Mercedes Enriquez Movies
The first feature film from the Nickelodeon cable channel, Harriet the Spy is an updated version of Louise Fitzhugh's best-selling 1964 children's novel. Sixth grade outcast Harriet (Michelle Trachtenberg) is an only child who has mostly been raised by her nanny, Golly (Rosie O'Donnell), rather than her materialistic parents. Harriet wants to be a writer when she grows up, and only Golly encourages her creative pursuits. Meanwhile, Harriet dons a yellow raincoat and a belt full of gadgets to spy on everyone around her, including her eccentric neighbor with a lot of cats and the other kids at school. Carefully taking notes in her private notebook, Harriet makes clever and cruel observations about her subjects, including her best friends, would-be scientist Janie (Vanessa Lee Chester) and overburdened Sport (Gregory Smith). Harriet's world begins to change when Golly leaves, signaling that it is time for her to grow up. Then a snobby girl a school, Marion, gets her hands on Harriet's special notebook and makes its contents known to the whole school. Soon everyone is against Harriet, and she must concoct a plan to get even. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Michelle Trachtenberg, Rosie O'Donnell, (more)
An ex-mercenary (Tom Berenger) becomes a take-no-prisoners teacher in a drug-ridden, gang-infested Miami high school in this campy morality tale about restoring lost American virtues to the inner city. Berenger's character, Shale, has no first name, a shadowy past as a patriotic gun-for-hire, and is temporarily unemployed and living with an idealistic teacher, Jane Hetzko (Diane Verona). Jane has angered a school gang leader, Juan Lucas (Marc Anthony), by asking the principal to get him transferred after he has threatened her in the schoolyard. After Jane is kneecapped by a gang member, Shale fakes a resume and becomes a substitute teacher, Mr. Smith. He lectures his class on the lessons of Vietnam ("We were fighting Communism") while looking for a way to get revenge on Juan. When he challenges the school's tolerance for student misbehavior, Smith is fired by the slimy principal, Claude Rolle (Ernie Hudson), an ex-cop who is running for City Council and doesn't want to rock the boat. Shale stays because he cites a union rule requiring two weeks' notice. During that period, tensions escalate and eventually Shale intervenes in a gang war that degenerates into a school-destroying inferno of violence. ~ Michael Betzold, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, (more)
This over-the-top star vehicle for box office draws Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone went through a series of directors before landing in the hands of Luis Llosa. Stallone stars as Ray Quick, a former CIA bomb expert now retired in Miami after an operation against a South American drug lord went horribly wrong, resulting in the death of a child. Ray is coaxed out of retirement by May Munro (Stone) to help her get revenge on the powerful organized crime family -- headed up by Joe Leon (Rod Steiger) and his son Tomas (Eric Roberts) -- that killed her parents years before. In the meantime, Ray's former partner Ned Trent (James Woods) is on the Leon family payroll and is seeking his own kind of revenge on Ray. As Ray executes Leon's soldiers one by one, his attraction to May boils over into a steamy encounter in the shower, a prelude to an explosive finale. Although director Llosa wisely kept his camera focused on his buff, semi-clad stars and the film's spectacular effects, the somewhat silly and incoherent plot resulted in a poor box office performance for The Specialist, the third disappointment in a row for Stone. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Sylvester Stallone, Sharon Stone, (more)
Filmed in Spanish, Amigos is a fairly realistic look at the plight of the Mariel Boat People, the so-called "undesirables" who were shipped off to America by Cuba's Fidel Castro in 1980. Ruben Rabasa plays a Cuban who comes to Miami after nearly 20 years in prison. He is given shelter by his old friend Reynaldo Medina, who'd escaped from Cuba during the Castro revolution. In seeking work, Rabasa suffers from the resentment of longtime Cuban residents of Miami, who disdainfully regard the incoming Boat People as the dregs of the earth. Desperate for a job, Rabasa is tricked into joining a smuggling ring, but is rescued by his friends before any real damage can be done. Amigos writer/director Ivan Acosta is best known for his off-Broadway play El Super. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Ruben Rabasa, Raynaldo Medina, (more)
