Actually, that’s not entirely true: a couple of these actually premiered Thursday, but it’s still quite the Latino smorgasbord of roles and stories:
- Dominican American actors Aimee Carrero and Roger Payano are part of the scary stuff in The Devil’s Due, premiering Thursday. Like evil babies and possessed children aren’t bad enough; now we have to have haunted pregnancies?
- John Leguizamo is part of the cop-comedy fun in Ride Along, a new buddy pic with car chases starring Kevin Hart and Ice Cube.
Morena Baccarin breaks with tradition to take the lead in Back in the Day, a raunchy comedy written and directed by–of all people–Smallville’s Lex Luthor, Michael Rosenbaum, who stars as well, along with a number of modern-day goofy comics like Nick Swardson and Harland Williams as the inimitable, inevitable “Skunk.”
- Horatio Sanz is a very funny actor, born in Cuba and raised in Chicago, who was part of the Saturday Night Live ensemble for years. This week he’s featured in G.B.F. (that stands for “Gay Boy Friend”), a teenage-dating comedy with lots of attractive young people from shows like Pretty Little Liars.
Rosa Salazar and Taboo are featured in the prison drama Jamesy Boy, about a young gang member who turns his life around in prison, thanks to the friendship he forms with a convicted murderer who becomes his mentor.
- Gabriel Iglesias is making a bit of a name for himself as a voice actor these days, and he’s back again in The Nut Job, another crazy-talking-animal cartoon feature starring the voices of Liam Neeson, Will Arnett, Catherine Heigl and many more.
…and then there’s Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, directed (and featuring) Kenneth Branagh, starring Chris Pine and Kevin Costner, and opening in a gazillion theaters this week. It’s the umpty-umpth attempt to reboot the Tom Clancy/Jack Ryan franchise (notice that no one has yet been able to play the role more than once, from Alec Baldwin to Ben Affleck?), and the reviews have been luke-warm at best. There’s not a Latino in sight, but it is the kind of action-espionage flick we all love, and moderately entertaining. Still, with Morena Baccarin in a sex comedy…you be the judge.
