

A Semi-Busy Thursday for Latinos on TV

There are almost as many pre-emptions and repeats as originals on the usual cram-full Thursday, but let’s be grateful: there are only a few more weeks of new programming at all. So grab Michael Trevino at 8P on The Vampire Diaries, then Nina Lisandrello as Tess, makes a discovery that will change her relationship with Cat on Beauty and the Beast at 9P, also on the CW. Sara Ramirez in Grey’s Anatomy at 9P on ABC, opposite Naya Rivera, Lea Michele and Blake Jenner on Fox’s Glee, and stick around for Guillermo Díaz bein’ all tough and assassin-y on Scandal, 10P on ABC. DVR time!

Eva Mendes on “Letterman” Tonight

She’s always fun, and she’ll certainly look incredible, so catch Eva Mendes on Late Night with David Letterman at 11:35P on CBS.

“SVU,” “Suburgatory,” “Psych,” and “Fire” New on Wednesday

Danny Pino keeps catchin’ the bad guys on Law & Order: SVU, 9P on NBC; Modern Family is a repeat–again–but Bunnie Rivera is as hilarious as ever on Suburgatory at 9:30P on ABC; James Roday proves “It’s No Country for Two Old Men” on Psych, 10P on USA, and Monica Raymund insists on being tough and beautiful simultaneously on Chicago Fire at 10P on NBC.

Al Madrigal Keeps It Comin’

Al Madrigal is one of the smartest, funniest Latino comics on TV these days… and one of the busiest, especially for a guy without a regular gig.

If you haven’t seen his not-nearly-frequent-enough appearances as The Daily Show’s one and only Latino correspondent, they’re worth seeking out all by themselves. (In fact, we’ve put one of our favorites below…check it out.) He’s also visible in everything from commercials to stand-up specials, and not-so-visible in Free Agents, the dubious sitcom on NBC that had the distinction of being the first cancellation of the season.

But does that stop him? Not at all. Now Al’s been cast as the “best friend”  in About a Boy, NBC’s new single-camera sitcom (you know, like The Office), freely adapted from the cute movie of the same name, starring Jason Kims and Minnie Driver and directed by Jon (Iron Man) Favreau. Madrigal’s “Andy is Jason’s best friend and Laurie’s (Anjelah Johnson’s) husband…and given the high-profile pedigree of people like Driver and Favreau, this one has a decent shot at seeing the fall schedule. But one never knows.

Still not enough? Al’s also got a Comedy Central standup special coming up–Why is the Rabbit Crying?–coming up in April. We’ll tell you more about it when it gets closer. Meanwhile…enjoy The Daily Show…

 

Latinos on DVD: “Zero Dark Thirty,” “Ghost Storm”

Some weeks there are more DVDs than we can track with Latinos in key roles. This week…not so much. Édgar Ramírez is part of the very large, very fast-moving cast in the Academy Award-winning Zero Dark Thirty. And Carlos Bernard of 24 and Dallas is stuck in a pretty wretched SyFy movie, Ghost Storm. Other than that, and the release of the Spanish-language Fatherland…it’s all quiet on the DVD front this week.

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