No News From God Reviews
In Heaven, the last ten years have been tough-Hell has been winning the battle between Good and Evil. The managers of Heaven receive a request by a mother to save her son's soul and see the possibility of winning the soul of a boxer named Many (Demián Bichir) as an opportunity to shift the balance of power. Although Many is severely in debt and is even thinking of suicide, Lola (Victoria Abril), an angel, is sent to Earth to take over the role of the boxer's wife. To counter this, Hell's manager Jack Davenport (Gael García Bernal) decides to send one of his more troublesome agents, Carmen (Penélope Cruz), who was a male ex-gangster punished by being converted into a female waitress, to fight back by impersonating Many's cousin. Though it starts out as a simple fight between heaven and hell for the soul of one man, a conspiracy in Hell and conflicting emotions interrupt the war between saints and sinners. Suddenly Many's soul becomes increasingly important and his weakened physical state creates a deadline by which he must go to Hell or Heaven. It´s the job of the supernatural agents to tempt or save Many... "Don't Tempt Me" (Spanish: "Bendito Infierno", also known as "Sin noticias de Dios" in Spanish and "No News From God" in English) is a 2001 Mexican and Spanish co-production comedy film. The screenplay for the film was written especially for Penélope Cruz and Victoria Abril. Spain´s movie industry is dear to me and I have had some really good film moments when watching spanish movies. I saw "Don't Tempt Me" when it came out and just resaw it. I reckon my opinion about this movie is maybe a bit different now. The storyline is there, the battle between good/evil - Hell/Heaven, but I think that the Heaven and Hell environments/ mood/settings and characters could´ve been much more colourful and maybe a bit more over the top to make this really work. The result now is a bit blend. Victoria Abril and Penélope Cruz are two strong actresses with added beauty and does a pretty good job as Lola and Carmen, but they still don´t manage to really lift the movie as high as I think they could´ve. "Don't Tempt Me" is ok, but hardly a classic spanish flick with a powerful colour palette in my point of view.
This movie is sorounded by a good cast and a very interesting story.It was provoking and just all around interesting,not to mention Penelope Cruz is very hot,and Gael Garcia is always great at what he does best,and has a lot of back story that it leaves up to your imagination.So for that being said I gave this film a B-.
There's no info on this, so I'll fill you in: Heaven is nearly bankrupt, and political opposition and a comittee are setting ready to take control of hell. So Heaven takes a gamble, thinking if it can save the soul of angry, washed up boxer. Hell believes if it can take his soul, Heaven will be finished for ever. So both sides send in representatives to try and casually point the boxer in their direction. All up it's a psychological(and spirtual) battle between the two angels(hells angel played wondefully by Penelope Cruz). Along the way however ther is plenty of politics between Heaven and Hell(One of hells higher, rebellious representatives played superbly by Gael Garcia Benal) with lots of side swapping and moral objectives tested. All up a very original and intersting movie. Wait for the end, there's a bit of a twist you won't see coming.
The relative surrealistic element of the movie is what made it interesting. The rest was ok. I like it when Cruz doesn't play the pretty girl.
Dark comedy, with conversations in Spanish, English, French, and Latin. PLUS Gael Garcia Bernal, in all his adorableness.
The premise is sorta potential, imaginative however which is not really well executed during the process till the end.
Odd film; in a good way. Gangsters, angels, double-dealing and the Cold War between Heaven and Hell. Full review here: http://spanish-film.blogspot.com/2010/02/dont-tempt-me-sin-noticias-de-dios.html
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Penelope Cruz and Victoria Abril give brilliant performances as embasadors from heaven (Abril) and hell (Cruz) each assigned to capture the soul of the same man. With similar ideas of heaven and hell as those found in Dante's Inferno, this is a very creative story that is captivating and exciting with much great dark humor, available for free viewing at hulu.com
Victoria Abril and Penelope Cruz get sent by heaven and hell respectively, to win the soul of a sad, weak woman-beating loser. Apparently heaven is a bit like black & white Paris filmset and rather empty, and hell is like a giant multi-storey prison with lots more people in it, and there's a Checkpoint Charlie between the two to separate the good from the bad, but that could all change if the wrong side wins, so beware.
It was okay, entertaining but silly. No real depth or point to characters but the acting is good and I think it was just one of those fun to make films. Music sometimes was the worst stuff I had ever heard, and usually I can take anything. Ehh!