Tamara Mello Movies

A remake of Ang Lee's family comedy Eat Drink Man Woman, Maria Ripoli's Hispanic-American ensemble feature set in Southern California about a veteran chef named Martin Naranjo (Hector Elizondo), who is slowly losing his sense of taste. He has three daughters, all of whom have chosen different paths. There is Letitia (Elizabeth Pena), the oldest and most repressed of the bunch, a rigid schoolteacher who is a member of the Christian faith. His youngest, Maribel (Tamara Mello), is the most assured, though plagued by doubts. His middle daughter Carmen (Jacqueline Obradors) is most like him and shares his taste for cooking, but has chosen a career as a corporate consultant, which makes for a more secure lifestyle. She is offered a high-profile job in Barcelona, which causes a rift in the family setting. Maribel soon finds herself drawn to a handsome Brazilian student (Nikolai Kinski), and Letitia is gaining affection for Orlando (Paul Rodriguez), an awkward ballplayer whom her students have sent mistaken love letters to without her knowing. Also at their dinners are a shy single mother (Constance Marie) and her obnoxious mother (Raquel Welch), who has her sights set on Martin's affections. Tortilla Soup is Maria Ripoli's second major feature, after her whimsical 1998 feature Twice Upon a Yesterday. ~ Jason Clark, Rovi

Season one of Popular ended with what seemed to be a dual triumph for snooty high-school cheerleader Brooke (Leslie Bibb) and her intellectual classroom rival Samantha (Carly Pope), as the wedding between Brooke's dad, Mike (Scott Bryce), was canceled after the announcement from Brooke's real mom, Kelly (Peggy Lipton), that her divorce from Mike was never finalized! Season two picks up the action, with Kelly scheming and conniving to win back Mike's love, and the heartbroken Jane briefly moving out of town with Sam in tow. Elsewhere, the walls of the two leading cliques at Jacqueline Kennedy High School -- Brooke's and Sam's -- are slowly crumbling to dust. Brooke's bitchy friend Nicole (Tammy Lynn Michaels) is aghast when she loses her coveted slot in the "Glamazon" cheerleading squad to Sam's chubby chum Carmen (Sara Rue). Brooke's football-jock boyfriend, Josh (Bryce Johnson), likewise finds his supremacy challenged by newly arrived gridiron star George Austin (A.T. Montgomery), who, to make matters worse, has crossed over to the enemy camp by dating Sam. And in a similar move, Sam's nerdy buddy Harrison (Christopher Gorham) commits a form of treason by going out with Brooke's shrill Southern-belle pal Mary Cherry (Leslie Grossman); can it be that Harrison's later bout with leukemia is punishment for selling out his anti-clique values? (Even worse: once his disease is in remission, Harrison takes up with Brooke herself!) As the season (and the series) draws to close, Sam's mom, Jane, gives birth to a baby conceived during her relationship with Brooke's dad, Mike, and for a few fleeting minutes the two girls become inseparable friends. But this truce is forgotten by season's end, which concludes with a nail-biting cliffhanger...one that, alas, will likely never be resolved. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

A middleweight boxing champion looking to cut his underworld ties and begin life anew finds that escaping your past isn't as easy as simply packing your bags in this crime thriller from director Jon Hess. Upon moving to Los Angeles to start a new life as a record producer, Shane (Gary Stretch) and his beautiful wife Catherine (Vanessa Sadler) realize that they need a more consistent source of income if they're going to stay afloat. When Shane is introduced to sultry singer Lola (Tamara Mello) it looks like he may have finally found the voice that will launch his career in music. Shane's gold-record dreams turn to dust, however, when Lola is found dead and all signs point to Shane as the culprit. Now, with little time to prove his innocence before Lola's jealous underworld lover Paul Decker (John Shafer) and the authorities close in, this former boxer who thought he left a life of crime behind must journey back into the underworld for one final round. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi