Ariel Levy Movies

Can a hopeless geek win the heart of the impossibly hot new girl at school? One fanboy hopes the answer can be "yes" in this teen-centric comedy from Chile. Roberto (Ariel Levy) is 17 years old, draws comics in his spare time when he isn't busy reading them, and likes to imagine himself an invincible superhero called "The Strange Obesity of Being." However, Roberto's daily life is anything but heroic; he's the target of cruel jokes from most of his classmates, and his only friends are a pair of fellow outcasts, nerdy Papitas (Sebastian "Berta" Muniz) and Condoro (Nicolas Martinez), who has a less-than-wholesome interest in girls. When beautiful Cristina (Xenia Tostado) arrives from Spain and enrolls at the same school as Roberto, he immediately falls head over heels in love, and is determined to make her his own. However, there's a problem -- she already has eyes for Fele (Benjamin Vicuna), the Big Man On Campus who is Roberto's nemesis and wants to make Cristina his next conquest. Promedio Rojo (aka Below Average) received its North American premiere at the 2005 South by Southwest Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

This dismal sci-fi comedy is based on a novel by Kurt Vonnegut and features Jerry Lewis and Madeline Kahn in dual roles as wealthy, respected parents who give birth to two gigantic, and ugly twins. The appalled parents try to keep them hidden away for they do not know that their "children" are really alien ambassadors who have come to help make the Earth a better place. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

The producers of The Greek Tycoon insisted that their film was not based on any "actual persons, living or dead." Yeh, right. Anthony Quinn stars as Greek shipping-magnate Theo Tomassis, who becomes the second husband of socialite Liz Cassidy (Jacqueline Bisset). It seems that Liz is the widow of young, charismatic American president James Cassidy (James Franciscus), who was felled by an assassin's bullet. When Tomassis marries the former Mrs. Cassidy, it is over the strident protests of his former love, Paola Scotti (Luciana Paluzzi), not to mention the millions of American who consider Liz to be an icon. Too long at 106 minutes, The Greek Tycoon was nonetheless expanded to 112 minutes for home video. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Hammer's trademark gothic style permeates this suspenseful thriller, considered one of the acclaimed British studio's superior efforts, thanks largely to the directorial skills of Peter Sasdy. This marked his last feature-length collaboration with the studio until 1980, when he returned to direct installments of the Hammer House of Horror television series. In the film's prologue, young Anna, the infant daughter of the notorious Jack the Ripper, witnesses her mother's brutal murder at her father's hands. Years later, the lovely teenage Anna (Angharad Rees) is plagued by traumatic memories of the incident and repressed impulses in which love and death are inextricably linked. These impulses finally turn homicidal when her emotions are stirred, spelling doom for anyone who arouses her. Anna's case is handled by the repressed psychoanalyst, Dr. Pritchard (Eric Porter), whose growing physical attraction to the girl could result in far worse than a mere breach of professional ethics. Sasdy weaves the psychological elements through the story with finesse, paralleling the sexual tension between the doctor and his patient with the mounting horror of the inevitable outcome. ~ Cavett Binion, Rovi

Strange and terrible things are afoot and the police are helpless to stop them in this taut, complicated thriller. First a heart attack victim goes to the hospital and awakens to find limbs missing, and later, the body of a rape victim is found with two strange puncture wounds upon her wrist. Meanwhile in Europe, a military officer is murdered by someone with inordinate strength. After another girl is murdered, Inspector Bellaver gets on the case. The trail of clues has many twists and turns and before he is led to the mysterious estate of Dr. Browning, another dies. There he discovers that the insane scientist has engineered a master race of emotionless, mindless beings as part of an international conspiracy. Now Bellaver and his cohorts must somehow stop the doctor and his friends from taking over the world. This marks one of only two features to include all three great horror actors Christopher Lee (as the head of British Intelligence), Peter Cushing (the leader of a fascist government) and Vincent Price (mad Dr. Browning) in the cast. (The second was 1983's House of Long Shadows). Interestingly, except for one brief moment at the end with Lee and Price, the actors never appear in the same scene together here. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi