Marco Leonardi Movies

Marco Leonardi stars as controversial soccer icon Diego Maradona in this sports biopic co-written by Manuel Rios San Martin and César Vidal, and directed by Marco Risi. As a young boy growing up on the bleak, industrialized outskirts of Buenos Aires, Maradona longed for the day that he would transcend his meager beginnings to become an internationally renowned soccer star. Later, he was propelled to fame by a winning combination of character, passion, and athleticism, ultimately achieving his dream of international superstardom. At once loved, hated, and worshipped by soccer fans around the globe, the rising star played in four World Cup games in addition to being voted the FIFA Player of the Century. But for every triumph, Maradona suffered his fair share of setbacks -including a fifteen month suspension after testing positive for cocaine in 1991, and yet another for testing positive for ephedrine during the 1994 World Cup. An outspoken athlete whose own inability to censor himself often resulted in the most controversy, Maradona nevertheless endured to become one of the most outstanding athletes in the history of the game. Named for the illegal goal-scoring move he used to defeat England during the 1986 World Cup quarter-final match, Maradona, Hand of God explores the life and career of this polarizing figure from a perspective that reserves judgment, and allows the actions of the athlete to speak for themselves. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

An outlaw who recently defied death by escaping his noose is on the run with his gang and the daughter of his intended executioner in this prequel to the 1996 series original, From Dusk Til Dawn. ~ All Movie Guide

In this Italian crime drama, unemployed Angelo (Marco Leonardi) is elated to receive an offer from Luciano (Alessandro Zamattio) to assist in a Bangkok video shoot. Unknown to Angelo, Luciano stashes inside the camera $10,000 worth of heroin, discovered at airport customs. Placed in a cell with rats, Angelo gets a shady lawyer, Ortega (Giancarlo Giannini), and a 32-year sentence at a prison run by sadistic supervisors. A visit from an Italian Embassy representative (Mirca Viola, a former Miss Italy) brings zero results, so he becomes part of an escape planned by prisoner Belisario (F. Murray Abraham), who wants revenge on Ortega. Adapted from a book by Fabrizio Paladini, the film substitutes Italian settings for Southeast Asia, intercutting 16mm footage of genuine Bangkok exteriors. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide

The title affliction causes sufferers to react to paintings in extreme and bizarre ways. In the case of police detective Anna Manni, she swoons and feels herself entering hallucinatory versions of the artwork she sees. This Italian psychothriller contains dark elements of horror as Manni tries to capture a murderous serial rapist. The lady detective is first seen walking the art-filled hallways of the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. The great paintings have a terrible effect upon her and she ends up having one of her surreal visions after fainting in front of Brueghel's "The Flight of Icarus." She sees herself falling through the painting's deep ocean and is only saved by the hands of Alfredo, a stranger who saw her fall. She returns woozily to her hotel. Her memory has temporarily lapsed, and once in her room she finds herself similarly mesmerized by a painting on the wall, but eventually she remembers her assignment. Unfortunately, when she meets up with Alfredo again, he attacks and rapes her. He then forces her to watch while he rapes and murders another. She manages to escape and make it back to Rome where she begins seeing a psychiatrist. Her former lover Marco also makes sure she is guarded 24-hours a day. Unfortunately for Anna it is not enough, and Alfredo strikes again. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Ulisse is a conductor on board a train running from Sicily to Milan and back during the 1960s. Every day, as the engines clatter over the rails he observes a wide variety of human dramas unfold. This sentimental and ultimately bitter Italian drama chronicles several such mini-dramas using them to comment upon the sad state of modern Italy. In one episode, a Sicilian woman who is moving northward with her family must choose between two disparate suitors. In another, a businessman attempts to conceal the presence of his mistress from his son. In another, a heart-broken nurse finds brief, passionate solace in the arms of a novelist. Meanwhile Ulisse looks out the window and in one scene sees a train heading back for Sicily. On board are many of the passengers he now attends, but they have all aged 20 years. None have fared well, including Ulisse, and this is meant to mirror Italy's own decline. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this quirky comedy, a farmer living in a remote, primitive Mexican village finds a downed plane and assumes the fine, white powder inside is fertilizer. The tale begins as the villagers are celebrating a football victory with their star soccer player, Quintino, who scored the winning goal. The town leaders hold a meeting and then sternly instruct Quintino to go home and rest before the next big game. Unfortunately, when Quintino meets the coach's lovely daughter, he and she end up spending the entire night making mad love. The day of the big game arrives; because there is no lime available to mark the field boundaries, the villagers convince the cranky farmer, Don Alvaro, to donate some of his white fertilizer. The exhausted Quintino arrives and tries to play. He does terribly until he falls face first and gets a snootful of "fertilizer." Suddenly he is tremendously energetic and runs off to win the game. Later, he convinces Alvaro to show him where the plane went down. Real trouble ensues when the inept drug lord, the pilot, a petty drug dealer, and the federal police come to town. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

The prostitutes of Palermo are pictured in this episodic Italian drama. The film lacks a real unifying thread as it presents scenes from the lives of 7 hookers. Five are women. One is a man, and one is a transvestite. In one episode, an aging ill-mannered Neapolitan, Orlanda, entertains North African visitors in her home. They do not seem to mind her constant barrage of racist comments. One of her clients falls for her and protects her from a client who stalks her. She is surprised. The male prostitute finds himself becoming violent after his client is too attentive. Liucca gets beaten in lieu of a payment. A mother struggles with her profession and homelife. Grimaldi dehumanizes clients. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Based on the best-selling novel by Laura Esquival, this internationally popular romantic fable from Mexico centers on a young woman who discovers that her cooking has magical effects. The tale's heroine, Tita, is the youngest of three daughters in a traditional Mexican family. Bound by tradition to remain unmarried while caring for her aging mother, Tita nevertheless falls in love with a handsome young man named Pedro. Pedro returns her affection, but he cannot overcome her family's disapproval, and he instead marries Tita's elder sister. The lovestruck young woman is brutally disappointed, and her sadness has such force that it infects her cooking: all who eat it her feel her heartbreak with the same intensity. This newly discovered power continues to manifest itself after the wedding, as Tita and Pedro, overcome by their denied love, embark on a secret affair. Director Alfonso Arau, Esquival's husband at the time, presents the acts of love and cooking with the same glossy, sensual sheen. Indeed, despite occasional digressions into a magical realist tone, the film often takes on the gloss of Hollywood romance. This combination of traditional melodrama and exotic fairy tale proved extremely popular with audiences, particularly in the United States, where it became one of the highest grossing foreign language films at the time. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

This political drama chronicles the corruption of a mayoral candidate for New York City. His ordeal begins when he launches a campaign for the legalization of heretofore illegal narcotics. Alarmed by the support it gets, Mafiosos frame the candidate for a crime he did not commit and force him to choose between joining their ranks or going to jail. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Cinema Paradiso offers a nostalgic look at films and the effect they have on a young boy who grows up in and around the title village movie theater in this Italian comedy drama that is based on the life and times of screenwriter/director Giuseppe Tornatore. The story begins in the present as a Sicilian mother pines for her estranged son, Salvatore, who left many years ago and has since become a prominent Roman film director who has taken the advice of his mentor too literally. He finally returns to his home village to attend the funeral of the town's former film projectionist, Alfredo, and, in so doing, embarks upon a journey into his boyhood just after WWII when he became the man's official son. In the dark confines of the Cinema Paradiso, the boy and the other townsfolk try to escape from the grim realities of post-war Italy. The town censor is also there to insure nothing untoward appears onscreen, invariably demanding that all kissing scenes be edited out. One day, Salvatore saves Alfredo's life after a fire, and then becomes the new projectionist. A few years later, Salvatore falls in love with a beautiful girl who breaks his heart after he is inducted into the military. Thirty years later, Salvatore has come to say goodbye to his life-long friend, who has left him a little gift in a film can. In 2002, over a decade after the film's original release, Tornatore brought the original 170-minute director's cut to American screens for the first time. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

To seek work, Maria's husband was forced to leave their Sicilian village for Germany after the birth of their son. That was years ago, and he has never returned, though Maria knows he is still alive. This is a common situation in the poverty of Sicily, and the women who suffer from it are called "white widows." Maria has another friend, Carmella, who is in the same boat. Carmella thinks that since Maria's son is well into his teens, she has waited for her husband long enough and it's time for her to seek some male companionship. Maria finds company in the arms of a fine doctor but then is laid low by an illness. After she dies, her son is upset enough to want to make somebody pay for his mother's suffering. He makes plans to travel to Munich and confront his long-absent father, perhaps to kill him. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide