Highly Relevant Podcast

Miguel Sirgado is the editor-in-chief of ¡HOLA! USA, one of the most important Hispanic magazines in the US. We discuss his bilingual strategy for reaching today's highly divided US Hispanic, what the criteria is for defining a Hispanic celebrity (for example is Bruno Mars Hispanic?) and why he was at one point hesitant in taking the job.

Then we chat with Alonso Ruizpalacios, the Mexican director of MUSEO, one of the best reviewed Latino films of 2018 starring Gael Garcia Bernal. Him and I explore why he wants to make movies for people who shun predictable endings and why Mexico is more interested in celebrity than its own countries problems.

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We review The Predator with film and culture critic Mike Sargent (1:17) and we examine the controversy behind the film. Then I talk to film journalist Clayton Davis (21:23) who was at the Toronto International Film Festival and tells us what films have already positioned themselves as the frontrunners for Best Picture at the Oscars.

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This week, we talk about Netflix's hit show EL BARCO (The Ship). Its from Spain, spoken in Castillian and Jack's wife will be telling us why the show is so engrossing! Plus, four trailers were released this week, between movies and TV shows, that will be talked about all year. Which ones are they? Listen in!

RottenTomatoes overhauled their eligibility rules to allow more diverse critics to be heard. What sparked the idea behind the new ruling, what took them so long, and will Spanish-language reviews continue to be allowed on the site? (3:50)

Then we chat with Latina journalist Victoria Leandra who co-wrote a recent Bloomberg article on why Latinos still don't have a movie on the level of Crazy Rich Asians or Black Panther. Is it a lack of talent or is it prejudice? (17:29)

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Rolling Stone Magazine Latina music journalist, Isabela Raygoza, joins us to discuss how US Latinas owned the MTV VMA's this year (1:05), but what does that say about the dismissal of Latin-American artists? We also talk about that Maluma performance (8:09) that has left some scratching their heads, including me. We'll break down the good and the bad of Maluma in the VMA's.

Then… how many of you have heard the rule that you can't bring food into a movie theater? Is it true or a massive myth? I called 3 big movie chains and asked them point blank about their food policy (22:07).

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Marysol Castro was recently named Major League Baseball's first Latina PA announcer and the first female PA announcer in Mets' history. Before this new adventure, the NY native of Puerto Rican parents, began working at WPIX TV in NYC doing traffic reports, later returning to anchor, then becoming the weather anchor at Good Morning America on ABC, The Early Show on CBS and ESPN. She discusses with us the different opportunities she's been given, how she's adapted to them, the rejections of her profession and the traits she's used to bounce back stronger than ever.

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Latino cinema is once again in vogue and film critic Carlos Aguilar (1:47) stops by to give us his choices for the "3 Best Spanish-Language Movies of 2018 So Far." And Ekundayo Bandele (28:49), founder and executive director of the Hattiloo Theatre, one of only four freestanding black theatres in the nation, who speaks to the hurdles and solutions the African American community faces in the arts in the US.

Episode notes

Latino film critic Carlos Aguilar recommends: ZAMA (Argentina), TODO LO DEMÁS (México), COCOTE (Dominican Republic)

Reach out

Would you like to get in touch with us? Email us at [email protected] and help us spread the word on social media:

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If you enjoyed this episode head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and please subscribe!

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Matthew Bakal, CEO and co-founder of the movie-ticket app Atom Tickets stops by the show to talk about why his 2 year old app is the future of movie-going and why it's different than Moviepass (1:00).

Also, culture and film critic Mike Sargent and I meet up at the press screening of Disney's new family film Christopher Robin, a live-action Winnie the Pooh movie and we give you our immediate first reactions of the film (23:00).

Actress and producer Luna Lauren Velez who you've seen many times on TV in her roles on DEXTER, OZ, UGLY BETTY and HOW TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER to name a few, plus her film roles in CITY HALL with Al Pacino, the recent horror film THE FIRST PURGE and the upcoming remake of SHAFT with Samuel L. Jackson. We catch up with her to discuss her new film American Adrift about opioid addiction in a Latino family, how social media has become a necessary evil for working actors and the new American optics of being Puerto Rican in this country. (26:55)

Also, film and culture critic Mike Sargent (Fox Business News, PBS, WBAI Radio) gives us a visit to review Tom Cruise's much hyped movie Mission Impossible: FALLOUT… should Tom Cruise stop doing his own stunts at 56, what makes an action film epic? and… could FALLOUT be the best of the Mission Impossible franchise. (1:38)

Episode Summary

Luna Lauren Velez interview

• Her big break "I Like It Like That"
• Rita Moreno
• How she you got into acting
• What kind of stories she wants to tell today
• Puerto Rico
• Typecasting
• "American Adrift" and addiction
• Why she's attracted to emotionally charged roles
• Why Hollywood hasn't embraced Latino families on screen
• Latino writers
• "First Purge" and its social commentary on race
• La Lupe/El Cantante
• Being a New York actor
• How social media has become a necessary evil for actors
• SHAFT

Would you like to get in touch with us? Email us at [email protected] and help us spread the word on social media:

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If you enjoyed this episode head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and please subscribe!

Ways to subscribe to Highly Relevant with Jack Rico:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes • Click here to subscribe via Spotify • Click here to subscribe via Stitcher

Luis Miguel Echegaray, Head of Latino Content at Sports Illustrated, joins the show to share who he thought had the better World Cup TV coverage - Telemundo or FOX - as well as the factors behind the ratings drop, and why Hispanic teams had a terrible turnout this year. (1:00)

Also, film and culture critic Mike Sargent joins me to debate SKYSCRAPER, the new homage to 70's disaster movies starring Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson. I think it's the worst movie of the year, while Mike lauds it for how enjoyable it was. This leads me to the question… when does the line blur between a "bad" movie and "bad fun" movie?

Would you like to get in touch with us? Email us at [email protected] and help us spread the word on social media:

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If you enjoyed this episode head on over to iTunes and kindly leave us a rating, a review and please subscribe!

Ways to subscribe to Highly Relevant with Jack Rico:

• Click here to subscribe via iTunes • Click here to subscribe via Spotify • Click here to subscribe via Stitcher