Melonie Diaz Tagged Articles at Cinematical

There are no ingredients in Nothing Like the Holidays that you're not already familiar with from other big-crazy-family Christmas movies. Then again, so what? The Christmas breakfast my mom makes every year never has anything new either -- in fact, there would be open rebellion if it did -- and that suits everyone just fine.

Nothing Like the Holidays is warm and comfortable in that way, mostly pleasant, mostly well acted, and moderately entertaining. Directed by Alfredo De Villa (Washington Heights), it boasts a luminous ensemble of Latino actors as two generations of Puerto Ricans living in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. It captures the cultural flavor of their yuletide festivities and intra-family squabbling without being so specific that non-Latino audiences can't appreciate it. Details aside, anyone with a family can relate to most of what happens here.

What happens is that the Rodriguez family gathers for Christmas. Edy (Alfred Molina) and Anna (Elizabeth Peña), married for 36 years, own a neighborhood bodega and eagerly anticipate the reunion of their three children. Their oldest, Mauricio (John Leguizamo), is married to a Jewish girl, Sarah (Debra Messing), and they both work for a law firm in New York. The youngest, Roxanna (Vanessa Ferlito), has been trying to break into showbiz in Hollywood. The middle child, Jesse (Freddy Rodriguez), is a Marine who has been discharged after three years in Iraq, just in time for the holidays. Buffoonish lothario and electronics store owner Cousin Johnny (Luis Guzman) is there, too, and so is Ozzy (Jay Hernandez), a former thug who now works for Edy.

Feel that chill in the air? That's because you left the kitchen window open -- go on, I'll wait -- but that secondary chill you're feeling would be the multiplex yuletide season turning in our direction, ready and waiting to melt the bleep out of your heart. Last year, it was This Christmas and The Perfect Holiday begging to be mistaken for one another (in title, not in quality).

This year we've got at least two winter-themed family-minded dramedies waiting in the wings. First out the gate is Nothing Like The Holidays (the trailer's now up at Apple), in which a Hispanic-American family gathers for what might be their last Christmas spent together. Sooooo ... it's basically This Christmas, with the casting emphasis on a different minority. However, for all that film's familiar beats, I found myself surprisingly won over, so here's to hoping that something similar might come of Holidays on November 21st.

In the other corner, we have Four Christmases, in which Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon find themselves shuffling off to visit each of their parents on X-Mas Day. If this (embed-less) TV spot on YouTube is any indication, Vaughn's creaky neurotic shtick and infant spewage will be par for the course, not to mention the last thing I might expect to come from the non-doco directorial debut of Seth Gordon (The King of Kong). As the Hollywood gods have decreed it, Christmases is set to open just before Thanksgiving on November 26th. Ah, the smell of leftovers...

Back in December, I told you about a new holiday movie in the works called Humboldt Park. Starring John Leguizamo and Freddy Rodriguez, the film was so specifically described as a movie about a family reunion in Chicago's Humboldt Park over the holidays. Hooked yet? Now The Hollywood Reporter has shared more of the cast, and a bit more about the mysterious plot. First up -- the project's cast list now spots the likes of Alfred Molina (Spider-Man 2), Melonie Diaz (Be Kind Rewind), Jay Hernandez (Crazy/Beautiful), Mercedes Ruehl (The Fisher King), Luis Guzman (Fast Food Nation), and Vanessa Ferlito (Death Proof).

As for the plot, it's not much, but Freddy and John are brothers in this familial, reuniting clan, Ruehl is the matriarch, Molina is the bodega-owning dad, Hernandez is a friend of the family who works there, Diaz is Freddy's former lover, and Ferlito is the sister, who is friends with Diaz. That's one heck of a family with Latin talent, and who wouldn't want Molina as their dad?! Production begins right before Valentines Day in Chicago, and I imagine it will be out for the holiday season. With the bodega inclusion, maybe we'll get some foodie flavor and Latin wine as well.

Man, I am so totally stoked about Be Kind Rewind. Everything about the movie -- yes, including the fact that Kirsten "I'm Adorable Even Though the Internets Hate Me" Dunst might be in it -- sounds completely fantastic, and I refuse to let my customary pessimism harsh my buzz about this one. For those of you who have somehow overlooked our previous posts on the subject, the movie is about a guy with a Magnetic Brain (of course he'll be played by Jack Black) who accidentally erases all the tapes in the video store at which his best friend (Mos Freaking Def) works. You know, with his big ol' head. So, in order to not disappoint the store's only regular customer -- an old lady whose mind is going -- the friends do the logical thing, and set out to recreate the movies she liked to rent. Yes, that's right: Jack Black and Mos Def shoot their own versions of Rush Hour, Lion King, and Robocop. And the movie was written and will be directed by Michel Gondry. Have you wet yourselves with joy yet?

The latest update on the film* is that, in addition to Danny Glover (who we already knew would appear), Melonie Diaz and Mia Farrow have also joined the cast, with Diaz as Mos Def's coworker, and Farrow, one assumes/hopes, as the shop's customer. Honestly. The only way this movie can get better is if Tommy Lee Jones joins the cast. If he does, the fact that shooting doesn't being until next month will not stop me from camping out for tickets. Like, now.

*Disturbingly, Dunst's name is not mentioned in the most recent Variety article, so make of that what you will. For the moment, I'm choosing to believe it was an oversight, rather than evidence that her talks to appear didn't work out.

Power Up (Professional Organization of Women in Entertainment Reaching Up) is a non-profit group that was created "to promote the visibility and integration of gay women in entertainment, the arts, and all forms of media." Until now, the group's focus has been primarily on film shorts, handing out grants totaling about $1.5 million to filmmakers, and producing and distributing the works. Now, they've announced they're making a foray into the world of features with a little picture called - ready? - The Itty Bitty Titty Committee. It's a "feminist comedy," with lesbians. What's it about? Oh, just a woman "finds her purpose in life after she hooks up with a radical underground feminist group." You know, typical movie stuff.

The movie was written by Tina Mabry and Abigail Shafran and will be directed by Jamie Babbit who, in addition to directing episodes of Nip/Tuck, Malcolm in the Middle, and Gilmore Girls, also helmed But I'm a Cheerleader, a lesbian comedy that actually managed to get distribution. Though the cast is largely unknown, Melonie Diaz, who costarred in the widely-praised Raising Victor Vargas, is set to play the main character. The film starts shooting this week.