Guillermo Diaz Movies

An expanded version of his 2005 short film of the same name, director Alex Merkin's feature-length noir thriller follows the tense stand-off between a young man, his unfaithful fiancée, and his best friend. Terry's fiancée, June, is having an affair. After following June to a run-down hotel on the far side of town, Terry quietly rents a room across the hall. With a bottle of whiskey and a loaded gun, he calls his best friend, Julian, and spills his guts. Realizing that it's only a matter of time before Terry goes off, Julian begs his friend to remain calm long enough for him to get to the hotel and diffuse the situation. Cloverfield star Mike Vogel appears opposite Brittany Murphy and Danny Pino in a film penned by Merkin and Jesse Mittelstadt -- the same co-writers who collaborated on the original short. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

In this eccentric independent comedy, Neil (Guillermo Diaz) is a vegetarian who is into punk rock, skateboarding, and his girlfriend, Daisy (Reiko Aylesworth). However, working for a living isn't one of Neil's strong suits, and in time his father decides it's time Neil came into the family business. This is problematic for Neil, since his dad runs a butcher shop; after a few days, Neil can't handle the slaughter, and exacts a strange form of justice on his father. Meanwhile, both Neil and his close friend Austin (Neil Driscoll Jr.) find they've both become obsessed with the manager of their favorite coffee shop (Élodie Bouchez). ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Shot almost entirely on a two-and-a-half-story recreation of a full-size operating airport terminal, this romantic comedy from director Steven Spielberg revolves around an Eastern European man by the name of Viktor Navorski (Tom Hanks), whose plans of immigrating to New York were hastened by a violent coup in his home country. Unfortunately, Viktor finds himself on the wrong end of a nasty technicality while en route to America: His passport was issued from a country, which, during its upheaval, ceased to exist in an official capacity. Unauthorized to leave Kennedy Airport upon his arrival and unable to return home, Viktor finds himself exiled inside the terminal's international transit lounge. Though airport official Frank Dixon (Stanley Tucci) views Viktor as an annoying bureaucratic glitch, other airport employees -- including a beautiful flight attendant by the name of Amelia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) -- come to see him as a welcome, if unofficial, addition to their numbers. As the days stretch on into months, the terminal transforms from an intimidating atmosphere of forced assimilation into a country within itself, complete with culture, ambition, status, complex diversity, and the need for love. The supporting cast includes Diego Luna, Chi McBride, Kumar Pallana, Zoe Saldana, Eddie Jones, and Jude Ciccolella. ~ Tracie Cooper, All Movie Guide

A couple risks their lives in the name of all things fabulous in this comedy of errors, set against the backdrop of West Hollywood's annual Halloween Parade. Wasabi Tuna's title refers to the ho-hum sushi costumes that boyfriends Harvey (Barney Cheng) and Evan (Jason London) have dreamed up for themselves and their friends to wear to the big bash. But when their sassy pall Emme (Alanna Ubach) offers up another suggestion -- that they dress as hardcore East L.A. gangstas -- the couple jumps at the chance. However, when the boutiques on Rodeo Drive don't yield the authentic ghetto fashions they need, the friends hit the streets to beg, steal, or borrow what it takes to "look the part," and end up the unwitting carriers of an illegal cache of gang weaponry. Co-starring Antonio Sabato Jr., SNL funnyman Tim Meadows, and reality-TV widow Anna Nicole Smith (playing herself), Wasabi Tuna received a limited West Coast release in the spring of 2004. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide

Filmed in Mexico and the Dominican Republic, this massive biography of Cuban leader Fidel Castro begins in the 1950s, when the title character, then a young and hungry lawyer, bristles at the iniquities and corruption of the Batista political regime. Inspired by the words by left-wing radio commentor Eddie Chibas (Hector Elizondo), Fidel becomes active in a revolutionary movement aimed at toppling Fulgencio Batista (Tony Plana). In 1959, Castro and his followers stage a spectacularly successful coup, one that is staunchly supported by thousands of idealists and Cuban expatriates in the United States. Unfortunately, to paraphrase cartoonist Bill Mauldin, no sooner has Fidel come down from the hills like Robin Hood than he begins behaving like the Sheriff of Nottingham, killing scores of his political enemies in round-the-clock executions, routinely snatching away the basic human rights that he had promised his followers, and embracing Communism with a fervent passion. Although the film does not shy away from showing the darker side of Castro, it is essentially sympathetic to its subject, balancing the Cuban dictator's political outrages with his many acts of benevolence, and attempting to provide "motivation" for what seem to be appalling contradictions. Victor Huggo Martin and Honorato Magaloni are cast respectively as the younger and older Castro, with Maurice Compte as his brother Raul and Gael Garcia Bernal as the ill-fated Che Guevara.Fidel was originally telecast in two parts over the Showtime cable network on January 27 and 28, 2002. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This year's Halloween assignment for Monica (Roma Downey), Tess (Della Reese) and Andrew (John Dye) is to save expectant parents Annie and Rick Higuerra (Karen Arroyave, Guillermo Diaz) from the clutches of Satan. Annie has already been approached at her place of business by a demonic young man named Dennis (Thomas Dekker), while cash-poor Rick is being tempted to stray from the fold by a sinister bookie named Cal (Jeremy Roberts). Inasmuch as the true identity of these two strangers is obvious from the start, one would think that the three angels would have no trouble thwarting their perennial foe...and one would be wrong! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Why would a purse-snatcher shoot and kill his latest victim? While investigating the case, detectives Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) and Green (Jesse L. Martin) find themselves squabbling over issues that have special significance to them both. On a more serious note, Briscoe realizes that Green is developing a truly bad habit -- while the D.A.'s office haggles with the attorney of the accused over the admissibility of a whispered confession. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Returning from a food run, kindly kindergarten teacher Kenny (Harland Williams) makes the mistake of feeding a massive amount of junk food to a tired-looking, diabetic NYPD horse, which drops dead. Tossed in jail, Kenny relies on his totally stoned roommates (Dave Chappelle, Guillermo Diaz, Jim Breuer) to devise a way to raise the 100,000-dollar bail. Their solution? Sell marijuana stolen from a government research lab. Cameos in this comedy include Stephen Wright, Janeane Garofalo, Stephen Baldwin, Snoop Doggy Dogg, Willie Nelson, and Jon Stewart. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

A group of old college friends work through their long-standing sexual tensions when they reunite for a wedding in this comedy-drama. Bob (Alexis Arquette), a student at George Washington University, has a mad crush on his buff, beautiful roommate, Brendan (Christian Maelen). Brendan senses the attraction, but rejects Bob violently during a play wrestling match that goes a little too far. A few years later, the young men's mutual friends -- Matt (Jamie Harrold) and Carol (Lauren Velez) -- decide to tie the knot, and the old gang reassembles. TV writer Bob brings along his conceited soap-star boyfriend, Sterling (Tuc Watkins). Brendan comes dateless, but old flame Sarah (Marianne Hagan) -- now a conservative senator's aide -- puts the moves on him. Meanwhile, their friend Eric (Guillermo Diaz) vacillates between hooking up with long-lost lady friend Beth (Maddie Corman) or with the nubile sister of the bride. During the wedding reception, Brendan corners Bob and confesses that he, too, is now gay -- and that he's in love with Bob. This doesn't sit well with the newly self-sufficient Bob, who's finally found a backbone and doesn't want to relive painful college memories. But with stick-in-the-mud Sterling around to remind him that his new life isn't exactly perfect, Bob soon finds himself alone in a hotel room with the object of his youthful affection. The debut feature from writer/director Brian Sloan, I Think I Do was produced by Lane Janger, a fellow participant in the Boys Life anthology series. Janger would go on to cast Guillermo Diaz in his own debut feature, Just One Time. Actress/singer Marni Nixon has a cameo as Carol's wise old Aunt Alice -- her first screen role since appearing in 1965's The Sound of Music. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide

In this screen adaptation of the award-winning play by Herb Gardner (who also directed the film), Nat Moyer (Walter Matthau) and Midge Carter (Ossie Davis) are two elderly men who sit on the same park bench each afternoon and have developed a relationship based on playful verbal sparring. Nat is an eccentric Jewish leftist who uses a dizzying variety of voices and assumed personalities to get his way, while Midge is the African-American superintendent of an apartment building who is afraid that he's going to be put out to pasture, as he's about to turn 80. Nat tries to encourage Midge to join him in his good-natured con games (which are performed for good causes and not for profit), but Midge remains wary. While Midge sweats out a possible retirement, Nat is trying to deal with his daughter Clara (Amy Irving), who wants to put him in a nursing home. Meanwhile, a drug dealer called The Cowboy (Craig T. Nelson) has claimed the park as his own territory, and Nat, impersonating a Mafia don, tries to run him out, while he befriends Laurie (Martha Plimpton), a young woman hooked on dope. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

In this postmodern exploitation flick loosely based on "Little Red Riding Hood," the uneducated daughter of a drug-addicted prostitute flees the foster-care system in search of her long-lost grandmother but meets up instead with a serial killer. Vanessa (Reese Witherspoon), a nearly illiterate firebug and serial shoplifter, desperately clings to normalcy even though her mother turns tricks, does drugs, and manages to ignore the fact that the girl's stepfather Michael T. Weiss has been abusing her for years. When both of her parents get arrested, Vanessa steals the car of her family-services caseworker (Conchata Ferrell) and heads up Interstate 5 in search of her paternal grandmother, who's never met her. Car problems force her to accept a ride from Bob Wolverton (Kiefer Sutherland), a youth counselor who uses charm and sympathy to get the girl to open up. Confessing the sordid details of her childhood to Bob, Vanessa is shocked when he suddenly declares that she's one of the "garbage people" and that he plans to murder her and have sex with her corpse. Bob, it turns out, is the "I-5 Murderer," who's been slaughtering young prostitutes in the Los Angeles area. Thanks to a gun borrowed from her fiancé, Vanessa manages to turn the tables on Bob, shooting him repeatedly and leaving him for dead. He survives, Vanessa is arrested, and the two meet up again in court -- with her unrepentant, even though the police disbelieve her story, him flanked by his prim wife (Brooke Shields) and the righteous indignation of the American legal system. Locked up in the juvie for psychological evaluation, Vanessa gets in touch with her wild side and eventually escapes, heading off to her fateful meeting with grandma. Although Freeway was originally filmed for HBO, vigorously positive critical response eventually earned it a theatrical release. Alanna Ubach, who portrays Vanessa's nemesis/accomplice Mesquita, would go on to appear with Witherspoon in Legally Blonde. Freeway also features two Clueless alumni: Dan Hedaya, as a police detective, and Brittany Murphy, as the disfigured lesbian who befriends Vanessa in lock-up. Michael T. Weiss, who previously appeared in gay indie Jeffrey, appears in both Freeway and its sequel, Freeway 2: Confessions of a Trickbaby. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide